CIRRP Award Update

Oxford BioDynamics PLC

07 October 2024

 

Oxford BioDynamics
("OBD" or the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

CIRRP Award Update

Oxford, UK - 7 October 2024 - Oxford BioDynamics, Plc (AIM: OBD, the Company), a precision clinical diagnostics company bringing specific and sensitive tests to the practice of medicine based on its EpiSwitch® 3D genomics platform, notes that the UK Cancer Immunotherapy Response Research Platform (CIRRP) funding for biomarker development for cancer immunotherapies has been awarded by the government-run Office for Life Sciences and the Medical Research Council to the MANIFEST consortium led by the Francis Crick Institute.

OBD was part of the EpiSwitch consortium, led by the University of Oxford, and including the University of Birmingham and five NHS Trusts, which was shortlisted for the award.

In its feedback to the EpiSwitch consortium, the Panel explained its decision: "The Panel agreed that the application was based on an interesting technology that was already routinely used in the USA and in private UK clinics. However, Members agreed that while this was an excellent collaboration between a diagnostics company and a single [sic] academic group, it didn't fulfil the expectations of the Opportunity to build a legacy UK-wide consortium to deliver research into cancer immunotherapy.

Members agreed that the application concentrated on moving the current technology into standard practice within the NHS and would have been strengthened by providing greater detail on new tests to be developed with a focus on mechanistic molecular insight as well as correlating the blood work back to tumour data."

Alexandre Akoulitchev, CSO of Oxford BioDynamics, said:

"We wish the MANIFEST consortium every success in their research program on biomarkers for response to immunotherapies. The award decision will support the national flagship - Francis Crick Institute and the infrastructure of many other key research and NHS institutions around the country. The proposed extensive systematic approach will document many interesting aspects of molecular events around biopsy of tumors and sequencing information, within research space, with further expansion to blood and stool readouts. This will oversee early biomarker discovery and would start the process of pre-clinical model building.

"Last month, at the 14^th Clinical Biomarkers and Companion Diagnostics World Summit in Boston, OBD presented in a key-note talk the latest real-world evidence from adoption of our commercialy available Checkpoint Inihibitor Response (CiRT) test in the US, including in the PROWES national observational registry study. The Company also shared results of the development and validation of its Hyperprogression Immune Response Test (HiRT) made possible through the support of the Company's second PACT Award and the latest technical developments that allows multi-choice early detection and prevention of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), associated with common side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors.

"With regard to the main focus of the CIRRP program, having already successfully completed the stages of biomarker discovery and translation to clinical practice in immuno-oncology, our main objective remains to support the rapid utilization of the accurate and robust CiRT test, in the UK and US."

-Ends-

For more information:

Oxford BioDynamics Plc Jon Burrows, CEO Paul Stockdale, CFO	[phone]
Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser and Broker to OBD) Stephane Auton Lucy Bowden	[phone]
WG Partners (Joint Broker to OBD) David Wilson / Claes Spång / Satheesh Nadarajah / Erland Sternby	[phone]
Vigo Consulting (Media / Analyst enquiries for OBD) Rozi Morris	[phone] [e-mail]

Notes for Editors

About Oxford BioDynamics Plc

Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD) is an international biotechnology company, advancing personalized healthcare by developing and commercializing precision clinical diagnostic tests for life-changing diseases.

Currently OBD has two commercially available products: the EpiSwitch® PSE (EpiSwitch Prostate Screening test) and EpiSwitch® CiRT (Checkpoint Inhibitor Response Test) blood tests. PSE boosts the predictive accuracy of a PSA test from 55% to 94% when testing the presence or absence of prostate cancer. CiRT is a highly accurate (85%) predictive response test to immuno-oncology checkpoint inhibitor treatments.

The tests are based on OBD's proprietary 3D genomic biomarker platform, EpiSwitch® which enables screening, evaluation, validation and monitoring of biomarkers to diagnose patients or determine how individuals might respond to a disease or treatment.

OBD's clinical smart tests have the potential to be used across a broader range of indications, and new tests are being developed in the areas of oncology, neurology, inflammation, hepatology and animal health.

The Group's headquarters and UK laboratories are in Oxford, UK. Its US operations and clinical laboratory are in Maryland, USA, along with a reference laboratory in Penang, Malaysia.

OBD is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM (LSE: OBD). For more information, please visit the Company's website, www.oxfordbiodynamics.com,  X (@OxBioDynamics) or LinkedIn.

 

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