Exclusive worldwide option over megakaryocyte IP

RNS Number : 5663Q

Angle PLC

13 September 2017

 

For immediate release

13 September 2017

ANGLE plc ("the Company")

EXCLUSIVE WORLDWIDE OPTION OVER MEGAKARYOCYTE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

ANGLE signs option over patent applications filed on Barts Cancer Institute's discovery of megakaryocytes' role in cancer

Megakaryocytes' presence in prostate cancer linked to patient survival; such cells potentially have role in all cancer types

ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, is delighted to announce that it has signed an option agreement with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) for an exclusive worldwide licence over the use of its megakaryocyte intellectual property.

As announced on 15 June 2017, QMUL published research in Clinical Cancer Research using ANGLE's Parsortix system showing that the number of megakaryocyte cells in the blood of prostate cancer patients correlates closely with increased patient survival.  This is the first time the presence of these cells in patient blood has been shown to be connected to cancer prognosis. 

Investigation of megakaryocytes in patient blood opens up the potential for a whole new area for cancer diagnostics and, at present, ANGLE's patented Parsortix system is the only system that has demonstrated the capability of harvesting megakaryocytes. 

QMUL have filed two patent applications in relation to these findings which are being prosecuted worldwide.  ANGLE has signed a two year option to an exclusive worldwide licence to these patents covering any medical therapeutic, diagnostic, or prophylactic application.  ANGLE has agreed to cover the costs of prosecution. 

Through this deal, ANGLE now has intellectual property protection over the upstream cell capture technology (its existing Parsortix IP) and the downstream megakaryocyte analysis technology (via the option agreement announced today).  Megakaryocyte analysis may provide medical insight in multiple cancer types and Barts Cancer Institute, which is part of QMUL, is investigating other cancer types to substantiate this.

The Parsortix system has been shown to be capable of harvesting for analysis not only mesenchymal CTCs, which are linked to a poor outcome, but also megakaryocytes, which are linked to a favourable patient outcome.  Combining these two factors may provide new insights into patient condition.

ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:

"This deal further strengthens ANGLE's intellectual property position in the fast-emerging liquid biopsy market. Use of the Parsortix system is driving new discoveries by key opinion leaders and customers and ANGLE is the obvious partner to drive their commercialisation so we expect to see other similar developments over time continually strengthening the Company's position in the market."

Michele Hill-Perkins, Head of Technology Transfer Biopharma at QMUL Barts Queen Mary Innovation Ltd, commented:

 "We believe the patents on the role of megakaryocytes in patient blood as a favourable prognostic biomarker has the potential to open up new avenues of research in the fight against cancer.  We are delighted to have signed this deal with ANGLE to progress their commercialisation for the benefit of patients."

Dr Yong-Jie Lu, Reader in Medical Oncology at Barts Cancer Institute, and the Principal Investigator for the megakaryocytes discovery commented:

 "We believe megakaryocytes in patient blood may play a key role in the body's immune response to all solid cancer types not just prostate cancer and we are currently investigating this in several other cancer types."

For further information ANGLE:

ANGLE plc	[phone]
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive Ian Griffiths, Finance Director
finnCap Ltd (NOMAD and Joint Broker) Corporate Finance - Adrian Hargrave, Simon Hicks, Kate Bannatyne Corporate Broking - Alice Lane, Nikita Jain	[phone]
WG Partners (Joint Broker) Nigel Barnes Nigel Birks	[phone] [phone]
FTI Consulting Simon Conway, Mo Noonan, Stephanie Cuthbert Kimberly Ha (US)	[phone] [phone]

For Frequently Used Terms, please see the Company's website on http://www.angleplc.com/the-parsortix-system/glossary/

This announcement contains inside information.

Notes for editors

About ANGLE plc     www.angleplc.com 

ANGLE is a world-leading liquid biopsy company commercialising a disruptive platform technology that can capture cells circulating in blood, such as cancer cells, even when they are as rare in number as one cell in one billion blood cells, and harvest the cells for analysis.

ANGLE's cell separation technology is called the Parsortix^TM system and it enables a liquid biopsy (simple blood test) to be used to provide the cells of interest. Parsortix is the subject of granted patents in Europe, the United States, Canada, India, China, Japan and Australia and three extensive families of patents are being progressed worldwide. The system is based on a microfluidic device that captures live cells based on a combination of their size and compressibility. Parsortix has a CE Mark for Europe and FDA authorisation is in process for the United States. 

ANGLE has established formal collaborations with world-class cancer centres.  These Key Opinion Leaders are working to identify applications with medical utility (clear benefit to patients), and to secure clinical data that demonstrates that utility in patient studies.  Details are available here http://www.angleplc.com/the-company/collaborators/ 

The analysis of the cells that can be harvested from patient blood with ANGLE's Parsortix system has the potential to help deliver personalised cancer care offering profound improvements in clinical and health economic outcomes in the treatment and diagnosis of various forms of cancer.

The global increase in cancer to a 1 in 3 lifetime incidence is set to drive a multi-billion dollar clinical market. The Parsortix system is designed to be compatible with existing major medtech analytical platforms and to act as a companion diagnostic for major pharma in helping to identify patients that will benefit from a particular drug and then monitoring the drug's effectiveness.

As well as cancer, the Parsortix technology has the potential for deployment with several other important cell types in the future.

ANGLE stock trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AGL and in New York on the OTC-QX under the ticker symbol ANPCY. For further information please visit: www.angleplc.com

About Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is one of the UK's leading universities with 23,120 students representing more than 160 nationalities.

A member of the Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our research. In the most recent national assessment of the quality of research, we were placed ninth in the UK amongst multi-faculty universities (Research Excellence Framework 2014).

As well as our main site at Mile End - which is home to one of the largest self-contained residential campuses in London - we have campuses at Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square, and West Smithfield dedicated to the study of medicine and dentistry, and a base for legal studies at Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Queen Mary began life as the People's Palace, a Victorian philanthropic project designed to bring culture, recreation and education to the people of the East End. We also have roots in Westfield College, one of the first colleges to provide higher education to women; St Bartholomew's Hospital, one of the first public hospitals in Europe; and The London, one of England's first medical schools.

Today, as well as retaining these close connections to our local community, we are known for our international collaborations in both teaching and research. QMUL has an income of £400m and a research income worth £137m (2015/16) and generates employment and output worth in excess of £700m to the UK economy each year.

For more information, please contact:

Queen Mary University of London

Press office: [e-mail] or

Tel: [phone]

 

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