ANGLE plc (AIM: AGL), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, today announces its unaudited interim financial results for the six months ended 31 October 2018.
Operational Highlights
- The FDA metastatic breast cancer clinical study in the US has now enrolled over 92% (369 of 400) of the required number of subjects with the clinical and analytical studies expected to be completed in Q1 CY2019
- Development of the recently acquired HyCEAD Ziplex platform demonstrating exceptionally high sensitivity of detection of a single cancer cell harvested by the Parsortix system opens a range of new market opportunities
- Ovarian cancer test combining Parsortix system and HyCEAD Ziplex technology successfully developed with clinical verification study pending ethics approval with the pre-study expected to commence in Q1 CY2019
- Leveraged partnership strategy delivers further validation, new uses and commercial progress with key outputs including:
– presentation of ANGLE and QIAGEN work on the combination of their technologies to harvest and analyse cells respectively in prostate cancer at an international symposium held in France
– major independent study published in the journal Cell demonstrates the Parsortix system isolates fragile CTC clusters with very high efficiency. Existing drugs cleared by the FDA for non-cancer indications dissociated CTC clusters in mouse models virtually eliminating metastatic spread of cancer. If repeated in humans, there is potential for routine use of the Parsortix system in a new approach to cancer treatment
– study published in the International Journal of Cancer identifies a new application for the Parsortix system in analysing cancer cells in lymph nodes to improve sensitivity and reduce costs. The process was evaluated in melanoma and may be applicable to all cancers where lymph node analysis is required
– pilot study demonstrated capability of the Parsortix system to harvest fetal cells from pregnant women’s blood for further analysis. ANGLE is pursuing partnership options for opportunities in the billion dollar non-invasive pre-natal diagnostics market - Over 60,000 blood samples processed and an installed base of c. 200 Parsortix instruments as of 31 October 2018 has led to a growing body of published evidence from internationally recognised cancer centres with 16 peer reviewed publications to date
Financial Highlights
- Revenue and grant income of £0.4 million (H1 2018: £0.2 million)
- Loss from continuing operations of £4.2 million (H1 2018: loss £3.4 million) reflecting planned investment
- Successful fundraising from institutional investors raising gross proceeds of £12.7 million. Proceeds net of expenses were £12.0 million
- Cash balance at 31 October 2018 of £14.9 million (30 April 2018: £7.6 million)
Garth Selvey, Chairman, commented: “The first half of the year has been one of continued progress by ANGLE and we look forward to completing our FDA clinical and analytical studies in metastatic breast cancer in the US in Q1 CY2019 with only 31 more subjects to recruit. Significant progress has also been achieved in the optimisation of our recently acquired HyCEAD Ziplex platform for downstream analysis in preparation for our ovarian cancer clinical verification study. Our ability to build on these opportunities was enhanced by a successful placing of shares that further strengthened our financial position.
“We also announced successful studies indicating our technology may have a key role in the breakthrough cancer treatment of targeting CTC clusters, in the analysis of lymph nodes, and in non-invasive prenatal diagnostics. Partnership collaborations are central to our commercial strategy and it was encouraging to see positive results from our work with QIAGEN delivering joint co-marketing materials.
“ANGLE has strong competitive differentiation and is well positioned to become a major player in the growing liquid biopsy market, providing unique patent protected technologies with the capability to transform cancer patient care by improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs.” angle