Losses reduce at drug development firm

A firm which specialises in drug development has seen a reduction in its losses.

Evgen Pharma, a clinical stage drug development company developing sulforaphane based medicines for the treatment of multiple diseases, has announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2019.

The Cheshire company made a total comprehensive loss of £1.6m compared with £1.8m from the previous year.

Cash balance at 30 September 2019 was £5.1m. The cash was raised from an oversubscribed fundraising in April 2019 which raised £5m before expenses.

Stephen Franklin, chief executive of Evgen Pharma, said: “We have now completed two Phase II trials on SFX-01, in different conditions and with quite separate mechanistic hypotheses.

“Our selections of metastatic breast cancer (“mBC”) and Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (“SAH”) were based on strong preclinical data sets.

“The mBC clinical result was positive, demonstrating the stabilisation of previously progressive disease in 24% of patients and objective responses in some others. We were surprised that the SAH trial did not similarly follow the preclinical data, albeit this is a particularly challenging indication

“However, the scientific evidence for sulforaphane and SFX-01 as a potent Nrf2 activator is compelling, and the clinical belief in Nrf2 activation as a therapeutic strategy is affirmed by the endorsement of our clinical investigator partners, who wish to test SFX-01 in various diseases where Nrf2 activation is important.

“We therefore remain committed to the on-going clinical development of SFX-01 both in breast cancer, and in supporting trials in a range of other diseases which may benefit from Nrf2 up-regulation.

“We therefore move forward with the confidence that clinical success will ultimately prevail and we will, at that point, see a major ground shift in the company’s valuation.

“Between now and that point we will focus on delivering our development plan; the fundamentals that are needed to underpin sustainable share price growth and ultimately deliver the undoubted potential of SFX-01.

“We will be arranging to meet institutional and retail investors in early 2020 and look forward to this opportunity to discuss our strategy for the next stage in our development.”