Comment on mouthwash & COVID-19 transmission

15 May 2020

VENTURE LIFE GROUP PLC

("Venture Life" "VLG" or the "Group")

Comment re mouthwash study into potential reduction of COVID-19 transmission

Venture Life (AIM: VLG), a leader in developing, manufacturing and commercialising products for the international self-care market, notes the research published yesterday in the journal Function, which supports the idea that using mouthwash should be considered as a way to reduce transmission of enveloped viruses such as COVID-19. A link to the research can be found at the bottom of this announcement.

The study, which was led by Cardiff University's Systems Immunity Research Institute  and was covered widely by media outlets, is backed by virologists, lipid specialists and healthcare experts from the universities of Nottingham, Barcelona and Cambridge's Babraham Institute. The findings made reference to mouthwashes containing, among other things, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), which is the main ingredient in Venture Life's key mouthwash brand - Dentyl Dual Action. Dentyl has been in the UK market for more than 25 years and is widely available, including both the UK and China. At this stage, there can be no certainty that mouthwashes containing CPC will be effective in combatting COVID-19 or indeed that there will be any impact on trading for the Company. However, the study recommended further research in this area and this is fully supported by Venture Life and others. Further detail on Dentyl can be found in the Company's annual results, which were announced on 9 April 2020.

Lead author of the study, Professor Valerie O'Donnell, co-director of Cardiff University's Systems Immunity Research Institute, said "Our review of the literature suggests that research is needed as a matter or urgency to determine its potential for use against this new virus".

Jerry Randall, CEO of Venture Life, commented: "The research findings published yesterday were very interesting and we fully support the need for more research into whether existing mouthwashes on the market, such as those containing CPC, as Dentyl does, could help to slow the transmission of COVID-19. Venture Life will make every effort to assist in this research."

Link to research paper:

www.academic.oup.com/function/advance-article/doi/10.1093/function/zqaa002/5836301

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About Venture Life (www.venture-life.com)

Venture Life is an international consumer self-care company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercialising products for the global self-care market. With operations in the UK, The Netherlands and Italy, the Group's product portfolio includes some key products such as the UltraDEX and Dentyl oral care product ranges, food supplements for maintaining brain function, medical devices for women's intimate healthcare, fungal infections and proctology, and dermo-cosmetics for addressing the signs of ageing.

The products, which are typically recommended by pharmacists or healthcare practitioners, are available primarily through pharmacies and grocery multiples. In the UK and The Netherlands these are supplied direct by the company to retailers, elsewhere they are supplied by the Group's international distribution partners. 

Through its Development & Manufacturing business in Italy, Biokosmes, the Group also provides development and manufacturing services to companies in the medical devices and cosmetic sectors.