Shield Therapeutics PLC on Wednesday said that it was expecting stellar results for 2023, but this success was overshadowed by a mistake in the company’s previous prescription forecasts.

Shield is a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company, focused on its flagship Accrufer iron deficiency treatment. Shares in the company were down 49% at 2.90 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.

For the year ended December 31, Shield said it had delivered $17.5 million in revenue, up nearly three-fold from $6.2 million in 2022.

Shield said that its Accrufer sales partnership with Viatris Inc to create a 100-person sales team and launch new brand campaigns had been ‘notable’.

Of its 2023 revenue, Accrufer sales contributed $11.6 million, around three times that achieved in 2022.

The average net selling price for Accrufer also increased 21% between the first and second half of the year to a prescription price of around $145.

Total prescriptions tripled over the year to around 77,000. However, this was markedly down from the company’s previous forecasts of between 100,000 and 130,000.

Shield said that this was due to a mistake in the projection methodology used by its third-party data provider, which resulted in a significant overstatement of total prescriptions over the year. The company said it was working with its data provider to ensure that these data mistakes are not repeated, and will provide an additional update alongside its full results.

The company expects to publish its annual results in April.

Chief Executive Officer Greg Madison said: ‘The progress made in the market in 2023 has shown us that the opportunity for Accrufer continues to be significant. Quarterly prescription numbers grew throughout the year and we saw a significant improvement in the average net selling price in the second half...Our partnership with Viatris continues to progress very well and we remain steadfast in our goal to make Accrufer the oral iron of choice for patients.’

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