REG - Braveheart Inv Group - Operational update on Paraytec

Braveheart InvestmentAnnouncement

21/07/2022 07:16

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RNS Number : 2687T  Braveheart Investment Group plc  21 July 2022

21 July 2022

Braveheart Investment Group plc

("Braveheart" or the "Company")

Operational update on Paraytec

Braveheart Investment Group plc (AIM: BRH), is pleased to provide the
following update on Paraytec, a company within the Group's investment
portfolio.

 

The clinical study at the Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, referred to
in the RNS of 16 June 2022, is in the final setup phase at the hospital, with
recruitment expected to start within the next two weeks. This study will run
alongside the Trust's existing NHS drive-through COVID-19 testing service for
staff. In the first phase, up to 100 participants, 50 of whom are positive for
COVID-19 and 50 who are negative, will provide swab specimens for analysis by
Paraytec's CX300 instrument. This data will be compared to separate analyses
by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for some samples, culture for live
SARS-CoV-2 virus in the laboratory.

Culturing virus samples gives a reference standard for whether the participant
is likely to be transmitting virus and will be performed by Professor Carl
Smythe's team in a Containment level 3 laboratory (CAT3) at Sheffield
University's Medical School. This study is expected to last around 4 weeks
and, subject to its performance, will be followed by a longitudinal study to
monitor the course of infection of participants over a ten-day period.

The sepsis test project continues to make progress. The target surface
proteins in Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus
(which represent over 50% of cases of bacteraemia in the local population)
have been identified, along with suitable unique candidate antibodiess which
will be used to attach fluorophore markers. The next stage will be to test
these assays in the CAT3 laboratory. In parallel, the first multiwavelength
CX300 instrument is being built and these will be brought together to formally
demonstrate Proof of Concept.

The analysis of Virus Like Particles (VLPs) is a further application of
Paraytec's technology. VLP's are a key technology used to deliver treatments
in the rapidly growing market for gene therapy medicine. These VLPs are
capsids (very small biological capsules) and are used to carry a modified DNA
that will perform the gene therapy, into a patient's body. Critical to patient
safety is the quality control of these VLPs. However, current analytical
methods are not well suited to testing these materials during all the stages
of VLP manufacture. Paraytec is now building a modified CX300 instrument to
show that its new technology can be used to detect the ratio of full/empty
capsids, a critical quality attribute to be determined both during production
and following purification. Paraytec is working with FUJIFILM Diosynth
Biotechnologies and the UK's Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult on a collaborative
proposal for development of our instrumentation and comparing performance with
current analytical methods during manufacturing runs.

Potential testing service: An initial batch of CX300 instruments is being
assembled, tested and certified ready for sale. These will be offered to
research partners and laboratories for use in studying a wide range of medical
and industrial applications. The next step will be to explore CE marking for
specific applications for the instrument, in addition to obtaining a
functional CE mark for the machine only, with the aim of providing patient
testing as a service. The Directors of Braveheart believe that
commercialization through testing as a service and licensing to other testing
providers offers an attractive alternative to monetizing Paraytec's technology
as opposed to outright sale.

 

Trevor Brown, CEO of Braveheart, commented: "The significant investment of
scientific, technological and financial resources in the CX300 program over
the past two years has been against a continuously changing COVID-19
background, but we are satisfied that we have adapted continuously to remain
relevant.  We believe our COVID-19 test, once verified by the initial
clinical study, will be amongst the most effective and most advanced in
development. We will therefore explore how Paraytec can offer it as a
commercially available public testing service as an alternative to monetizing
it via the outright sale of the technology as previously envisaged."

 

For further information:

 Braveheart Investment Group plc                                Tel: 01738 587555
 Trevor Brown CEO

 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)   Tel: 020 3328 5656
 David Worlidge / James Reeve / George Payne

 Peterhouse Capital Limited (Joint Broker)                      Tel: 020 7469 0936
 Duncan Vasey / Lucy Williams

 

 

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