Silence Therapeutics plc, (LON:SLN) a leader in the discovery, delivery, and development of novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases with unmet medical need, announced today its unaudited interim results for the half year to 30 June 2017.
Highlights
– Continued progress on our drug pipeline with plans to file our first GalNAc IND application by end 2018
– First European siRNA company to successfully develop its own proprietary GalNAc platform, demonstrating competitive performance alongside American peer siRNA companies
– Recruitment of Dr. Torsten Hoffmann as Chief Operating Officer, bringing substantial R&D organisational experience from Pharma to our drug development efforts
– Reorganisation of Berlin operations, reducing headcount and increasing outsourced work to improve platform throughput and efficiency
– Continued strengthening of Intellectual Property (IP) estate with granting of important European and US patents in addition to filings of further European and US divisional and continuation patents respectively
– Increased investment in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc (“Arrowhead”) from 4.7% of the outstanding share capital of Arrowhead at 31 December 2016 to 9.2% for a further cash outlay in 2017 of £4.9 million
Post Half-Year Events
– Capital Markets Day to be held November 14th, 2017, to disclose early data from our GalNAc platform and plans for our pipeline programmes
– In July 2017, licensee Quark Pharmaceuticals (“Quark”) announced positive results of a Phase 2 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of an siRNA treatment for the prevention of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in subjects at high risk following cardiac surgery, utilising Silence’s patented chemical modifications
– Showing commitment to Silence’s IP estate, the Company issued a claim in the UK High Courts of Justice (Patents Court) on July 3rd, 2017, naming as defendants Alnylam UK Limited, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc, and The Medicines Company UK Limited
Financial Highlights
– Loss after tax of £5.5 million (2016 H1: £4.7 million)
– Cash and cash equivalents of £29.8 million (H1 2016: £47.6 million, FY 2016: £39.0 million)
Ali Mortazavi, Chief Executive Officer of Silence Therapeutics plc, commented: “The first half of 2017 has been a transformative and highly productive period for the Company. Silence now has a broad set of options to create shareholder value. Importantly, our core business of drug discovery and development is fully operational. We have a technology which works, freedom to operate, and the right team to utilise this technology to develop high conviction therapeutic candidates in a range of diseases.
“In addition to our internal efforts, we believe that Silence’s critical siRNA stabilisation chemistry is represented in several of the most advanced, late stage RNAi clinical studies. As detailed in our press releases, we believe that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals requires a licence from Silence which, if granted, could have a material financial impact on the market capitalisation of our Company. In July 2017, we were pleased to see the positive outcome of the Phase 2 results of our existing licensee, Quark, in Acute Kidney Injury, further validating our stabilisation chemistry.
“At the start of the year, we increased our stake in Arrowhead to 9.2%, highlighting our expectation that 2017 will be the year of RNAi, and that with our multi-pronged strategy, Silence is well positioned to capitalise on success in the RNAi therapeutic modality and deliver value for shareholders.”
Stephen Parker, Non-Executive Chairman of Silence Therapeutics, commented: “This period has seen a strong performance from all parts of your Company, with improved management and controls adding to the excellent progress of the research group. We look forward to sharing the research progress in November at the Capital Markets Day, when we expect to be able to update shareholders on the progress of our initial GalNAc-siRNA pipeline candidates.”
