Synairgen shares plummeted 23.6% to 26.6p in late afternoon trading on Wednesday, after the company reported a research and development tax credit uptick to £9.2 million from £3.8 million, leading to a post-tax loss of £48.7 million in FY 2021 compared to £13.9 million in FY 2020.
The pharmaceutical group announced a £57.9 million loss from operations, against a loss of £17.7 million the year before, with research and development expenditure growing to £52.9 million from £15.5 million linked to its SPRINTER Phase 3 trial manufacturing activities.
Synairgen highlighted a cash balance of £33.8 million compared to £75 million in FY 2020.
The results of the company’s SPRINTER Stage 3 trial for its inhalable drug SNG001 failed to meet its required endpoints, however, Synairgen confirmed that it had potential for future development, and that the treatment had proven safe for patient use.
The firm said it intended to explore the effects of the drug and conduct additional research and analysis in FY 2022.
“Since the completion and reporting of the Phase 3 SPRINTER data and subsequent analyses of different high-risk patient groups within the trial, we remain encouraged that SNG001 has the potential to show clinically important benefits in preventing disease progression and death in patients with severe viral lung infections,” said Synairgen CEO Richard Marsden.
“We are now working in haste on discussions with platform trial organisers and investigators, as well as regulatory authorities, the pharmaceutical and biotech industry and government bodies to identify and establish the optimal method of conducting further trials to confirm these findings and move forward, not just for COVID-19, but also as a potential treatment for patients hospitalised due to a range of viruses including influenza, RSV, adenovirus, para-influenza and rhinoviruses.”
The Synairgen share price doesn’t look set to recover in the immediate future, however the pharmaceutical company remained hopeful that its research and investment would yield progress in the coming year ahead.