Acquisition of CeeTox

2 January 2014

Cyprotex acquires business and assets of CeeTox, Inc

Broadens toxicological assay and screening capabilitiesto the cosmetic and personal care industry

Cyprotex PLC (AIM:CRX), a specialist ADME-Tox Contract Research Organisation, today announces the acquisition of the business and assets of CeeTox, Inc, ("CeeTox") a division of North American Science Associates, Inc ("NAMSA"). 

CeeTox, based in Kalamazoo, MI, USA, is a Contract Research Organisation specialising in the provision of in vitro toxicological assays and screening data, principally to the Cosmetic and Personal Care Industries. Founded in 2003, CeeTox was acquired in 2005 by NAMSA, a medical research organisation supplying expert consulting, clinical and laboratory services to medical device, IVD and biologics manufacturers. NAMSA retains a license for applying CeeTox's in vitro toxicology expertise to medical device testing. CeeTox had sales of approximately £2.3 million in the year ended 30 September 2013 and made an operating loss of approximately £0.9 million. The initial consideration for the purchase of £0.63 million is funded by internal cash resources, with a further consideration of 5% payable on specified net sales achieved in the next four years to a maximum of £3.1 million. The purchase is made by the group's US trading subsidiary, Apredica, LLC. The impact of the acquisition is expected to be earnings neutral in the first year.

It is expected that Cyprotex will continue to operate the CeeTox business from its Kalamazoo location for a period of time prior to relocation of the business and assets to Cyprotex's US base in Watertown, MA.

Commenting on the acquisition, Dr Anthony Baxter, CEO of Cyprotex, said: "The acquisition of CeeTox and its world-respected in vitro toxicology assays affords Cyprotex the opportunity to grow revenues significantly. Principally, it enables the Company to offer a more complete assay and screening service to the Cosmetics and Personal Care Industry, already an expanding customer segment, and will materially extend the Company's footprint in its established core Pharmaceutical and Agrochemical industry markets. 

"The innovative assays and screens that CeeTox has developed over its 10-year life are complementary to our existing comprehensive platform. In particular, we are excited by the potential for selling the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Programme (EDSP) service to both current Government agency customers and to industrial chemical companies."

Mr. Tim Mitchell, CEO of CeeTox, added: "We are delighted that, in acquiring the CeeTox business, Cyprotex is committed to both maintaining our reputation for innovative high quality science and to growing our existing customer base. The combination of our two businesses represents an outstanding opportunity to leverage our capabilities and capitalise on the enormous market potential across a variety of industries that require in vitro toxicity screening services."

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Notes to Editors

About Cyprotex PLC

Cyprotex is based in Macclesfield, near Manchester in the UK, and Watertown, MA in the US and is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (CRX). The company was established in 1999 and works with more than 800 partners ranging from small biotech's to large pharma companies. Cyprotex acquired Apredica and the assets of Cellumen, Inc. in August 2010 and the combined business provides support for a wide range of experimental and computational ADME-Tox and PK services, extending from early drug discovery through to IND submission. The company's core capabilities include high quality in vitro ADME screening services, mechanistic toxicology and high content toxicology screening services, including our proprietary CellCiphr® toxicity prediction technology, and predictive modelling using PBPK and QSAR techniques, including Cloe® PK for in vivo PK prediction. For more information, see www.cyprotex.com.