Ovoca Bio to dispose of Russian assets

Biopharmaceutical company Ovoca Bio announced on Wednesday that it will be disposing of certain Russian assets to the private Russian company Desirix.

The AIM-traded firm said cash consideration was set at RUB 84.6m Russian rubles, which equates to around £0.94m or €1.05m at current exchange rates.

It said the disposal was related to Ovoca's clinical development product Orenetide; specifically the Russian patents for Orenetide, the results of completed scientific development of Orenetide in Russia, and the right to own a marketing authorisation for Orenetide in Russia.

Ovoca said it expected the disposal to be completed by 31 March.

Following the completion of the disposal, all operational activities of Ovoca in Russia would cease, and its Russian subsidiary IVIX would be transferred to an inactive, non-operating status.

The proceeds from the disposal would be used for general corporate purposes.

“Regretfully, it has proved increasingly difficult to continue Ovoca's operations in Russia under the current constraints and this has led us to conclude that a disposal of our Russian assets is the correct course of action for the wider business,” said chief executive officer Kirill Golovanov.

“However, we are optimistic about further increasing the value of our global assets associated with Orenetide as a potential treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder in wider international markets, including the US and EU.

“We look forward to providing further updates in due course.”

At 1118 GMT, shares in Ovoca Bio were up 6.67% at 6p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.