ReNeuron raises £10m for development

Stem-cell technologies researcher ReNeuron Group plc posted a first-half loss of £2.5m, up from £1.9m.

Research and development expenditure rose to £1.7m from £1.1m, reflecting an increase in pre-clinical development activity in the ReN009 peripheral arterial disease programme and an increase in costs relating to the ReN001 stroke programme arising from the start of the PISCES clinical trial.

Cash outflow from operating activities for the six months to September was £2.0m, up from £1.5m. The company finished the period with cash and equivalents of £3.5m (2009: £2.1m).

Revenues were £18k (2009: £14k), representing royalty income from non-therapeutic licensing activities.

ReNeuron announced a share placing and subscription to raise £10m before expenses.

It said the equity issue would provide pre-clinical and clinical development funding for core therapeutic programmes for the next two years, ahead of potential commercial partnering deals.

Chairman Trevor Jones said the period had seen significant progress, culminating last month in the treatment of the first patient in the PISCES clinical trial of the company's ReN001 stroke therapy.

'This takes our stroke programme into its clinical development stage and places ReNeuron in the forefront of the development of treatments for disabled stroke patients using neural stem cells.

'Our other core therapeutic programmes continue to progress to plan and we are pursuing further opportunities to exploit the therapeutic potential of our lead CTX stem cell line.

'Once the fund-raising announced today has completed, the business will be funded to take its core therapeutic programmes through to meaningful clinical development milestones, setting the company on its course as one of the world's leading clinical-stage stem cell therapy businesses.'

The shares were down 0.98p at 5.88p.

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