Glycotest receives 2nd $3m tranche of $10m finance

RNS Number : 1332U

NetScientific PLC

21 November 2019

 

NetScientific plc

("NetScientific" or the "Company")

Portfolio Company Glycotest Inc. receives the second  $3 million tranche
of the $10 million Series A financing

London, UK - 21 November 2019 - NetScientific plc (AIM: NSCI), the transatlantic healthcare IP commercialisation Group, is pleased to note that its portfolio company, Glycotest Inc. has received the second $3 million tranche of the $10 million Series A financing with Fosun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd ("Fosun Pharma"), a leading healthcare group based in China.

Ian Postlethwaite, CEO of NetScientific, said:

"Glycotest continues to make excellent progress.  The $3 million will enable the Company to advance its HCC Panel towards commercial launch in the U.S. market and to support Fosun Long March Medical Science Co. Ltd towards launch of the HCC Panel in China.  We are proud to be supporters of Glycotest who we believe has the strong potential to deliver value for our shareholders."

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Below is the full announcement made today by Glycotest Inc.:

Glycotest, Inc. Receives $3 Million Second Tranche of $10 Million Series A Financing

New York, NY-November 21, 2019.  Glycotest, Inc., a diagnostics company commercializing new and unique blood tests for life threatening liver cancers and fibrosis-cirrhosis, announced today that the Company has received the second $3 million tranche of the $10 million Series A funding round from Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ("Fosun Pharma"). 

The focus of this strategic investment is the advancement of the HCC Panel toward commercial launch in the United States, transfer of the HCC Panel technology to Fosun Pharma's diagnostic subsidiary for commercialization in China, and further development of pipeline tests for liver fibrosis and cholangiocarcinoma, the second most prevalent form of liver cancer.  Under the terms of the agreement, Fosun Pharma receives a 40% equity stake in Glycotest and an exclusive license to manufacture and sell the Glycotest HCC Panel blood test in China in return for a royalty on sales to Glycotest.  Funding of the remaining $4 million is due on completion of certain remaining milestones. 

Glycotest's HCC Panel is a unique algorithm-driven biomarker panel that takes advantage of the Company's patented fucosylated biomarker technology and is intended for surveillance of patients known to be at risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).  HCC is the predominant form of primary liver cancer and fastest growing cause of cancer death in the United States with an estimated three million or more at-risk patients in the US who are eligible for HCC surveillance testing.   Currently, many patients with HCC are not identified until they have later stage disease and are no longer eligible for curative therapy because tests available now are ineffective for identifying patients with curable early-stage HCC.  Three clinical studies involving over 480 patients have shown the HCC Panel to be able to identify patients with curable early-stage HCC more effectively than AFP, the currently dominant blood test for HCC.

CEO Lawrence Cohen said, "The second  tranche of our $10 million Series A funding round will enable us to advance the clinical validation study for the HCC Panel that we began at multiple major US clinical sites earlier this year, and  continue to progress towards commercialization in the U.S. market. In addition, it allows us to continue the support of Fosun Long March Medical Science Co.,Ltd. as they make progress toward launch of the HCC Panel in China."

About Glycotest, Inc.

Glycotest is a private liver disease diagnostics company commercializing novel clinical laboratory testing services for patients with serious liver disease.  Glycotest employs unique non-invasive blood tests based on proprietary serum biomarkers, biomarker panels and assay technology that exploit novel sugar-based disease signal chemistry.  The Company's pipeline includes tests for liver cancers as well as liver fibrosis-cirrhosis.  Glycotest's mission is to reduce mortality and increase survival for the growing populations at risk due to serious underlying liver disease, including both viral hepatitis and non-viral forms of hepatitis such as NASH.  Glycotest was founded in 2012 on proprietary technology that originated at the Philadelphia area institutions Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and Drexel University College of Medicine.  Learn more at www.Glycotest Inc..com.

About Fosun Pharma

Established in 1994, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. ("Fosun Pharma"; stock code: 600196.SH, 02196.HK) is a leading healthcare group in the PRC. Adhering to the mission of improving human health, Fosun Pharma's business covers all key sectors of healthcare industry chain, including pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D, healthcare services, medical devices and medical diagnosis, as well as pharmaceutical distribution and retail. Fosun Pharma always regards innovation as the driving force for its business growth. The company continuously optimized its pharmaceutical R&D system that integrates biosimilars and innovative drugs and has established international R&D teams in China, the United States, India, etc., forming a globally interactive R&D system. Fosun Pharma maintains a national recognized enterprise technology center and establishes innovative chemical drugs platform, biologics platform, high-value generic drugs platform and cell-therapy platform. At present, Fosun Pharma maintains the leading position with its core products in various therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiovascular system, central nervous system, blood system, metabolism and alimentary system and anti-infection. All products occupy the leading position in each market segment.

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This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

For more information, please contact:

NetScientific   Ian Postlethwaite, CEO / CFO	Tel: [phone]
WHIreland (NOMAD, Financial Adviser and Broker) Chris Fielding / Darshan Patel	Tel: [phone]
MO PR ADVISORY (Press Contact) Mo Noonan	Tel: [phone]

About NetScientific

NetScientific PLC is a transatlantic healthcare IP commercialisation Group focused on technologies and companies that have the potential to treat chronic disease and significantly improve the health and well-being of people.

For more information, please visit the website at www.NetScientific.net

 

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