15 Sept - The Provexis strategy is the discovery, development and licensing of functional food, medical food and dietary supplement technologies
Key highlights
* Post year end placing of £2.5m of new shares at 0.65p per share providing working capital and funding for new product pipeline development.
* DSM Venturing take strategic investment of 29.3% in the Company as part of the post-year end placing.
* Extended Fruitflow® collaboration with Unilever and entered into new collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company.
* Company in discussions with potential Fruitflow® license partners for the global dietary supplement sector, in addition to Unilever and Coca-Cola collaborations.
* First phase trial phase for NSP#3G product for Crohn’s Disease completed successfully, with second phase patient trial to commence in the second half of the year.
* Joint venture with University of Liverpool extended to develop plant-extract derived technology for prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile.
* New technology for treatment and prevention of peptic ulcers taken under option from University of Manchester.
* Steve Morrison, Chief Operating Officer with global R&D Project Director background, appointed effective 1 October 2008.
* Krijn Rietveld, DSM Senior Vice-President, appointed as Non-executive Director on 29 August 2008, post admission of new placing shares.
Key financial results
* Loss attributable to equity shareholders £1,189,117 (2007: £2,437,855).
* Cash balance £532,581 (2007: £115,824).
* Loss per share from continuing operations 0.26p (2007: 0.61p).
Chairman Dawson Buck said: "The year has been a challenging one but I am pleased to report that the management team continues to make very good progress in implementing the strategy of discovery, development and licensing of scientifically-proven functional food, medical food and dietary supplement technologies.
"In pursuit of our licensing strategy, we have continued to focus on securing global license partners to maximise the potential of our core Fruitflow® heart-health technology. We are working closely with Coca-Cola and are making good progress in consumer testing, commercial assessment and finalising regulatory approval in a range of territories. In our collaboration with Unilever, the R&D team are on track with the development of a format suitable for inclusion in Unilever product formats.
"Additionally, negotiations are underway with potential partners in the global dietary supplement sector. Initiatives to
secure partners in other claim areas and product sectors continue. Our patented technology for the treatment of Crohn’s Disease has been successful in the first trial phase, with a healthy human trial having recently finished. A two-centre clinical trial will commence in the second half of the year. We are working closely with the University of Liverpool to develop new claim areas for the technology.
"The team have secured a promising new technology from the University of Manchester. We believe in the importance of a strong technology pipeline and the building of that pipeline will significantly enhance shareholder value in the medium to long term.I have invited Krijn Rietveld, Senior Vice-President with DSM Nutrition, to join the Board as a Non-executive Director on 29 August 2008 and I believe he will be a valuable addition. Steve Morrison will further strengthen the management team when he joins us in October 2008 as Chief Operating Officer.
"The business has made good progress over the last year, as we have developed commercial opportunities, strengthened the team and reshaped the business with a significantly lower cost base. We are well placed to capitalise on this momentum as the management team continue to implement our focused discovery, development and licensing strategy."
"Beginning with strategy and management structure, Chief Executive Stephen Moon said: "We are several months into the implementation of our new strategy of focusing on the discovery, development and licensing of scientifically-proven functional food, medical food and dietary supplement technologies. I am pleased to say that this transition has gone well and the business is now fully-focused, has a much reduced cost base (evidenced by losses reducing to £1.163m versus £2.450m in 2007) and a combination of commercially-ready and promising future technologies.
"To underpin the implementation of the strategy, on 1 August 2008 we announced the raising of £2.5m of working capital via a placing of new shares. As part of this placing DSM Venturing B.V., the venturing arm of the €8.8bn turnover DSM life sciences and material sciences business, made a strategic investment of £1.5m in the business. In addition to the investment, we have invited Krijn Rietveld, Senior Vice-President with DSM Nutrition, to be a Provexis Director and I believe his sector knowledge and experience will add great value to the team.
"Steve Morrison joins us as Chief Operating Officer in October 2008, bringing a strong track record as a global R&D Project Director with Ipsen and Shire Pharmaceutical. His skills will make us even more effective in delivering technologies in line with the needs of our global partners. We have also continued to strengthen the R&D team, in order to maximise the value created from current and new technologies. Fruitflow® licensing
"Our collaboration with Unilever is on track, with the R&D team making great strides in the development of a concentrated Fruitflow® format suitable for incorporation into vegetable oil-based spreads. This format will be trialled in human subjects in late summer, with a target of delivering a final, proven Fruitflow® product to our partner later this year.
"We are working intensively with The Coca-Cola Company on a programme of consumer testing, commercial assessment and finalising regulatory approval in a range of territories. Subject to positive results in these areas, the parties intend to proceed to a licensing agreement.
"Discussions are underway with two global ingredients manufacturers for the license of Fruitflow® for the dietary supplements sector and we expect to make progress during the balance of 2008.
"The research team continue to develop further claim areas for our core technology. In 2008 we will progress our deep vein thrombosis work, with human studies commencing in 2009. We will commence work on metabolic syndrome and Type-II diabetes claims in 2009. 50 million US citizens are estimated to suffer from metabolic syndrome and as such the area represents a significant opportunity.
"The first phase of human trials on our patented technology for the treatment of Crohn’s Disease has been completed successfully and we will move into the second phase full clinical trial on Crohn’s Disease patients in the second half of the year, once final MHRA clearance has been received. We are working closely with the University of Liverpool to extend the technology into potential new claim areas and expect to see progress towards this in the second half of 2008.
"The 75% Provexis-owned joint venture with the University of Liverpool is to extend its activity into the development of a novel plant-derived formulation for the treatment and prevention of infections caused by invasive bacteria such as Clostridium difficile (“C.difficile”). The new technology project by the joint venture partners will develop a novel, patented and clinically-proven formulation to prevent interactions between bacteria of therapeutic interest including C.difficile and the lining of the human digestive tract. The proposed end-user product will be targeted at the medical food sector.
"We have entered into a one-year option agreement with the University of Manchester for a natural extract for the prevention and treatment of peptic ulcers. During this period we will assess and develop the technology and subject to our being satisfied with the potential, the intellectual property and patents will be assigned to Provexis. We believe that our well-developed, low-cost development model will enable us to commercialise this novel technology effectively, adding significant shareholder value to the business in the medium term.
"We have reduced our cost base significantly, giving us an effective low-cost platform from which to commercialise our existing Fruitflow® technology, our Crohn’s Disease product and new technologies. This, together with the collaborations and strong relationships we enjoy with leading global brand owners and ingredient manufacturers,will drive our focus on extracting shareholder value from our promising IP pipeline in the coming year."