DUESSELDORF, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Germany's Medigene
said on Wednesday its first-half net loss narrowed 18
percent to 17.42 million euros ($19.65 million) as costs for
research and development in cardiology and oncology fell.
The biotech firm, which focuses on developing new treatments
for cancer, repeated that it expected its net loss to shrink to
30 million euros in the full year from 38.9 million in 2002.
Medigene has yet to launch its first drug, and reports only
income for cooperations with drug companies like Germany's
Schering and Franco-German Aventis , which it
calls other operating income.
This income fell 14 percent to 1.5 million euros in the six
months to June, with 712,000 euros earned in the second quarter.
Medigene, based in in the southern German town of
Martinsried, made a first-half loss before interest and tax
(EBIT) of 18.14 million euros, up from a loss of 21.72 million
in the same period last year, helped by falling R&D costs.
Research and development expenditure dropped 28 percent to
13.85 million euros in the six-month period, mainly due to a
reduced number of development projects.
Shares in the company, down around 10 percent on the year,
were trading up 1.9 percent at 3.7 euros by 0929 GMT, broadly in
line with a 1.7 percent rise on the broader TecDAX .
The firm's cash position at the end of the second quarter
stood at 34.8 million euros.
Medigene's research efforts are focused on the development
of cancer treatments, and its research pipeline features drugs
for liver and brain cancer as well as a tumour vaccine.
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