FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ValiRx Plc
("ValiRx" or the "Company")
PRIME MINISTER LAUNCHES THE SOCIAL STOCK EXCHANGE
TO WHICH VALIRX HAS BEEN ADMITTED AS A FOUNDER MEMBER
Launch of Social Stock Exchange places UK at centre of multi-billion dollar global social impact market
London (June 6th 2013) - ValiRx Plc (AIM: VAL), a life science company with a focus on cancer diagnostics and therapeutics for personalised medicine, is pleased to announce that, following Prime Minister David Cameron's launch today of the Social Stock Exchange ("SSE"), a unique platform designed to open the public financial markets to social impact investment, the Company has been admitted today to the SSE as a founder member.
The SSE is a marketplace which has been designed to connect publicly listed businesses displaying strong social and environmental credentials with investors seeking to generate both a positive impact from their investments as well as a financial return.
ValiRx is now part of the first tranche of member companies to be admitted, all of whom are high growth businesses operating in markets such as health, social and affordable housing, clean-tech waste, water, recycling, renewable energy, sustainable transport, education and culture.
Alongside ValiRx, they include Ashley House plc, V22 plc, Straight plc, Scope, Places for People, ITM Power plc, Good Energy plc, Primary Health Properties plc, Halosource plc and Accsys plc.
Dr Satu Vainikka, Chief Executive of ValiRx, commented:
"We at ValiRx are very pleased to be admitted as a founder member to the SSE and to hear the Prime Minister's very public endorsement of the social impact investment market today. Working as we do in the oncology space, we are obviously very conscious of the substantial positive impact our work will have on society, and on human health in particular, should our trials be successful and we are delighted that proper credence and recognition will now be given to our and others' 'social and ethical dividends' going forwards".
Pradeep Jethi, Co-founder & CEO of the SSE, said: "We believe that organisations that place social and environmental aims at the core of their activities, whilst operating on robust revenue and growth models, are the ones best equipped to generate the kind of positive impact that creates real change. Nobody can guarantee a return on capital - but the SSE can guarantee the social benefit and standards of each and every company they admit."
* Social impact investors plan to commit $9 billion in 2013 (JP Morgan, The Impact Investor Survey, January 2013) and JP Morgan predicts a market opportunity of between $200 and $650 billion in the next decade (JP Morgan, Impact Investment: a Burgeoning Asset Class, November 2010).
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For more information, please contact:
ValiRx plc |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3008 4416 |
Dr Satu Vainikka |
www.ValiRx.com |
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Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated Adviser) |
Tel:+44 (0) 20 7148 7900 |
Liam Murray / Avi Robinson |
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Hybridan LLP (Broker) |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7947 4350 |
Claire Noyce |
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Peckwater PR |
Tel: +44 (0)7879 458 364 |
Tarquin Edwards |
[email protected] |
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For more information about the SSE, please visit: http://www.socialstockexchange.com.
Or please contact:
Serena Vento
Social Stock Exchange
M. +44 (0)7838 366 342 T. +44 (0)20 3102 3768
Mail: [email protected]
Notes for Editors
About SSE
The Social Stock Exchange is a unique marketplace designed to connect publicly listed social impact businesses with investors seeking to generate positive impact alongside a financial return.
Its aim is to bridge the information gap between values-based investors and growth businesses that are delivering positive social and environmental impact through their core activities. By doing this the SSE provides investors with the knowledge they need to identify and compare those organisations that deliver demonstrable value to society and the environment. This will allow the social investment market to grow to scale, leading to the creation of more impact.
Through its online portal, the SSE gives member companies the opportunity to articulate and evidence their social and environmental impact, whilst giving investors the tools and frameworks necessary to assess the social value generated by the businesses featured.
The Social Stock Exchange's rigorous admissions process includes the publication of an independent Impact Report prepared by specialists in social impact. Applications are reviewed and approved by an independent Admissions Panel, meaning that investors can rely on a sound vetting procedure, based on best practice disclosure.
ValiRx Plc
ValiRx Plc is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel technologies and products in oncology therapeutics and diagnostics. The product focus is in the epigenomic analysis and treatment of cancer, but the technologies can be applied to other fields as well, such as neurology and inflammatory diseases.
The Company listed on AIM in October 2006 and is creating a portfolio of innovative products through investment in specific development projects. It actively manages projects within this portfolio as a trading company and is not an investment vehicle. The ValiRx business model spreads the risks of life science technology developments by minimising financial exposure and running a set of projects to defined commercial endpoints. This maximises returns to shareholders by adding value at the earlier stages where value increases per investment unit are the greatest.
The Company operates through the following divisional companies:
ValiFinn is the biomarkers and diagnostic development division
ValiPharma is the therapeutics division with two embedded technologies primarily directed at the treatment of cancers.
