RNS
For release: 25 July 2016
Genedrive plc ("Genedrive" or the "Company")
Re change of name, TIDM and website address
Genedrive plc (LSE: GDR), the near patient molecular diagnostics company, announces that further to obtaining shareholder approval on 11 July 2016, Epistem Holdings plc has been renamed Genedrive plc and the Company's TIDM will change to GDR from 08:00 today. The Company's website address has changed to www.genedriveplc.com.
The name change follows the Company's recent £6.5m fundraising and reflects Genedrive's focus on the development and commercialisation of its disruptive molecular diagnostic device which targets market opportunities across infectious diseases and patient genotyping.
David Budd, CEO of Genedrive, commented: "While the Epistem name was reflective of the heritage of the Company, the change to Genedrive clearly reflects our intention to focus our resources on the global market opportunities in near patient and point of care molecular diagnostics. We have an opportunity to play a significant role in delivering sophisticated diagnostic testing that today millions of people cannot access. We are excited by the future of Genedrive® in bringing the power of hospital-based, central laboratory diagnostics closer to the point of need and the patient setting. Our renewed focus and the recent successful fundraising put us in a strong position to deliver on our diagnostics platform's potential and expand its testing capabilities."
The Genedrive® device and tests are designed to bring the power of central laboratory molecular diagnostics to point of care and point of need settings. The Company's tuberculosis/rifampicin resistance (MTB/RIF) test has been launched in India and a Genedrive® HCV test has been successfully assessed by the Institut Pasteur, Paris.
The Company's technology platform has broad applicability and is currently also being applied to diverse targets such as biohazard identification in a $7.8m programme with the US Department of Defense, aquaculture viral identification with the UK Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, and has also recently been validated in human genotyping applications.
Genedrive continues to provide contract research services to drug development companies under the Epistem brand name.
- Ends -
For further details please contact:
Genedrive plc
David Budd: CEO +44 (0)161 989 0245
John Rylands: Finance Director
Peel Hunt LLP
James Steel +44 (0)207 418 8900
Oliver Jackson
Consilium Strategic Communications
Chris Gardner +44 (0)203 709 5700
Matthew Neal
Laura Thornton
[email protected]
Notes to Editors
Genedrive plc is a molecular diagnostics company developing and commercialising a low cost, rapid, versatile, simple to use and robust point of need or point of care diagnostics platform for the diagnosis of infectious diseases and for use in patient stratification (genotyping), pathogen detection and other indications. The Genedrive® platform and MTB/RIF test have been launched in India and a Genedrive® HCV test has been successfully assessed by the Institut Pasteur, Paris.
Genedrive plc was formerly Epistem plc and continues to provide contract research services to drug development companies under the Epistem brand name.
Further details can be found at: www.genedriveplc.com and www.genedrive.co.uk
