Losses widen as 4D Pharma focuses on investment

Biotherapeutics-focussed pharmaceutical company 4D Pharma issued its final results for the year ended 31 December on Monday, reporting net assets of £69.8m at year-end, down from £86.5m a year earlier.

The AIM-traded firm said its cash and cash equivalents, including cash on deposit, fell to £50.0m during the year, from £68.8m.

It made a total comprehensive loss after tax of £19.4m, widening from £10.3m, making for an adjusted loss per share on a basic and diluted basis of 26.08p, compared to 15.21p in 2016.

On the operational front, 4D reported the successful progression of its proprietary clinical programmes in irritable bowel syndrome and paediatric Crohn's disease.

It also reported the completion of the first clinical trial of the ‘MicroDx’ diagnostic and patient stratification platform, which reportedly validated the platform, representing the achievement of the initial milestone from the acquisition of 4D Pharma Cork in February 2016.

Data generated in that clinical study demonstrated the company’s ability to use patient microbiome and metabolite profiles to differentiate IBS subjects from healthy individuals, and the commonalities of the microbiome across all IBS subtypes, supporting the use of Blautix - 4D’s live biotherapeutic for the treatment of IBS, in all of the tested subgroups.

The year also saw the development of the company’s intellectual property estate, which the board claimed was the largest in the microbiome sector, to help secure and consolidate its position in the field, having at year end 207 granted patents and 320 patent applications from 32 patent families.

It also secured GMP certification for the production of live biotherapeutics at its development and manufacturing facility in León, Spain, with the potential capacity to run up to 100 million capsules per annum.

“The year has seen significant progress towards our goal of producing live biotherapeutics as safe and effective therapies,” said chairman David Norwood.

“With its upcoming programme of trials, 4D is well placed to deliver meaningful clinical data to support the use of live biotherapeutics across multiple indications.

“I would like thank everyone in the group for their contribution to the progress we have made in 2017.”