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So tumour DNA has been isolated from peripheral blood samples - more than the finger prick mentioned in the Times I suspect. I am somewhat underwhelmed. Isolating the tumour cell provides infinitely more information for clinicians, and will be preferred. Does it follow that if tumour DNA is found, there must be circulating tumour cells? A head to head study comparing the two techniques in the same cohort of patients would be fascinating.

SP = buy, lots

Movement not based on any known news, but welcome all the same.

I am not clear why Disley left abruptly. He has received a full years salary plus pension etc, according to the Annual Report, quoted in today's Sunday Times. Was he pushed? i cannot see a reason for this, in a thriving company, unless he resigned / was pushed over differences in the direction of travel of the company. The ST article is coy, but does mention the business 'refocusing' on its core products, and that it would reduce the level of investment in its own therpies. Perhaps Disley felt strongly about this - who knows? i think there is probably quite a close (aka incestuous) relationship between individuals in ABCAM and Horizon, even after J Milner's resignation. Whether this is in the best interests of Horizon is far from clear. However, the appointment of Pizzie, with a commercial rather than a scientific background is no bad thing at this stage for Horizon.

Milner should have walked months ago. I find it impossible to believe that he did not know what was proposed by ABCAM. I have doubts therefore as to the propriety of recent share purchases.

Yes it is, but just hang in there, the sunlit uplands are not that far off. Seriously, I think the problem with the price may be that MMs cannot get their head around the potential for this utterly simple, utterly brilliant piece of kit. This is the equivalent of a spade in a gold rush.

Delighted to hear they have backed off. It was an opportunistic bid, and was correctly rejected. HZD will do very well without them.

I am not sure what these are made from, but if plastic is involved, SYM should be on to it stat. Think of all those wipes flushed down the loo to create blockages in sewers.

I entirely agree. I was not too interested in his exclusion from the boards decision to reject this offer, but more that he must have known that ABCAM were on the prowl. Who should deal with this sort of disgraceful behaviour, which happens all too often?

HZD not going to roll over in view of very tardy RNS. i still feel PIs should have known about this days ago.

Bid back on 18th April. A well kept secret. It should not have been, and that is worrying to me, and suggests that HZD may be prepared to roll over, and that the Institutions also happy with this. Abcam are perhaps taking advantage of the absence of a permanent CEO at HZD, after Darren Disleys departure Darren Disley also a shareholder at ABCAM, and there is something malign and cozy about this. HZD surely must make an announcement, as they surely cannot negotiate on behalf of all shareholders without them being informed. I would not settle for one penny less than 250 p

It is good to see a rising SP; perhaps someone understands the potential here. I certainly do not. They use long words which were not even in the dictionary when I took chemistry A level ~60 years ago. I am here by accident having originally invested in Oxford Advances Surfaces. Happy to stay put!

Children, please!

I am surprised that this announcement has not raised more interest. This could be a game changer for SYM here in the UK, where interest in oxy- biodegradable plastics has been muted up to now. SP pretty static today

Loskins I think recruitment to the major Anderson breast trial is expected to be complete by end H1 2018, and they will be falling over themselves to present the data at the first opportunity. That study is pivotal to the success of AGL, I understood that, if all goes to plan, the FDA would give their blessing (or not) in H2 2108. I accept your concerns re protectionism, but think it unlikely that the FDA will be influenced by anything other than the results in front of them. Not all Americans are narcissistic protectionist idiots! it is of interest that the concept of cell capture using microfluidics originated in the USA and the rights were bought by AGL. See the presentation https://youtu.be/vgBeMMRWv-M, which gives a lot of background )

SeeingTom I agree, this is obligatory viewing, even though AN is not a natural presenter!

Although AGL has started on breast, I do not know any reason why the technique of cell separation based on physical characteristics, size, deformability, etc should not also apply to all solid tumours, including lymphoma, where the present approach is by needle biopsy under x ray control, or an open procedure. Work is presently proceeding on patients with stage 3/4 malignancies, with near 100% CTC recovery rates. it will be very interesting to discover at what stage in a malignancy can be picked up using Parsortix. Stage 1?, stage 2?, who knows?. For eg,. we think of prostate cancer being intracapsular, or extra capsular ( ie metastatising), but localised tumours must have a blood supply, and it follows that tumour cells may possibly be found in peripheral blood, before there is evidence of extracapsular spread. If shown to be consistent, this would save on the need to have a prostatic needle biopsy via the arse, which cannot be very pleasant. It seems that the possibilities with this kit are enormous. I hope Parsortix is patented up to the hilt.

Another huge step for AGL; there is no other way to isolate CTCs. I don't care what the SP is now, FDA approval will be the game changer.

This was posted for some odd reason on PHE, but has more relevance here. https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-accidentally-engineered-mutant-enzyme-eats-through-plastic-pet-petase-pollution

Hang on, PHE do not yet have a 25tpd machine, which I take it will be required, and this will need a) building, b) testing, and c) given a certificate of reliability, before anyone, even Bulgarians, will touch it. Has the 1 tpd machine been certified yet?