Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO)
Presenting: Nicolas Serandour, Chief Operating & Financial Officer
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Company Profile:
Advanced Oncotherapy is a spin-off from CERN (the European Centre for Nuclear Research, best known for the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator). In 2007, the ADAM (Application of Detectors and Accelerators to Medicine) team – part of CERN – built the first compact linear accelerator machine for treating cancer, known as LIGHT (LINAC* Image-Guided Hadron Therapy). Unlike the current and older forms of proton systems, LIGHT does not require the massive infrastructure and extensive shielding for housing the system.
Proton therapy has been used to treat tumours for nearly 60 years. Proton beams can target tumours cells more precisely than x-rays, by sculpting the proton beam dose to completely penetrate the tumour, but unlike x-ray beams, proton beams stop once they hit the target rather than carrying on through the body, resulting in less damage to surrounding healthy tissue and organs.
At August 2013, there are 43 operational proton therapy centres worldwide, and by December 2013, over 120,000 patients have been treated. While proton therapy systems have been recognised as superior to conventional radiotherapy systems, widespread use has been impractical due to prohibitive costs and size of the proton therapy machines. With its LIGHT system, AVO can deliver a more cost effective system to enable treatment with protons to be a financially viable treatment option.
In 2015, AVO completed the commercial sale of two LIGHT machines to China and reached an agreement with Circle Health for the operations of the first proton therapy center in Harley Street, London. In addition AVO has a 15-year exclusive agreement with China’s Sinophi Healthcare to distribute the LIGHT system in China and other countries in Southeast Asia. AVO also holds other Letters of Intent for supply of LIGHT machines. AVO successfully completed a £20 million placing in May 2015 which will enable the installation of the first LIGHT system at Harley Street with the first patient treatments expected at the end of 2017. .
Advanced Oncotherapy was honoured at the 2015 AIM Awards winning in the category of Best Technology.
*Linear Particle Accelerator which customises high energy rays to conform to a tumour’s shape and destroy cancer cells while sparing surrounding normal/healthy tissue. |
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Angle (AGL)
Presenting: Andrew Newland, Chief Executive & Ian Griffiths, Finance Director
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Company Profile:
According to the World Health Organisation, there were an estimated 14 million new cancer cases worldwide in 2012, a marked rise on the 12.7 million cases in 2008. The incidence of cancer continues to grow as a result of demographic, lifestyle and environmental factors and it is estimated that one in three people in the UK will get cancer during their lifetime. In order to treat patients effectively, doctors need to deploy drugs that target the individual patient’s cancer at that point in time. This “personalised cancer care” approach has become accepted worldwide as the most likely way to improve patient outcomes in the long run.
Solid tumour cancers, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer, shed cancer cells into the patient’s blood stream, known as Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs). CTCs are very rare, a single cell in one billion blood cells, and as a result are very difficult to isolate but are extremely valuable since they contain information on the type of disease, which has the potential to inform on “personalised” care decisions and targeted drug therapies.
ANGLE’s Parsortix cell separation system is a patented micro-fluidic technology in the form of a disposable cassette to capture and harvest CTCs. This liquid biopsy (simple blood test) enables the investigation of mutations in the patient’s cancer for personalised cancer care.
ANGLE focus is the clinical use market, where the estimated clinical market available to ANGLE is over £8 billion p.a. In the US alone, the total addressable market for liquid biopsy is expected to be US$14 billion by 2025. In the meantime, ANGLE has developed research-use sales which generates revenues to support drug trials and research. The research-use market is about £250 million p.a. The Parsortix system has shown high performance in ovarian, prostate, breast and lung cancers and has already been specified in several clinical trial projects. In the event of a successful cancer drug trial, Parsortix could be adopted as a companion diagnostic for the new drug(s).
ANGLE has secured CE Mark regulatory approval for the clinical market in Europe and the FDA approval process for the clinical market is underway in the US. |
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Verona Pharma (VRP)
Presenting: Jan-Anders Karlsson, Chief Executive Officer
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Company Profile:
Verona Pharma is developing prescription medicines to treat respiratory diseases with significant unmet medical needs such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and cystic fibrosis. About 65 million people suffer from moderate to severe COPD worldwide. The World Health Organisation expects COPD to be the third leading cause of death globally by 2030, after heart disease and stroke. It is the only major chronic disease with increasing mortality.
Bronchodilating therapy is considered to be the standard of care, with agents administered by handheld devices (inhalers) and by nebulisers. The nebulised bronchodilator market was worth about US$1 billion in 2014 in the US.
Verona’s lead product, offers a novel approach to important respiratory diseases. It is a first-in-class drug, with a unique mode of action having both bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory properties. On inhalation, RPL554 therefore provides an immediate improvement in lung function and breathing and at the same time reduces the underlying chronic inflammatory response in the lungs of patients with airways disease. There is currently no drug which combines both effects in a single molecule. RPL554, now in phase 2 clinical trials, is a nebulised formulation treatment for patients in hospital with acute exacerbations (worsening systems) of COPD. It is being developed as an add-on therapy to the “Standard of Care”, with the objectives of providing rapid and pronounced improvement in lung function, reduced symptoms and shortened duration of hospital stays. COPD patients are commonly not fully recovered when discharged from hospital so continued treatment with inhaled RPL554 for another 4 weeks should reduce the high re-admission rates within 30 days after discharge from hospital.
Verona Pharma is building a broader portfolio of RPL554-containing products to maximise its benefit to patients and its value to share holders. This includes the very significant markets for COPD and asthma maintenance therapy. Development of handheld DPI and MDI devices containing RPL554 alone or in combination with other COPD medications requires longer and larger clinical trials and such a development will therefore benefit from a partnership with a larger pharmaceutical company. It is also exploring the potential of the drug in different diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, where it is in pre-clinical testing and has recently received a Venture and Innovation Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust |
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Byotrol (BYOT)
Presenting: David Traynor, Chief Executive
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Company Profile:
Byotrol is the developer of consumer and professional anti-microbial hygiene products. Byotrol is both the company and the registered trade mark. It has a unique patented polymer technology to control and eradicate most groups of micro-organisms. The global market for specialist antimicrobial technology is growing with increasing awareness and public concern about health, infection and diseases. Byotrol’s products have shown to be effective against a broad range of bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, and “Hospital Superbugs” such as MRSA and VRE. The products have low toxicity, low risk of development of resistant strains, and environmentally friendly as the products are fully biodegradable and will breakdown in landfill or waste water. The growing public concern over the environmental impact of biocide and pesticide waste residues and development of resistant strains favour Byotrol’s technology.
Byotrol’s products work on two levels, by eradicating micro-organisms on application and then providing continuing protection as the products damage the reproductive capacity of the micro-organisms. The company operates through three main segments: Professional (food service, food manufacturing industrial and health), Consumer and Petcare. The products are simple to use: as a liquid or spray format, as a concentrate, as part of a patented ”fogging” system or incorporated into a third party product.
The biocide industry is heavily and increasingly regulated. Byotrol’s products are formulated using registered biocides, which expedites the regulatory approval process. The Byotrol technology is protected by a number of patents, with its the lead patent in the UK and across most of Europe and North America. |