Vernalis shares down on disappointing full year

The AIM-traded firm reported an operating loss before exceptional items of £26.22m, widening significantly from £8.22m in the prior year.

At year-end, it had cash resources of £84.02m, up from £61.26m.

“The last twelve months have seen a major transformation in our business as we launched the first product from our cough cold franchise, Tuzistra XR, into the US market,” said chief executive Ian Garland.

“We have made a significant investment in our commercial infrastructure to support the launch of Tuzistra XR, and this will continue during the product's launch phase as we seek to gain a greater share of the US cough cold market.”

Garland said the company will leverage this investment and its US commercial infrastructure to launch the once-a-day antibiotic, Moxatag, in the second half of 2016.

“The cough cold pipeline continues to mature with CCP-07 and CCP-08 on track for potential approvals in 2017,” he explained.

“Our cash position was bolstered following the recent equity raise to continue the promotional investment in Tuzistra®XR as well as launch Moxatag and our additional products, CCP-07 and CCP-08 in the near term.”

Garland claimed the board remained “very excited” about the growth potential of the business.

At 1557 BST, shares in Vernalis were down 8.15% at 40.87p.