Drug discovery specialist Proximagen Neuroscience is considering joint ventures and adding to its core Parkinson’s Disease capability.

Losses at AIM-quoted Proximagen, a 2003 spin-off from King’s College, London University, increased 52 per cent to £1.1 million in the six months to May on first-half turnover that shrunk drastically from £379,100 to £191,100. Entrepreneurial chief executive officer Kevin Mulvany says this was because the company scaled back its standard services of providing discovery models to large pharmaceutical groups in order to develop its own products in the potentially lucrative fields of neuropathic pain, cognition, memory and learning.

He points to a 45 per cent increase to £1 million in research and development spending and the £10.4 million that Proximagen had in the bank at the end of May, down from £12.4 million a year earlier. The company has licensed compounds from celebrated scientist Rick Silverman to target neuropathic pain and is seeking partners for several of its programmes.

Mulvany says pre-clinical studies of Proximagen’s PRX1 programme for the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson’s Disease have been ‘encouraging’ and could reach the Phase 11 stage by the second half of next year. The company has recently received tentative takeover approaches, but, says Mulvany, is concerned to add more value on its own before considering such deals.

Floated two years ago at 148p, Proximagen shares had slid down to 87.5p by last month. They have since rallied to 104p, valuing the company at £21 million, and might recover further.

Proximagen Neuroscience	AIM	£24.07m	120.00p	0.00p
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