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Clontarf Energy PLC
15 May 2024
15 May 2024
Clontarf Energy plc
("Clontarf" or the "Company")
Bolivia Lithium Update
Bolivian Brines Qualification for 3rd Phase of the 2024 Convocatoria
Clontarf Energy plc (AIM: CLON), continues to progress its activities in Bolivia, and is pleased to report the following update:
Further to the Company's 6 and 18 March 2024 announcements, the Bolivian State Lithium Company ("YLB") received Clontarf's technical materials in relation to Phase 2 of the Call for Bids ("convocatoria") for the seven priority salares (salt pans) in Southern Bolivia.
YLB confirmed on 14 May that Clontarf is one of 21 companies approved to enter Phase 3 of the (5 phase) process. Phase 2 dealt in detail with the technical aspects of state-of-the-art Lithium extraction technologies, especially emerging Direct Lithium Extraction techniques.
Phase 3 of the convocatoria process will include confirmation of the Clontarf/NEXT-ChemX JV partnership's financial capacity, which include a review of the last 5-years' accounts, and a risk-rating. As a reminder to Shareholders, Clontarf has worked closely with its JV technology partner NEXT-ChemX since 2022.
Aptamer remains firmly focussed on the first of these three objectives and is pleased to report progress on the second two objectives.
Since the announcement of the half year results, the Group has made significant progress in regarding its new platform technology, Optimer®+, through an initial soft launch and agreement of the first commercial sale.
Patents have been filed to protect the Optimer binders developed in partnership with Unilever for use in cosmetics applications to support ongoing commercial discussions between the two companies, with further testing underway. A follow-on deal has been signed with Neuro-Bio to develop a second Optimer binder to enable a wholly Optimer-powered lateral flow test for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, the Group has made significant progress in the precision gene therapy space, demonstrating Optimer performance in lab-based tests as drug delivery vehicles specific to the cells associated with fibrotic liver disease and establishing chemical manufacturing methods for scaled test batches. These Optimer-conjugates are currently undergoing evaluation by a top 15 pharma partner, with additional negotiations underway with a major top 10 pharmaceutical company to explore the Optimer-conjugates as part of a proof-of-concept study.
The Group's current sales pipeline is strong, with over £3.0 million in advanced stage discussions. A proportion of these advanced stage deal negotiations is anticipated to progress through the laboratory before the end of the financial year. This anticipated deal value is in addition to the c.£1.4m of existing signed deals already at various stages of completion in the production laboratory. Revenue recognition on all signed deals is further subject to the receipt of target material in a timely manner from customers, and scientific attrition.
Filtronic the leader in high-performance mmWave technologies, has today signed a Strategic Partnership and commercial agreement with SpaceX, a market leader in the low Earth Orbit market.
The Strategic Partnership includes the ongoing supply of Filtronic’s cutting-edge E-band Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA), alongside collaborative efforts in developing and delivering comparable products across multiple frequency bands core to SpaceX’s Starlink platform.
The agreement was signed with an initial order of $19.7m (£15.8m) to supply E-band SSPA modules, scheduled for delivery in FY2025, with further order flow expected to continue thereafter to support the ongoing deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which provides high-speed, low-latency internet to users all around the world.
As part of the partnership, SpaceX has committed to ongoing orders for the next five years to ensure Filtronic remains a key part of its supply chain.
Richard Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer, of Filtronic, commented: “We are delighted to enter into this important Strategic Agreement with SpaceX, a market leader in LEO satellite constellations. This ongoing SpaceX partnership underlines our core value proposition of high-performance mmWave and operational excellence. It also provides Filtronic with the opportunity to scale manufacturing, build capability and execute our technology roadmap. The team at Filtronic are excited to develop our existing relationship with SpaceX and secure the ongoing supply of E-band SSPAs. We also look forward to collaborating with the SpaceX engineering team to develop new products for use in the Starlink system.”
Mike Nicolls, SpaceX’s Vice President of Starlink Engineering commented: “Filtronic has been an outstanding supplier for Starlink. They have matched our rate ramp and increasing demand for high-quality parts. Their strong engineering teams have taken ownership of their production process to meet our needs, taking their designs from wafer to functional unit, and are delivering quality parts in E-band which will enable the Starlink network to continue to grow and connect millions of more people around the world with high-speed, low-latency broadband internet.”
The Checkpoint Kinase 1 (Chk1) programme was initiated and advanced into first clinical trials in collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Research and the CRT Pioneer Fund. The clinical candidate drug, SRA737 (formerly CCT245737), is one of the most advanced Chk1 inhibitors in the clinic, is highly selective for Chk1 and is administered orally. Two Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the candidate drug have been completed in genetically selected patients with advanced cancers, conducted by former licence partner, Sierra Oncology:
a monotherapy study evaluating SRA737 in patients with tumours identified to have genetic aberrations hypothesised to confer sensitivity to Chk1 inhibition, including ovarian, prostate, non-small cell lung, head & neck, anus, and colorectal cancers. For more information click here
a drug combination study evaluating SRA737 potentiated by low-dose gemcitabine (LDG) in four cancer indications, including ovarian, small cell lung, sarcoma, and cervical/anogenital. For more information on the trial click here
Preliminary safety & efficacy data support further development of SRA737+LDG for the treatment of anogenital cancer. Additionally, preclinical data demonstrates synergy of SRA737 and SRA737+LDG in combinations with immune checkpoint, Poly ADP Ribose Polymerase (PARP) and DNA polymerase inhibitors.
Sierra Oncology was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in July 2022. In October 2022, GSK communicated its intention to return the rights to SRA737 to the CRT Pioneer Fund. SRA737 was subsequently licensed to a private US-based biopharma company in January 2024.