Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN) said its flagship drug has the potential to become a new oncology treatment as the company published the findings from its long awaited phase IIa clinical trial.
Researchers administered the drug to patients with pancreatic cancer, one of the hardest strains of the disease to treat.
The overall survival rate was 7.79 months for the higher dose group, compared with 5.62 months for those on the lower dose.
In other news, gold miner Aureus Mining Inc. (LON:AUE TSX:AUE) has been granted a deferral of debt repayments until 29 April while it completes a mine optimisation plan for New Liberty in Liberia.
SRK Consulting is working on a number of revised mine plan scenarios for the gold operation as part of the discussions underway with Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank and the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa over a new repayment schedule.
Alecto Minerals PLC (LON:ALO), African-focused gold and base metal miner, announced that Paternoster Resources would be converting its $495,000 convertible loan notes to ordinary shares. Application has been made for the 433.5mln conversion shares to be traded on AIM.
"I look forward to having Paternoster as a significant shareholder. They have a strong track record of working, supportively, with successful companies as longer term shareholders," said CEO Mark Jones.
Over at Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (LON:CMCL) the board declared its tenth quarterly dividend of one and one eight of a cent (US).
Natural resources investing company Metal Tiger plc (LON:MTR) cheered shareholders with good news from its Spanish joint venture.
At the Logrosán gold and tungsten joint venture project in Extremadura, alteration mapping and in-fill soil and outcrop sampling has delineated a new gold target area: El Seranillo North
Meanwhile, Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) has declined a second payment under a financing agreed earlier this year due to the potential dilution for shareholders.
The AIM-listed miner agreed a share and warrant deal worth £6mln with Crede Capital on 4 January to be paid in four tranches of £1.25mln.
Elsewhere, Petroceltic International Plc (LON:PCI) revealed that development drilling is going to plan in Algeria.
Analysis of the group’s flagship Ain Tsila gas and condensate field results indicated that it is in line with the pre-drill prognosis, and the anticipated offtake rates are comparable to certain previous wells which delivered flow rates of 30mln cubic feet per day during testing.
Over at Keywords Studios PLC (LON:KWS) it revealed a 55% increase in group revenue to €58mln in 2015 as its acquisitive growth strategy continued to build momentum.
The video games development outsourcing group told investors that gross margins improved to 37.6% in the twelve months to December 31 2015, from 34% the year before.
Nutritional products giant Royal DSM has signed up to develop new products using the OptiBiotic technology platform developed by AIM-listed OptiBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI).
The collaboration agreement is another endorsement of the technology developed by OptiBiotix, which specialises in developing products to combat obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes.
And finally, PureCircle Limited (LON:PURE), the high purity stevia ingredients producer, said trading in the first three months of 2016 continued to be strong.
The three month period – the third quarter of the company's financial year – saw sales growth in line with the first half of the financial year.