University of Oxford Collaboration

RNS Number : 6184S

Physiomics PLC

11 November 2013

 



Physiomics plc

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

Physiomics to collaborate with the University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust on its Virtual Tumour Clinical research program

Physiomics plc (AIM: PYC), the Oxford, UK based systems biology company, is pleased to announce that it has signed a collaboration agreement with the University of Oxford ("University") and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust ("OUHT") to support the development of Physiomics' flagship Virtual Tumour Clinical technology.

Virtual Tumour Clinical is used to predict optimal clinical regimens for cancer trials. Physiomics has been seeking academic and industrial partners to help calibrate the model with key data obtained from such trials. This collaboration is the second such deal to be announced by Physiomics.

Under the collaboration agreement, OUHT will provide both calibration and validation data for up to three clinical studies. If this initial phase is successful, the technology will be used to design a clinical study at the OUHT. The research project will commence immediately.

At the Oxford Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre the study will be led by Mark Middleton, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at the University of Oxford.   Professor Middleton is an acknowledged clinical expert in the field of oncology, particularly the inhibition of DNA repair in conjunction with chemotherapy.

Professor Mark Middleton, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at the University of Oxford, commented:

"We are always looking to extract the most information possible from our clinical trials, and to improve the way we design future trials.  Virtual Tumour Clinical offers this possibility and we are pleased to play a part in its development."

Dr Mark Chadwick, CEO of Physiomics, commented:

Our development of Virtual Tumour Clinical is gathering pace. This collaboration represents another of what we hope will be a number of productive alliances between ourselves, academia and large pharma companies to maximise the predictive power of the technology."

Enquiries:

Physiomics plc                                                  

Dr Mark Chadwick, CEO

[phone]

WH Ireland Limited (broker/nomad)

Katy Mitchell

[phone]

About Physiomics plc

Physiomics (AIM:PYC) is a computational systems biology services company applying simulations of cell behaviour to drug development to reduce the high attrition rates of clinical trials. 80-90 per cent of all clinical drug candidates fail to reach the market and estimates show that an overall ten per cent improvement in success rates could reduce the cost of one drug's development by as much as $242 million, from the current estimate of around $800 million¹.

Physiomics develops computational systems biology models to predict and understand cancer drug efficacy from pre-clinical research to clinical development. Physiomics has created detailed mathematical models incorporating the most important molecular events taking place during the human cell cycle and apoptosis processes. The company's SystemCell® technology enables the simulation of populations of "virtual cells". The company has also developed a "Virtual Tumour" model to simulate the effect of anti-cancer drugs on tumour growth. The models are used to optimise compound design and to design drug schedules and combination therapies.

Physiomics, based in Oxford, UK, was founded in 2001, and floated on AIM in 2004. For further information, please visit www.physiomics-plc.com

SystemCell® is a registered trademark of Physiomics plc

¹Tufts Centre Impact Report 2002

About the ECMC Network

Oxford Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) is part of a national network jointly supported by Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health Research in England, and the Departments of Health of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It launched in 2006, with £35M funding over five years, with a further £35M announced in 2011 for five more years to fund centres across the UK. Each ECMC brings together lab-based experts in cancer biology with cancer doctors to speed up the flow of ideas from the lab bench to the patient's bedside. Find out more at www.ecmcnetwork.org.uk

The Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUH) is one of the largest acute teaching trusts in the UK, with a national and international reputation for the excellence of its services and its role in patient care, teaching and research. The Trust supports world-leading research programmes in cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's through its designation as one of the UK's five comprehensive biomedical centres and units. It works in close partnership with the University of Oxford and is a leading centre for cancer, neurosciences, diabetes, genetics and many other fields. Research themes of particular strength are: cancer, cardiovascular science, diabetes, endocrinology & metabolism, infection and immunology, musculoskeletal science, neuroscience and reproduction and development. The Trust has been designated as a major trauma centre and is one of four UK centres for craniofacial surgery and The Trust employs 11,000 staff and consists of four hospitals: the Churchill Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury. www.ouh.nhs.uk

Oxford University's Medical Sciences Divisionis one of the largest biomedical research centres in Europe, with over 2,500 people involved in research and more than 2,800 students. The University is rated the best in the world for medicine, and it is home to the UK's top-ranked medical school.

From the genetic and molecular basis of disease to the latest advances in neuroscience, Oxford is at the forefront of medical research. It has one of the largest clinical trial portfolios in the UK and great expertise in taking discoveries from the lab into the clinic. Partnerships with the local NHS Trusts enable patients to benefit from close links between medical research and healthcare delivery.

A great strength of Oxford medicine is its long-standing network of clinical research units in Asia and Africa, enabling world-leading research on the most pressing global health challenges such as malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS and flu. Oxford is also renowned for its large-scale studies which examine the role of factors such as smoking, alcohol and diet on cancer, heart disease and other conditions.

 

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