LONDON (Alliance News) - Destiny Pharma PLC on Tuesday reported a significantly widened annual loss as expenses surged in the run-up to the development of its lead candidate.
For 2018, the clinical stage biotechnology firm posted pretax loss of GBP6.0 million compared to GBP3.2 million a year prior.
This was due to administrative expenses, including research costs of GBP3.5 million, rising to GBP5.3 million from GBP2.5 million.
Since it is currently a research and development company, Destiny Pharma did not generate any revenue for the year.
"We have made significant progress in the first full year following our initial public offering in September 2017, delivering on key targets set out at the time, including a number of clinical development objectives, and the company remains well funded to the second half of 2020," Chief Executive Officer Neil Clark said.
He added: "Our lead clinical candidate, XF-73 nasal is being developed as a preventative treatment reducing the carriage of Staphylococcus aureus with the intention of preventing post-surgical hospital infections. During April 2019 we will initiate the important Phase 2b clinical trial in this setting and will complete recruitment later this year.
"Whilst our main focus is on our lead asset we are also continuing to progress our earlier XF pipeline having won three grants to support this workstream. There is continuing international support for the development of novel anti-infective drugs that address the issue of anti-microbial resistance and Destiny Pharma's unique platform is well-positioned to meet this global need."
Destiny Pharma shares were flat at 84.00 pence each on Tuesday morning.
Destiny Pharma. (DEST)