Arecor ends 2022 in line with forecasts

Biopharmaceutical company Arecor Therapeutics said in an update on Thursday that its financial performance for 2022 was in line with market expectations, as it closed the period with an unaudited cash balance of £12.8m.

The AIM-traded firm said its proprietary portfolio of diabetes products was continuing to make “excellent” progress.

Headline results from the second phase one clinical trial of ts ultra-rapid acting insulin candidate, AT247, announced in October, demonstrated faster insulin absorption than currently available gold-standard rapid acting insulins, NovoRapid and Fiasp.

The group was also continuing to execute its partnering strategy with major pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and continuing to grow its portfolio of partnerships, such as its recent exclusive formulation study collaboration established in November with the pharmaceutical division of “one of the world's largest chemicals marketing and pharmaceutical companies”.

Tetris Pharma, the specialty pharmaceutical company acquired by Arecor in August, meanwhile continued the European commercial roll out of its key diabetes product, Ogluo, a proprietary ready-to-use glucagon autoinjector pen indicated to treat severe hypoglycaemia.

Following an earlier UK launch, the product had been available to patients in Germany since November, and was launched in Austria earlier in January.

A service agreement between Tetris Pharma and Syneos Health, signed in December, would support the product's continued, accelerated roll-out across Europe, with additional launches planned across key European territories throughout the year to further support anticipated revenue growth.

“We have once again seen significant progress across our internal portfolio of proprietary products and within our partnered programmes, which truly reflects the strength and broad applicability of our formulation technology,” said chief executive officer Sarah Howell.

“In addition, our recently acquired subsidiary, Tetris Pharma, is successfully executing the European roll out of its lead product, Ogluo.

“We look forward to further delivery of our strategy in 2023 and will update the market further in our preliminary results.”

At 1552 GMT, shares in Arecor Therapeutics were up 11.9% at 235p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.