A Positive Angle For Success

2nd Dec '11 by myrtle1

7 comments 7007 reads

Despite very challenging equity markets in 2011, there have been a number of interesting corporate announcements in the UK small cap sector recently. One that really strikes the private investor in terms of opportunity – hence the 158% increase in its share price since late September 2011 – is Angle PLC.

Relatively unknown outside of hardened UK small cap investor circles, it appears to be on the cusp of an extremely exciting development in the space of a medical diagnostic test for cancer.

Andrew Newland, Chief Executive and founder of Angle PLC, agreed to meet with me recently in Central London to discuss the progress to date of Angle’s investment portfolio, and especially the recently announced Parsortix ‘breakthrough’.

This article will almost exclusively concentrate on the Parsortix business but there will be a short discussion on the ‘other’ business units which make up the rest of the portfolio as well as some thoughts on their valuation towards the end.

Angle – the business

Angle is listed on AIM and has a portfolio of unlisted equity investments in “high tech” industries. All businesses are at a ‘mature funding level’ except Parsortix, which will require a small equity infusion in mid 2012 in order to reach clinical product launch and sales.

Parsortix Inc

90% of the equity of Parsortix is owned by Angle. This company has developed a potentially world beating cancer diagnostic and foetal health test. Based in the US, its patented cell separation device can isolate and capture very small numbers of cancer cells from whole blood in an efficient and reliable manner. It does not require an antibody as a mechanism to capture CTCs (Circulating Tumour Cells), which is the case with a competing product – ‘CellSearch‘- which is sold by Veridex, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. To date, Angle has invested $3m in Parsortix.

The target is to launch the product into the cancer research market in the near term – end 2012 - with the aim of regulatory approval in late 2013 and clinical product launch shortly thereafter. There are expected to be substantial ‘near-term’ revenues achievable within the research market.

Novocellus

82% of the equity of this company is owned by Angle. Novocellus has developed a patent protected system, EmbryoSure, for selecting IVF (in vitro fertilisation) embryos likely to lead to a successful pregnancy. This is expected to lead to a 25% increase…

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floorlord

7th Dec '11

A well balanced and informative article, Simon, thank you. A clearer idea of the expected development time frame for Parsortix is particularly useful as I plan to add to my current very modest holding, taken a couple of months ago.

Crusty

10th Dec '11

I'm a bit sceptical of too good to be true stories. A simple plastic cassette with some filter/osmosis device? Why has nobody else thought of that? Perhaps they have, and are already beavering away. My feeling is that the risks may have been understated.

Maddox

17th Nov '14

Hi Simon,

Very much like your article. I saw these guys present recently (October 2014) and I found the proposition a bit confusing to begin with. They talked about growth in the need for personalised drugs and frequent testing, then their diagnostic test and pursuit of FDA approval.

The penny then dropped - this is not a specific diagnostic test - its a patented means of harvesting tumour cells in the blood - which can be at very, very low density. Also, it applies to ALL cancers - so has a far more wide area of application than a single diagnositc test would of course have. The further question then was why would you need FDA approval? This is not a test and it's not a treatment - it doesn't, as far as I understand it, present any risk to the patient.

So all in all very interesting indeed. Are you still invested?

I'd welcome comparing notes with you - would you like to drop me an email at MaddoxUK2@gmail.com

Regards, Maddox

Ian Jones5

17th Jan '21

Not much movement yet, but still very exciting with FDA ruling by summer 2021 on Parsortix

rogerh

20th Jan '21

My son also made a small investment in Angle after I got him to watch the recent presentation by Andrew Newland to US investors. He asks me whether this is a 'binary' proposition. Presumably it is i.e. if the FDA does not approve Parsortix the share price will collapse. I am curious what others feel. It could be approved, or rejected, or additional information requested. The latter option is probably less likely than usual as Angle already dealt with FDA queries on a rolling basis prior to regulatory submission.

AJC0504

25th Jan '21

Hi Folks

I hold and have unfortunately ,held from 2014.

A long journey.

I believe the key to understanding this technology is as follows.

The reason that they need FDA clearance is that Parsortix system will do away with the need for initial invasive surgery, and will allow repeated testings to check the advance of the cancer cells.

No leading surgeon is going to use this system alone (Reputational damage), until it is approved by the FDA

It will also allow for personalised medicine, in that certain drugs can be applied ,and their progress can be checked with the use of this system.

After further clinical trials this system can also be used for a variety of different cancers.

I believe the chances of getting FDA clearance is high ,due to the De Nova system of submission.

The only down side to this share is, I do not understand why Jupiter UK growth Fund cut their holdings by 11 million shares, and management have awarded themselves very substantial stock options.

However part of the reason that I have held this stock for so long ,is that Dermot A Keane has been a long time investor

Best wishes to everybody, and this is only my second post on Stockopedia , so I hope I have followed the correct procedure.

Please DYOR

marmalade

3rd May '21

Hi AJC0504,

I don't post much either but will if it helps people with their decision.

Angle is one of several holdings for me in the healthcare/diagnostic space and (without a crystal ball) await the FDA decision. I have a 100% gain but am a long term holder of stocks if the story is compelling (recommended by Philip Fisher)and understand we may be watching the "buy the story and sell on the news" here. I have just read this 2011 post and feel comfortable that the story has covered many of the milestones it needed since then and so it is indeed a binary decision.

Best wishes,

Marmalade

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Myrtle1

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