Destiny Pharma ‘well-funded’ to complete Phase 2 clinical trial
(AIM: DEST ) said it has made “great progress” in its half-year results for the six months to 30 June 2020 with the group successfully navigating its clinical trial of its drug XF-73 amid COVID-19.
Destiny reported a strong balance sheet with cash and term deposits as at 30 June 2020 of £5.6m (FY19: £7.5m) with R&D expenditure at £2.3m (1H19: £1.7 million), which the group said reflected its increased investment in clinical research.
The clinical stage biotechnology group outlined that it had recruited 88 patients out of the target of 125 for its Phase 2b clinical study of lead drug candidate, XF-73, after agreeing a protocol amendment with the FDA in July to reduce the size of the study as well as reporting excellent interim safety data.
The company said this change in the trial of drug XF-73, which is being tested to prevent post-surgical hospital infections, enabled a reduction in the defined study size from 200 patients to 125 ‘while maintaining the statistical power of the study and its clinical value’ and was keen to stress that ‘the reduced size of the study does not compromise its integrity, statistical relevance or clinical objectives.’
“We look forward to completing patient recruitment by the end of 2020 and announcing results in Q1 2021. This is the major value driver for the company,” said CEO, Neil Clark.
Post Balance Sheet Events
Earlier this month the group entered a collaboration agreement with SporeGen Limited to co-develop SporeGen's SPOR-COV product as a novel, preventative treatment for COVID-19.
“Our pipeline of unique infection prevention products has recently been expanded with SPOR-COV, a novel, preventative treatment for COVID-19. This product is being co-developed with SporeGen and supported by an £800,000 Innovate UK grant,” said Clark.
Shares in Destiny Pharma have continued to climb over the past two weeks and opened this morning 5.17% higher at 61p following the news.
Clark added that COVID-19 has highlighted vividly “the healthcare impact of infectious disease” and that Destiny sees its own, “unique pipeline” as having the potential to deliver novel commercially attractive products in order to prevent life threatening infections.
Destiny received six grant awards worth over £2.5 million since 2018, which is being used to help develop new clinical candidates from its XF pipeline and the SPOR-COV project. The group said this was demonstrative of the potential value of its growing pipeline.
Outlook
Due to its strong financial position, Destiny Pharma told investors that it is well funded through to Q4 2021 to complete its Phase 2 clinical development of its lead drug, XF-73.
Destiny noted the increased international support to develop anti-infective drugs to address the issue of antimicrobial resistance and said it is ‘well-positioned’ to meet this global need.
In a morning research note, Equity Development said the group “had blossomed in mid-2020, highlighting that its expanded pipeline now spans the two most contemporary issues in biotech – the microbiome and the prevention of COVID-19 infections.”
Equity Development suggested that the chances of success for the study of XF-73 that has demonstrated nasal decolonisation in healthy volunteers ‘should be high.’ It said it anticipates that Destiny Pharma will license XF- 73 after Q1 2021 and launch in 2024.
For now, the group maintains ‘good momentum’ in patient recruitment of the clinical study and is on plan to complete recruitment by the end of 2020 and report results in Q1 2021.
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