ValiRX reports encouraging progress despite losses

ValiRx, a biopharmaceutial company with a focus on the treatment of cancer, said while losses had widened in the first half it had made "excellent" advances in its clinical and pre-clinical development pipeline. It reiterated that it expected results from the first stage of clinical trials for its VAL201 anti-cancer therapeutic product by the end of the year. It said its VAL 101 drug candidate, which will benefit from a further Eurostars grant for up to €1.6m, has continued to show good progress in the pre-clinical phase of trials.Earlier this year the life sciences group appointed medical monitoring officer Alan Boyd to oversee VAL201's clinical development.Nick Thorniley, Non-Executive Chairman, said: "These steps forward permit your company an increasingly confident perspective and I also look forward to reporting on the results of our clinical trial, which are anticipated in late December 2013."Half year losses widened to £1.6m from £1.1m after it spent more on research and development. No dividend will be paid. Its cash pile stood at £1.2m at the end of June. Shares in ValiRX were up 6.7% at 0.4p at 12:00 on Thursday.TB