Synairgen’s (SNG) shares have pared back by around a third since they hit a record high earlier in the summer, when the small biotech firm revealed positive results for trials of its Covid-19 treatment SNG001. The drug is an inhalable version of interferon beta, a naturally-occurring protein which helps the body’s antiviral responses.
The company, whose market value has more than trebled in the past six months alone, has now extended the second phase of the trial to include a further 120 patients with Covid-19.
A £14m equity raise in March allowed Synairgen to conduct the initial clinical trial activity, as well as boost its research and development spending by 164 per cent. But this vastly increased expenditure also widened its operating loss to £5.1m from £2.2m in the 2019 half-year, though financials are of secondary importance at this stage of proceedings.
The company has made patent applications for SNG001, and has entered a managed access program with Clinigen (CLIN) to provide the drug to hospitalised patients in the UK and the EU.
FactSet places consensus forecast losses per share of 7.2p for the 2020 full year, compared to losses of 3.6p in 2019.
| SYNAIRGEN (SNG) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 158p | MARKET VALUE: | £236m | |
| TOUCH: | 157-159p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 249p | LOW: 6p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NA | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 8p | NET CASH: | £10.7m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2019 | nil | -2.19 | -1.62 | nil |
| 2020 | nil | -5.07 | -3.11 | nil |
| % change | - | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na |
