C4X Discovery bosses optimistic despite multi-million pound loss

C4X Discovery Holdings plc (C4XD) is “well positioned” to provide future value to shareholders despite making a multi-million pound loss before tax in its last financial year, according to the company chairman.

The Manchester-headquartered drug discovery and design firm made a pre-tax loss of £3.06m in the 12 months to July 31, which is £1.9m more than the loss made the previous year.

C4XD posted a revenue of £312k for the period, compared to £619k in 2014, with the cash primarily generated through collaborating with partners.

Research and development expenses, meanwhile, rose by over £1.97m to hit £3.15m during the year, a figure C4XD has attributed to an increase in activity and headcount following its AIM listing.

C4DX completed its IPO in October last year, raising £11m before expenses from the move.

Clive Dix, the company chairman, said: “With the successful IPO, C4XD has secured the funding that enables us to advance our lead programme in Orexin, for the treatment of addiction, into formal pre-clinical safety and toxicity studies.

“We have also designed lead compounds against multiple targets, further validating our platform. The support and confidence of our collaboration partners, AstraZeneca, Evotec and Takeda […] provides independent recognition of the significant impact our novel approach can make in enabling ultra rational drug design.

He added: “I am delighted with the progress made since IPO and believe the business is well positioned to deliver future value for shareholders.”

C4DX reported net assets of £7.96m as of July 31, in comparison to net liabilities of £1.33m in 2014.

The firm today (October 28) announced that it has entered into a collaborative research project with the University of Oxford’s Structural Genomics Consortium department.

The university’s professor of translational medicine, Prof. Chas Bountra, who is the department’s chief scientist, said of the arrangement: “We are pleased to partner with C4XD and are excited about the potential of this alliance.

“C4XD has a highly innovative chemistry technology which complements our strong research base to accelerate product development.”