M6G trials raise CeNeS' 2006 loss to L9.7M

In 2006, Cambridge, UK-based drug developer CeNeS raised funds of L4.5 million ($8.9 million) net of expenses through placing new shares. The firm, which specializes in agents for central nervous system disorders, says that its net loss after tax widened to L9.7 million from L6.7million in 2005, due to planned step-up in clinical development activities on a Phase III trial of morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G), its novel drug for the treatment of post-operative pain.

CeNeS submitted a US Investigational New Drug application for M6G in March and is in the process of finding a partner for the agent. The firm describes the filing as a key milestone in its history and represents a major step forward in the clinical development of M6G. European Phase III studies have demonstrated the advantages of using M6G compared to the standard post-operative pain morphine regimen, noting that M6G gives equivalent pain relief but causes less side effects than morphine, the firm noted.

Nomura Code analyst Samir Devani told the UK's Financial Times that CeNeS could have filed on the back of data from an ongoing Phase III trial in Europe but that it "wasn't sufficiently good enough to file. CeNeS has to go back and do further studies which a partner will have to pay for."