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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