The year to the end of September was, by the company's own admission, an extraordinary one for drugs company Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX).
The company entered administration in May 2017 but then exited as a going concern in November with a strengthened board and management team, cash of £13.9mln and a reduced cost base.
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Given the turbulent events of 2017, which saw a major long-term creditor tip the company into administration, investors might be somewhat surprised to learn the profit & loss numbers were positive, albeit thanks to the sale during the year of the company's Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK inhibitor technology and drug development programme for US$40mln.
The sale meant revenue rose from zero last year to £30.5mln this time around, resulting in the company turning a profit of £1.53mln versus a loss the previous year of £15.52mln, it said in a statement releasing its full year results..
Net cash flow was positive at £18mln, compared to an outflow of £3.7mln the year before, thanks mainly to the BTK assets sale and £12.4mln raised through a share issue.
Even before the administrators stepped in, the group had begun to focus the pipeline of development projects and to reduce the in-house headcount and resources, but this process was accelerated during the period when the company was in administration.
The group now has a more focused research and development pipeline, which consists of two prioritised development programmes and five other programmes in research.
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During the year, Redx's lead programme, the RXC004 cancer treatment, progressed through pre-clinical development and in June 2017, the clinical trial application was approved by the MHRA for a Phase 1/2a clinical study that will include hard-to-treat cancers such as gastric, pancreatic and biliary.
It is anticipated that this drug will enter the clinic in the first quarter of 2018.
Meanwhile, the group expects to announce a development candidate from its discovery programme in the field of molecular mechanisms underlying fibrosis by the middle of next year.
“With the reduction in the cost base already implemented, coupled with making further progress in refining our discovery portfolio, I remain confident that our cash together with our partnering initiatives will enable us to achieve our medium-term objectives,” said company chairman Ian Ross, who has taken on executive duties while the company looks for a new chief executive officer.
“At Redx we believe we have a world-beating discovery capability, and with a newly focused and committed team and a targeted commercial partnership strategy, we see the next few years as exciting ones for the group and its shareholders. I look forward to reporting further progress over the next few months, including the appointment of a new CEO and further announcements in respect of the development of the pipeline,” Ross said.
Shares in Redx were unchanged on the results.