Antisoma

Bombed-out biotech play Antisoma is hoping two of its drugs will lead to good fortune after experiencing disaster with lung cancer treatment ASA404.

CEO Glyn Edwards told Growth Company Investor that the failure of ASA404 was akin to a 'thermonuclear explosion’, which resulted in fully-listed Antisoma's share price plummeting from 32p to below 10p in March. The drug, which was Antisoma’s flagship treatment, had been hoped to produce significant profits for the company following successful Phase II studies.

However, after being licensed to Novartis, the company’s Phase III study was halted, with an interim analysis revealing that a survival benefit was unlikely. This resulted in a substantive fall in the value of Antisoma’s share price, which lost over 80% of its value as investors panicked following the announcement.

Antisoma's recently-announced results for the year to June showed a widening of losses to £21.36m (2009: £19.58m), with its cash pile reducing from £67m to £32.1m year-on-year. Nevertheless, Antisoma has two drugs in its portfolio that it hopes will revitalise sales. These are AS1413, a novel form of chemotherapy for patients suffering from leukaemia and AS141, a cancer treatment drug for which key data from trials is expected to emerge in 2011.

Back in 2005, prior to the catastrophic failure of ASA404, Growth Company Investor recommended avoiding shares in Antisoma at 22p, noting that ‘its lead product failed to show any meaningful benefits to cancer patients in clinical trials’. Once again, Antisoma is failing to impress and we would recommend avoiding shares in the biotech minnow for the time being.