Shield Therapeutics PLC (LON:STX) said it hopes to have chosen a US commercial partner for its breakthrough iron deficiency drug by the end of the year.
But it added “choosing the correct partner with attractive commercial terms is more important than meeting an arbitrary deadline”.
Last month Shield past a significant milestone by winning broad label approval for the iron deficiency drug Accrufer in the States, opening a market analysts believe is potentially worth US$1bn a year.
It plans to achieve that target by tying up with a group that will sell the Shield product to the world’s largest market.
Half-yea update
The update was provided alongside its interim results, which revealed Accrufer, which is sold as Feraccru in Europe, was enjoying early commercial traction in the UK and Germany.
Its partner in Europe is a company called Norgine, which has “has a significant number of sales representatives and key account managers promoting Feraccru”.
Results for the six months ended June 30 revealed Shield posted revenues of £2.6mln, up from £500,000 a year earlier, and a much reduced loss of £2mln (down from £8mln).
More importantly for a business preparing for commercial success, it had a cash cushion of £6.6mln.
Shield studies
During the period, Shield delivered a positive result from its AEGIS-H2H non-inferiority study, triggering a £2.3mln development milestone from Norgine.
Its long-term follow-up of patients enrolled in AEGIS-CKD clinical study was also a success.
Turning to China, Shield said it expects a further clinical study will be required to gain approval for Feraccru. However, it expects a local commercial partner will pick up the tab for this.
“We remain optimistic that an out-licensing agreement may also be concluded before the end of 2019,” the company said of its Chinese negotiations.