Vernalis halves losses as revenues surge 
Vernalis, the Cambridge UK pharmaceutical business, has more than halved its interim losses after seeing revenues surge 36 per cent to £5.9 million.
The revenues to June 30 were driven by a significant increase in collaboration income, the company said.With the cost base remaining in line with the first half of 2011, Vernalis more than halved its loss for the period to £3.2m (2011: £7m).
The pharmaceutical technology company reports a strong balance sheet with £84.5m cash resources and is debt free.
The underlying cash burn increased to £2.6m (2011 £1.7m), primarily due to increased frovatriptan royalty income receivables which will unwind in the second half of the year.
A licensing deal with Tris Pharma is already paying dividends for Vernalis. Earlier this year Vernalis gained exclusive rights to Tris' extended release liquid technology for use in the US prescription cough/cold market.
CEO Ian Garland said: “We had a very successful start to the first half of 2012, with the previously announced exclusive Tris licensing deal and associated fundraising.
“Since then Tris has initiated development work and the first three programmes are advancing well. We have progressed well in research where we secured further new collaborations and achieved an increase in revenues.
“The outlook for the remainder of 2012 and beyond is positive, underpinned by our Tris collaboration, strong balance sheet, royalty stream, NCE pipeline and research platform.”
