Provexis is an AIM listed life science business with a share price chart like a craggy mountain that would require some serious crampons. The share price is currently 6.35p (23.10.09) which capitalizes the company at £65m. A year ago the share price was 0.38p and during the intervening twelve months it has been as high as 15.75p. So, what's all the fuss about?
The Business
PXS's focus can be broadly described as the discovery, development and licensing of bioactive ingredients for integration into functional foods and beverages, medical food and diet supplement technologies. The benefits of these ingredients are gradually being proved as preventative and curative of health issues affecting millions of people. [1]
It is a presently a small company with ten employees (of which only one is classified as ‘administrative’), a research and development resource in Liverpool and a shared R&D facility at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen all under the administration of the company’s head office in Windsor.
The management of the Company are presently focused on;
- Collaborating with leading research institutes to identify and develop proprietary technologies.
- Developing credible scientific proof to support product claims.
- Gaining regulatory and safety clearances in relevant global markets
- Implementing global IP strategies underpinned by strong patent portfolios
- Commercializing technologies through collaboration and licensing
Its business can be summarized as finding good bio-technologyand developing and protecting this into a licensable product for long term income generation in the form of royalties. There is absolutely no interest in product manufacture.
Areas of operation / Products
The company currently has three products, all potentially very lucrative, in various stages of development:
- Fruitflow(TM) – initially developed at the Rowett Institute this is a proven dietary supplement (tomato extract) to ‘thin the blood’ of platelet aggregation without side effects. ‘Thinning the blood’ is an accepted major part of cardiovascular disease and thrombosis prevention and up until now has been addressed by the taking of aspirin which is now known, in some patients, to stimulate gastric bleeding and other side effects. Fruitflow is a registered trade mark, the product is patented, has been approved under the European Food Safety Authority regulatory framework and is commercially ready.
- NSP#3G – Provexis is the 75% shareholder in a joint venture with the University of Liverpool which owns the patent for this product which is made from plantain (banana) extract and used for…
