PuriCore completes disposal of supermarket retail business
Updated : 15:23
Emerging specialty biopharmaceutical company PuriCore announced on Monday that the disposal of its supermarket retail business, as first indicated on 20 September, had completed.
The AIM-traded firm said gross proceeds of the sale were $13.5m, subject to a final adjustment for net working capital.
Following completion, the operations of the business were to be be transitioned to Chemstar over the next few months.
PuriCore said its focus will continue to be the development of a product candidate pipeline in several therapeutic areas based on high concentration formulations containing the company's proprietary immunomodulatory technology.
Investment in development is expected to increase in support of the filing of the two Investigational New Drug applications, the board said, and following acceptance by the US Food and Drug Administration, subsequent commencement of clinical studies in 2017.
The group will also continue to have a modest revenue stream from the royalty associated with the wound care product which is licensed to SteadMed Medical, it added.
“The sale of the supermarket business signifies the transformation of PuriCore into a fully-fledged drug development company,” said CEO Alex Martin.
“We have already made good progress this year with two INDs on track for submission in Q1 2017 and an FDA agreed pathway for our atopic dermatitis programme.
“We anticipate moving straight into a Phase II study in atopic dermatitis.”
Martin said the board will update the market following its November pre-IND meeting with the FDA related to its allergic conjunctivitis programme.
“Our focus is now solely on drug development and the board believes that this strategy should lead to the creation of significant shareholder value over the longer term,” he said.
“We thank all of our team members in the supermarket retail business for their dedication to building this business and supporting the transition to Chemstar.
“We wish Chemstar all the best moving forward.”
At 1022 BST, shares in PuriCore were down 4.23% at 29.21p.