Silence Therapeutics makes 'exceptional' year-to-date progress

RNA therapeutics developer Silence Therapeutics said on Tuesday that it had continued to make "exceptional progress" in securing additional high-value partnerships and advancing its proprietary pipeline year-to-date.

Silence stated preparations to submit an investigational new drug package for its prioritised and wholly-owned asset SLN360 to the US Food and Drug Administration were on schedule for later in 2020, while its SLN124 treatment was said to have already received Rare Paediatric Disease Designation for beta-thalassaemia and Orphan Drug Designation for myelodysplastic syndrome from the FDA.

In terms of liquidity, the AIM-listed group said it was in a strong position and had cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits of £52m, reflecting proceeds from the issuance of ordinary shares to AstraZeneca in March and a $20m upfront payment from AstraZeneca in May.

Chairman Iain Ross said: "We continue to monitor the evolving Covid-19 pandemic but are pleased to note that we have not experienced any significant disruption to our operations.

"Our significantly strengthened balance sheet ensures that we are in a robust position to weather any uncertainty whilst equipping us with the capital to further accelerate our important RNAi programmes and platform."

As of 1015 BST, Silence shares were up 5.61% at 449.90p.