LONDON (Alliance News) - Redx Pharma PLC on Tuesday said its pretax loss widened in its first half to March 31, following the initiation and advancement of number of projects across its proprietary research programmes, as it announced it has reached the pre-clinical proof of concept stage with an oncology lead which it said has the potential to treat leukaemia and other blood cancers.
The drug discovery and development company posted a pretax loss of GBP6.7 million for the six months to the end of March, up from GBP3.2 million for the same period a year earlier, after operating expenses rose to GBP8.0 million from GBP5.5 million.
This was in line with the company's expectations, Redx said, in a period in which several projects were initiated within its Immunology pipeline, a fourth development candidate was selected in its Oncolody pipeline and a proof of concept was established in its Anti-Infectives pipeline.
Redx said it completed a share placing to raise GBP10.0 million in April, which it said meant it was now "well-positioned to progress its promising pipeline and to continue growing the business".
Elsehwere, Redx said it reached pre-clinical proof of concept with an oncology lead, or more specifically a reversible inhibitor of Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase, which is an enzyme implicated in blood cancers including Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia.
The lead, Redx said, has the potential to treat CLL patients who have become resistant to the gold standard therapy Imbruvica, or ibrutinib, which is currently used in the treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia. A number of patients become immune to ibrutinib due to a genetic mutation that renders it ineffective.
Redx Pharma added this was the seventh programme to progress through its development pipeline to the pre-clinical proof of concept stage.
"Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia is one of the most common types of leukaemia in adults and is not usually curable, with high rates of recurrence. What is particularly exciting about our lead compound, a reversible Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor, is that it has the potential to treat ibrutinib resistant CLL patients," said Chief Executive Neil Murray.
Shares in Redx Pharma were up 16% at 38.75 pence on Tuesday.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
