Evgen Pharma narrows loss, foresees 'clinical success'

Evgen Pharma on Tuesday reported a narrowed interim loss and said it was confident of clinical success as it continues to develop its SFX-01 treatment.

The clinical stage drug development company booked a loss before tax of £1.6m for the six months ended 30 September, compared with a loss of £1.8m in the same period a year prior, after it cut operating expenses by 12% to £1.5m.

The AIM traded company, which remained focused on the development of sulforaphane-based medicines, had yet to generate revenue.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at £5.1m at the end of the period, after Evgen gained £5.0m through an oversubscribed fundraising in April.

However, highlights from the period included positive results from an STEM trial of SFX-01 in metastatic breast cancer, clinical trial agreements with Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and University of Dundee, and the signing of a research collaboration with King's College London and the British Heart Foundation.

Chief executive Stephen Franklin said: "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."

Evgen Pharma shares were down by 3.03% at 7.52p at 1557 GMT.