NeuTec Pharma's six-month losses hit L2.9M

Manchester, UK-based biopharmaceutical company NeuTec Pharma recorded losses of L2.9 million ($5.0 million) for the six-months ended December 31, 2005, up from the L1.6 million reported in the same period in 2004. The firm says that the increase is related to a one-off cost it incurred associated with the regulatory progress of its antibody-based treatment for invasive candidiasis Mycograb, which it first submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) in March 2005.

Additionally, NeuTec's developmental methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus treatment, Aurograb, which is also antibody-based, has entered European Phase III clinical trials, and have recruited 150 patients at a total of 24 hospitals. The program will assess the product in combination with the antibiotic vancomycin, which is the current gold standard treatment.

NeuTec's chairman, Anthony Martin, commenting on the results, said that the company was awaiting the EMEA's decision in relation to supplementary Mycograb data that it submitted. Dr Martin added that the firm had secured finances sufficient to fund its developmental and regulatory programs, and that its intellectual property portfolio was both robust and expanding.