UK Patent Registered to Physiomics
REGISTRATION OF UK SYSTEMCELLTM PATENT
Oxford, UK, December 23rd, 2004, Physiomics plc (PYC, ‘Physiomics’ or the ‘Company’), a European systems biology simulation company, has received formal notification from the UK Patent Office of registration to it in the UK of European Patent 0 937 286, which covers its SystemCellTM simulation technology. The corresponding US Patent 6,446,055 was granted on 3 September 2002 and assigned to Physiomics on 14 November 2002.
Physiomics is developing virtual biological cell populations in which each cell encapsulates its own copy of the SystemCell simulation. These models could be used to optimise the design of clinical trials of cancer therapeutics.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr Stephen Parker, Chairman, said: “Formal registration of the UK patent is expected to strengthen Physiomics’ commercial position, and allow us to exploit the full potential of SystemCell.”
Physiomics floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on December 20th 2004, following a Placing that raised £750,000 for the Company.
For further information please contact:
Physiomics plc Tel: 01865 784 980
Dr Stephen Parker (Chairman) Tel: 07771 526 785
Dr John Savin (CEO) Tel: 07774 831 967
Northbank Communications Tel: 020 7886 8150
Emma Palmer
Fiona Brown
Background to Physiomics
Physiomics plc, founded in 2001, develops and sells services aimed at reducing the high cost of drug development for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies by optimising the design of cancer clinical trials through the application of computer-based simulations. Physiomics is also applying its technologies to develop proprietary cancer therapy products for out-licensing and, to this end, it has secured an option to license two innovative molecules. Industry drug development costs on average over $800 million per product, with approximately 80 to 90 per cent of all clinical drug candidates failing to reach the market.
Improving overall success rates by 10 per cent could save the industry $242 million per drug. Physiomics believes that in silico simulation technologies will quickly become the essential tools of the pharmaceutical industry as a means of reducing this rate of attrition. The market for system biology products and services is expected to grow to $785 million by 2008, an annual compound growth rate of 66 per cent.
Physiomics has a strong team of Directors, with considerable experience of the life sciences industry.
- Chairman Dr Stephen Parker MBA was Finance Director at Oxford GlycoSciences, following a career in corporate finance.
- CEO Dr John Savin MBA, who joined Physiomics in 2001, has worked as a life sciences equity analyst and in marketing for global healthcare companies such as Pharmacia and Amersham International.
- Science Director Professor David Fell is a recognised expert in systems biology and runs a research team in this area at Oxford Brookes University. He is the author of approximately 85 scientific publications.
- The Finance Director is David Collins ACA who has a broad range of experience with large corporations, including ICI and BASF, and is currently part-time Finance Director at Gieves & Hawkes.
- Other Directors are Dr Paul Harper, who was CEO at Provensis and Cambridge Antibody Technology, and John Pool, who has extensive commercial and scientific experience in the life sciences sector.
Physiomics believes that systems biology simulations, combined with its SystemCellTM technology to create virtual biological cell populations (where each cell encapsulates its own copy of the simulation), should enable better understanding of required drug dosages. Its mathematical models of key cellular processes, such as cell growth and division, can, the Directors believe, be used to define expensive pre-clinical and clinical research protocols to produce “right first time” studies.
The potential of Physiomics’ approach has been validated through an ongoing collaboration with Cyclacel to evaluate novel cancer therapies and in 2004 with the announcement of a collaboration with Bayer Technology Services GmbH (BTS, an affiliated company of Bayer AG) to supply services for clinical response prediction. Under this agreement, the two companies are combining BTS’ PK-Sim® technology (which is used to evaluate how much administered drug reaches the disease site) with Physiomics’ own technology, including its SystemCell software based on patented technology. Physiomics technology is used to calculate how much drug is needed to maintain a therapeutic level.
The Directors believe that drug companies will use Physiomics’ services to:
- design clinical trials to maximise the chances of a successful outcome; or
- troubleshoot problem trials, in order to identify the remedial action required and salvage drug development programmes; or
- evaluate the benefits of buying in, or out-licensing, potential drug development projects.
Grant Thornton Corporate Finance is nominated adviser to Physiomics.
This announcement is exempt from the general restriction (in section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) on the communication of invitations or inducements to engage in investment activity on the grounds that it is made only to persons who are exempt from such restriction by virtue of the application of Part VI of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order.