Arecor Therapeutics
plc
("Arecor" or the
"Group")
YEAR END TRADING
UPDATE
- Patient enrolment
complete in AT278 clinical trial and on track for key data readout
in 1H 2024
-
First commercial launch
of product incorporating Arestat™, AT220, triggering milestone
payment and now generating royalties
-
New
revenue-generating technology partnership agreements
signed
-
Total Income of
£5.6 million (2022: £3.5 million) including grant
income
-
Total Group
revenue of £4.6 million (2022: £2.4 million) representing c.90%
growth
-
Tetris Pharma
product sales increased to £2.9 million (2022: £1.0 million) with a
focus on the commercial roll-out of Ogluo®
-
Cash and cash
equivalents balance of £6.8 million, ahead of market
expectations
Cambridge, UK,
1 February 2024: Arecor Therapeutics plc (AIM:
AREC), the biopharmaceutical group advancing today's therapies to
enable healthier lives, provides a business update and announces
that its audited final results for the 12 months ended 31 December
2023 will be issued during the week commencing 22 April
2024.
Sarah Howell,
Chief Executive Officer at Arecor, said: "With a first commercial product incorporating Arestat™
launched in late 2023 and now generating royalties, license
milestones triggered on partnered products, a stream of new pharma
technology partnerships and continued momentum with our diabetes
portfolio clinical development, we continue to realise the
potential of our Arestat™ platform and, in doing so, are building a
significant biopharmaceutical company. We are encouraged by the
continued success of the Tetris Pharma roll-out of Ogluo® across
the UK and Europe, which is reflected in strong sales performance
as awareness and access to this key diabetes product increases.
Looking forward, with further partnerships anticipated from our
in-house proprietary specialty hospital portfolio, in addition to
key Phase I clinical data for AT278 expected in 1H 2024, we look
forward to continued growth and value creation for
2024."
Trading for
the full year ended 31 December 2023
The strong commercial performance across the
Group is reflected in the increased revenue for the full year of
£4.6 million or c. 90% growth compared to £2.4 million recognised
in the prior year. Total Income of £5.6 million (2022: £3.5
million) included grant income from the Innovate UK 2021 award. The
Group closed its financial year with cash and cash equivalents of
£6.8 million (2022: £12.8 million).
Revenue, total income, closing cash and cash
equivalents balances are unaudited, with the Group's audited
results to be issued during the week commencing 22 April
2024.
Licensed
programmes - validating the value of the
Arestat™ platform to patients and growing a
diversified revenue stream
Commercialisation by Arecor's partner of the
first product incorporating Arestat™ technology, AT220, was a
significant milestone for the Group, further demonstrating the
strength of its technology and its value to partners and ultimately
patients. The first commercial sale in November triggered a license
milestone payment and Arecor is now receiving royalties on product
sales with initial royalties for the short period post launch
included in 2023 revenues.
In addition to AT220, Arecor has two further
partnered programmes under license - Hikma's development of
ready-to-use injectable medicine AT307, and Inhibrx's development
of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency therapy AT292 (INBRX-101), which
continue to advance well under our partners'
control and have both generated license milestone payments to
Arecor within FY 2023.
Last month, Inhibrx and Sanofi
announced that the companies have entered into a definitive
agreement under which Sanofi will acquire all the assets and
liabilities associated with INBRX-101. That announcement is a
further endorsement of the Group's Arestat™ platform and highlights
both the value of this novel therapy for patients and its future
commercial potential. The Group believes that Sanofi is well placed
to complete the late-stage development of this novel medicine and,
ultimately, bring it to patients in need.
In December, the Group announced a
co-development and exclusive licence option agreement with a
leading global medical products company for a high-value,
ready-to-dilute oncology product from Arecor's proprietary
Specialty Hospital pipeline. The agreement involves further
co-development and regulatory work which is now underway. The
agreement includes an option for the partner to exercise a license
to further develop and commercialise the product, with Arecor
eligible to receive potential developmental milestones.
Technology
partnerships - new revenue-generating collaborations
Our portfolio of technology partnerships with
leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, to enhance
their proprietary products across a range of indications and stages
of development, continues with five new agreements signed in 2023
and earlier this year. These continue to validate the strength and
the need for the Arestat™ technology
platform, provide near term revenue generation and also significant
upside recurring revenue potential from future
licensing.
In November, the Group signed a further
collaboration with an existing partner, Lilly, to develop a
novel liquid formulation of one of Lilly's key
products with enhanced properties. That was followed last
month with the expansion of an ongoing, exclusive formulation study
collaboration with the pharmaceutical division of one of the
world's largest chemicals marketing and pharmaceuticals companies,
to develop a differentiated, ready-to-use liquid formulation of the
company's product, AT351. In both collaborations, the Group's
partners are funding the development work with options to acquire
the rights to the new proprietary formulations and associated
intellectual property under Arecor's technology licensing model.
Both illustrate partner companies' confidence in the Group's
expertise and its value as a partner of choice in the development
of enhanced safe, efficacious and more convenient treatments that
improve patient outcomes.
Further technology partnerships, the
out-licensing of programmes from those partnerships, together with
new licenses from the Group's proprietary pipeline, are anticipated
to continue driving revenue growth in 2024.
Diabetes -
creating a disrupter insulin
Diabetes has reached pandemic levels, with
approximately 537 million adults living with diabetes
worldwide. There are still significant unmet needs in
diabetes care and the Group is focussed on developing much faster
acting and more concentrated, rapid acting insulins, to improve
treatment options and outcomes for this growing patient population
within the existing $6.4 billion meal-time insulin market. The
Group's Phase I clinical study of ultra-concentrated, ultra-rapid
acting insulin candidate AT278 in the type 2 diabetes population,
has completed patient enrolment and is on track to deliver results
in 1H 2024. AT278 has the potential to be a critical enabler in the
development of next generation miniaturised and longer wear insulin
delivery systems, which are a significant area of focus for the
major insulin device companies today.
Tetris Pharma
- continued success of Ogluo® roll-out
The Group's specialty pharmaceutical business,
Tetris Pharma, continues to build sales momentum through the
commercial roll-out of its ready-to-use glucagon
auto-injector pen for severe hypoglycaemia, Ogluo®. The increase in Tetris Pharma product sales to £2.9
million (2022: £1.0 million) was driven by Ogluo®, which now
represents the majority of product sales. The appointment last
month of Dr. Helen Parris as Senior Vice President, Commercial and
General Manager of Tetris Pharma, is an important catalyst to
continue to drive Tetris Pharma revenue.
This announcement contains inside
information for the purposes of the retained UK
version of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU)
596/2014 ("UK MAR").
-ENDS-
For more
information, please contact:
Arecor
Therapeutics plc
|
www.arecor.com
|
Dr Sarah Howell, Chief Executive
Officer
|
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 426060
Email: info@arecor.com
|
|
|
Susan Lowther, Chief Financial
Officer
|
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 426060
Email: info@arecor.com
|
|
|
Panmure Gordon
(UK) Limited (NOMAD and Broker)
|
|
Freddy Crossley, Emma Earl (Corporate
Finance)
Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
|
|
|
WG Partners
LLP (Financial Advisor)
|
|
Nigel Barnes, Satheesh Nadarajah
David Wilson, Claes Spang
|
Tel: +44 (0)203 705 9321
|
|
|
ICR
Consilium
|
|
Chris Gardner, David Daley, Lindsey
Neville
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700
Email:
arecor@consilium-comms.com
|
|
|
Notes to
Editors
About
Arecor
Arecor Therapeutics plc is a globally focused
biopharmaceutical group transforming patient care by bringing
innovative medicines to market through the enhancement of
existing therapeutic products. By applying our innovative
proprietary formulation technology platform,
Arestat™, we are developing an internal portfolio of
proprietary products in diabetes and other indications, as well as
working with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to
deliver enhanced formulations of their therapeutic products. The
Arestat™ platform is supported by an extensive patent
portfolio. For further details please see our
website, www.arecor.com