Two contracts in Huntington's disease awarded

RNS Number : 7395H

IXICO plc

22 May 2014

 



IXICO awarded two further contracts in Huntington's disease

22 May 2014, IXICO plc (Ticker: IXI) ('IXICO' or the 'Company'), the brain health company, today announces that it has been awarded contracts for two separate clinical trials in Huntington's disease (HD) with top 15 pharmaceutical companies. These contracts are in addition to a third clinical study already underway in HD which is developing into an important indication specialty for IXICO.

HD is a rare genetic neurodegenerative disorder that affects the patient's normal movement, cognition and behaviour.  HD is more common in people of Western European descent than in those of Asian or African ancestry, affecting approximately 5-7 people per 100,000 in Western countries.

There are currently no effective marketed treatments for HD.  Despite its low incidence, interest in developing therapeutics to treat the disease within the pharmaceutical industry is significant, with a large number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies globally interested in the indication.

IXICO has supported important research in the HD area since 2007. The Company has worked with key opinion leaders around the world and charitable organisations to characterise biomarkers that could be used in clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of novel treatments in development.  A battery of outcome measures is emerging from these published studies and other academic work.

These two new clinical trials are starting imminently and are expected to last at least two years.  They will involve IXICO working with expert imaging centres across North America and Europe.  IXICO's technology will be used for handling and analysing imaging data and the projects will benefit from IXICO's expertise in magnetic resonance imaging methods such as structural MRI, functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).

Professor Derek Hill, Chief Executive of IXICO commented:

"We are pleased to see our earlier research work in this area developing into an important commercial focus for IXICO. We look forward to supporting our pharmaceutical, clinical and academic colleagues in their efforts to find therapies for this very challenging condition. As new therapies are developed for neurodegenerative diseases such as HD, technologies to diagnose these conditions in a timely way will become increasingly important and IXICO continues to invest in translating tools from the clinical trial market into our Assessa® medical devices to support diagnosis."

About IXICO

IXICO, the brain health company, was founded in 2004 with a mission to translate image acquisition, management and analysis technology and know-how, which the founders had developed together, into commercial products targeting the expanding area of imaging to inform decision-making during drug development. This has resulted in commercially successful products being launched in the clinical trials (Phase 0-III) and experimental medicine markets and more recently launched into the wider clinical diagnostic market. Since incorporation, IXICO has been awarded contracts by nine of the top 15 global pharmaceutical companies as well as leading biotechnology companies. In October 2013, IXICO plc was admitted to trading on AIM. More information is available on www.ixico.com

Enquiries:                                    

IXICO plc                               

Derek Hill, CEO

Charles Spicer, VP Corporate Development                         

[phone]                                      

Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

James Steel

Clare Terlouw

[phone]

Daniel Stewart & Company (Joint Broker)

Mark Treharne

David Hart

[phone]

FTI Consulting Limited (Investor Relations)

Ben Atwell

Simon Conway

John Dineen

[phone] 

 

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