Appointment of director

RNS Number : 5624B

ValiRx PLC

18 August 2008

 



18 August 2008

ValiRx plc

('ValiRx' or the 'Company')

Appointment of director

ValiRx (AIM:VAL), the cancer therapeutics and diagnostics company, has appointed Dr Norman Hardman as a non-executive director. Dr Hardman will join the Board from 1 September 2008.

Dr Hardman (62) is President and Chief Executive Officer, Oxalis Partners LLC, a visiting Professor in the College of Life Sciences and Medicine at the University of Aberdeen, and a strategic consultant to US and EU biotechnology companies and VC venture funds. 

Over the last 10 years he has held senior management roles in several companies in the biotechnology sector including Enzon Inc (now Enzon Pharmaceutical Inc.), GeneMedicine Inc., Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals and lately as president and Chief Executive Officer of Amicus Therapeutics Inc., and as a director of Chelsea Therapeutics, Inc.

He has also served as Chief Executive Officer of the UK's Medical Research Council (MRC) Technology and member of the MRC Executive Committee from 2002-4. His education and early career was at the Universities of London and Manchester, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Aberdeen.

Commenting, Nick Thorniley, Chairman said:

'We are pleased to appoint Norman to the Board. He brings with him extensive knowledge of biopharmaceutical drug development as well as operational experience in R & D management. Norman's experience in cancer products represents a good fit with our emerging product portfolio.'

Dr Hardman is currently a director of the following companies:

Chelsea Therapeutics, Inc

Oxalis Partners, LLC

In the past five years, Dr Hardman has been a director of the following companies:

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc

Aeres Biomedical Limited

There are no other disclosures required under Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Enquiries: 

ValiRx plc	Tel: [phone]
Dr. Satu Vainikka
WH Ireland Limited - Nominated Adviser	Tel: [phone]
David Youngman / Adrian Kirk
College Hill	Tel: [phone]
Adrian Duffield / Justine Lamond	[e-mail]

Notes to Editors

About ValiRx - www.valirx.com

ValiRx plc (AIM:VAL, 'ValiRx') is a cancer therapeutics and diagnostics company headquartered in London, England and admitted to AIM in October 2006. The Company operates through two subsidiaries, ValiPharma (formerly trading as Cronos Therapeutics) (www.valipharma.com), a UK-based epigenetic drug discovery and development business and ValiBio SA (www.valibio.com), a Belgium-based oncology diagnostics operation.

Therapeutics - ValiPharma

ValiRx utilises a cells own inherent gene control machinery to silence genes involved in cancer cell progression, effectively 'switching off' genes involved in certain forms of cancer through its platform technology GeneICE™ (Gene Inactivation by Chromatin Engineering),. GeneICE™ works through the recruitment of silencing complexes known as Histone Deacetylase Complexes (HDACs) to target genes involved in cancer. ValiRx's lead product VAL 101 targets the anti-apoptotic gene BCL-2 which is over expressed in many cancers including in pancreatic cancer. The Company has also recently expanded its pre-clinical portfolio to include VAL 201 in prostate cancer.

Gene silencing technology platform potentially represents an innovative and ground breaking new approach to cancer treatment as it allows for the development of targeted, personalised medicine and treatment for patients. GeneICE™ is also applicable to a wide variety of other genetic disorders such as in the fields of neurology and inflammatory diseases.

Diagnostics - ValiBio

ValiRx currently has two epigenetic diagnosis products - HyperGenomics™, a method for the detection and identification of hypersensitive sites in cells and Nucleosomics™, a non-invasive (blood) test for early cancer diagnosis based on epigenetic signal changes associated with malignancy - which it licences to its subsidiary, ValiBio.

Epigenetics

Epigenetics is the study and manipulation of regulatory factors which regulate and determine gene expression.

Unlike mutations which occur in DNA, epigenetic changes are reversible. The 'epigenetic' modification of the genome may take many forms, such as addition of external chemical groups for example methylation, acetylation and ubiquitination on to histone proteins associated with DNA.

Research currently suggests the de-regulation of normal epigenetic control mechanisms is implicated in the development and progression of certain cancers. Hence, compounds which specifically target and reverse these changes are attractive and potentially powerful candidates for future therapeutic approaches to cancer.

Personalised medicine

Personalised medicine refers to tailoring treatment strategies to work differently in different individuals, dependant upon such factors such as their genetic profile, epigenetic profile, environment and the presence of other diseases in the individual.

 

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