Synairgen plc: Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2019
Southampton, UK – 30 September 2019: Synairgen plc (LSE: SNG), the respiratory drug discovery and development company, today announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2019.
Highlights (including post period-end)
Operational
- Phase II trial of inhaled interferon beta (IFN-beta) for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients progressing well, with four new sites added in 2019
- At 30 June 2019, 43 confirmed virus-positive patients had been dosed. At 27 September 2019, this had increased to 55 patients and we now have over 200 patients who have passed screening and are in the pool waiting to develop cold/flu symptoms and provide the remaining 65 dosed patients to meet our target of 120. The trial is expected to complete dosing in Q1 2020, with results available in Q2 2020
- In July 2019, a blinded data analysis showed that respiratory viruses were having a significant impact on the COPD patients enrolled in the trial when they got cold/flu infections, providing an opportunity for inhaled IFN-beta to reduce symptom severity and show clinical benefit
- We are also engaging with different clinical teams to evaluate the potential of IFN-beta in many other patient types who become severely ill with these common, and normally benign, respiratory viral infections
- Pharmaxis, our Australian-based partner for the antifibrotic LOXL2 inhibitor programme, continues to pursue its strategy for the programme
Financial
- Research and development expenditure of £1.69 million (30 June 2018: £1.38 million) as the Company advanced its clinical trial of inhaled interferon beta for COPD patients
- The loss from operations for the six months ended 30 June 2019 was £2.21 million (30 June 2018: £1.86 million loss)
- Cash and bank deposits of £3.52 million at 30 June 2019 (30 June 2018: £5.31 million). In August 2019, post period-end, the Company received its 2018 research and development tax credit of £0.84 million
Richard Marsden, CEO of Synairgen, commented: “During the first half of the year, the Company has made good progress on its inhaled broad-spectrum antiviral candidate IFN-beta, designed to treat viral chest infections in patients with COPD. Such infections are a major drain on healthcare resource and represent a significant unmet need in terms of therapeutic treatment options. We believe IFN-beta is a highly promising, and commercially attractive, therapeutic that could alleviate symptoms, help manage exacerbations and reduce healthcare costs. We look forward to completing the trial early in 2020 with results expected in Q2.”
For further enquiries, please contact:
Synairgen plc
Richard Marsden, Chief Executive Officer
John Ward, Finance Director
Tel: + 44 (0) 23 8051 2800
finnCap
Geoff Nash, Max Bullen-Smith (Corporate Finance)
Alice Lane (ECM)
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500
Consilium Strategic Communications (Financial Media and Investor
Relations)
Mary-Jane Elliott, Sue Stuart, Olivia Manser
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700
Notes for Editors
About Synairgen
Synairgen is a respiratory drug discovery and development company founded by University of Southampton Professors Stephen Holgate, Donna Davies and Ratko Djukanovic. The business, focused primarily on asthma and COPD, uses its differentiating human biology BioBank platform and world-renowned international academic KOL network to discover and develop novel therapies for respiratory disease.
Synairgen is currently running a two-part Phase II trial evaluating SNG001, the Company’s wholly-owned inhaled interferon beta (IFN-beta) therapeutic candidate. The Phase II trial, called SG015, has been designed to assess the safety of SNG001 in COPD patients and its clinical benefit in these patients when they have a cold or flu infection, a major driver of COPD exacerbations.
Synairgen is quoted on AIM (LSE: SNG). For more information about Synairgen, please see www.synairgen.com