Addex Reports 2017 Full Year Results and Provides Corporate Update
Robust cash position of CHF45 million following capital raise in Q1 2018
Major global licensing agreement with Indivior in addiction
Geneva, Switzerland, 30 April 2018 – Addex Therapeutics (SIX: ADXN), a leading company pioneering allosteric modulation-based drug discovery and development, today reported its full-year results for the year ended 31 December 2017 and provided a corporate update.
“2017 saw us making significant strides towards rebuilding value for shareholders in Addex. Our concerted efforts in business development and investor relations were rewarded with an important partnership with Indivior PLC, the world’s leading developer of addiction treatments, and a transformational financing, both announced during the first quarter 2018,” said Tim Dyer, CEO of Addex Therapeutics. “These significant achievements will allow us to deliver on multiple key product development milestones in 2018, most importantly the start of registrational studies for our lead allosteric modulator, dipraglurant, in levodopa induced dyskinesia associated with Parkinson’s diease.”
2017 Operating Highlights
Continued preparing dipraglurant for the start of US registration studies
ADX71441 program
Awarded $5.3 million grant from US National Institute on Drug Abuse to support human studies in the treatment of cocaine use disorder
Demonstrated statistically significant effect in preclinical model of osteoarthritic pain
Preclinical data published on effect in alcohol use disorder
Awarded $835,000 grant from The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research to advance TRKB PAMs for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
Key 2017 Financial Data
CHF’ thousands |
2017 |
2016 |
change |
Income |
499 |
411 |
21% |
R&D expenses |
(2,628) |
(2,461) |
7% |
G&A expenses |
(1,106) |
(1,079) |
3% |
Total operating loss |
(3,235) |
(3,129) |
3% |
Finance result, net |
(45) |
(20) |
125% |
Net loss for the period |
(3,280) |
(3,149) |
4% |
Basic and diluted net loss per share |
0.25 |
0.28 |
(11)% |
Net cash increase/(decrease) |
1,219 |
(1,204) |
NA |
Cash and cash equivalents |
2,591 |
1,416 |
83% |
Shareholders’ equity |
1,343 |
219 |
513% |
|
|
|
|
Financial Summary
Income in 2017 was CHF0.5 million compared to CHF0.4 million in 2016, and comprised primarily of grants from The Michel J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research to cover certain clinical activities related to dipraglurant development in Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia and discovery activities related to our TrkB PAM program.
Research and development expenses increased by 8% to CHF2.6 million in 2017, compared to CHF2.4 million in 2016, mainly due to an increase in the number of staff and consultants deployed on the preparation of dipraglurant for registration studies in PD-LID and outsourced research costs on our Trk B PAM program. R&D expenses consist primarily of costs associated with research, preclinical and clinical testing and related staff costs. They also include depreciation of laboratory equipment and leasehold improvements, costs of materials used in research, costs associated with renting and operating facilities and equipment, as well as fees paid to consultants, patent costs and other outside service fees and overhead costs. These expenses include costs for proprietary and third party R&D.
General and administrative expenses remained stable at CHF1.1 million in 2017 compared to 2016. G&A expenses consisted primarily of staff costs, professional fees for legal, tax and strategic purposes, and overheads related to general management, human resources, finance, information technology, business development and communication functions.
The net loss for the 2017 financial year was CHF3.3 million compared to CHF3.1 million for 2016. Basic and diluted loss per share decreased to CHF0.25 for 2017, compared to CHF0.28 for 2016.
Cash and cash equivalents increased by 83% to CHF2.6 million at 31 December 2017, compared to CHF1.4 million at 31 December 2016. This increase of CHF1.2 million is primarily due to the gross proceeds of CHF3.5 million from the sale of treasury shares partially offset by the cash used in operations of CHF2.2 million
Post Year-End 2017 Balance Sheet Events
On March 28, 2018, the Company increased its share capital by issuing 13,037,577 new shares with a nominal value of CHF1 each at an issue price of CHF3.13 per share. Of these new shares, 12,917,129 were placed with investors raising CHF40.4 million of gross proceeds and the remaining 120,448 new shares were recorded as treasury shares, bringing the total outstanding issued share capital to 28,564,031. Each new share received a 7 year warrant to purchase 0.45 of a share at a price of CHF3.43.
On January 2, 2018, the group signed a licencing and collaboration agreement with Indivior PLC for the global development and commercialization of ADX71441 for the treatment of addiction. An upfront payment of USD5.0 million has been received in January 2018.
At 31 March 2018, Addex had cash and cash equivalents of approximately CHF45 million.
2017 Annual Report
The 2017 annual report can be found on the investor relations page of our website
Conference Call Details
A conference call will be held today Monday, 30 April 2018 at 3:00 p.m. CET / 10:00 a.m. EDT to review the financial results. Tim Dyer, Chief Executive Officer, Roger Mills, Chief Medical officer and Robert Lütjens, Head of Discovery will deliver a brief presentation followed by a Q&A session.
Joining the Conference Call:
In the 10 minutes prior to the call start time, call the appropriate participant dial-in number.
Dial-In Numbers :
Switzerland +41 44 580 65 22
UK +44 20 30 09 24 70
US +1 87 74 23 08 30
Provide the operator with the conference ID: 64132152#
Link to Annual Report 2017: https://www.addextherapeutics.com/files/2015/2506/4307/ADXN_Annual_Report_2017_30.04.2018_FINAL.pdf
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About Addex Therapeutics
Addex Therapeutics (www.addextherapeutics.com) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally available, small molecule allosteric modulators for neurological disorders. Allosteric modulators are an emerging class of small molecule drugs which have the potential to be more specific and confer significant therapeutic advantages over conventional "orthosteric" small molecule or biological drugs. Addex's allosteric modulator drug discovery platform targets receptors and other proteins that are recognized as essential for therapeutic intervention - the Addex pipeline was generated from this pioneering allosteric modulator drug discovery platform. Addex's lead drug candidate, dipraglurant (mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator or NAM) has successfully completed a Phase 2a POC in Parkinson's disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID), and is being prepared to enter registration trials for PD-LID. In parallel, dipraglurant's therapeutic use in dystonia is being investigated. Addex's second clinical program, ADX71149 (mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator or PAM) is being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc for epilepsy. In addition, ADX71441 (GABAB receptor PAM) program was awarded a $5.3 million grant by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, a division of National Institutes of Health, NIH) to support human studies in cocaine addiction and has been licensed to Indivior PLC. Discovery programs include GABAB PAM for CMT1A neuropathy, mGluR4PAM, mGluR7NAM, TrkBPAM and mGluR3NAM & PAM.
Press Contacts:
Tim Dyer Chief Executive Officer Telephone: +41 22 884 15 61 Email: PR@addextherapeutics.com |
Mike Sinclair Partner, Halsin Partners +44 (0)20 7318 2955 |
Disclaimer / Forward-looking statements: This communication does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities of Addex Therapeutics Ltd. This publication may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning the Company and its business. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.