REG - ValiRx PLC - Incorporation of Inaphaea BioLabs Limited

ValiRxAnnouncement

01/03/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 4168R  ValiRx PLC  01 March 2023

1 March 2023

 

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

Incorporation of Inaphaea BioLabs Limited

London, UK - ValiRx Plc (AIM: VAL), a life science company focusing on
early-stage cancer therapeutics and women's health, today announces the
incorporation of Inaphaea BioLabs Limited ("Inaphaea") as a new wholly owned
subsidiary of the Company and the cornerstone of ValiRx's translational
Contract Research Organisation ("tCRO").

Inaphaea will be headquartered in the Company's laboratory in MediCity
(Nottingham) and will offer a wide range of pre-clinical and drug discovery
testing services to academic, biotech and pharmaceutical researchers; forming
the foundational module of the Company's tCRO. A significant portion of the
testing for ValiRx's evaluation pipeline, currently outsourced to external
CROs, will be transferred into Inaphaea.

Inaphaea will have the capability to conduct in vitro and ex vivo testing for
all in-house pipeline and evaluation projects as well as to offer services to
external users.

Services will focus on the application of both standard and specialised
cell-based technologies to generate deep biological understanding of drug
candidates across preclinical phases of the drug development process.  The
laboratory is targeted to be fully operational within Q2 2023, with initial
services focusing on cancer cell activity; allowing the study of drug
candidates in a range of cell lines to elucidate activity, toxicity and
mechanism of action of test molecules.  ValiRx plans to add further
techniques and novel data generation technologies to the testing portfolio,
together with data analysis and application expertise, with the aim of
providing deep biological understanding of drug candidates and help design
effective clinical trials.  Such new capabilities will be fully validated on
in-house projects, before offering to external users. In due course, Inaphaea
intends to build on the Company's expertise in specific tests that support the
development of treatments in women's health.

A highly experienced laboratory leadership team has been appointed, with Dr
Dominic Lowen as Senior Scientist and Melissa Barr as Lead Scientist. The
operational team will continue to grow as activity increases.

In recognition of the Company's commitment to seek near-term income, Inaphaea
has recruited Dr Andrew Carnegie as Head of Strategic Commercial Development
to lead the growth strategy and secure new 3(rd) party business. Dr Carnegie
will also ensure the tCRO provides testing services that help to achieve
improved translation of drug candidates that have the greatest relevance to
prospective customers.

Dr Carnegie and Mark Treharne, ValiRx's Corporate Development Manager, will be
attending Bio-Europe Spring (Basel, 20 - 22 March 2023) to further define
customer needs and identify new business opportunities, with Dr Kevin Cox, Dr
Suzy Dilly and Dr Cathy Tralau-Stewart joining the digital portion of
Bio-Europe Spring (28 - 30 March 2023).

Dr Suzy Dilly, ValiRx CEO, commented "After a great deal of hard work by the
entire ValiRx team, I am pleased to share this news about the formation of
Inaphaea; the first step of our longer term ambition to create the unique tCRO
service offering for early stage drug development.  Over the next few weeks,
we intend to transfer our own projects into the Inaphaea lab to continue their
progress.

"I'm also delighted that after a year of supporting us through our Commercial
Advisory Board, Andrew has agreed to join the team of Inaphaea in this full
time position to support the initiation of services."

Dr Andrew Carnegie added "I'm really excited to have the opportunity to play a
major role in launching and growing a much-needed service in translational
research.  After working for many years in Commercial Development in the
biotech industry, I have a good appreciation of the challenges for drug
developers and fully support the ambition of Inaphaea to address a clear gap
in the market."

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)

 Inaphaea BioLabs Limited                                       www.inaphaea.com (http://www.inaphaea.com)

 Dr Andrew Carnegie, Head of Strategic Commercial Development   Andrew.Carnegie@inaphaea.com (mailto:Andrew.Carnegie@inaphaea.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

 Russell Kerr/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 Inaphaea BioLabs Limited

Inaphaea BioLabs is a new pharmaceutical services company, based in Nottingham
(UK), offering cell-based assays specialising in oncology and women's
health.  Our aim is to improve the translation of early drug discovery
projects towards the clinic. Driven by a desire to generate deeper biological
understanding of drug candidates in discovery and preclinical phases of
development, Inaphaea will provide testing services that generate the
necessary data, analysis and insights to aid decision making in translational
drug development.

Spun out from ValiRx PLC, the core team within Inaphaea have a strong
background of preclinical and clinical drug development, and of understanding
both the commercial and scientific needs of the service users from both sides
of the table.

Inaphaea will offer a range of services across all areas of cell-based assays,
including efficacy and selectivity of activity against cancer cells;
mechanistic and binding assays; and measurements of production of cell markers
and hormones.  Inaphaea's services will evolve over time to incorporate new
techniques and technologies with the ambition to improve biological
understanding and translatability of early discovery in drug development.

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

 

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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