Newron shares fall 4.1% as H1 loss doubles on rising costs

Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA

12/09/2019 08:26

** Newron  NWRN.S  shares fell 4.1% after the Swiss drug
company reported a 14 million euro ($15.42 million) loss in the
first half, double that of a year ago
    ** Analysts from Bank Vontobel said the operating loss was
more than double their expectations
    ** The company said increased outflows came from what it
termed "expected increased investment" into an ongoing study
with sarizotan, for Rett syndrome, and preparations for its
development program for schizophrenia hopeful evenamide
    ** With evenamide, Newron has met with U.S. Food and Drug
Administration concerns and has been forced into additional
explanatory studies, a blow to its plans to enter late-stage
development
    ** While revenue from the company's Parkinson's disease
medicine Xadago rose 11% to 2.2 million euros, the income was
still below Vontobel's estimates 
    ** "Royalties from Xadago increase at a very slow pace and
pipeline news tend to get delayed," Vontobel's Stefan Schneider
wrote. "We are surprised that operating income is so low, as the
pushing out initiation of the evenamide trials should have eased
expenses significantly for this year, which is obviously not the
case."
    ** Cash is down to 39.4 million euros, from 43.9 million at
the close of 2018
    ** Newron shares have lost about 85% of their value since
early 2015

($1 = 0.9079 euros)

 (j.miller@thomsonreuters.com)