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Biotech / Medical : biotech fireworks

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From: nigel bates4/1/2005 4:33:49 AM
   of 7424
 
Proteome up a quarter in London -



Proteome Sciences plc ('Proteome Sciences' or the 'Company') is pleased to
announce that it has signed Heads of Agreement for an exclusive global license
in the field of proteomics with a major global healthcare player for its Tandem
Mass Tags, part of the Sensitizer family of chemical reagents and expects to
complete the definitive licence agreement shortly, at which time full details
of the licensee will be disclosed.

Proteome Sciences has developed TMT chemical mass tags at its Frankfurt
facility. Tandem Mass Tags increase the output of proteomics experiments by
reducing sample complexity in a way that allows accurate and sensitive
quantification and identification of protein biomarkers in complex biological
materials such as tissue and body fluids for applications in mass spectrometry,
bioinformatics, statistics and pattern recognition.

The Board believes that the market potential for isobaric mass tag reagents in
proteomics is likely to grow extremely rapidly and is projected to generate
sales into many hundreds of million dollars over the TMT patent life on which
Proteome Sciences will receive royalties.

It is proposed that Proteome Sciences may initially receive US $2.3m to include
milestone patent payments and a signing fee together with a double-digit
royalty on sales. Proteome Sciences will retain all rights to the other
chemical reagents in the Sensitizer family, including PST, qPST and Sensitizer
and the use of TMT for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Trading Update

We are pleased to confirm that, as previously stated in the Interim Report,
that we are continuing to make good progress with the other legs of our
business - the biomarker portfolio and ProteoSHOP, and would like to provide an
update:

In the case of our stroke biomarkers, we have moved the existing license
arrangements for Point of Care applications to a non-exclusive basis. This
will considerably simplify and increase the commercial freedom to operate in
the field of high throughput stroke (HTS) applications and should expedite the
process to effect a number of HTS non-exclusive licenses at more favourable
terms with the major players with whom negotiations are well advanced.

The first ProteoSHOP deal has been concluded with Regen Therapeutics plc,
details of which are contained in a separate press release. A healthy pipeline
of prospective strategic alliances is building up for the remainder of the year
and beyond.

Intronn

The main objective for Intronn's SMART technology, following the successful
development of the high capacity screen, was to apply SMART in RNA therapeutics
for the liver. The goal was to try and demonstrate in-vivo proof of principle
for one of its three primary programmes in haemophilia, dyslipidemia
(hypercholesterolemia) or AAT deficiency.

We are delighted to report that Intronn has demonstrated in-vivo proof of
principle for the dyslipidemia programme in the early part of 2005, with good
progress being made in the other applications.

2004 Financial Update

As anticipated, the unaudited headline loss for the period to 31 December 2004
is expected to be broadly similar to the £4.26m in the previous year and cash
at the 31 December 2004 was £2.43m (2003: £6.16m).

The commercial transactions currently envisaged should generate significant
signature payments, milestones and royalties. With a similar pattern of cash
burn expected by the Board for 2005 to previous years, this will make a
considerable impact on the cashflow and future financial requirements of the
Company.

Details of the Placing

To provide the Company with the flexibility to undertake its business plan for
the foreseeable future, Proteome Sciences announces that it has raised
approximately £4.7 million (net of expenses) by way of a cash placing (the
'Placing') of 8,087,658 new ordinary shares (the 'Placing Shares'), with an
institutional investor, representing 6.6 per cent. of the Company's existing
ordinary share capital at a price of 59.5 pence per share.

In addition, the Company is raising approximately a further £255,000 through
the exercise of warrants by Christopher Pearce, Chief Executive. Christopher
Pearce intends to hold the shares resulting from this transaction.

The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing issued
ordinary shares. Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be
admitted to the Alternative Investment Market ('AIM') of the London Stock
Exchange plc. Dealings in the Placing Shares are expected to commence on 6
April 2005.

Commenting, Christopher Pearce, CEO of Proteome Sciences, said:

'We are delighted to have signed Heads of Agreement with a major global
player in healthcare as the licensing partner to our TMT reagents which has the
structure and resources to maximise the TMT products and revenue streams.
Having completed the process of commercialising TMT, we will continue to
develop and expand the range of Sensitizer reagents and concentrate on using
PST and qPST in strategic alliances with our ProteoSHOP toolbox.

The recent major clinical problems experienced by major pharmaceutical
groups, which we had predicted for some time across a broad range of existing
drugs and drugs in development at the end of 2004, require a different approach
to clinical risk management in response to new regulatory requirements. We
believe that proteomics technology will be one of the major contributors and
beneficiaries of this scenario and that Proteome Sciences has the right
technology at the right time. Against this background, and with the
commercialisation of our research programmes now visible, the prospects look
most promising.'...
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