Protherics upbeat despite higher losses

UK-based biopharmaceutical company Protherics says that, for the six months ended September 30, 2006, its losses were L4.7 million ($9.3 million), an increase of 27% on the L3.7 million deficit it recorded for the first six months of 2005. The firm explained that the increase was due to the growth of its R&D expenditure, specifically in relation to the development of the sepsis treatment Cytofab (an anti-tumor necrosis factor antibody fragment), which it out-licensed to Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca late last year (Marketletter December 19, 2005).

In addition, the Brentwood-headquartered group said that AstraZeneca's announcement of an expansion of the CytoFab clinical development plan was positive news for its ongoing process scale-up activities. The company added that it expects to receive an additional milestone payment from AstraZeneca during 2007.

Revenues climb 9.3%