Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings PLC (LSE:OCTP), which is developing cannabis-derived pharmaceutical treatments for pain relief, said it expects to report financial results in line with expectations as it updated on the progress of its drug pipeline.
It spent £920,000 on research and development in the six months to the end of November. A total of £604,000 was invested in lead candidate OCT461201 for neuropathic and visceral pain.
As at the end of the first half, the company was well-financed with £12mln in the bank.
OCT said that due to technical issues “requiring additional optimisation of the crystal development for scale-up manufacturing” the phase I trial of OCT461201 would commence in the first quarter of next year rather than Q3 2022.
Investors were also told that the company’s Programme 2, an inhaled drug for an acute and fast-onset facial pain called trigeminal neuralgia, was subject to a short delay to its phase I study, which has been bumped to Q4 2022 from Q3.
This, investors were told, was “due to unforeseen challenges in the capacity of partners caused by the increased demand in laboratory time generated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic”.
In both cases, the delays are unlikely to affect the time it takes to get to phase II in the clinical evaluation process.
In the update, OCT said its aim is to identify two drug candidates from a cannabinoid library exclusively licensed from Canopy Growth for pre-clinical development by the end of this year.
The company also has changed its accounting year-end from May 30 to April 31.