Member Info for Isthisawinner

We badly need rid of any holding Woodford may have here (not any investment made on behalf of the Wales fund) because his fund will use any good news as an opportunity to sell into the rise and by doing so, kill it. Having said that, thankfully his holding is quite small now and hopefully good news can absorb the remaining amount. Polar got in at rock bottom, if positive news continues, others may have to bite the bullet and pay higher for Woodfords remaining stock. A lot of Bio's have taken a beating because of his demise, ( thankfully he wasn't a major holder here ) and as his other holding are absorbed into the market, hopefully we will see some growth coming back to the Bio sector. Gla

Exposed: Woodford faces questions about conflicts of interest after link to £100m Wales fund

Copy and paste the above to your search engine, all the companies woodford is connected to have taken a hit as he has become a forced seller. Hopefully when he is fully out, the sp might gain back some momentum.

Yep, hard to work out , it's all got to do with the Niel Woodford fund, he has been a forced seller everywhere, guess now he has 1.2 % to offload as Axis but the other 2% might be a stayer, Arthurian seems to the vehicle the Welsh science fund is invested through. Just guessing !!! It's hard to follow when you cant see historic shareholding data and the way different companies have holdings indirectly via different companies they are invested in. Gla

Hi, can you answer a couple of questions re your post.
1.Can you post the link where it shows Polar getting its holding from Tekla as I can only find Renaissance Technologies selling its position in Vrp.
2.The link showing another bio company buying in with Arix.

Cheers

Cheers for the info, I'm not the best for keeping track of things.

To hear more offloading, was wondering where polar capital picked up theirs from......smoke and mirrors. Gla

Time to top up if it goes below 50 again...

Taken etc, but you knew that didn't you..

Everyone needs to calm down, as I posted earlier, the funding issue isn't new news. We have enough money to see the year through, results due this quarter and next. If they go well, we then meet the FDA and discuss what trial they would be looking for. Any partnership or funding will then be required and by then, any discussions would have taking place in the background.........then bingo !!!! Just my view as always. Gla

Many patients are also on LABA/LAMA combination therapy, and Verona pharma will look to see how RPL554 works in combination with other COPD therapies in phase 3.

Verona Pharma CEO Jan-Anders Karlsson

Karlsson could not provide specifics about what combinations could be studied in phase 3 until a full review of the latest data is complete.

“We are looking different options for designing phase 3 trials that the FDA would accept and payers would accept,” said Karlsson.

Verona is in talks with regulators, and is also conducting “market research” to try and design trials that would support price negotiations should RPL554 make it to market.

“We do need more clarity from payers about their expectations,” he said.

“It is very important to get them to accept that this is a new treatment, what we have seen today is something different,” Karlsson added. “We want to see how we can position this drug so it is as attractive as possible to payers.”

Phase 3 trials could start next year, and take a further two years to complete, Karlsson said.

Pharma partners

The company has around £80m in the bank, which chief financial officer Piers Morgan says is enough to fund complete phase 2 development, and develop the drug as a nebulised treatment.

Further development could see the company go back to investors to raise more cash, or partner with a larger pharma company.

Morgan said: “We are looking to work with a pharma partner towards later stage studies. There is substantial market opportunity, so that requires a substantial phase 3 clinical trial. We need to find a partner to move forward on later stage studies.”

Funding/partnership was always on the cards.
Verona Pharma is to take lung drug RPL554 into late clinical development after a successful phase 2b trial.

Shares in the UK biotech jumped by as much as 12% at one point yesterday following the announcement – Verona already had strong support from analysts, with the likes of N+1 Singer and Jeffries giving “strong buy” and “buy” ratings respectively.

Top-line data show that RPL554 produced clinically and statistically significant improvements in lung functions at all dose levels in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

There is a pressing need for new therapies for COPD, which sees patients’ lung function steadily decline.

Sudden hospitalisations caused by the disease place a major strain on patients, their families, and the health system, and as yet no-one has found a drug that halt the disease’s progress.

The trial was testing RPL554, a first-in-class, inhaled, dual inhibitor of the enzymes phosphodiesterase 3 and 4 with bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory properties, as a maintenance treatment for COPD.

RPL554 produced a clinically and statistically significant improvement in peak forced expiratory volume (FEV1) in one second at four weeks in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD compared with placebo.

The peak FEV1 was significantly improved at all time points over four weeks of dosing, and secondary endpoints measuring 12 hour average FEV1, COPD symptoms and quality of life were also met.

The four-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group, phase 2b multicentre European study performed in the out-patient setting evaluated the efficacy, safety, and dose-response of nebulised RPL554 administered twice-daily as a maintenance treatment for COPD in 403 patients with moderate-to-severe COPD.

There were four dosing arms of RPL554 in the study in addition to placebo and patients were required to withhold use of regular long-acting bronchodilator therapy for the duration of the study.

Verona said the results support the “potential clinical benefits of RPL554 for treatment of COPD.”

Phase 3 trials must please regulators and payers

Verona pharma’s CEO Jan Anders Karlsson told pharmaphorum that the company plans to take the drug into phase 3 trials, potentially for use in combination with existing therapies.

GlaxoSmithKline and Chiesi have recently begun marketing triple therapies for people in the late stages of COPD, which combine inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), a long-acting beta adrenoceptor agonist (LABA) and long acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) in one device.

Has potential, but looking at the way this is structured, Val will be left with crumbs as Black cat and its investors will more than likely offer a tiny percentage of their shares in return.

The last person out, please close the door after you.

With drug proved up for phase 3 trials, this company is way undervalue.

My thoughts exactly, we have all been outspoken about the lack of news from Vrp over the years, now with the new guy in charge of investor relations, hopefully they have put that problem to bed. I see it as a good thing, given investors a heads up when crucial news will be released.....just seems more professional. Gla

Well boys and girls, Monday it is.... Gla

I'm sorry but due to the dire price of Crv shares atm, there is no money in the kitty to supply a physical object as a prize. The best I can do is award you the honorary title....Noble Boffin Of Crv. I believe this title gives you the right to graze sheep on any lands owned by Crv. The only snag is you have to find these plots of land yourself as I believe Crv is not too sure where or what they have atm..gla

Please explain your 3rd of January post praising Howie, lol, and you forgot to tell us mere mortals that we had to sell at £....
Lol again.

"Lost my phone and access to board".....lol, banned springs to mind.

No need for a leak, the drug either works or it doesn't. The signs so far seem positive, you either back what the board are saying or dont invest......having said that, timing of your investment is crucial regarding profits. From this point forward, the more derisked the share becomes, the higher the sp and therefore less potential profit to be had. Works both ways though, buy in early and results turn out not so good, your capital is at greater risk. Gla and as always Dyor first, dont just follow the wise on here.