Summit Therapeutics' loss expands on one-off charges

For the three months ended 31 October, losses before tax totaled £9.4m, up from a loss of £2.3 recorded over the same period last year, as the company suffered at the hands of a cash charge related to share-based payment expense, resulting from the surrender of share option awards.

However, over the nine months ended 31 October the company has swung from an £8.9m loss to a £12.7m profit as revenue increased by 28% to £54.3m.

Glyn Edwards, chief executive of Summit, said: "As we continue to build out our antibiotics portfolio, we are focusing on the development of differentiated new mechanism antibiotics which we have the potential to demonstrate clear advantages over current standards of care. The promise of two of our product candidates has been recognised through separate funding awards."

Summit was awarded up to $4.5m of non-dilutive funding in July to support the preclinical and Phase 1 clinical development of SMT-571, a treatment of gonorrhoea.

“In the third quarter of 2018, we announced a programme targeting hospital-acquired infections caused by the ESKAPE pathogens. This programme further highlights the potential of our Discuva Platform to identify new mechanism antibiotics and to be a source for antibiotic innovation moving forward," said Edwards.

At 31 October, the company had cash and cash equivalents of £16.7m, up from £13m at the same point last year, which Summit said will be sufficient to cover the costs of its activities until the end of September 2019.

Summit Therapeutics’ shares were up 0.66% at 18.37p at 1640 GMT.