BIOVENTIX PLC
Admission to PLUS-Quoted
The directors of Bioventix plc ("Bioventix" or "the Company") are pleased to
announce that the Company's entire issued ordinary share capital of 5,050,000
shares have been admitted to trading on PLUS-quoted today, 7 April 2010.
In a separate announcement today, the Company is also announcing its interim
financial results for the six months ended 31 December 2009.
Bioventix (www.bioventix.com) specialises in the development and commercial
supply of high-affinity monoclonal antibodies with a primary focus on their
application in clinical diagnostics, such as in automated immunoassays used in
blood testing. The antibodies created at Bioventix are generated in sheep and
are of particular benefit where the target is present at low concentration and
where conventional monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies have failed to produce a
suitable reagent. Bioventix currently offers a portfolio of antibodies to
customers for both commercial use and R&D purposes, for the diagnosis or
monitoring of a broad range of conditions, including heart disease, cancer,
fertility, thyroid function and drug abuse. Bioventix currently supplies
antibody products and services to the majority of multinational clinical
diagnostics companies.
Ian Nicholson, Bioventix's Non-executive Chairman, said: "Bioventix has quietly
established a profitable business developing high-affinity monoclonal
antibodies targeting the multi-billion dollar clinical diagnostics market. The
Directors now believe that the Company has reached an appropriate point in its
development to seek a public listing for its shares, which will assist in
raising the public profile of the Company, help to facilitate fund raising if
required to finance future developments and also will enable the Company to
pursue and fund strategic acquisitions, should such opportunities arise."
Peter Harrison, CEO of Bioventix, said: "I am very proud of the progress that
our team at Bioventix has made. We have built a profitable biotechnology
business from a novel technology platform, which is a great achievement and I
would like to thank everyone involved for their efforts. This new stage of the
Company's evolution will hopefully herald continued growth and development of
our business and the further creation of value for our shareholders."
Key information
Total number of Ordinary Shares in issue 5,050,000
immediately following Admission (par value 5p)
Admission price 198p
Market capitalisation £9,999,000
Sector classification Healthcare
Principal activities Development and supply of
antibodies
PLUS symbol BVXP
ISIN Number GB00B4QVDF07
PLUS Corporate Adviser Keith, Bayley, Rogers & Co.
Limited
ABOUT BIOVENTIX
Bioventix was incorporated in 2003 following a management buyout of assets
(including technology and intellectual property) relating to the creation of
sheep monoclonal antibodies (SMAs) from KS Biomedix Limited. The management
buyout was led by Peter Harrison and principally funded by SpringHill
Bioventures Sendirian Berhad, a venture capital fund company registered and
regulated by the Securities Commission in Malaysia.
Since 2003, Bioventix has established a profitable commercial offering based on
its SMA technology and it supplies a range of antibodies to multinational
healthcare companies that manufacture machines for the clinical analysis of
blood samples taken from patients. Antibodies form the basis of immunoassays
used on these machines and, in some cases, SMAs have superior properties to
other types of antibody. Such superiority might be manifest in the form of
assay sensitivity (i.e. being able to measure a hormone at a lower
concentration with greater precision) or assay specificity (i.e. being able
specifically to measure a particular hormone and not be affected by another
similar or related hormone).
Bioventix's current portfolio of antibodies includes:
* BVX.T3.17C6 (for use in FT3 testing; a thyroid hormone)
* BVX.E2.5A11 (for use in estradiol testing; an important estrogen for
fertility testing)
* BVX.testo3.6A3 (for use in testing for testosterone levels; also for
fertility)
* BVX.THC.5B7 (for use in cannabis/marijuana; testing of saliva)
* BVX.vitD2.2D12 (for use in testing for vitamin D deficiency)
COMMERCIAL STRATEGY
The total market for in-vitro diagnostics is estimated to be approximately 20
billion Euros. The market for immunodiagnostics represents a significant
fraction of this and the market for antibodies that feature in these
immunoassays represents a smaller sub-fraction of this market value.
Bioventix's strategy is to identify new or existing commercial diagnostics
assays for which there is or may be a need for improved antibodies, and to
develop antibodies from its platform that offer superior clinical performance.
The Directors anticipate that new assays will continue to be required or that
the performance requirements of existing assays will be increased such that
opportunities for new SMAs will emerge for the Company.
Bioventix currently derives revenue from the following sources:
1. Sponsored antibody creation against designated clinical targets enabling
customers exclusive access to the antibodies created under the contract.
2. Sales of purified antibodies for use on customers' blood-testing machines.
3. Product royalties from sales of a new diagnostic product based on an SMA
developed by Bioventix.
4. Combination of sales of purified antibodies and product royalties
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ian Nicholson, BSc, MBA, aged 49, non-executive Chairman
Ian Nicholson is the CEO of Chroma Therapeutics Limited, an emerging
pharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel targeted oncology and
inflammation drugs based on chromatin targets and its proprietary chemistry
platform. Since moving to Chroma in late 2004, he has been successful in
raising additional funds to support Chroma's product development pipeline.
Ian was previously Senior Vice President of Business Development at Celltech
Group plc, where he led the negotiations relating to Celltech's product
alliances and several key technology acquisitions. He has held a variety of
senior commercial positions with Oxford Asymmetry International plc, Lonza AG
and Amersham International plc and has a BSc (Hons) degree from University
College, London and an MBA from Boston University.
Peter Harrison, MA, aged 51, Chief Executive Officer
Peter Harrison has worked in the field of antibody technology since 1986 and
has extensive experience of the development and commercialisation of antibody
technologies. He graduated in Natural Sciences from Clare College Cambridge in
1980 and joined the graduate training scheme at Shell Chemicals UK Ltd.
In 1986 he joined Celltech Ltd to manage the contract antibody production and
in 1991 he joined KS Biomedix Ltd and helped to establish Sheep Monoclonal
Antibody technology at their Farnham research laboratory. Following the
acquisition of KS Biomedix Ltd by Xenova plc in 2003, he led a management
buy-out that resulted in the formation of Bioventix and he has led the
subsequent commercial development of the Company.
Tim Cowper, ACA,aged 44, Finance Director
Tim Cowper is a qualified Chartered Accountant with a wide range of experience
working for private and public companies in the UK and the US. His experience
includes Financial Controller roles at Sterilox Technologies Inc and at
Celltech Group Plc and Director of Finance at Vernalis Plc (listed on the
Official List) where he worked mainly on acquisitions, disposals and setting up
operations in the US. Tim also held the position of Finance Director of Clipper
Ventures Plc (formerly traded on AIM) and has been a director of certain family
companies.
In September 2008, Tim became a consultant with the FD Centre Limited where he
acts as the part-time finance director for a range of companies, including
Bioventix, on both interim assignments and longer term part-time engagements.
Dr Kim Tan, BSc, PhD, aged 55, non-executive Director
Dr Kim Tan is the founder Chairman of SpringHill Management Limited, a UK
private equity and venture capital fund management company which provides
certain management functions to SpringHill. He is also a director of SpringHill
Management Sdn. Bhd, a Malaysian company, which is the fund manager for
SpringHill. He is a former director of Active Capital Trust Plc, a UK listed
investment trust company and the founder Chairman of AsiaPrise Biotech Sdn Bhd,
which operates the NCI Cancer Hospital in Malaysia.
Dr Tan is a director of a number of listed and private biotech and
pharmaceutical companies in the UK, USA, South Africa and Malaysia and he is an
adviser to a number of government agencies in Asia on biotechnology. He is also
a board member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Life Sciences
Innovation Forum. He has a PhD in biochemistry and is a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Medicine.
Directors' current and past directorships held in the last five years
Director Current Directorships/Partnerships Past Directorships/
Partnerships
Ian Nicholson Bioindustry Association None
Chroma Therapeutics Limited
Macrotarg Limited
Symphogen A/S
Peter Harrison None None
Tim Cowper Covelward Limited None
TC Ventures Limited
Kim Tan Alpha Biologics Sdn Bhn Active Capital Trust plc
AsiaPrise Biotech Sdn Bhd Jubilee Action
Connect 2 Innovation Limited Marksans Pharma Limited
Inqo Investments (Pty) Limited Reliance Genemedix plc
MEC Dynamics Corp Saracens Limited
Progenix Research Sdn Bhn Tranxenogen Limited
Springhill Management Limited
SpringHill Management Sdn Bhd
Transformational Business Network
Transformational Business Network
Foundation
DIRECTORS' INTERESTS AND SUBSTANTIAL SHAREHOLDER
Directors
Name No. of Ordinary % of Issued Share
Shares Capital
Ian Nicholson 50,000 0.99%
Peter Harrison 1,000,000 19.8%
Tim Cowper - -
Kim Tan - -
Substantial Shareholder
Name No. of Ordinary % of Issued Share
Shares Capital
SpringHill Bioventures Sendirian 3,500,000 69.31%
Berhad
As a director of SpringHill Management Sdn Bhd, the fund manager for SpringHill
Bioventures Sdn Bhd, Dr Tan exercises SpringHill Bioventures' voting rights in
Bioventix plc under the authority given by SpringHill Bioventures to the fund
manager.
The Directors of Bioventix plc accept responsibility for this announcement.
CONTACTS
Bioventix plc
Peter Harrison, CEO
+44 (0)1252 728001
Keith, Bayley, Rogers & Co. Limited
David Coffman
+44 (0)203 100 8300
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Chris Gardner or Mark Swallow
+44 (0)207 282 2995 / +44(0)207 282 2948
END
BIOVENTIX PLC
