For immediate release |
9 March 2016 |
ANGLE plc ("the Company")
EUROPEAN PATENT GRANT FOR PARSORTIX
Strengthens Patent-Protected Product in Growing Liquid Biopsy Market
ANGLE plc (AIM: AGL OTCQX: ANPCY), the specialist medtech company, is pleased to announce that it has been granted a European patent for its Parsortix liquid biopsy system, which harvests cancer cells from blood for medical analysis.
The granted European patent provides protection over a wide range of uses of the Parsortix technology and extends the duration of patent coverage out to 2034. Granted patents have already been secured in the United States, Canada, China and Australia. Corresponding patent applications have been made worldwide in countries considered to represent substantial markets for Parsortix products.
Recently the liquid biopsy market has been identified by several major US investment banks as an emerging multi-billion dollar market. ANGLE's Parsortix system is one of a limited number of patent protected, product-based, liquid biopsy solutions. Most other businesses addressing the liquid biopsy market are service-based and often have little or no patent protection. ANGLE believes its Parsortix system, which harvests live circulating tumour cells, is highly differentiated and has the potential to play a leading role in the liquid biopsy market.
The Company is pursuing a strategy to strengthen the breadth and duration of its patent coverage across major markets worldwide to maximise the commercial returns that can be achieved from its Parsortix technology. New patent applications will continue to be made in all territories consistent with this strategy.
ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:
"The grant of this patent in the European Union further strengthens ANGLE's IP position and maintains our momentum in expanding patent coverage across major markets worldwide. Securing granted patents for our Parsortix liquid biopsy system is a crucial element of our strategy, enabling ANGLE to pursue a scalable, product-based business model and provide our customers with the in-house capability to reliably harvest live circulating tumour cells for analysis."
For further information:
ANGLE plc |
01483 685830 |
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive Ian Griffiths, Finance Director |
|
Cenkos Securities Stephen Keys, Dr Christopher Golden (Nominated adviser) Russell Kerr, Olly Baxendale (Sales) |
020 7397 8900 |
FTI Consulting Simon Conway, Mo Noonan, Stephanie Cuthbert Kimberley Ha (US) |
020 3727 1000 001 212 850 5612 |
For Frequently Used Terms, please see the Company's website on http://www.angleplc.com/the-parsortix-system/glossary/
Notes for editors
About ANGLE plc www.angleplc.com
ANGLE is a specialist medtech company commercialising a disruptive platform technology that can capture cells circulating in blood, such as cancer cells, even when they are as rare in number as one cell in one billion blood cells, and harvest the cells for analysis.
ANGLE's cell separation technology is called the ParsortixTM system and it enables a liquid biopsy (simple blood test) to be used to provide the cells of interest. Parsortix is the subject of granted patents in Europe, the United States, Canada, China and Australia and three extensive families of patents are being progressed worldwide. The system is based on a microfluidic device that captures live cells based on a combination of their size and compressibility. Parsortix has a CE Mark for Europe and FDA authorisation is in process for the United States.
ANGLE has established formal collaborations with world-class cancer centres. These Key Opinion Leaders are working to identify applications with medical utility (clear benefit to patients), and to secure clinical data that demonstrates that utility in patient studies. Details are available here http://www.angleplc.com/the-company/collaborators/
The analysis of the cells that can be harvested from patient blood with ANGLE's Parsortix system has the potential to help deliver personalised cancer care offering profound improvements in clinical and health economic outcomes in the treatment and diagnosis of various forms of cancer.
The global increase in cancer to a 1 in 3 lifetime incidence is set to drive a multi-billion dollar clinical market. The Parsortix system is designed to be compatible with existing major medtech analytical platforms and to act as a companion diagnostic for major pharma in helping to identify patients that will benefit from a particular drug and then monitoring the drug's effectiveness.
As well as cancer, the Parsortix technology has the potential for deployment with several other important cell types in the future.
ANGLE stock trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AGL and in New York on the OTC-QX under the ticker symbol ANPCY. For further information please visit: www.angleplc.com
