e-Therapeutics plc
("e-Therapeutics" or the "Company")
Annual General Meeting
Oxford and Newcastle, UK, 11 June 2015 - e-Therapeutics plc (AIM: ETX), the drug discovery and development company, is holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today at 10.30am. Ahead of this meeting, the acting Chairman and CEO, Professor Malcolm Young, will provide the following comments:
"Since our last Annual General Meeting, 12 months ago, the Company has shown accelerated progress across the business.
"With our cancer programme, ETS2101, we have established maximum tolerated dose with a good safety profile in our UK Phase 1 study, and we have now moved into a Phase Ib study in pancreatic and hepatocellular cancers at up to 15 locations in four countries. Since our year end results, the Phase Ib study has enrolled and dosed the first patient.
"We have also been running a Phase Ia trial in the US in brain cancer and the last patient has now been enrolled. This cohort is being dosed at 36 mg/kg. One of these patients is presently on their seventh cycle at this dose level. Unlike the UK trial, there have been no dose-limiting toxicities determined at the current dosage, although the patients have experienced similar short-term side effects to those observed in the UK. We will provide a fuller update on this trial over the next few months.
"The major highlight of the year has been the striking productivity achieved by our discovery platform. We believe this is the culmination of the significant investment and enhancements we have made over the past two years, on the scientific principles that we pioneered over a longer period. Molecule selection and testing has now been undertaken across seven discovery projects. The data from these projects suggest that more than 25% of screened compounds were indeed active, and that among the active molecules many are as or more potent than any molecules previously reported. For example, initial results from our most recent project, which sought potent (<10μM) small molecule inhibitors of TNFα, a major inflammatory cytokine, produced a yield rate of potent molecules above 40%, even after initial toxicity screening. These yield rates are much higher than published rates for conventional drug discovery.
"We continue to be encouraged by the productivity of our discovery platform. We will provide a more complete summary of the various projects in discovery at the end of the half year.
"With the progress we are making both in the clinical programmes and in discovery, we expect another exciting year for the Company."
- Ends -
e-Therapeutics plc
Steve Medlicott, Finance Director
Tel: +44 (0) 1993 883125
N+1 Singer
Aubrey Powell / Jen Boorer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3000
Instinctif Partners
Melanie Toyne-Sewell / Jayne Crook
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7457 2020
Email: e-therapeutics@instinctif.com
About e-Therapeutics plc
e-Therapeutics is a drug discovery and development company with a proprietary platform in network pharmacology, an innovative approach to drug discovery based on advances in network science and chemical biology. e-Therapeutics' platform is generating more potent, selective and diverse molecules at much higher yields than is reported for conventional drug discovery.The Company's discovery and development activity addresses age-related diseases, including cancer and central nervous system disorders, and it is fully funded to advance its programme into 2019, including phase II clinical data and multiple regulatory submissions.
e-Therapeutics has a phase IIb clinical stage drug candidate for major depressive disorder, ETS6103. It has a phase Ib clinical stage candidate in hepatocellular and pancreatic cancer, ETS2101. The company has a variety of preclinical stage assets, including ETX1153c, a functionally resistance-less antibiotic; ETS2300, potent telomerase inhibition in anti-cancer; ETS3100, potent small molecule anti-TNFα; ETS2400, potent Hedgehog pathway inhibition; and ETS6200, in neuroprotection.
e-Therapeutics is based at sites in Oxford and Newcastle, UK. For more information about the Company, please visit www.etherapeutics.co.uk.