Vernalis shares off colour after US medicine setback

BRITISH biotech group Vernalis has been hit by a setback for one of its key cough and cold treatments, sending the Aim-listed firm’s shares down 16pc.

Vernalis told investors – which include fund manager Neil Woodford and Invesco – it had received a socalled complete response letter (CRL) from US agency the Food and Drug Administration for its product CCP-08. It means the medicines regulator is not prepared to approve it at this time. Vernalis received a similar CRL for cold remedy CCP-07 in April.

Ian Garland, chief executive of Vernalis, confirmed both products had encountered similar difficulties, but said they remained “of the utmost importance” to the company. “Unfortunately, the outstanding items that resulted in a CRL for CCP-07 could not be addressed in time to avoid the same outcome for CCP-08,” he said.

He added Vernalis was working with manufacturing partner Tris to iron out the issues and would resubmit both applications “as quickly as possible”.

Julie Simmonds, an analyst at Panmure, said that she had “no expectation of sales from either product in the 201718 flu season”.

Shares fell 10.5pc to 17p yesterday 16pc to 16p. They have dived more than 80pc since their 2015 peak of 86.5p.