RNS 28-4-2028 Apr 2020 15:17
For immediate release
28 April 2020
ANGLE plc ("the Company")
BUSINESS UPDATE
Progress across multiple fronts
In-house capability developed to determine CTC PDL1 status for immunotherapy trials
COVID-19 highlights crucial need for liquid biopsy for cancer patients
ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, is pleased to provide an update on the Company's progress since the COVID-19 lock down started.
As announced on 31 March 2020, ANGLE's operations in the UK, Canada and USA have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting Government directives, notably in relation to completion of the remaining analytical samples required for the Company's FDA submission and patient enrolment for the Company's ovarian cancer clinical verification study.
Following a period of unanticipated disruption and delay caused by COVID-19, a key focus during lock down is on finalising the significant amount of written documentation and analysis for the FDA submission, so that this can be rapidly submitted once the remaining analytical samples are available and analysed. This is progressing well and it is expected that submission can be made promptly once restrictions ease so that we can secure the remaining healthy volunteer blood samples needed to complete the analytical study work.
The Company has adopted a proactive approach to the lock down advancing on multiple fronts and developing some new initiatives.
R&D, product development and engineering work
The Company's Guildford UK laboratories are now operating with a skeleton crew, double shift operation with enhanced social distancing and other precautions in place to enable the progression of experimental and engineering work that does not require access to donor blood. This work is supporting key Parsortix® system R&D, product development and engineering activities.
Ovarian cancer test
The Company's Toronto Canada laboratories are open for technical personnel who cannot work from home, also with double shift operation and enhanced social distancing and other precautions in place. This is enabling HyCEAD® Ziplex™ analytical and assay verification work for the ovarian cancer test to progress.
The University of Rochester Medical Center Wilmot Cancer Institute, New York has temporarily ceased patient enrolment. In the absence of the current clinical verification study samples, the decision has been taken to analyse the second retained samples from the previous ovarian cancer clinical study. This was a duplicate blood sample from every patient that was processed on Parsortix and then stored as a frozen lysate. Analysis of these samples will use the further optimised HyCEAD Ziplex cancer gene panel planned for the current study.
There is an RNS today updating progress during COVID delays. It is upbeat.