Silence Therapeutics PLC (AIM:SLN) said the first half of 2021 was a period marked by strong execution by the group.
Revenue surged to £5.85mln in the six months to the end of June from £1.15mln the year before.
The specialist in short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) therapeutics for the treatment of diseases with significant unmet medical need ramped up the research & development (R&D) in the first half of the year, with spending on R&D rising to £15.6mln from £10.2mln the year before, largely as a result of investment in experienced personnel and clinical trial expenses related to the advancement of its proprietary programmes, SLN360 (developed to combat “bad cholesterol”) and SLN124 (a treatment for anaemia).
The increase in activity also saw an increase in administrative expenses to £9.1mln from £5.2mln the previous year, resulting in a wider post-tax loss of £20.0mln compared to £11.0mln in the first half of 2020.
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of June stood at £71.2mln, up from £10.3mln a year earlier, after the company received strong support for a share placing in the US that raised £30.8mln.
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“The progress we made across both our proprietary and partnered pipelines underscores our firm commitment to maximise the substantial opportunity of our mRNAi GOLD platform and enable 2-3 INDs [investigational new drugs] per year beginning in 2023,” said Mark Rothera, the president and chief executive officer of Silence Therapeutics.
"Looking ahead, we have now fully enrolled four cohorts of the APOLLO study of SLN360 in healthy individuals living with high levels of Lp(a) and we anticipate top-line data in the first quarter of 2022. We look forward to discussing the progress of our SLN360 and SLN124 programmes as well as our broader pipeline in more detail during our R&D Day on Thursday, October 21st in New York City,” he added.
Shares in Silence were down 0.8% at 703p in the first hour of trading.
This morning, we reported our half year results and highlights of recent period activity. We will host a LIVE webcast TODAY at 8am EDT /1pm BST to discuss them and a replay will be available following via: https://t.co/VGG14ikvW9. READ more: https://t.co/W5eOG5LbGL #GeneSilencing pic.twitter.com/pBCETG6PHW
— Silence Therapeutics (@SilenceTheraPlc) August 12, 2021