e-Therapeutics reports 'another successful year' as a streamlined and strengthened drug-developer

In its full-year results statement, drug-discovery technology specialist e-Therapeutics (LON:ETX) reported “another successful year”, in which It raised £4.5m in new capital and reduced its operating costs to focus directly on drug development.

"2009 was a positive year for e-Therapeutics, which remains focused on maximising the commercial benefits of our proprietary drug discovery platform. Our technology and expertise position e-Therapeutics at the forefront of the growing and exciting network pharmacology arena”, e-Therapeutics chief executive Professor Malcolm Young commented.

In the reporting period,  the company has streamlined and reinforced its activities across drug development, raised capital to fund e-Therapeutics' growth, developed relationships with key partners and established the infrastructure to execute its development plans.
“The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly recognising that drugs interact in multiple ways with proteins in the body, the medical consequences of which our network technology helps to predict.  We therefore look ahead with confidence, as e-Therapeutics continues discussions aimed at further developing our own drug portfolio and deploying our unique de-risking technology commercially", Young added.

E-Therapeutics has developed proprietary complex systems that can predict the biological effect of interference with one or many proteins in a cell.

According to e-Therapeutics, these very fast processes have been shown to predict biological effects accurately. The company uses its capabilities to search for new drugs across several therapeutic areas; to search for new clinical uses for existing drugs; and to identify the probability of drug-drug interactions and toxicity.

During the twelve months ended 31st January, the company raised a total of £4.5m, with a £2 million investment from Octopus Ventures Ltd in March 2009, and a £2.5 million placing with Gartmore in November 2009. At year-end, 31 January 2010, e-therapeutics had a cash position of £2.88 million, and the company reported an annual burn rate £1.9 million, including drug development expenditure.

In terms of its outlook for the future, e-Therapeutics said it has a broad clinical pipeline, combining mid- and late-stage pharmaceutical products along with earlier stage opportunities. “E-Therapeutics' novel discovery and de-risking platform is becoming increasingly well validated, demonstrating far higher productivity than conventional platforms and enabling e-Therapeutics to continue to deliver many valuable new development candidates to its portfolio."

In the coming year, e-therapeutics intends to remain focused on the progression of its drug development programmes, securing strategically important licensing partners and broadening its pipeline with new, de-risked drug candidates.

“2011 will be an exciting period in the company's growth trajectory and we look forward to reporting further progress with our clinical programmes. We are confident that we can achieve our goal of becoming a strongly cash-generative business in the medium term," the CEO added.