Sareum Holdings Plc (LON:SAR) posted a maiden profit as it received first payments from licensing lead product, a Chk1 inhibitor cancer candidate, to Sierra Oncology.
The Sierra licence triggered an upfront payment of US$1.9mln to Sareum meaning an overall profit of £573,000 (£485,000 loss) in the half year to December. Cash holdings were £2.34mlm (£335,000).
Since the half year it has passed a futher milestone worth US$550,000 to Sareum.
Tim Mitchell, Sareum’s chief executive, said that with development funding for Chk1 now arranged it will accelerate work at its three other programmes and especially TYK2 targeting psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune disorders, in partnership with SRI International
"We have previously reported the efficacy of our TYK2 inhibitors, including SAR-20347, in disease models of psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and colitis, and, in the latter two cases, how our compounds compare favourably with a marketed JAK family kinase inhibitor."
SAR-20347 has also received a US$360,000 grant to investigate its use as potential treatment for lupus.
“No further payments from the Chk1 licence agreement are expected in the current period and future payments will be dependent on Sierra Oncology achieving further milestones or Sareum striking licensing agreements with its other programmes. However, we expect to end the current financial year with a modest profit, “ said Mitchell.