REG - ValiRx PLC - Asset Purchase – Imagen Therapeutics

ValiRxAnnouncement

14/06/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 6154C  ValiRx PLC  14 June 2023

ValiRx PLC ("ValiRx" or the "Company")

Asset Purchase - Imagen Therapeutics

London, UK - ValiRx Plc (AIM: VAL), a life science company focusing on
early-stage cancer therapeutics and women's health, is pleased to announce it
has acquired the scientific assets of Imagen Therapeutics Limited ("Imagen")
from its appointed liquidators.

Imagen was a pharma services company offering a patient-derived screening
platform suitable for large global clients. Total consideration paid for the
Imagen assets was a single cash payment of £170,000, paid to the liquidators
on signature of the purchase agreement from the Company's existing
resources.  This represents a significant discount to the original commercial
value of the assets acquired, which comprises:

·    an extensive biobank of patient derived cells;

·    a comprehensive range of laboratory equipment required for analysis
and application of the cells, including several high value items already in
the financial plan for Inaphaea BioLabs Limited ("Inaphaea");

·    all Intellectual Property, including a granted patent covering the
use of specific methods of growing and testing patient derived cell lines;

·    trademarks, trade names and logos associated with Imagen; and

·    data from Imagen's in-house screening programme which studied the
activity of non-oncology drugs against cancer cells.

UK-based Imagen's primary business was aimed at personalising treatment for
cancer through the collection and use of well-characterised, patient-derived
cancer cells. Samples, collected from patients over a number of years across a
wide variety of cancers, enabled Imagen to create a unique 'biobank' of human
derived cells and provide services to the pharmaceutical industry for
pre-clinical screening of drug candidates.  By directly collecting and
processing a large number of samples, Imagen was able to build up a collection
of cancer cells to attract global clients for its pre-clinical screening
business.

It is expected that the biobank and relevant equipment will be transferred and
integrated into Inaphaea in MediCity, Nottingham over the next few months.

The Directors believe that the acquisition and rapid assimilation of the
Imagen assets will transform the service offering of Inaphaea, broadening the
market opportunity, and is expected to attract interest from a wide range of
pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology companies.

Additionally, the Company has secured the consultancy services of co-founder
and Chief Scientific Officer of Imagen, Dr Gareth Griffiths, in order to
assist with the establishment of the patient-derived cell line services in the
Inaphaea facility.

The Company was able to take part in the time-limited competitive bidding
process with the liquidators and to exploit this opportunity efficiently
utilising cash from its last equity raise. Without the available funds on the
balance sheet, the Company would not have been able to participate in this
process which has been run over a matter of weeks.

 

Dr Suzy Dilly, CEO of ValiRx commented: "We are delighted to have completed
the acquisition of the Imagen assets.  In particular, the biobank of patient
derived cell lines is a valuable resource as it enables Inaphaea to offer
screening of a wide-range of oncology drug candidates against patient derived
cell lines.  This is an important step towards our ambition to make our
assays more closely aligned to a complex human system, rather than rely on
commercially available immortalised cell lines. This transaction gives us
significant lab equipment at a substantial discount to our budgeted cost for
these items had we purchased new, with the cell lines and other IP acquired at
modest additional cost. The team did brilliantly to complete this on a rapid
timescale, at excellent value for the Company. We believe these services will
generate near-term market interest and differentiate Inaphaea's offering.
Furthermore, the equipment, acquired at a fraction of market prices, will
support both the new cancer drug screening services and Inaphaea's wider
business interests."

Dr Kevin Cox, Chair of ValiRx commented: "The acquisition of Imagen's assets
illustrates our intent to build the tCRO® in the most capital efficient way.
Suzy and Stella Panu, Non-Executive Director, have achieved a significant goal
for the Company in identifying, negotiating and completing the deal in a
timescale and at a cost that would be unthinkable for a business acquisition
of this nature. Indeed, building our own Imagen-like biobank would have taken
years and at a cost likely to be an order of magnitude higher. We believe this
approach will significantly enhance value in ValiRx, and we expect integration
of these assets into our business will be rapid and increase our revenue
earning potential in the near term."

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR"). The Directors of the Company
take responsibility for this announcement.

 

 

For more information, please contact:

 

 ValiRx plc                                          Tel: +44 (0) 2476 796496

                                                     www.valirx.com (http://www.valirx.com)

 Dr Suzanne Dilly, CEO                               Suzanne.Dilly@valirx.com (mailto:Suzanne.Dilly@valirx.com)

 V Formation (Public Relations)                      +44 (0) 115 787 0206

                                                     www.vformation.biz (http://www.vformation.biz)

 Lucy Wharton - Senior PR Executive

 Sue Carr - Director                                 lucy@vformation.biz

                                                     sue@vformation.biz
 Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated Adviser)    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880

 Liam Murray/Jo Turner/Ludovico Lazzaretti

 Cenkos Securities plc (Joint Broker)                Tel: +44 (0) 20 7397 8900

 Dale Bellis/Michael Johnson (Sales)

 Callum Davidson/Giles Balleny (Corporate Finance)
 Turner Pope Investments (Joint Broker)              Tel: +44 (0) 20 3657 0050

 James Pope / Andy Thacker

 

Notes for Editors

About ValiRx

ValiRx is a life science company focused on early-stage cancer therapeutics
and women's health, accelerating the translation of innovative science into
impactful medicines to improve patient lives.

ValiRx provides the scientific, financial, and commercial framework for
enabling rapid translation of innovative science into clinical development.

Using its extensive and proven experience in research and drug development,
the team at ValiRx selects and incubates promising novel drug candidates and
guides them through an optimised process of development, from pre-clinical
studies to clinic and investor-ready assets.

ValiRx connects diverse disciplines across scientific, technical, and
commercial domains, with the aim of achieving a more streamlined, less costly,
drug development process. The team works closely with carefully selected
collaborators and leverages the combined expertise required for science to
advance.

Lead candidates from ValiRx's portfolio are outlicensed or partnered with
investors through ValiRx subsidiary companies for further clinical development
and commercialisation.

ValiRx listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2006
and trades under the ticker symbol: VAL.

For further information, visit: www.valirx.com (http://www.valirx.com)

About Patient-derived Cells

Long-established immortalised cancer cells, although used frequently in early
stage cancer research, are known to have limitations when considering the
translation of research from preclinical to clinical studies.
Patient-derived cells enable the research to be a step closer to studying a
human clinical system, by more closely resembling the cells within the
patient.  The patient-derived cells are maintained at a low passage number,
that it they have not been replicated excessively, to minimise mutations.
Typically these cells will be grown as 2D monolayers for study, however, they
may also be developed into spheroids, to enable 3D study.

Known characteristics of the patient from which the cells are derived are
whether the patient had received cancer treatment, the type of cancer the
patient was suffering and a broad demographic group.

 

Cautionary statement

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking statements.
Such statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events
or results to differ materially from any expected future events or results
expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Persons receiving
this announcement should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable law, regulation or
accounting standard, the Company does not undertake to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
developments or otherwise.

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