Losses at drug developer Medical Marketing International Group (MMI) rose by £250,000 to £1.97 million in the six months to September.

AIM-quoted MMI, which identifies, acquires and develops compounds and therapies for cancer and infectious diseases, has moved all three of its therapeutic 'platforms' – antivirals, vaccines and chemotherapy – towards technical milestones and eventual potential commercialisation, says executive chairman David Best. The Cambridge-based company reports encouraging progress in trials of its lymphoma vaccine, a programme that extended into prostate cancer and is now moving into infectious diseases, such as flu and tuberculosis.

Best claims 'dramatic' progress with antiviral 'ribozymes', demonstrating that one injection 'significantly suppressed' for three months the blood cell receptors that enable the HIV virus to enter the human body. Meanwhile, in pre-clinical development of ruthenium chemotherapies, he says, MMI has managed to make commercial-grade compounds, which have been shown to be stable and have been formulated for human treatment.

MMI lost £3.8 million in the year to March and ended September with cash down from £7.4 million to £3.9 million, which Best says is enough 'to last at least another year'. The volatile shares, having surged from 58.5p to 298.5p in early 2005 before falling away again, now stand at 99.5p, up 2p this morning and only 1p below their 2000 float price of 100p, where they remain a gamble.

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Medical Marketing International Group	AIM	£4.62m	7.25p	0.00p
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Other company articles:
MMI bullish after interim loss			27/11/2007
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Medical Marketing International			09/08/2002
Best clinches 'brilliant deal'			18/02/2002
Medical Marketing International			18/02/2002