Licence agreement with Juvenescence

RNS Number : 9626Y

Evgen Pharma PLC

15 September 2020

 

Evgen Pharma plc

  ("Evgen" or the "Company")

Licence agreement with Juvenescence for non-pharmaceutical applications

$10.5m milestones plus royalties on sales

Evgen Pharma plc (AIM: EVG), the clinical-stage drug development company, is pleased to announce the licensing of its sulforaphane stabilisation technology in a number of non-pharmaceutical applications to Juvenescence Ltd ("Juvenescence"). In particular, Juvenescence intends to market and sell a high-end nutritional health product containing a defined dose of sulforaphane extracted from natural sources. Under the terms of the license agreement ("the Agreement"), Evgen will receive milestone and option payments of up to $10.5m as detailed below.  Evgen will also receive royalties on future product sales.

This agreement monetises one element of Evgen's sulforaphane technology platform within a timescale considerably shorter than that typical of pharmaceutical development.  Evgen's focus will remain on progressing its therapeutic programmes, and the Agreement contains provisions which ensure a clear differentiation between potential nutritional health products and pharmaceutical products, including limitations on daily dose. 

Juvenescence will deploy the Sulforadex® stabilisation technology to manufacture and market a nutritional health product containing a defined and stable dose of sulforaphane, derived from natural sources. This contrasts with the synthetic sulforaphane which is used in SFX-01, the Company's lead therapeutic product.  It is envisaged that product launch by Juvenescence will occur within the next two years.

About Juvenescence (www.juvenescence.ltd)

Juvenescence is a life sciences company based on a completely new understanding of the underlying biological causes of aging, creating evidence-based and science-backed therapies, focused on increasing how long people live in health by preventing the diseases of aging in the first place.   JuvLife, a division of Juvenescence, is focused on the development and commercialisation of scientifically proven and branded nutritional health products and medical foods that can improve human longevity and quality of life.

Details of the Agreement

The license is for exclusive rights to exploit certain patents and know-how for all non-pharmaceutical applications in the United States, with options for the other major markets namely, Europe, Asia and the Rest of the World. Evgen will receive upfront and milestone payments of up to $10.5m, and in addition, royalties on sales. Evgen received an initial payment of $250k on signing of the Agreement.

Barry Clare, Executive Chairman of Evgen, said: ''This deal is a strong demonstration of the broad potential for our sulforaphane platform and achieves monetisation in an area which is outside our focus of therapeutic development in the Nrf2 and STAT3 pathways. Juvenescence has a science-driven approach to nutritional health products and brings in-depth experience in this sector. We are delighted to have them as a partner. ''

Colin Watts, Chief Executive Officer of JuvLife Division, said : "We are pleased to reach an agreement with Evgen to leverage their scientific technology and expertise to create a differentiated and innovative new product for the global consumer nutritional health market. Juvenescence has built a reputation as a broad-based healthcare company in the Longevity space through strong partnerships with scientific leaders in their specific areas and we are delighted to have such a partner in Evgen.''

The information communicated in this announcement is inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

Enquiries:

Evgen Pharma plc www.evgen.com		via Walbrook
Barry Clare, Chairman
Richard Moulson, CFO
finnCap www.finncap.com		[phone]
Geoff Nash / Teddy Whiley (Corporate Finance)
Alice Lane (ECM)
Walbrook PR	[phone] or [e-mail]
Paul McManus / Anna Dunphy		[phone] / [phone]

About Evgen Pharma plc   

Evgen Pharma is a clinical stage drug development company developing sulforaphane based medicines for the treatment of multiple diseases. The Company's core technology platform is Sulforadex®, a method for synthesising and stabilising the naturally occurring compound sulforaphane and novel proprietary analogues based on sulforaphane. The lead product, SFX-01, is a patented composition of synthetic sulforaphane and alpha-cyclodextrin.

Evgen is focused on sulforaphane's role in activation of the Nrf2 pathway and inhibition of the STAT3 pathway, thus providing opportunities in oncology, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic applications. Evgen is supplying SFX-01 to a Phase IIb/III trial sponsored by Dundee University for treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome in COVID-19 and other diseases.

Clinical data from the Company's open-label Phase II STEM trial has shown that SFX-01 can halt the growth of progressing tumours in patients with oestrogen-positive (ER+) metastatic breast cancer, and in some cases significantly shrink the tumour, whilst causing very few side effects.

The Company commenced operations in January 2008 and has its headquarters at The Colony, Wilmslow, Cheshire, and its registered office is at the Liverpool Science Park, Liverpool. 

For further information, please visit:  www.evgen.com  

 

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