Bioventix Regulatory News (BVXP)

BIOVENTIX PLC - Collaboration with Pre Diagnostics AS

PR Newswire

London, May 27

Press release

Bioventix plc

(“Bioventix” or the “Company”)

Pre Diagnostics and Bioventix enter collaboration on blood-based beta amyloid Alzheimer’s diagnostic test

Oslo, 31 May 2016, Norwegian Alzheimer’s diagnostics company Pre Diagnostics AS today announced a collaboration with leading UK antibody specialist Bioventix plc (BVXP). Under the terms of the agreement Bioventix will develop and provide antibodies for Pre Diagnostics new patient-friendly IVD test for dementia based on mid domain beta amyloid detection.

The inventor of Pre Diagnostics’ approach, Professor Tormod Fladby of Akershus University Hospital and the University of Oslo commented on the clinical need: “Alzheimer's disease develops over many years and the brain adapts to the disease. It can take 10-20 years before dementia onset. By then is it too late to reverse the disease symptoms and brain degeneration. Early detection of disease activity is likely to allow more effective treatment early in the disease course, and may improve quality of life and delay disease progression for patients with Alzheimer's disease. Our research, on which the new test is based, shows that Alzheimer’s disease is accompanied by systemic responses in certain white blood cells (macrophages) unique to the disease which can be accurately measured in the blood samples of patients.”

Pre Diagnostics CEO Håkon Sæterøy commented. “By working with Bioventix, utilising their in-depth antibody and ELISA expertise, we aim to further optimise our current prototype blood-based Alzheimer’s test which has already shown promise in preliminary testing”. 

According to Sæterøy, the company is now on track for launching a research only test in 2017: “It is now widely accepted that a new blood-based test with high accuracy in the early disease stages is essential to accelerate effective drug development and intervention within the Alzheimer’s space. We aim to develop such tests that effectively demonstrate any intervention effect on the key disease mechanisms.”

Peter Harrison, CEO of Bioventix plc said: “We are delighted to be involved with Pre Diagnostics and their beta amyloid project. We are very impressed by the Oslo-based group and their research partners, their thorough approach to basic science and their ability to apply this to clinical research. We believe that our antibody and assay capabilities can be applied to beta amyloid, thus facilitating an improved Alzheimer test for the Oslo group. It will be exciting to work with them towards further clinical testing and commercialisation”.

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About Pre Diagnostics AS

Pre Diagnostics (www.pre-diagnostics.com) is an innovative Norwegian diagnostic company that seeks to create value for patients, partners, and investors by developing pioneering and patient-friendly, in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) products for early detection of diseases. The company’s proprietary concept is built upon the scientific premise that a disease evokes systemic responses in macrophages unique to that disease which can be accurately measured in the blood samples of patients. Pre Diagnostics aims to be a leader in the diagnosis of early Alzheimer’s disease and is thus focused on the development of IVD biomarker products that use well-established technologies and procedures. The company protects its technology with an evolving patent portfolio

About Bioventix plc:

Bioventix (www.bioventix.com) specialises in the development and commercial supply of high-affinity monoclonal antibodies with a primary focus on their application in clinical diagnostics, such as in automated immunoassays used in blood testing. The antibodies created at Bioventix are generated in sheep and are of particular benefit where the target is present at low concentration and where conventional monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies have failed to produce a suitable reagent. Bioventix currently offers a portfolio of antibodies to customers for both commercial use and R&D purposes, for the diagnosis or monitoring of a broad range of conditions, including heart disease, cancer, fertility, thyroid function and drug abuse. Bioventix currently supplies antibody products and services to the majority of multinational clinical diagnostics companies. Bioventix is based in Farnham, UK and its shares are traded on AIM under the symbol BVXP.

About Alzheimer’s disease:

Alzheimer disease is the leading cause of dementia among older people. An estimated 10 percent of Americans over the age of 65 and half of those over age 85 have Alzheimer's. More than five million Americans currently suffer from the disease, and the number is projected to balloon to 10-15 million over the next several decades. Alzheimer's is now the third most expensive disease to treat in the U.S., costing society close to $100 billion annually.

Alzheimer's is a progressive, incurable disease. The earliest damage occurs in the entorhinal cortex, hippocampus and basal forebrain, which are small, specialized structures in the brain that play a critical role in memory. The disease is characterized by amyloid plaques (deposits in the brain of a sticky protein called amyloid beta peptide) and neurofibrillary tangles (abnormally twisted forms of the protein tau, in the long branches of neurons). The cause remains a mystery.