LONDON (Alliance News) - Destiny Pharma PLC on Wednesday reported a substantial widening of its loss in the first half of the year due to administrative expenses.
The clinical stage biotechnology company said that, in the six months to June 30, its loss more than doubled to GBP2.3 million from GBP920,044.
This was due, almost entirely, to a rise in administrative expenses to GBP2.1 million from GBP697,296. Of this, GBP1.3 million was the result of research & development expenditure versus GBP300,000 the prior year. The remainder of loss was attributed to the company's share option charge, which increased to GBP584,726 from GBP305,234.
As at June 30, the pharma company's cash and cash equivalents total GBP11.1 million, substantially multiplied from GBP871,966 the year before.
At present, Destiny Pharma is not revenue producing as it works to develop antibiotics to treat resistant strains of bacteria. Its lead candidate is XF-73, which will see results from a phase 2b trial in 2019.
"A new market analysis report supports the clinical need and commercial opportunity for XF-73 in the prevention of post-surgical hospital infections, such as MRSA, which we estimate in the US to be a USD1 billion sales opportunity," said Destiny Chief Executive Neil Clark.
The company has also announced a new clinical programme for XF-73, assessing its potential to prevent skin infections in patients with diabetic food ulcers and burn wounds.
"Whilst our focus remains on our lead asset, we will also look to progress our new dermal clinical programme, with the company well-funded through to first half 2020," said Clark.
In a separate statement, Destiny said that it has appointed Jesus Moreno as Chief Medical Officer. Most recently, Moreno was global clinical development director at TiGenix SAU and prior to that he led the medical science liaison team at Basilea Pharmaceutcia Ltd.
Shares in Destiny Pharma were untraded at 89.00 pence on Wednesday.
Destiny Pharma. (DEST)