C4X Discovery Holdings PLC on Thursday said its annual loss widened, but it remains positive in its outlook, citing a partner programme with AstraZeneca PLC.

The Manchester, England-based drug discovery company said pretax loss in the financial year that ended July 31 was £10.5 million, widening by 78% from £5.9 million a year earlier.

Revenue fell by 52% to £2.7 million from £5.6 million, while research and development expenses grew by 14% to £9.4 million compared to £8.3 million.

Net assets on July 31 were £11.8 million, down 39% from £19.3 million a year earlier.

C4X noted that after the end of the recent financial year, it agreed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with AstraZeneca for its NFR2 Activator programme in November, worth up to $402 million.

The deal with the Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical company is worth up to $402 million to C4X. This includes up to $16 million plus $2.0 million upfront in pre-clinical milestone payments and a further $385.8 million in potential development, regulatory and commercialisation milestones.

‘We continued to make strong progress as we grow and advance our portfolio of novel small molecule candidates for out-licensing. The AstraZeneca deal validates both our drug discovery expertise and our strategy of collaborating through early-stage, revenue- generating licensing deals with leading pharmaceutical companies to deliver therapeutics of the future,’ said Chief Executive Officer Clive Dix.

C4X Discovery said outlook remained strong as a result, despite its widening loss, as the AstraZeneca agreement took the total potential value of its deals to around $1.2 billion.

It said it was in its ‘strongest position ever’ as a result.

Shares in C4X Discovery were down 3.1% to 20.10 pence in London on Thursday afternoon.

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