ImmuPharma PLC (LON:IMM) Chairman Tim McCarthy caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss the progress of Lupuzor, the key milestones for 2016 and a possible re-rating for ImmuPharma shares
Q1: Now, a lot of progress has been made since you became Chairman, how delighted are you with the activities over the last few months in the progression of Lupuzor?
A1: I’m absolutely delighted because I know that everyone has been waiting for a long time for this Phase III study to start. The fact that it’s now started and we’re recruiting patients is a great boost, not only for the company but obviously for the patients themselves which at the end of the day is the most important thing for those sufferers out there. For all of our long-founding shareholders, I’m delighted that at last we can show progress through to this very important study.
Q2: You attended the Investigators Meeting last Friday as announced today, did you have an opportunity to speak to the lead investigators who will be involved in the Phase III trial?
A2: Yes I did, I travelled to Paris to meet them all and obviously participate in everything and what really came across to me was the enthusiasm that all the lead investigators had for the study. They were very excited and not least they were looking forward to seeing the results from their patients and some of them had experience of Lupuzor in the past and that voice is very positive and the fact that they’re following through on this final study, I think they’re really almost as excited as we are as a company, probably more so.
Q3: What are the key milestones for 2016?
A3: The milestones moving forward now are we need to recruit 200 patients into the study in total and that’s a mixture of patients from US and across Europe, we’ve already started recruiting in the US and we should start recruiting in Europe towards the end of January. So on the basis of our expectations, we should have recruited all 200 patients by around the middle of 2016 so that’s a key milestone point. Those patients are all being treated for one year on the drug so if you look at overall timelines and when the last patient is recruited, let’s say around middle of 2016, then 12 months on from then, that should be all 200 patients in the study for their years’ duration. So around the middle of 2017 or third quarter of 2017, we should have the final results of the study, so we’re taking probably 18 months from now and in overall pharmaceutical product development timelines, that’s actually a very short period of time. That’s why it’s so exciting, not only the prospect of bringing this drug to market for patients but also from a corporate prospective, and our shareholders especially, we don’t have an awful long time to wait until we get some results and obviously, hopefully some added value.
Q4: How confident are you about the long-term prospects of ImmuPharma?
A4: Well, the prospects of ImmuPharma are twofold, everyone is focussed on the Phase III study for Lupuzor which has, as I’ve just explained, got some relatively near-term value enhancing news flow but what a lot of people miss about ImmuPharma, and it’s one thing that we’re trying to raise the profile of, is the earlier stage portfolio. That is very exciting albeit it at an earlier stage than Lupuzor is but also the very close collaboration we’ve got with the French institute CNRS and the CNRS is a world-leading research organisation and because of the history between CNRS and ImmuPharma, we have an awful lot of opportunity to work with them and to fill our pipeline for the future.
Q5: Brilliant. Finally, from an investor prospective, do you think it’s time for a re-rating of the ImmuPharma PLC shares?
A5: Well, I guess if you ask any Chairman or CEO of a public company, they’ll always say their shares are undervalued. Genuinely, I think the fact that people have been waiting a long time for Lupuzor to move forward, that has had a detrimental effect on share price. Now that we’ve confirmed the progress of Lupuzor to Phase III and the prospects that we have and everything is going forward really positively, I would like to think that investor would take another look at ImmuPharma, not only for Lupuzor but as I say for the prospects of the early stage pipeline as well. So yes I would like to think that there will be a re-rating of the shares and let’s wait and see in the New Year.
