LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: XBIO) (“Xenetic” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, research and development of next-generation biologic drugs and novel orphan oncology therapeutics, announced today its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. As previously announced, the Company’s management team will host a quarterly update conference call with a live webcast today, May 16, 2017 at 8:30 AM ET for investors, analysts and other interested parties (details below).
Xenetic also provided an update on its license deal with Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPG), a significant stockholder of the Company, along with the clinical status of the product candidate SHP656, or PSA-Recombinant Factor VIII (“rFVIII”) being developed as a long-acting therapeutic for the treatment of hemophilia utilizing Xenetic’s proprietary PolyXen™ platform technology. The stated goal of Shire is to introduce an innovative, modified rFVIII protein with a significantly prolonged circulating half-life, with the objective of providing a once weekly treatment or reaching higher trough activity levels for greater efficacy. SHP656 is currently in a Phase 1/2 clinical study. Shire expects to report topline data from this Phase 1/2 study in the second quarter of 2017 and, if the outcome of the trial is successful, Xenetic expects Shire to launch a Phase 3 trial before the end of 2017. Xenetic has the potential to receive from Shire up to $100 million in cash milestones plus royalties linked to sales.
