SR's 2006 income soars 282% on Pfizer deal

London, UK-based RNAi therapeutics specialist SR Pharma says that its full-year 2006 turnover increased to L1.9 million ($2.6 million) from L510,000 the year before, boosted by an initial fee it received under a recent licence agreement with Quark Biotech and Pfizer for one of its AtuRNAi compounds (Marketletter October 2, 2006).

The firm says that its operating loss of L4.27 million contains a number of large, non-cash items, which significantly impacted on the group's profitability. Non-cash items in this operating loss include depreciation, amortization, the charges in respect of share options and the accrual for national insurance associated with them, which total L1.07 million. Adjusting for these items would bring the cash utilization of the group down for 2006 to just over L3.0 million, the company noted.

SR Pharma's 2006 highlights included: the publication of strong preclinical data on its lead internal development AtuRNAi molecule in pancreatic cancer; and positive preclinical data supporting the systemic application of its siRNA-lipoplex (AtuPLEX) technology in oncology applications. In 2007, the firm expects its cash burn to rise as several of its drug candidates enter the clinic.