Phytopharm's loss narrows 22.2%

UK-based drug developer Phytopharm says that its losses for the six months ended February 28 were L2.8 million ($5.7 million), a 22.2% reduction from the L3.6 million deficit it recorded in the year-earlier period. The firm said that the improvement had been brought about by several factors, including a doubling of its revenues, which reached L1.59 million, and a 12.9% drop in its selling, general and administrative expenses to L940,000.

Phytopharm said that the majority of its revenues in the period had been generated through two collaboration agreements, namely its deals with USA-based companies Unilever, with which it is developing the Hoodia weight management product, and Schering-Plough, which sees the latter responsible for selling the UK company's plant-based canine health product Phytopica worldwide.

The firm said that, for the remainder of 2007, it would concentrate on moving Hoodia through to the third stage of clinical development, but would also seek to out-license other pharmaceutical products from its pipeline. It added that it expects revenues from Phytopica to increase as the product is made available in more countries.