INTERIM REPORT FOR KANCERA  AB (publ) JANUARI 1ST – JUNE 30TH 2017

PERIOD 1 JANUARI – 30 JUNE 2017 IN BRIEF

• R&D expenses for the period amounted to SEK 25,1 million (SEK 8,7 million) of which the second quarter amounted to SEK 16,8 million (SEK 4,4 million)

• Operating profit for the period amounted to SEK -27,7 million (SEK-10,5 million) of which the second quarter amounted to SEK -18,0   million (SEK -5,5 million)

• Profit after financial items for the period amounted to SEK -27,7 million (SEK -10,5 million) of which the second quarter amounted to SEK -18,0 million (SEK -5,5 million)

• Earnings per share for the period amounted to -0,20 kr (-0,10 kr) of which the second quarter amounted to -0,13 kr (-0,05 kr)

• Cash flow from operating activities for the period amounted to SEK -25,6 million (SEK -9,2 million) of which the second quarter amounted to SEK -16,2 million (SEK -2,9 million)

• Shareholders’ equity amounted on 30th June 2017 to SEK 60,1 million (SEK 71,1 million) or 0,41 kr (0,54 kr) per share

• The equity ratio on 30th June 2017 was 79 percent (86 percent). Liquid funds on 30th June 2017 amounted to SEK 54,1 million (SEK 68,7 million)

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DURING THE SECOND QUARTER

• Kancera has announced that the company has completed the acquisition of the Fractalkine project, for autoimmune diseases and cancer, from Acturum Real Estate AB.

• Kancera has, in collaboration with Thomas Helleday’s research team at Karolinska Institutet, reported that the company’s inhibitor of PFKFB3 works in synergy with a new class of drugs called PARP inhibitors which have proved to be effective against hard-to-treat forms of ovarian and breast cancer.

• Kancera announced that the company, within the framework of the EU research program SYNTRAIN, has hired two international industry graduates to strengthen the company’s research on how DNA repair can be disturbed in cancer cells –  a new way of attacking the disease. The first three years of research are funded entirely by the EU through a grant of approx-imately 500 000 Euro. 

• Kancera announced that a clinical Phase I study with KAND567 has started in The Netherlands in collaboration with the clinical contract company QPS

• The Annual General Meeting of 30th May 2017 adopted the results and balance sheet, granted the Board of Directors and the CEO discharge for the financial year 2016 and resolved to re-elect all Board members and auditors.

  • Kancera announced that Sweden’s Innovation Authority VINNOVA has awarded the company’s Fractalkine project a grant of a total of SEK 1,000,000 aimed at projects identified as having “a very high level of innovation and commercialization potential”. The purpose of the grant is to contribute to preparation for phase II studies.

  • The Board of Directors of Kancera AB (publ), with the authorization of the Extraordinary General Meeting of 19th June 2017, implemented a new share issue of SEK 23.7 million before issue costs. Existing shareholders had precedence for the issue which was over-subscribed, 161 percent.

STATEMENT FROM THE CEO

During the second quarter, Kancera started a Phase I study in the Fractalkine project. The study aims to document the drug properties, safety and tolerance of the drug candidate KAND567 in healthy subjects. The study is now proceeding according to plan, with incrementally increasing single doses. 

The next step in the clinical development of KAND567 is to study safety as well as the effect on disease markers in patients with cancer and/or autoimmune diseases. Preparations for these studies have begun during the summer thanks to the share issue carried out in June that contributed approximately SEK 23 million to the company. The preparations include development of a capsule formulation for oral treatment and the safety studies required for a three-month treatment with KAND567.

In June, Kancera participated in the largest biotech conference of the year which this year was held in San Diego. Kancera received attention during the conference both in the magazine “Bio Buzz” ((http://kancera.com/sv/Press/Nyheter/Artikel-om-Fraktalkin-projektet-i-BIO-Buzz/) and from american radio who interviewed us for the upcoming program “Tech Nation”. These media were particularly attracted to write about Kancera due to the fact that drugs that affect the Fractalkine system could counteract diseases that arise in an aging immune system, including cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. 

During the Bio Meeting in San Diego we were given the opportunity to present all of Kancera’s four projects for major pharmaceutical companies and some of the medium-sized American biotech companies. Several of these Biotech companies are enjoying strong growth after successfully developing their own revolutionary drugs. The companies showed special interest in the Fractalkine blocker as a new clinical phase inhibitor, and in the PFKFB3 inhibitors for the opportunity to combine them with PARP inhibitors against severe ovarian and breast cancer.

Thomas Olin,
CEO Kancera AB (publ)