Verona Pharma’s (VRP) busy six months of drug development has come at a cost to the bottom line. A spike in research and development expenditure in the six months to June 2017 widened operating losses from £1.9m to £10.9m. But an increase in shares in issue meant losses per share were softer at 7.3p, compared with 8.7p in 2016.
As biotechnology companies go, there is a lot to like about Verona. Its novel respiratory drug, RPL554, is undergoing several different clinical trials including two studies in Europe: one to assess appropriate dosing and one in combination with another regularly used respiratory drug. There is also an early-stage study in the US. Meanwhile, the net cash balance is healthy at £95m thanks to the group’s recent Nasdaq IPO.
