ImmuPharma PLC (AIM:IMM) announced a corporate overhaul aimed at saving £1.1m per year from 2022 and said it is preparing for late-stage trials for its lead asset.
The reorganisation will see ImmuPharma France SA and Ureka SAS merge into one company, based at the firm’s R&D facility in Bordeaux, France.
It will be known as ImmuPharma Biotech SAS, and chief operating officer, Dr Tim Franklin, will be president. Dr Sebastien Goudreau will oversee day-to-day activities.
The company’s Swiss subsidiary will be dissolved.
The update follows a recent streamlining of the board and management, which led to the appointment of chairman Tim McCarthy as chief executive, and Franklin as COO.
"The last few months have seen significant changes in the leadership of the company and today we are announcing similarly, major changes in the way ImmuPharma will be organised and managed,” said McCarthy.
“We have created positive and constructive changes within the business, with a focus on the delivery of product development, value-added milestones and a much more commercially focused corporate strategy.
“The new board, together with the excellent team and collaborators supporting us, are determined to progress the development and commercialisation of all the key assets in our portfolio and to build shareholder value.”
In the same announcement, ImmuPharma said “active preparation” was being made for a phase II/III clinical study to evaluate lead asset P140 in a new area of interest - chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy ("CIDP"). This is a neurological disorder targeting the body's nerves.
Known as Lupuzor, P140 is also being developed for the treatment of the autoimmune disease Lupus with partner Avion Pharma readying to take the drug into a phase III trial.
In a separate statement, ImmuPharma released its interim results in which it said it had £4.2mln in the bank as at June 30. The loss for the six months was £3.7mln.