Seller out14 Feb 2025 12:20
According to telegram, can anyone confirm please as this write up makes ROQ look pretty undervalued
Updated 14:18, 10 Feb 2025By IAN LYALL AT PROACTIVE INVESTORS FOR THISISMONEY.CO.UK
Ajan Reginald, chief executive of Roquefort Therapeutics, has a knack for distilling complex strategies into a single sentence.
‘We find diamonds in the rough and we cut and finish them,’ he says, summing up the company’s approach to biotech investment and development.
One example is the planned £8million sale of Lyramid, a business Roquefort acquired for just £1million. The simple arithmetic suggests a straightforward profit, but the real value lies in the work done in the interim.
Lyramid’s midkine inhibition assets (which offer a new approach to targeted cancer treatment) are now at what is known as the pre-investigational new drug stage.
In practical terms, pre-IND is the phase of drug research before human trials can begin. At this stage, scientists are working in the lab to establish how a drug functions, testing it on cells and animals to assess safety and efficacy.
Before regulators such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allow clinical trials, companies must demonstrate a clear understanding of how the drug works, provide robust data on its potential, and show that it can be manufactured safely and consistently.
With its midkine programme now at this point, Roquefort is preparing to sell Lyramid to Pleiades Pharma in a deal expected to complete by the end of June.
The agreement includes an upfront cash payment that will help fund Roquefort’s two remaining programmes, while also giving the company an equity stake in Pleiades. That exposure to a broader portfolio of drug assets—some already in clinical trials—could prove strategically valuable