Retroscreen Virology appoints David Norwood
IP Group plc - Portfolio company Retroscreen Virology appoints David Norwood as Chairman
28 February 2011
IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property based businesses, is pleased to announce that portfolio company Retroscreen Virology Limited, Europe's leading specialist virology contract research organisation (CRO), has announced that David Norwood, IP Group's founder, has been appointed as Chairman and has acquired a significant shareholding in the Company. IP Group plc has a 32% shareholding in Retroscreen Virology.
Mr. Norwood is also a former chief executive of the stockbrokers Beeson Gregory and a former director of Evolution.
Mr. Norwood departed the City in 2008 after a successful 16-year career to live in Lubbers Quarters, a remote island in the northern Bahamas. His appointment at Retroscreen Virology heralds Mr. Norwood's return to his entrepreneurial roots, and to his long-standing commitment to assist British universities to generate value from their intellectual property.
Retroscreen Virology, founded by the eminent virologist Professor John Oxford, is a spin-out from Queen Mary, University of London, one the UK's leading research-focused higher education institutions. Retroscreen is focussed on researching the next generation of antivirals and vaccines for a number of respiratory and enteric viral diseases. The company has recently relocated to a purpose-built laboratory and clinical facility at the Queen Mary BioEnterprise Centre in Whitechapel.
Kym Denny, Chief Executive Officer of Retroscreen, welcomed Mr. Norwood to the Board and said:
"David is a long standing advocate of the quality of UK university intellectual property and has a successful track-record of realising the potential of young technology businesses. We are delighted that he has chosen to join Retroscreen at such a pivotal time in its growth. The Company is well positioned to further expand its proven, proprietary model for the conduct of clinical virology studies, a model that enables our clients to significantly reduce the cost and time to market when developing the next generation of vaccines and anti-viral products."
Mr. Norwood said:
"I am delighted to have been invited to join the board of Retroscreen as Chair. It has been my intention to return to the City for some time, once the right opportunity presented itself, both in a capital deployment and expertise capacity. Given the continuing threat of viral pandemics and epidemics, there is a pressing need to bring treatments and vaccines to market as quickly and safely as possible. I believe that Retroscreen Virology, with its clinical trial challenge model, is ideally placed to assist in this global effort, and to serve as a unique vehicle that brings together the scientific, financial and commercial expertise to further our understanding of viral infections and the best ways of treating and preventing them. I look forward to working with Kym and Professor Oxford to develop the Company's platform around the new, purpose built facility in Whitechapel."
For further information, please contact:
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IP Group |
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Financial Dynamics |
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Retroscreen Virology Limited |
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Notes to Editors
About IP Group
IP Group is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company that specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. IP Group has formed long-term partnerships with ten universities - the University of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, the University of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, the University of Southampton, Queen Mary (University of London), the University of Bath and the University of Glasgow.
For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.
About Retroscreen Virology
Retroscreen Virology is Europe's leading specialist virology contract research organisation (CRO). The work Retroscreen conducts is dedicated to supporting the development of the next generation of antivirals and vaccines for a number of respiratory and enteric viral diseases. Research ranges from virology laboratory (analytical) services through to the clinical conduct of human challenge studies (Phase 1b and Phase 2a proof-of-concept). Experimental challenge studies, where healthy volunteers are infected with virus so that novel antivirals and vaccines can be assessed in a controlled manner, can rapidly reduce the time and cost of drug development by accelerating the selection of safe and effective dose and dosing regimes. Retroscreen was one of only two biotechnology companies in the 2009 Times Tech Track 100 which ranks the fastest-growing private technology companies in Britain by sales growth over a three-year period.
This information is provided by RNS