Redx Pharma PLC on Wednesday said its half-year loss nearly doubled, due to lower revenue and higher expenses, but it noted progress in therapeutics trials and said it ‘retains the foundations for longer term success’.

Redx Pharma is a Macclesfield, England-based clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing targeted therapeutics for the treatment of fibrotic disease and cancer.

For the six months that ended March 31, Redx Pharma reported a pretax loss of £20.6 million, compared with a £9.7 million loss the prior year.

Revenue decreased 72% year-on-year to £2.3 million from £8.4 million. At the same time, research and development expenses increased 25% to £16.1 million from £12.9 million.

Redx Pharma incurred reverse takeover expenses of £2.4 million. Redx had announced an all-share trans-Atlantic merger with Jounce Therapeutics Inc in February, but this was terminated in March after Jounce agreed to be bought by Concentra Biosciences LLC instead.

Redx Pharma’s cash balance at March 31 was £34.6 million, up from £31.6 million a year before. It said this was sufficient to fund operations into the first quarter of the 2024 financial year and is still evaluating alternative options to extend its cash runway beyond this period.

‘We remain very enthused by the data to date from our clinical portfolio, and the overall momentum within our pipeline,’ commented Chief Executive Officer Lisa Anson.

‘Whilst disappointed that the announced merger with Jounce did not complete, we remain well positioned to deliver multiple near-term value inflection points. Redx retains the foundations for longer term success and shareholder value creation and our board will continue to explore all options to secure the funding required to further enable this.’

Shares in Redx Pharma were down 4.2% at 34.00 pence in London on Wednesday.

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