Re VASTox Admission to AIM

IP2IPO Group PLC
11 October 2004


For Immediate Release                                         11 October 2004

                                IP2IPO GROUP PLC

                     VASTOX PLC SUCCESSFUL £15M FUNDRAISING
                              AND ADMISSION TO AIM

IP2IPO Group plc (AIM: IPO), the intellectual property company that
commercialises university technology, is pleased to announce that VASTox plc 
('VASTox' or the 'Company'), the Oxford-based drug discovery and services 
business focused on chemical genomics, has today published its document for the 
Admission of its Ordinary Shares to the Alternative Investment Market ('AIM') of 
the London Stock Exchange. The Company has raised £15 million (before expenses) 
via a Placing at a Placing Price of 135p per ordinary share (the 'Placing 
Price').  VASTox's capitalisation on Admission, at the Placing Price, will 
be £42.3 million.  It is expected that dealings in the Ordinary Shares will 
commence on 14 October 2004.


IP2IPO Group plc
David Norwood, Chief Executive Officer                    020 7242 9900

Buchanan Communications
Mark Court, Tim Anderson                                  020 7466 5000


The text of the VASTox announcement, which was released today, is reproduced
below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                     11 OCTOBER 2004

                                   VASTox plc

                SUCCESSFUL £15M FUNDRAISING AND ADMISSION TO AIM

VASTox plc ('VASTox' or 'the Company'), the Oxford-based drug discovery and
services business focused on chemical genomics, has today published its document
for the Admission of its Ordinary Shares to the Alternative Investment Market ('
AIM') of the London Stock Exchange. The Company has raised £15 million (before
expenses) and it is expected that dealings in the Ordinary Shares will commence
on 14 October 2004.


Background

•  The Company has early-stage proprietary research programmes in Duchenne 
   Muscular Dystrophy and Tuberculosis and also has revenue-generating
   contracts for the provision of drug discovery services with several
   pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies via its chemical genomics 
   platform.

•  VASTox was formed as a spin-out company in January 2003 by a prestigious 
   team of scientific founders from the University of Oxford headed by
   Professor Steve Davies, the chemistry professor who in 1992 founded Oxford
   Asymmetry, a business that was eventually sold for £316 million.

•  Professor Steve Davies is VASTox's Non-executive Chairman and its Chief 
   Executive Officer is Dr Steven Lee, the former executive director of Life
   Sciences at and founding member of  IP2IPO Group plc.


The Placing and AIM Admission


•   14.1 million (net of expenses) has been raised for VASTox via a
    Placing at the price of 135 pence per share

•   On Admission, the market capitalisation of VASTox at the Placing Price
    will be £42.3 million

•   The proceeds of the Placing will be used to fund a step change in the
    Company's operations and to increase working capital

•   Dealings in VASTox Ordinary Shares are expected to commence on AIM on
    14 October 2004

•   KBC Peel Hunt Ltd is the Company's Nominated Adviser and broker



Commenting on the AIM Admission, Steven Lee, VASTox Chief Executive Officer,
said: 'We have received strong investor support on  this fundraising and
flotation.  As a public company this will help raise the Company's  profile and
position in the marketplace and enable us to accelerate our R&D initiatives and 
further capitalise and benefit from the many exciting opportunities in the 
future.'


VASTox                                                          01865 316917
Steven Lee, Chief Executive Officer

KBC Peel Hunt                                                   020 7418 8900
Capel Irwin
David Anderson

Buchanan Communications                                         020 7466 5000
Tim Anderson
Mark Court
Mary-Jane Johnson




NOTES TO EDITORS


Background

During the past four years, VASTox's scientific founders whose experience brings
together chemistry and biology in an effort to find new treatments for human
disease, have collaborated extensively in the development of chemical genomics,
the use of small molecule drugs to influence complex cellular pathways. Through
its founders, the Company has extensive expertise in the use and understanding
of small animal models, in particular Danio rerio (zebrafish) and Drosophila
(fruitflies), and applying this to human disease.



Chemical genomics

The Company's chemical genomics platform encompasses a 'screen-to-gene'
approach, in that no assumptions are made regarding the therapeutic target.
Rather than starting with a disease or target, chemical libraries are probed
sequentially in high-content in vivo phenotypic screens that utilise both
vertebrate and invertebrate whole organisms. The chemical genomics platform
utilises specifically the zebrafish in primary screening and fruitfly in
secondary screening.

Over the last few years, zebrafish have emerged as the model of choice for in
vivo functional genomics studies by virtue of:

-   being a vertebrate;

-   having rapid embryogenesis (one cell to fully laid down body plan with 
    organs such as heart, brain, eye and vasculature system recognisable by 
    24 hour post fertilisation);

-   optical clarity (the embryo is transparent as it develops such that one can 
    observe specific developmental events under a dissecting microscope);

-   excellent genetics and genomics (the whole zebrafish genome sequence is
    expected by the end of 2005);

-   high fecundity (200-300 eggs per adult female, per week); and

-   ease of functional genomic studies using morpholino oligonucleotide
    gene knockdown techniques.


Presently, there are in excess of 1,000 developmental phenotypes characterised
in zebrafish, many of which have been closely associated with molecular pathways
and specific gene disruptions. Such is the potential of the zebrafish model for
biomedical research, the National Institute of Health in the US ranks the
zebrafish as the third most important animal after human and mouse models.

For fruitflies, the advantages lie mainly in the unparalleled ability to
manipulate the genome in terms of generating transgenics, mutations or
deletions, particularly employing gene-silencing techniques such as ribonucleic
acid interference ('RNAi').

Due to the high volume, high content nature of the Company's chemical genomics
platform, data is expected to be recorded from hundreds to thousands of
fruitflies and zebrafish prior to the requirement for testing on mammals,
including humans. The data collected will enable the drug development to be more
focused on the biochemical pathways and molecular targets thus increasing the
probability of the successful development of a drug and reducing the
developmental costs.

The Company's chemical genomics process is as follows: zebrafish embryos at one
hour post fertilisation are robotically dispensed into 96 well microtitre plates
(four to five per well) and incubated with chemical libraries. The resultant
chemotypes (phenotypes produced by a small molecule) are then recorded and
scored. A significant developmental chemotype will give good clues as to the
molecular target and biological pathway for a specific compound, which is then
selected for further study in secondary assays using fruitflies. The Company has
access to a bank of transgenic fruitfly stocks which is an invaluable and
renewable resource for rapid identification of target pathways and genes. The
key point to note is that these signalling pathways and target genes are highly
conserved in humans, that is, many of the zebrafish or fruitfly genes identified
in this screening paradigm have a human orthologue. In principle, this approach
can be applied to any gene, thereby generating a vertebrate animal model for a
specific disease.

This high content in vivo screening facilitates the rapid and simultaneous
identification of:

-   the biochemical pathways and molecular targets for human disease that
    are by definition treatable by a drug;

-   potential new targets for off-patent and unsuccessful drugs;

-   potential drug-like compounds that modulate specific gene and protein
    families; and

-   lead compounds for that target.



Business model

The Company aims to leverage both its technology platform and extensive network
of academic and industry contacts to generate revenues by providing services to
pharmaceutical companies, and then, in time, migrate revenues to licensing
income and product sales. The Company's business operations are organised in
such a way that provision of services not only generates revenues but helps to
build the drug discovery infrastructure of the Company for proprietary
programmes.



Proprietary drug programmes

VASTox currently has two proprietary programmes: a gene-based approach to
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a disease against which there is currently no known
cure; and a novel approach to overcoming antibiotic resistance in Tubercubsis.



VASTox scientific founders/Scientific Advisory Board

Professor Steve Davies, Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Oxford

Professor Kay Davies FRS, CBE, Head of the Department of Human Anatomy and
Genetics, University of Oxford

Professor Edith Sim, Head of the Department of Pharmacology, University of
Oxford

Professor Graham Richards CBE, Chairman of the Department of Chemistry,
University of Oxford

Dr Derek Stemple, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge

Dr Jean-Paul Vincent MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London

Dr Bob Sim, Medical Research Council ImmunoHistochemistry Unit, University of
Oxford



VASTox is based at the University of Oxford Chemistry department, which offers
some of the  world's most advanced research facilities.






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            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange