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Oxford BioDynamics Plc's independent directors approved an extension to the exercise period for 1,096,131 non-EMI share options held by Dr. Alexandre Akoulitchev, Chief Scientific Officer and a Director. These options, with an exercise price of 34.0 pence per share and granted on 16 July 2008, were originally due to expire on 31 December 2022. Their expiry date has been extended to 31 December 2027, with the transaction dated 13 December 2022.
| Date | 14 Dec 2022 |
| Time | 07:00:04 |
| Category | Director/PDMR dealings |
| ID | 6122J |
Oxford BioDynamics Plc
("OBD" or the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")
Exercise period extension of existing Share Options
14 December 2022 - Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD, the Company), a biotechnology company developing precision medicine tests for immune health based on the EpiSwitch® 3D genomics platform, announces an amendment to the exercise period for certain options over ordinary shares granted under its 2008 Share Option Scheme ("2008 Plan").
As disclosed in the Company's AIM Admission Document dated 1 December 2016 (Part 7, paragraph 10.3) ("Admission Document"), non-EMI share options ("Non-EMI Options") were granted to, amongst others, certain founders of the Company, including Dr Alexandre Akoulitchev (Chief Scientific Officer, PDMR and a Director) as shown in the following table:
|
Option holder |
Date of Grant |
Non-EMI Options |
Exercise Price (pence) |
|
Alexandre Akoulitchev |
16 July 2008 |
1,096,131 |
34.0 |
The independent directors of the Company have approved an extension of the exercise period of the Non-EMI Options held by Dr Akoulitchev. The Non-EMI Options were due to expire on 31 December 2022 unless exercised prior to that date but will now expire on 31 December 2027. All other terms and conditions relating to the Non-EMI Options, including the exercise price, remain unchanged. Dr Akoulitchev holds ordinary shares and share options as follows:
|
|
Total number of options over Ordinary Shares |
Ordinary Shares held |
|
|
Number |
% of current issued share capital |
||
|
Dr Alexandre Akoulitchev |
1,346,131 |
6,303,082 |
4.30% |
The change to the expiry date of the Non-EMI Options is notifiable pursuant to UK Market Abuse Regulation. The notification below, made in accordance with the requirements of UK Market Abuse Regulation, provides further details:
|
1 |
Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated |
|
|
a) |
Name |
Alexandre Akoulitchev |
|
2 |
Reason for the notification |
|
|
a) |
Position/status |
Chief Scientific Officer, Director/PDMR |
|
b) |
Initial notification/ Amendment |
Initial notification |
|
3 |
Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor |
|
|
a) |
Name |
Oxford BioDynamics Plc |
|
b) |
LEI |
2138005Y1TK258O5U928 |
|
4 |
Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted |
|
|
a) |
Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Identification code |
Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each
ISIN: GB00BD5H8572 |
|
b) |
Nature of the transaction |
Extension of expiry date of grant of options over ordinary shares to 31 December 2027 |
|
c) |
Price(s) and volume(s) |
1,096,131 ordinary shares at an exercise price of 34.0 pence per share
|
|
d) |
Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price
|
N/A
|
|
e) |
Date of the transaction |
13 December 2022 |
|
f) |
Place of the transaction |
Outside a trading venue |
-Ends-
For further details please contact:
|
Oxford BioDynamics Plc Jon Burrows, CEO Paul Stockdale, CFO
|
Tel: +44 (0)1865 518910 |
|
Shore Capital - Nominated Adviser and Broker Advisory: Stephane Auton / John More Broking: Fiona Conroy
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 7408 4090 |
|
Instinctif Partners Melanie Toyne-Sewell / Jonjo Cordey |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7457 2020
|
Notes for Editors
About Oxford BioDynamics Plc
Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD) is a global biotechnology company, advancing personalized healthcare by developing and commercializing precision medicine tests for life-changing diseases.
Its flagship product is EpiSwitch® CiRT (Checkpoint Inhibitor Response Test) for cancer, a predictive immune response profile for immuno-oncology (IO) checkpoint inhibitor treatments, launched in February 2022.
In March 2021, the Company launched its first commercial prognostic test, EpiSwitch® CST (Covid Severity Test) and the first commercially available microarray kit for high-resolution 3D genome profiling and biomarker discovery, EpiSwitch® Explorer Array Kit.
The Company has developed a proprietary 3D genomic biomarker platform, EpiSwitch®, which can build molecular diagnostic classifiers for prediction of response to therapy, patient prognosis, disease diagnosis and subtyping, and residual disease monitoring in a wide range of indications.
Oxford BioDynamics has participated in more than 40 partnerships with big pharma and leading institutions including Pfizer, EMD Serono, Genentech, Roche, Biogen, Mayo Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma.
The Company has created a valuable technology portfolio, including biomarker arrays, molecular diagnostic tests, bioinformatic tools for 3D genomics and an expertly curated 3D genome knowledgebase comprising hundreds of millions of data points from over 10,000 samples in more than 30 human diseases.
OBD is headquartered in Oxford, UK and is listed on AIM of the London Stock Exchange. It also has a commercial office in Gaithersburg, MD, USA and a reference laboratory in Penang, Malaysia.
For more information, please visit the Company's website, www.oxfordbiodynamics.com, or follow on Twitter or LinkedIn.
About EpiSwitch®
The 3D configuration of the genome plays a crucial role in gene regulation. By mapping this architecture and identifying abnormal configurations, EpiSwitch® can be used to diagnose patients or determine how individuals might respond to a disease or treatment.
Built on over 10 years of research, EpiSwitch® is Oxford Biodynamics' award-winning, proprietary platform that enables screening, evaluation, validation and monitoring of 3D genomic biomarkers. The technology is fully developed, based on testing of over 10,000 samples in 30 disease areas, and reduced to practice.
In addition to stratifying patients with respect to anticipated clinical outcome, EpiSwitch® data offer insights into systems biology and the physiological manifestation of disease that are beyond the scope of other molecular modalities. The technology has performed well in academic medical research settings and has been validated through its integration in biomarker discovery and clinical development with big pharma.