Shares in Scancell Holdings Plc (LON:SCLP) soared after the company revealed a funding deal with Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
The charity is to fund and sponsor a Phase I/II clinical trial of Scancell’s SCIB2 lung cancer vaccine.
Scancell said the tie-up was a “significant endorsement” of its ImmunoBody platform – the underlying technology behind both SCIB1 and SCIB2 which helps to prime a patient’s immune system to recognise and kill specific cancer cells.
In an interview with Stocktube’s Andrew Scott, the chief executive officer of Scancell, Richard Goodfellow, said the company had been working with the CRUK for a number of months on the collaboration.
“They were immensely impressed with the company and its technology,” Goodfellow revealed.
The CRUK will not only be paying for the trial but also for the manufacture of the materials to good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards, Goodfellow added.
“They’ll do all the preparatory work on the materials to make is usable for patients, and all the regulatory work, and do a proof of principle trial in patients, so that’s an enormous commitment,” Goodfellow declared.
At the end of the trial, Scancell will have the option to acquire the rights to the data to support the further development of SCIB2 itself.
Shares in Scancell were up 11% at 13.875p on the news.
Lionsgold and PCG Entertainment continue their strong run
Synairgen has been knocked off the top spot by Lionsgold Ltd (LON:LION), which has been going like a train since releasing results on Monday.
Today’s 32% rise brings the gain over the last week to an eye-popping 322%, and it is probably safe to say that the excitement has been caused by the gold explorer’s venture into the world of digital currency through Goldbloc, rather than its gold exploration activities in India.
Another stock feeling the benefit of a results statement issued this week is PCG Entertainment Plc (LON:PCGE), the Asia-Pacific online gaming and media company.
It said on Monday that its gambling licence from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada has been renewed.
Meanwhile, with almost US$2mln in cash it is taking its time over assessing potential deals.
It’s fair to say that PCG has had a torrid time this year, but it can draw encouragement from iodine recovery specialist Iofina plc (LON:IOF) if it is looking for an example of a company that can bounce back from hard times.
Iofina’s shares rose 19.2% this morning, taking the year-to-date gain to 63%, bringing some much-needed relief to shareholders who had endured three fallow years.
Today’s rise followed an encouraging production update.
Production at the company's four operating IOsorb plants has continued to deliver encouraging results, with better than expected iodine volumes in the second half, the company said.
Construction of its IO#7 plant remains on track, it added.
Synairgen soars on Pharmaxis deal
The top riser on the London stock market this morning was Synairgen plc (LON:SNG) after the drug discovery tiddler received a £5mln cash boost.
The shares shot up 39% to 15.25p, lifting the market capitalisation to £18.3mln.
The company has handed responsibility for its fibrosis treatment programme to Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) in return for a payment of £5mln and 17% of any partnership agreement.
Under the revised terms, Pharmaxis will take on full operational responsibilities for the programme, including the ongoing Phase I trial of PXS-5382.
Pharmaxis is independently developing a second treatment to cover multiple fibrotic conditions and Richard Marsden, Synairgen’s chief executive, said it would be more effective to have a single point of focus in any partnering discussions.
Synairgen will retain a 17% interest in any partnership across all fibrotic indications without any obligation in future to fund future developments.
“Given that large pharma has paid up to $600m upfront for NASH [non-alcoholic steatohepatitis] assets in Phase II with $1bn+ milestones and royalties, there remains a substantial upside opportunity for shareholders,” said finnCap, which has increased its forecast of year-end net cash to circa £6.5mln from its previous estimate of £1.6mln.
“The cash received from Pharmaxis will be sufficient to fund the Phase IIa study (c.£3-4m) looking at the impact of inhaled interferon on reducing exacerbations in COPD patients, caused by viral infections. The trial, yet to start, should complete by end 2018,” Synairgen’s house broker added.
READ Synairgen planning winter trial as it develops inhaled interferon beta drug for COPD
Sports Direct's sales growth in UK heartland stalls
Sports Direct International PLC (LON:SPD) took a shin-kicking early doors after disappointing with its interims.
First-half profits plunged as the company closed loss-making stores and sold assets, including its stake in JD Sports and Dunlop.
READ Mike Ashley's Sports Direct slumps as first-half profits and UK sales drop
The shares lost more than a tenth of their value as the cheap sportswear flogger saw its reported profit before tax hit by fair value adjustments to its assets, but underlying profit before tax rose 23% to £88mln.
On the down side, there was a drop in UK Sports Retail revenue and a reduction in the gross margin.
“Sports Direct’s corporate governance practices continue to attract headlines for all the wrong reasons, with independent shareholders rejecting an £11m payment to Mike Ashley’s brother on Wednesday,” noted Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Unfortunately the lack of transparency also stretches to the ‘Selfridges of Sport’ initiative. Mike Ashley has described trading at the new format stores as ‘spectacular’, but it’s difficult to see evidence of that in the numbers. Improved profits are being driven by cost cuts rather than sales growth – which is actually negative in the UK,” he noted.
“The tail of strategic stakes and small regional operations continues to grow. At a time when the company is undertaking a major revamp of its core UK operations it’s difficult to imagine that this isn’t a distraction for management,” Khalaf opined.
Proactive news headlines:
Synairgen plc (LON:SNG) has handed responsibility for its fibrosis treatment programme to Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) in return for a payment of £5mln and 17% of any partnership agreement.
Iofina plc (LON:IOF) said crystalline iodine production at the company's four operating IOsorb® plants has continued to deliver encouraging results, with better than expected iodine volumes in the second half, and construction of its IO#7 plant remains on track.
Atlantis Resources Limited (LON:ARL) is to transform itself into a diversified renewable energy company with the acquisition of a significant power generation asset leading to a change of name. The AIM-listed tidal power developer has agreed to acquire SIMEC Uskmouth Power Limited (SUP) from SIMEC UK Energy Holdings Limited, a GFG Alliance company, the owner of a 220 megawatt capacity power plant in South Wales which will be converted to use an end-of-waste energy pellet as fuel.
Premier African Minerals PLC (LON:PREM) has reported more high grade mineralisation from its latest drill hole at Zulu in Zimbabwe.
Directa Plus Plc (LON:DCTA) said Romanian energy firm GSP is to evaluate the use of Grafysorber, Directa’s graphene-based product for environmental applications.
Cyber-security specialist Corero Network Security PLC (LON:CNS) has displaced a competitor with its SmartWall technology at a North American regional internet service provider (ISP).
Digital media and social video specialist Brave Bison Group PLC (LON:BBSN) has extended its commercial partnership with Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSA) by two years.
ReNeuron Group Plc (LON:RENE) has been given the green light from US authorities to kick off a phase IIb study of its CTX cell therapy candidate for stroke disability. Long-term data from the PISCES II trial earlier this year showed the treatment has the potential to improve the disability of stroke patients.
Sareum Holdings Plc’s (LON:SAR) chairman Stephen Parker will tell shareholders at Thursday’s annual general meeting that the cancer drug discovery and development firm has enjoyed a “year of significant progress”. The AIM-listed group licensed its Chk1 inhibitor and lead candidate SRA737 to US firm Sierra Oncology just over a year ago.
C4X Discovery Holdings plc (LON:C4XD) boss Clive Dix expects the drug discovery firm to make “significant progress” over the coming months after laying down the foundations for success over that past year. Back in November the company released data on an antagonist it has developed for the Orexin-1 receptor – the part of the brain which governs a person’s addictive behaviour.
Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) has entered into a secured aircraft revolving facility agreement with a leading international bank which will be used to finance aircraft or part portfolios of passenger aircraft on lease to commercial airlines. The AIM listed firm said the initial facility amount is US$100mln with interest based on either fixed or floating rates. The optimal duration for loans under the facility is up to 36 months.
Scancell Holdings Plc (LON:SCLP), a developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, and Cancer Research UK, the world's leading cancer have entered into a Clinical Development Partnership to develop Scancell's ImmunoBody® vaccine, SCIB2, for the treatment of patients with solid tumours, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) PLC (LON:EOG) has had a “record year” for corporate activity, chairman Colin Bousfield told investors ahead of today’s AGM. “The company agreed no fewer than seven transactions for the financial year ending 31 July 2017, all of which are in line with our strategy to advance our asset base towards value trigger events such as drilling, whilst managing the associated risks,” Bousfield said in a statement.
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) told investors that it has now completed the first phase of 2D seismic and magneto-telluric (MT) data acquisition for its Eastern Morocco. It is the first of four phase programme which is designed to assess the exploration potential of the assets, which will be followed up by drilling.
Savannah Petroleum PLC (LON:SAVP) told investors that its proposed US$250mln equity funding will be priced between 40p and 50p per share. At this level, the company would be worth between £375mln and £400mln. Big Pic in March.
Sunrise Resources Plc (LON:SRES) highlighted project milestones and looked forward to an active 2018 as it released its full year results statement at Wednesday’s stock market close. The AIM-quoted mining group, focussed on projects in Nevada, put the spotlight on its strategic decision to focus on the CS Pozzolan-Perlite project where it is advancing towards a production start-up target in 2019.
Tertiary Minerals plc (LON:TYM) has given a bullish assessment of prospects following an uptick in the fluorspar price and a recent strategic relationship with commodities group Possehl.
Tanzania focused Katoro Gold PLC (LON:KAT) has completed a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey at its Imweru gold project.
Concepta PLC (LON:CPT) said its myLotus fertility product got an “excellent reception” at its inaugural meeting for potential China distributors in Shanghai on 22 November 2017, and added that it anticipates 2018 to be “a transformational year” for the group.
Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd (LON:FARN), the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, has said it plans to host an R&D Day on Wednesday, 21 February 2018, at Panmure Gordon's offices, One New Change, London, EC4M 9AF. The group said the event will provide an opportunity to hear about the company, its R&D strategy and pipeline developments, with a focus on Clevegen, Faron's second wholly-owned pipeline product approaching the start of Phase I/II development in 2018.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) said it was informed today that Neil Ritson, the natural resources group’s executive chairman has added to his holding in the firm with the purchase of a further 3mln shares at 3.75p each. It said the purchase takes Ritson’s holding in the company to 4.65mln ordinary shares, representing a 1.19% stake.
Collagen Solutions PLC (AIM:COS) has confirmed the appointment of Hilary Spence as its chief financial officer with effect from 3 January 2018, taking over from Gill Black who has decided to step down as CFO and from the board for family reasons.
CentralNic PLC (LON:CNIC), the global software platform company supporting subscription web services including domain names, has bolstered its senior leadership team with the appointment of Vladimir Vano as group economist and head of communications for the Slovak market. Vano has a career of over twenty years in the banking, research, consulting and media sectors, having also served as external advisor for monetary affairs to the deputy prime minister and minister of finance of the Slovak Republic.
Aminex plc (LON:AEX) announced the appointment of Brian Cassidy, group general counsel, as its company secretary with immediate effect. The group added that Max Williams will continue in his other roles of director and chief financial officer.
Capital Networks has issued a research note on PCF Group Plc (LON:PCF) following the specialist lender’s recent full year results. Analyst James Dolman said he has maintained his EPS target for PCF for 2020 at 3.84p based on a net interest margin of 8.0%, which Dolman considers “inexpensive especially given the portfolio asset growth of 20% in the financial year”.
Capital Networks has issued a research note on Harvest Minerals Limited (LON:HMI), with analyst Sam Catalano saying he continues to believe that “the near-term cashflow generation potential for Harvest Mineral shareholders is compelling.”