The company, which focuses on developing treatments for neuro-degenerative disease, announced a £4.3m recommended offer for Minster Pharmaceuticals on January 4.

At November 30, it had cash resources of £55.5m, after raising £50m in June to fund the acquisition of CNS (central nervous system) companies and drug development programmes.

Consolidation and integration of acquisitions was expected to deliver cost savings of an estimated £1.7m in 2010.

'We expect to invest these funds over the next two to three years in acquiring assets and developing our programmes,' said the company.

The group's portfolio had grown from five programmes at the beginning of 2009 to 14 programmes, from discovery through pre-clinical and clinical stages.

It said, 'We have broadened our pipeline, both in terms of therapeutic indications addressed and the development profile, and we have a flexible, scalable operating infrastructure that can accommodate further programmes without replicating overhead costs.'

The company said it would update shareholders on its acquisition and partnering strategy when it announced its final results for the year ended 30 November in March.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire