British drug discovery firm C4X confident of striking deals

© Reuters. British drug discovery firm C4X confident of striking deals

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's C4X Discovery said on Tuesday it was confident of striking partnership deals for its programmes in therapy areas such as sickle cell, cancer and inflammation, sending the AIM-listed company's shares up 5%.

C4X Discovery uses genetic databases to target patients likely to respond to drugs and virtual technology to create 3D models of molecules that can predict behaviour in the body.

It then looks to license the drug candidate to a pharmaceutical partner to continue development into the clinic.

Chief Executive Clive Dix said the company had built a portfolio of new medicines that would be attractive to partners, as demonstrated by the National Institutes of Health awarding Indivior a grant to help progress the clinical development of its C4X3256 molecule as a potential treatment for opioid use disorder.

"We are very confident about delivering these deals in the near future and beyond," he said.

Discussions had confirmed interest in its NRF-2 candidate in sickle cell disease, with the drug's activators shown to increase foetal haemoglobin and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.

"Recent exciting new industry sickle cell disease data supports the potential of our NRF-2 activator programme as an alternative treatment for poorly served patients," he said.

"This new data supplements learnings from our early discussions and increases our confidence towards a sickle-cell disease focused out-licensing."