Statement re General Meeting
7 March 2011
ValiRx Plc
("ValiRx" or the "Company")
STATEMENT RE GENERAL MEETING
ValiRx (AIM: VAL), the life science company with a focus on cancer diagnostics and therapeutics for personalised medicine, announces that the Chairman, Nick Thorniley, will make the following statement at the general meeting to be held today at 10:00 a.m. at the offices of Nabarro LLP at Lacon House, 84 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8RW:
"The last few months have been a very busy period for the Company. As announced on 11 October 2010, the Company has divested a significant portion of its interest in ValiBIO, its Belgian subsidiary, to concentrate its efforts on other areas of the business.
"The market for self-check diagnostic kits has the potential to provide ValiRx with substantive and recurring revenue streams to supplement its research and development programmes on GeneICE compounds. While the Company has made progress in the development of these compounds, the extent and rate of progress has been modest due to working capital constraints. The issue of equity announced on 16 February 2011 provides the Company with an opportunity to accelerate the development of its programmes."
Enquiries:
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ValiRx plc |
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Dr. Satu Vainikka |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3008 4416 |
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Hybridan LLP Broker |
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Claire Noyce |
Tel: +44 (0) 207 947 4350 |
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Cairn Financial Advisers LLP Nominated Adviser |
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Liam Murray / Avi Robinson |
Tel:+44 (0) 20 7148 7900 |
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Peckwater PR |
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Tarquin Edwards |
Tel: +44 (0) 7879 458 364 |
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Notes for Editors
ValiRx Plc
ValiRx Plc is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel technologies and products in oncology therapeutics and diagnostics. The product focus is in the epigenomic analysis and treatment of cancer, but the technologies can be applied to other fields as well, such as neurology and inflammatory diseases.
The Company listed on AIM in October 2006 and is creating a portfolio of innovative products through investment in specific development projects. It actively manages projects within this portfolio as a trading company and is not an investment vehicle. The ValiRx business model spreads the risks of life science technology developments by minimising financial exposure and running a set of projects to defined commercial endpoints. This maximises returns to shareholders by adding value at the earlier stages where value increases per investment unit are the greatest.
The Company operates through the following divisional companies:
· ValiMedix is the sales and distribution division of ValiRx
· ValiPharma is the therapeutics division with two embedded technologies primarily directed at the treatment of cancers. Of particular note is GeneICE, ValiRx's technology for controlling rebellious genes, which was awarded a Eurostars grant to the value of €1.2 million to fund the development of the GeneICE products through preclinical stages in cancer treatments. ValiRx is leading a consortium of biotechnology companies that are completing pre-clinical studies based on ValiRx's GeneIce technology platform, prior to entering clinical trials.
ValiMedix Ltd is a UK based company dedicated to building itself into one of Europe's largest Point of Care diagnostics companies. Initially this will be achieved through a programme of acquisitions accompanied by the in-licensing of products and product ranges which may be generic or with associated intellectual property that can be commercialised through existing established distribution channels to end users. Once the company is significantly cash positive it will commission its own new products and generate new intellectual property through a series of collaborative partnerships with organisations known to the management team. The core management team has extensive experience of sales and marketing in professional and pharmacy channels including the Over the Counter ("OTC") diagnostic sectors in the UK and overseas.
Over The Counter (OTC) products, SELFCheck and others
OTC screening products have evolved significantly since the introduction of the first generation of products such as pregnancy tests. Current products include screening for cancers, tropical diseases such as malaria, drugs of abuse, as well as the better known devices aimed at cholesterol assessment and selected acute diseases including several Sexually Transmitted Infections ("STI") s such as HIV.
The majority of the OTC tests sold today rely on either chemical or antibody reactions that produce a detectable colour change to read the result. The core technologies employed are reliable and robust with advancement and growth in the sector dependent on accuracy, reproducibility and time of reaction. Tests that have historically taken a number of hours can now be carried out in minutes.
Point of care (POC) products offer rapid, easy to use methods for quantitative or qualitative assessment of a range of disease conditions. The benefit of such tests lies in the availability of test results within a matter of minutes and without a requirement to send samples to centralised laboratories, also removing any need for multiple appointments involving a clinic. The availability of such products via pharmacies and supermarkets appeals to wide sections of the community that find it difficult or inconvenient to make clinic appointments during the working week.
The Market for POC testing - Target Markets
The cost and provision of cost effective healthcare has become a major challenge in the UK and EU where an ageing population, an economic downturn and the ever increasing cost of medical treatment have seen a change in the strategic planning of healthcare delivery.
Acceptance of POC screening tests offers direct savings in terms of early detection of disease and faster clinical and medical interventions where abnormal outcomes occur. Equally important is the speedy 'all-clear' diagnosis for patients who would have exhibited negative test results but who would still have used up valuable laboratory resource.
The development of drop-in clinics and the expansion of pharmacy services (particularly those prescribing pharmacies) will become a fertile market for POC products. In addition ValiMedix is looking to market its products to Hotel/Spa clinics, health clubs (gyms) as well as the occupational health sector, universities and schools.
This information is provided by RNS