Major bio-med breakthroughs mitigate 4D Pharma losses

BIO-medical company 4D Pharma has revealed losses of £4.1m as it focuses on the development of groun-breaking biotherapeutics.

In its interim results for the six months ended June 30, the Manchester company reported net assets of £66.6m.

Highlights for the year included the placing of  8,475,610 new ordinary shares at 410p per share, raising £34.3m (net of expenses) in Feburary.

There was also the acquisition in March  of remaining minority interests in 4D pharma Research Limited (formerly GT Biologics Limited) to increase the company’s stake to 100%.

Key also was the successful development the company’s discovery platform MicroRx, expanding its library to more than 2,000 bacteria, targeting discovery of candidates across multiple disease sectors.

The company also reported identification, via the platform, of bacteria demonstrating therapeutically relevant effects in pre-clinical models of rheumatoid arthritis and severe asthma.

Since the period end, there has also been the discovery – once again via MicroRx  – of bacteria to battle the effects of multiple sclerosis.

4D has also entered into a €4.8m four-year collaboration project with the APC Microbiome Institute at University College Cork researching the potential applications of live biotherapeutics in relation to Autism Spectrum Disorders and associated disorders of the central nervous system.

There has also been the start of phase one clinical trials in respect of Blautix a live biotherapeutic being developed for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.

Chairman Dave Norwood said: “The period has seen significant progress towards bringing a new class of therapeutics to market, with the development of the MicroRx discovery platform which has successfully identified therapeutically relevant bacteria in important new disease areas.
 
“The period has also seen the second successful institutional placing within the company’s first year post IPO, demonstrating shareholder support for our vision for 4D.
 
“With the company’s first programme now having entered into patient trials, and further success for MicroRx, we believe this to be a hugely exciting period for the company.”