Arecor Therapeutics PLC (AIM:AREC) CEO Sarah Howell talked with Proactive about the company’s second-half performance and its strategic priorities heading into 2026, highlighting progress across its dual focus on diabetes and oral peptide delivery.
Howell explained that Arecor is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on drug development and enhanced delivery in the cardiometabolic space. The company’s lead asset, AT278, is described as a “new unique best-in-class insulin for the treatment of diabetes,” and is now progressing through a 50:50 co-development partnership with Sequel Med Tech. The collaboration is preparing for a pivotal phase two clinical study, which Arecor is targeting to begin in the second half of 2026.
She noted that both teams share a vision of combining next-generation automated insulin delivery (AID) systems with next-generation insulin to improve patient outcomes and reduce disease management burden. Positive negotiations are also underway regarding a broader co-development and commercialisation partnership.
On the oral GLP-1 programme, Howell highlighted the challenge of bioavailability, pointing out that Rybelsus currently achieves “less than 1% oral bioavailability.” Arecor is conducting nonclinical pharmacokinetic studies aimed at improving bioavailability, which could be highly translatable across multiple peptide therapeutics.
Financially, the company reported unaudited revenues of £3.1 million for 2025 and cash of $6.1 million at year-end, extending the runway into the first half of 2027.
Proactive: Sarah, very good to speak with you. How would you summarize the second half of Arecor’s financial year? What have been the highlights?
Sarah Howell: As a quick recap, Arecor is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on drug development and enhanced delivery in the cardiometabolic space. Our key areas of focus continue to be two core product areas. We have AT278, which is a new, unique best-in-class insulin for the treatment of diabetes. We're also working on the development of a novel oral delivery of peptides platform.
In both areas, we are targeting significant unmet patient needs in high-value multibillion-dollar markets. In the second half of the financial year, we've delivered important strategic milestones. For AT278, we entered into a Phase 2 enabling co-development partnership with Sequel Med Tech, which has developed and launched an innovative automated insulin delivery system in the US.
We continue to progress our oral delivery of peptides platform with nonclinical pharmacokinetic studies ongoing, generating data to inform our optimal approach to improving bioavailability.
Last year, we raised non-diluted funding through the sale of certain royalty milestone rights to Ligand Pharma. That brought in $7 million upfront and a further $4 million in contingent value rights, of which we expect to receive a further $1 million during 2026.
Total revenues for the year were £3.1 million, including discontinued operations of Tetris. Cash at the end of December 2025 was $6.1 million. Alongside the Ligand deal and proactive cash management, this extends our cash runway into the first half of 2027. These figures are unaudited but indicate a solid financial position.
Proactive: You mentioned working with the Sequel team since last September on AT278. How is that progressing and what are the next milestones?
Sarah Howell: It's going really well. We share a vision with Sequel around bringing next-generation automated insulin delivery systems to people with diabetes to improve outcomes and reduce disease management burden.
This requires a combination of innovative AID system technology, which Sequel provides, and next-generation insulin, which is where Arecor comes in. We're working well together and preparing for a pivotal Phase 2 clinical study, which we are targeting to start in the second half of the year.
Positive negotiations are currently in progress regarding a broader co-development and commercialization partnership for Phase 2 and beyond.
Proactive: How are you intending to fund the Phase 2 trial?
Sarah Howell: The Phase 2 clinical study is subject to funding. We entered into a 50:50 co-development agreement with Sequel, funding Phase 2 enabling activities jointly.
We are actively working on a similar co-development case funding deal for Phase 2 clinical and beyond. With cash into the first half of 2027, we have a balance sheet to support negotiations and ensure we secure the best deal for Arecor and return value to shareholders.
Proactive: Moving to your other focus, how is the oral GLP-1 program progressing?
Sarah Howell: GLP-1 is a peptide, and peptides are an increasingly important class of therapeutics, particularly in cardiometabolic disease. There are over 100 peptides in development for diabetes and obesity, but only two orally delivered peptides are currently on the market.
The challenge is low oral bioavailability. Many patients would prefer a pill over injections, but bioavailability is extremely low. For example, Rybelsus (semaglutide) has less than 1% oral bioavailability.
We are aiming to improve bioavailability compared to that gold standard. If we demonstrate improvement with oral GLP-1, it would be highly translatable to other peptides, creating significant commercial upside.
We are currently generating nonclinical pharmacokinetic data to inform next steps. Importantly, this R&D program requires minimal resources at this stage and is being progressed internally by Arecor’s scientists.
Proactive: How does financial performance compare to market expectations?
Sarah Howell: Revenues for the year ending December 2025 were £3.1 million compared to £5.1 million in 2024. The decrease reflects the cessation of Tetris operations announced at the beginning of 2025.
Cash and cash equivalents at year-end were $6.1 million compared to $3.2 million at the end of 2024. That figure is above market expectations due to favourable performance during the wind-down of Tetris.
Proactive: How is 2026 shaping up?
Sarah Howell: 2026 will be a really exciting year for Arecor. We will continue focusing on our dual strategy around diabetes with AT278 and oral peptide delivery, both targeting multibillion-dollar markets with high unmet need.
A key milestone will be entering the Phase 2 clinical study in the second half of the year alongside a co-development partner in the AID space. We will also continue generating nonclinical pharmacokinetic data on improving bioavailability in oral peptides.
We believe we are in good shape to deliver across these key business areas.