January 1 – March 31, 2012
All figures relate to the Kancera Group unless otherwise specified. The 2011 comparison figures for operating income and income after financial items were affected by the release of negative goodwill of SEK 7m that arose in connection with the acquisition of iNovacia; the entire amount was recognized as revenue during Q1 2011. Furthermore, comparison figures for 2011 were affected by the fact that Kancera acquired iNovacia on February 17; consequently, figures for Q1 2011 include iNovacia’s sales and income for 1.5 months only.
Q1 2012 in brief
- Net sales of external contract research for the quarter totaled SEK 0.7m (SEK 0.6m).
- R&D expenses for the quarter totaled SEK 4.7m (SEK 4.6m).
- Operating income for the quarter totaled SEK -7.8m (SEK 0.9m).
- Income after financial items for the quarter totaled SEK -7.8m (SEK 0.7m).
- Earnings per share were SEK -0.52 (SEK 0.06).
- Cash flow from operating activities for the quarter totaled SEK -7.9m (SEK -5.0m).
- Equity as of March 31, 2012 totaled SEK 18.1m (SEK 38.1m) or SEK 1.19 (SEK 3.33) per share. The equity/assets ratio on the reporting date was 57 percent (72 percent).
- Cash and cash equivalents totaled SEK 12.6m (SEK 34.4m) on March 31, 2012 and SEK 6.7m (SEK 25.1m) for the Parent Company.
Significant events in the first quarter
- In collaboration with Professor Matthias Löhr of the Karolinska Institute, Kancera demonstrated that its ROR inhibitors are effective in a highly challenging human pancreatic cancer model. Efficacy is significantly superior to that of gemcitabine, today’s standard treatment. Kancera presented these results at Bio Europe Spring in Amsterdam.
- Kancera presented its structure-based design of active compounds targeting cancer metabolism at the World Cancer Metabolism Summit in Washington.
- Kancera presented results from its ROR project which demonstrate that the company’s active compounds are significantly more specific than four competing kinase inhibitors that are being developed to target chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The results were achieved in collaboration with Professor Håkan Mellstedt and his research team at the Karolinska Cancer Center.
- Kancera filed a patent application for a chemical series of ROR-inhibiting small molecules with pharmaceutical properties.
- iNovacia AB reported that it had entered into a collaboration with Boston-based Agios Pharmaceuticals relating to the identification of chemical starting points for one project using iNovacia’s high-speed screening and chemical library.
Significant events after the end of the reporting period
- Kancera announced that its ROR inhibitors have the capacity to kill leukemia cells from 50 percent of patients who are no longer benefiting from the drugs currently available for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, opening the way for a possible breakthrough in the treatment of the most common form of chronic leukemia. The studies were carried out in collaboration with Professor Håkan Mellstedt and his research team at the Karolinska Cancer Center.
- Kancera announced that, in cooperation with Professor Håkan Mellstedt and his research team at the Karolinska Cancer Center, it had developed antibodies that allow the development of a diagnostic tool for the identification of patient response to treatment with Kancera ROR inhibitors.
- Kancera’s ROR project was selected by the American Society of Clinical Oncology for presentation at this year’s major conference in Chicago on June 1-5, 2012. The scientific results will be presented by Professor Håkan Mellstedt in a paper entitled “Effect of ROR1 targeting small molecules on chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells”.
- Kancera presented its cancer projects at a seminar on “Lead Generation and Structure-Based Drug Design in Cancer Research” at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Boston, USA, on Friday, April 27, 2012.
- The board has based on the resolution taken by the Extraordinary General Meeting of Kancera AB held on November 10, 2011, decided to issue new shares with preferential rights against payment in cash. The share issue shall not exceed 3 787 000 shares and the price shall be 2.30 SEK per share. A fully subscribed new share issue would provide Kancera AB circa 8,7 MSEK before issue costs.
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