Mereo widens operating loss as drug development continues
Clinical stage, UK-based, biopharmaceutical company focused on rare and specialty diseases, Mereo BioPharma Group, announced its audited preliminary results for the year to 31 December on Monday - a year in which it was admitted to the AIM market on 9 June.
That admission followed a private placement raising a further £14.8m of capital in addition to the £56.5m drawn down earlier in the year from the previous financing round, which brought the total raised since July 2015 to £91.3m.
Mereo claimed that its balance sheet remained strong, with cash and cash equivalents at 31 December of £53.6m.
The company did widen its operating loss during the year to £36.18m from £13.16m, although basic and diluted losses per share narrowed to 63p from 101p in 2015.
Its phase 2 dose-ranging study was initiated with acumapimod (BCT-197) during the period, for treatment of the underlying inflammation in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD.
The phase 2b dose-confirmation study was also initiated with BGS-649 for the treatment of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in obese men, and a six month safety extension study was initiated in the fourth quarter.
Mereo said it was on track to report interim analysis in March.
The company also obtained ‘Orphan Drug Designation’ in the US and the EU for BPS-804 as a treatment for osteogenesis imperfecta, and conducted a “positive” phase 1 drug-drug interaction study with acumapimod and azithromycin.
Mereo’s board reported that efforts were made to strengthen intellectual property across the portfolio during 2016.
“This year we have made significant progress on all three of our programmes with two now well advanced in the clinic and the third set to enter a pivotal study,” said chief executive officer Denise Scots-Knight.
“We remain focused on executing against our strategy, delivering data on our current programmes and continuing to build our portfolio of differentiated, late stage products over time,” Dr Scots-Knight added.