Award of New Innovate UK Grant

RNS Number : 6050H

Physiomics PLC

14 March 2018

 

Physiomics plc

("Physiomics") or ("the Company")

Award of New Innovate UK Grant

Feasibility study to optimise individual patient dosing in prostate cancer in new era of precision medicine

Physiomics plc (AIM: PYC), a provider of technology-based solutions to predict the effects of cancer treatment regimens, is pleased to announce that is has been awarded a new grant by Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency.  The grant, awarded as part of Innovate UK's Precision Medicine competition, will support the project "Prostate Cancer Chemotherapy Precision Dosing".

The total cost of the project is expected to be £97k, the majority of which relates to internal staff costs.  Innovate UK will contribute a total of £68k to the project over a nine-month period commencing April 2018.

Precision or personalised medicine heralds a new era of cancer care where each patient receives the right drug at the right dose and time specific to their needs.   Currently, the choice of chemotherapy dose in both clinical practice and clinical trials is usually based on Body Surface Area (BSA) which works at a population level but can lead to under or over dosing of individual patients.

Focusing on prostate cancer in this feasibility study, our goal is to develop an algorithm and demonstrator tool to optimise the individual patient dosing of a drug commonly used to treat prostate cancer. We will draw on a range of drug, tumour and patient data routinely monitored in current clinical pratice and use Physiomics technologies and capabilities (clinical PK/PD, toxicity and Virtual Tumour models) to build a novel predictive tool.

The outputs of the project will require further work before they can be commercialised, however we see two potential markets for the concept.  Firstly in pharmaceutical clinical trials to help design better drug regimens for specific sub-populations of patients.  Secondly, in clinical practice to optimise the dosing of prostate cancer patients, and ultimately to deliver improved cancer care.  To support us in the evaulation of the potential of the tool in real-world clinical settings we will be working with the Oxford Academic Health Science Network.

Dr Jim Millen, CEO, said "Having recently completed our last Innovate UK funded project, we're very pleased to be able to announce this further award. The new project is in line with our strategic objectives as set out in our last annual report.  It supports our evolving capability in the precision/ personalised medicine space which can be applied in the short term to commercial R&D projects and, with further development, could be used in real-world clinical situations."

Enquiries:

Physiomics plc                                                  

Dr Jim Millen, CEO

[phone]

WH Ireland Limited (nomad)

Katy Mitchell / James Sinclair-Ford

[phone]

Hybridan LLP (broker)

Claire Louise Noyce

[phone]

About Physiomics plc

Physiomics plc (AIM: PYC) is a solutions provider to the R&D-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry with a focus on oncology. The Company's Virtual Tumour technology uses computer modelling to predict the effects of cancer drugs and treatments to improve the success rate of drug discovery and development projects while reducing time and cost. The predictive capability of Virtual Tumour has been confirmed by 55 projects, involving over 25 targets and 60 drugs.

Based in Oxford, UK, the Company works with clients worldwide to support their pre-clinical and clinical oncology development programs. Its team of scientists and computer modelling experts provide bespoke solutions encompassing data, analytics and insight.

Physiomics' senior management has academic and commercial expertise, including over 90 years collectively of working in oncology and/or computational biology and over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals.

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK is the UK's innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy.  For further information visit www.innovateuk.gov.uk

About Oxford Academic Health Science Network

The Oxford Academic Health Science Network is a partnership of NHS providers, commissioners, universities and life science companies working together to improve health and prosperity in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire. For further information visit www.OxfordAHSN.org

 

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