SMALL CAP MOVERS: Shield Therapeutics gets energy from new iron deficiency drug

Is the tide turning for Shield Therapeutics?

Based on this week’s news, the answer is a cautious yes.

Shield is a rarity for AIM: a drug development company that has hit a home run, meaning it has successfully developed a commercial drug.

This breakthrough treatment for iron deficiency appears to be gaining popularity in the US, where sales rose 69 percent quarter-on-quarter to $6.9 million, up 259 percent year-on-year.

Total prescriptions increased 26 percent, while the average price was $171, compared to $118 a year ago.

Financially, the group also appears to be in good shape, with $8.1 million on its balance sheet and a further $5.7 million from a milestone monetisation deal. In total, that’s the equivalent of around two-thirds of Shield’s current market capitalisation.

Good news, yes. But there was also the small matter of CEO Greg Madison stepping down with immediate effect and being replaced by one of the group’s non-executive directors on an interim basis.

With shares up more than 30 percent during the trading week, it appears investors were forgiven for Madison’s hasty departure.

Looking at the broader market, the AIM All Share had one of its less impressive weeks – albeit on weak volumes. The index lost 1.2 percent to close at 775.05.

Atom (up 41 percent) was boosted by a framework agreement to sell all the fertilizer it will produce from a project in Paraguay to a Norwegian crop nutrition group called Yara International. The deal offers potential backers of ATOME’s project commercial peace of mind.

The biggest riser, with an increase of more than 80 percent, was British oil and gaswhich, according to stock market data, has a new investor who has built up a stake of 12.81 percent through Shore Capital Stockbrokers.

A short announcement had a big impact on shares of Skinbiotherapeutics (up 36 percent), the life sciences group that, believe it or not, focuses on skin. It also had a knock-on effect for Optibiotix (up 27 percent), the gut health group that has a 25 percent stake in SBTX.

The stock exchange report in question revealed that SBTX had closed a £5 million convertible bond issue, having raised around £1.6 million.

The past year has been a good year for investors in Scan cellthe immuno-oncology group whose shares rose 46 percent during that period.

This week, it announced that it had co-opted a panel of melanoma experts to help plan and design the clinical trial. What really got the market excited was the level of interest generated by the technology at ASCO, a conference that attracts the world’s cancer experts. Shares closed the week up 8 percent.

If we stay in the drug development sector, but move down to Aquis, the growth stock hotbed, Ananda Developments stands out. Its share price has almost doubled in just over six weeks.

Ananda is developing a CBD-based treatment for chronic pain. This treatment is currently undergoing a rigorous clinical trial process.

CEO Melissa Sturgess told Proactive she had noticed a better and growing understanding of Ananda’s story, and in particular its flagship asset, MRX1.

She also pointed out that Ananda has secured a number of heavyweights, including non-executive Clive Page, a driving force behind UK success story Verona Pharma, and pharmaceutical industry veteran Trevor Jones, who joins the recently established scientific advisory board.

The peak, of course, came when preclinical data demonstrated its potential efficacy in cardiac fibrosis and heart failure.

On to the fallers. Aptamer Groupthe research and diagnostics specialist ended the hype surrounding the stock by launching a £2.8m fundraising campaign, selling the shares at a huge discount, wiping out two-thirds of their valuation.

Versarienthe non-material group, fell 43 percent after it tapped the market at £500,000.

They were among five smaller companies that launched a fundraising campaign ahead of the annual summer break.

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