24th Jul 2007 07:00
Provexis PLC24 July 2007 For release 07:00 24 July 2007 Provexis plc ('The Company') Annual General Meeting Statement At the Annual General Meeting of Provexis plc, to be held at 11.00 a.m. thismorning, the non-executive Chairman of Provexis plc, Dawson Buck, will make thefollowing statement. In the Company's full year results statement on 30 May 2007 I announced asignificant refocus in our business, with the planned closure of the Sirco(R)juice brand, as the Company shifted the focus of the business solely to thediscovery, development and licensing of functional and medical foodtechnologies. Sirco(R) closure Subsequently, on 2 July 2007 the Company confirmed the closure of the Sirco(R)juice brand as a key element in its strategy of focusing on licensing activity.The Sirco(R) juice brand was successful in raising the profile of our Fruitflow(R) technology in the global functional food market. The closure process is nowcomplete and there are no financial write-offs as a result of the closure. Fruitflow(R) licensing The management team has identified four major sectors for the commercialdevelopment of the Company's patented Fruitflow(R) heart-health technology: foodand dairy; beverages; deep vein thrombosis; and dietary supplements and medicalproducts. In the food and dairy sector, the Company signed a 12 month Exclusivityagreement with Unilever in July 2006 and a long-term Collaboration agreement inMarch 2007 with the goal of developing an advanced version of Fruitflow(R). Thenew format has now been manufactured in several extended pilot plant trials andthe Company recently completed a successful trial in human subjects. The Companyis in discussions with Unilever about how this might be taken forward. In the beverage sector, discussions regarding an exclusivity agreement areunderway with a global leader in beverage brands. The Company is also carryingout a product application assessment of Fruitflow(R) with a further global foodand beverage corporation. Work continues on a potential deep vein thrombosis product. In the coming year,the management team will accelerate its efforts to gain a foothold in thedietary supplement market. Science development The scientific team has dedicated recent months to the development of the newconcentrated version of Fruitflow(R) and the successful human trial of thisadvanced version. In the coming months resource will be committed to thedevelopment of scientific support for deep vein thrombosis. The Company is to accelerate the development of its patented plantain-basedtechnology. This extract from the plantain has been jointly developed with theUniversity of Liverpool and is intended to treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Aspecific application for the treatment of Crohn's Disease patients in remissionhas been developed and a healthy human trial will be carried out in the comingweeks. Following approval of our clinical dossier, an 18-month trial on Crohn'spatients will commence later in 2007. Further applications for the plantaintechnology are also being explored. The management team is to devote significant time to the identification of newtechnologies in the coming year, seeking to strengthen further the value of ourpipeline. Financial Following the placing of new shares to raise £2.15 million in April 2007 and asignificant reduction in our cash burn, the Company's working capital positionis secure. Cash at bank at the end of June was £1.41m, slightly behind forecastas a result of restructuring costs. Tight financial controls are in place andthe Directors believe that capital resources are sufficient to deliver currentobjectives. Summary The Company has been through a year of extensive change and I believe that theCompany is now well positioned to compete effectively on a global basis in thestrongly growing functional foods sector. It now has relationships in place withmajor global corporations and we look forward to advancing to licensearrangements as the Company further develops the scientific and regulatory basefor the Fruitflow(R) technology, in addition to bolstering the value of itsfuture pipeline of applications in this and other areas. Enquiries: Provexis plc Stephen Moon, Chief Executive Tel: 020 8392 6634 Arbuthnot Securities Tom Griffiths/Alasdair Younie Tel: 020 7012 2000 Adventis Financial PR Chris Steele Tel: 020 7034 4759 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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