(Alliance News) - ReNeuron Group PLC's share price tumbled after it announced on Tuesday it will drop retinitis pigmentosa trials after "inconclusive" clinical data for their stem cell therapeutic treatment.
The Bridgend, Wales-based company's share price fell by 37% to 48.51 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
The initial RP studies treated patients with a 1 million cell dose of human retinal progenitor cells. While initially effective in improving visual acuity, the 24-month data appears to show that efficacy wanes after 12 months. An extension of the study increased the dose to 2 million cells, have shown thus far "very limited evidence of efficacy", and due to the surgical procedure involved, some patients saw a reduction in visual acuity due to serious adverse effects.
ReNeuron has decided the commercial implications of continuing the study, as well as the strategic and financial resources required "would not be in the best interests of shareholders". It intends to complete a data package on the programme and out-license it to a third party.
"While it is disappointing that the RP clinical data achieved so far has been inconclusive as to which patients respond best to our hRPC therapeutic candidate, we believe that the programme still offers promise. However, we believe this would be best further investigated by a partner," Chief Executive Officer Olav Hellebo.
The immediate cost savings will be re-directed to an investment in its Exosome platform, and serve as a cash runway until late in the second quarter of 2023. The Exosome platform has seen some "strong progress" with positive pre-clinical data, and additional scientists will be added to the team in the next couple of months.
"We are very excited about the market opportunity in Exosomes and importantly our tissue-for-tissue matching expertise that gives a truly differentiated offering to partners. We believe our work in this area offers the best returns for our shareholders and we are confident that we will increase the number of partners programmes this year and are already in the process of recruiting additional employees in this field," Hellebo added.
By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com
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