10th Jun 2010 07:00
10 June 2010 Source BioScience plc (`Source BioScience', the `Company' or the `Group') ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING STATEMENT
Laurie Turnbull, Chairman of Source BioScience, will be making the following comments about current trading at the 2010 Annual General Meeting to be held today at 10.30am:
"The past twelve months, since the last AGM, have seen Source BioScience continue to grow and develop, with the acquisition of new technologies and increased access to new markets.
"The recently issued Interim Management Statement reported a robust start to the current financial period representing a continuation of the strong growth and business performance achieved last year.
Healthcare
"The Healthcare division continues to offer significant opportunities for growth across both the Cytology and Diagnostic Pathology businesses.
"We are continuing to benefit from growing demand for our companion diagnostics services. This has been driven by increased demand for targeted therapies which improve treatment success and reduce costs. We see this as a key area for further growth and will continue to enhance our offering to reflect the increased demand for targeted therapeutics.
"Only last month we signed an agreement with a leading pharmaceutical company to offer a companion diagnostic testing service to healthcare providers for stomach cancer patients. This followed March's announcement regarding an agreement with Astra Zeneca to offer genetic testing for lung cancer patients. These tests provide better diagnostic information for clinicians, helping them to determine the most appropriate therapy regime for their patients.
Pharma Biotech Services
"Our Pharma Biotech Services division has continued to deliver a much improved performance this year - building on the progress made during 2009. The combination of our established pathology expertise and cutting edge genomics capability represents a powerful offering, particularly with accelerating interest in targeted therapies and pharmacogenomics.
"Importantly, the relationships we have established with pharmaceutical companies, through the activities in this division, are generating benefits as new therapies become approved and we can migrate our diagnostic and genetic testing into the healthcare environment. This has been evident this year with the companion diagnostic testing services we have launched for lung and stomach cancers.
Life Science Research
"Source BioScience has established a strong track record as a leading provider of DNA sequencing services and in February we opened a fifth sequencing laboratory in Trinity College Dublin. This new facility extends the Company's reach and provides a platform for increased penetration of the vibrant Irish life sciences market.
"We also now operate one of Europe's most comprehensive next generation sequencing facilities from our laboratories in Nottingham, using Illumina sequencing technology. Earlier this year the Company trebled its next generation sequencing capacity by investing in a further two Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx sequencing platforms. Subsequently the Company has placed an order for the Illumina HiSeq 2000 high throughput next generation sequencing platform, the first provider in the UK to do so.
"So far this year, we have invested £1.0 million in leading edge technology platforms. This investment demonstrates our commitment to be the market leader in Europe for the provision of expert, high quality laboratory services to the life science research and healthcare sectors.
"Quality is paramount to the success of our business across all our activities. The recent award by Illumina of CSPro certification for our sequencing service quality, in particular, further reinforces our reputation with regulatory authorities, suppliers and customers.
Outlook
"Results for the year ended 31 December 2009 revealed maiden profits while the Company generated £0.9 million of cash from operating activities.
"In achieving those milestones we have built a business that has solid foundations and an exciting future which the Board believes will enhance shareholder value. The robust start to the current financial year represents a continuation of the strong growth and business performance achieved last year.
"We have a vibrant, sustainable business with significant opportunities for further growth across all divisions. The Board remains committed to equipping the Group with the breadth and depth of service offering, technology platforms, quality of people and products to deliver controlled growth and value to shareholders.
"We look forward to updating shareholders further following the release of our interim results for the six months ending 30 June 2010."
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For further information, please contact:
Source BioScience plcNick AshManaging DirectorTel: + 44 (0) 115 973 9010
Singer Capital MarketsShaun Dobson/Claes SpangTel: + 44 (0) 203 205 7500www.singercm.com
Bishopsgate Communications Ltd
Nick Rome/Gemma O'Hara
Tel: + 44 (0) 207 562 3350
www.bishopsgatecommunications.com
About Source BioScience
Source BioScience is a highly focused healthcare and biotechnology company providing diagnostic and screening services to the healthcare community and genetic analyses and biomolecular tools and products to the life science research and pharma biotech sectors.
Its Healthcare operations provide screening and reference laboratory diagnostic testing for cancer and other diseases and additional predictive testing for treatment optimisation for clinicians and patients. Pharma Biotech Services offers support for early stage therapeutic development, offering a 'one-stop shop' from tissue pathology, immunohistochemistry, sophisticated image analysis, biomarker determination and assay development to pharmacogenomics including genotyping and gene expression analysis. Life Science Research services provide core laboratory research support from conceptualization to implementation, calling upon a wide range of cutting-edge technology platforms including an online catalogue of biomolecular tools. This incorporates DNA sequencing, whole genome amplification and a comprehensive library of genomic reagents and clones including cDNA and RNAi, as well as facilitating rapid access to high quality antibodies, cell cultures, diagnostic assays for cancer and other genetic testing, and related research tools.
The Group has its headquarters in Nottingham, UK where it operates state of the art reference laboratory facilities, with additional laboratory facilities in London, Cambridge, Oxford and Dublin, Ireland. Source BioScience is CPA, GLP and GCP accredited and is licensed by the Human Tissue Authority.
Further information about Source BioScience can be found at www.sourcebioscience.com.
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