C4X Discovery Holdings PLC (LON:C4XD) said its focus will be to further expand its portfolio, continue to build its network of partnerships and advance the pipeline of proprietary and partnered projects.
The drug discovery company recently signed a €414mln agreement with French giant Sanofi for its IL-17A oral inhibitor programme, which is its second major deal after partnering with Indivior in 2018.
READ: C4X Discovery happy in the pre-clinical world as partner list grows
“With two programmes now successfully partnered and a roadmap of potential cash milestones over the next 12-24 months, the board is confident that, through the delivery of next generation, high quality out-licensing opportunities, C4XD can deliver significant value for shareholders,” chief executive Clive Dix said in a release.
In the six months to 31 January, R&D investment was £3mln while cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and deposits at period-end were £15mln.
Post-period it received a €7mln upfront payment from Sanofi and £1.8m R&D tax credit for the year ended 31 July 2020. C4X said it has enough funding for the foreseeable future.
The AIM-listed firm is progressing work with Indivior for their for opioid use disorder treatment, having completed a single-ascending dose study in healthy volunteers this month.
The pair are now preparing for a multiple-ascending dose study.
C4X said one of its NRF-2 lead activators demonstrated significantly inhibit disease score in a pre-clinical model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), so candidate nomination and preliminary safety studies continue.
Another candidate for IBD treatment showed promise and discussions with potential partners are underway.
The group also identified three novel series in its collaboration to progress a small molecule MALT-1 inhibitor programme with LifeArc.
Following scientific progress over the last year, C4XD is now taking on the leadership of the MALT-1 programme from LifeArc to drive it towards the later stages of drug discovery and deliver a commercial deal.