After losing an interim £3.2 million, dermatology specialist York Pharma has raised £5.25 million and is buying Rosanto Pharmaceuticals.

AIM-quoted York Pharma, whose losses rose 60 per cent in the six months to March, has raised its new money at 120p through brokers Collins Stewart and JM Finn to help finance its product pipeline, led by anti-fungal agent Abasol.

Chief executive Terry Sadler, who says the first-half loss was lower than management had feared, argues the UK regulators should be able to grant marketing approval for Abasol, which he maintains should have a competitive edge as one of a ‘new class’ of anti-fungal agents.

After previously raising £3 million in October, York ended the first half year with £2.6 million in the bank despite its increased losses. The company is now also paying £2 million in new shares at 123.7p to buy Rosanto, formerly Charterhouse Therapeutics, a UK-based innovator in the field of inflammatory diseases, ‘chemo-resistant’ cancers and antiviral agents with additional scientific operations in the University of Rome.

Rosanto has been working on a treatment of the chronic skin disease, psoriasis, which affects between two and three per cent of the Western population. York suggests that this treatment, RPL228, could, once developed, become a ‘breakthrough product with blockbuster potential’.

At 133p, York shares, which have swung between 34.5p and 216.5p over the past three years, are 9.5p up today, valuing the company at £34.2 million. They have speculative potential.

York Pharma	AIM	£10.27m	18.00p	0.00p
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