N4 Pharma narrows loss as it continues development work

(Sharecast News) - Specialist pharmaceutical company N4 Pharma reported a smaller operating loss for 2019 on Tuesday, at ?0.95m, compared to ?1.42m in the prior year.
The AIM-traded firm, which is pre-revenue, received no government grant income and thus reported no gross profit for the year ended 31 December, which compared to a figure of ?72k in 2018.

Its research and development costs narrowed to ?0.22m from ?0.85m, while its general and administrative expenses grew to ?7.3m from ?6.4m.

The company's loss before tax totalled ?0.95m, narrowing from ?1.39m year-on-year, with basic and diluted losses per share coming in at 0.87p, compared to 1.32p a year earlier.

"The directors believe we have made considerable progress in understanding how 'Nuvec' works in the last 12 months, which will put us in a stronger position for potential collaboration discussions as we continue to present our data to potential licensing partners," said chief executive officer Nigel Theobald.

"Having demonstrated that Nuvec can load and transfect a range of DNA and mRNA antigens in vitro and also produce an in vivo antibody response with a good safety profile, we have recently worked on improving the dispersion of Nuvec with a view to addressing some of the inconsistencies seen in previous in vivo work."

Theobald said the firm's next focus would be to assess the improved dispersion with further in vitro and in vivo testing of Nuvec using OVA plasmid DNA, while at the same time working with Nanomerics on producing stable Nuvec formulations.

"We believe the work we have done in the last 12 months, together with our ongoing studies, puts our Nuvec delivery system in a stronger position than it was when we first announced our positive in vivo antibody results.

"We remain excited about the potential for Nuvec to become a credible delivery system in the field of cancer therapeutics and vaccines."