ImmuPharma reports half-year loss

27th Sep 2013 10:30

ImmuPharma's shares fell in Friday morning trading as the company reported a half-year loss in line with last year.Losses for the first six months of the year remained unchanged at £1.8m and loss per share held steady at 2.17p.The drug discovery and development company said during the period it was focused on securing support for the further development of Lupuzor, a compound for the treatment of lupus arthritis. Ongoing discussions have been made with potential partners. An updated Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) has been secured with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowing a reduced number of patients in the pivotal Phase III trial, meaning the costs for tests of Lupuzor should be notably reduced.ImmuPharma secured £50m equity finance facility from Darwin Strategic, which will be utilised for the completion of the Phase III programme for Lupuzor.At the end of June, the group had a cash position of £7.7m, down from last year's £10.1m."We are delighted and excited with the progress we made on the advancement of development of our lead compound LupuzorTM towards Phase III trials, specifically the updated SPA from the FDA, the appointment of a world-class scientific advisory board as well as the financing facility with Darwin Strategic," said Chief Executive Officer, Dimitri Dimitriou. "We look forward to working with Torreya Partners as we continue our discussions for a deal on Lupuzor."Shares fell 5.05% to 70.50p at 11:00 on Friday.RD