Sareum Holdings Plc (LON:SAR) swung to a full-year loss but said it had made strong progress with potential therapies for certain cancers and autoimmune diseases during the year.
The company, which specialises in small molecule drug development, on Monday reported an operating loss of £1.7mln in the year to the end of June compared to the profit of £0.35mln it made a year ago.
READ: Sareum selects potential anti-cancer molecule for further development
Sareum it was pleased with the progress Sierra Oncology was making with SRA737 (to potentially treat tumours identified to have genetic aberration) in expanding and adapting the clinical development programme based on cutting-edge science and emerging data. It expects the preliminary clinical data to be available in the first half of 2019, and the start of a third clinical trial of SRA737 in combination with niraparib to start before the end of 2018.
The AIM-listed company said that potential of TYK2/JAK1 inhibitors - potential therapies for certain cancers - as a treatment modality was gaining increasing clinical and commercial validation and that it believes it has strong candidates with optimised profiles in these areas.
"The advancement of these candidates through preclinical development and, pending satisfactory progress, into human clinical trials, is a clear focus for the Company,” CEO Dr Tim Mitchell said in a statement.
“Our strategic goal is to generate compelling evidence for the potential of these candidates in their respective disease areas to facilitate a licensing agreement at an optimal value. In the meantime, we will continue discussions with potential licence partners for these exciting candidates," he added.