Prelims from drug developer e-Therapeutics PLC (LON:ETX) charted a period of “fundamental change”, which included the appointment of a new chief executive and the focus on fewer projects.
The departure of Malcom Young last year saw the recruitment of Dr Ray Barlow from Amgen.
He will oversee the company’s ‘refocus’ towards drug discovery and the core in silico platform and away from clinical development.
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As part of this drive, ETX is streamlining the number of discovery projects to six from 12 in order to improve efficiency.
The acquisition of a company called Searchbolt allowed ETX to secure ownership of its intellectual property.
"The business has changed fundamentally in the past 12 months,” said chairman Iain Ross.
“We are now focusing on our core strengths around our unique drug discovery platform and the discovery of novel preclinical drugs.
“The priority has been to ensure we have the right infrastructure, skills and capabilities in place to execute our business strategy. We approach the coming year with increasing optimism."
The firm exited the year to January 31 with cash of £14mln. It posted an operating loss of £16.3mln, which included an impairment charge of £2.8mln, while its discovery spend was £7.6mln. It received R&D tax credits of £3.1mln.