25 May 2012

Licence fees boost ImmuPharma

19/05/2010 Robert Tyerman

Drug discoverer ImmuPharma has lifted annual pre-tax profits 85 per cent to £9.1 million after a £21 million licence payment.

The AIM-quoted company hoisted revenues from a mere £57,120 to £22 million last year after receiving a $30 million licence payment from US pharmaceutical group Cephalon for Lupuzor, its treatment for lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that damages skin joints, blood vessels and the nervous system. London-based ImmuPharma, chaired by Richard Warr and steered by chief executive officer Dimitri Dimitriou, licensed Lupuzor to the US group in a deal that the company suggests could lead to $500 million (£347 million) in future milestone payments in addition to further ‘significant royalties’.

Final results of the Phase IIb trial for Lupuzor showed a ‘clinically significant improvement’ in patient response rates, as against a placebo, although some City and scientific observers argued that the results were not as good as hoped in certain technical aspects. ImmuPharma has drawn encouragement from the French authorities’ decision to approve a Phase I/IIa study of another product, its IPP-204106 anti-cancer compound, and says it expects to dose the first patients ‘within the next few weeks’.   

Thanks to the Lupuzor payments, ImmuPharma ended the year with £22.5 million cash, which it intends to spend on developing ‘other promising compounds in the pipeline’. The shares, which have traded between 136p and 75.5p over the past year, now stand at 85p, up 3.5p this morning, valuing the company at £69.2 million, and offer speculative potential.

Tags: AIM, Cash, Deals & contracts

Sector: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology

Companies: ImmuPharma

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