Last checked at 19 Oct 2021 16:25
Fusion Antibodies plc
("Fusion" or the "Company")
Grant of options
Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, announces that the Company has today granted 250,000 options (the "Options") over ordinary shares of 4 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") to Richard Jones, CEO. The Options were granted pursuant to the Fusion Antibodies EMI and Unapproved Employee Share Option Scheme (the "Scheme"), adopted by the Company on 11 December 2017.
The Options have an exercise price of 127.5 pence per option, being the closing mid-market price of an Ordinary Share on 18 October 2021, the day prior to grant. The Options will vest as follows:
· one third of the Options will vest on 16 February 2022, being the one year anniversary of Richard joining the Company;
· one third will vest on the second anniversary of Richard joining Fusion, being 16 February 2023; and
· one third will vest on the third anniversary of Richard joining Fusion, being 16 February 2024.
Once vested, the Options can be exericised up until 18 October 2031 subject to continuing employment only. Richard does not have an interest in any other Ordinary Shares or hold any other options over Ordinary Shares. Further detail is set out in the PDMR disclosure table below.
Following the grant of the Options, the Company has options in issue over a total of 1,143,749 Ordinary Shares, representing 4.4 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital. 1,014,999 of the options have been issued pursuant to the Scheme and the balance of 128,750 options have been issued outside of the scheme.
Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them
1 | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated | |||||
a) | Name | Richard Jones | ||||
2 | Reason for the notification | |||||
a) | Position/status | Chief Executive Officer | ||||
b)
| Initial notification /Amendment | Initial notification | ||||
3
| Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |||||
a) | Name | Fusion Antibodies plc | ||||
b) | LEI | 213800KBAYRC9VOQ9V39 | ||||
4
| Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted | |||||
a)
| Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument
Identification code | Options over ordinary shares of 4p each in Fusion Antibodies plc
Identification code (ISIN) for Fusion Antibodies plc ordinary shares: GB00BDQZGK16 | ||||
b) | Nature of the transaction | Grant of options over ordinary shares
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c) | Price(s) and volume(s) |
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d) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | N/A | ||||
e) | Date of the transaction | 19 October 2021 | ||||
f) | Place of the transaction | Outside a trading venue | ||||
Enquiries:
Fusion Antibodies plc | www.fusionantibodies.com | |
Richard Jones, Chief Executive Officer James Fair, Chief Financial Officer | Via Walbrook PR | |
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Allenby Capital Limited | Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656 | |
James Reeve/Vivek Bhardwaj (Corporate Finance) Tony Quirke (Sales and Corporate Broking) |
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Walbrook PR | Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 or fusion@walbrookpr.com | |
Anna Dunphy | Mob: +44 (0)7876 741 001 | |
Paul McManus | Mob: +44 (0)7980 541 893 | |
About Fusion Antibodies plc
Fusion is a Belfast based contract research organisation ("CRO") providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.
The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx TM platform and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced and expressed over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 200 humanisation projects and has an international, blue-chip client base, which has included eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.
The Company was established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen's University Belfast. The Company's mission is to enable pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to develop innovative products in a timely and cost-effective manner for the benefit of the global healthcare industry. Fusion Antibodies provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation.
Fusion Antibodies growth strategy is based on combining the latest technological advances with cutting edge science to deliver new platforms that will enable Pharma and Biotech companies get to the clinic faster, with the optimal drug candidate and ultimately speed up the drug development process.
The global monoclonal antibody therapeutics market was valued at $135.4 billion in 2018 and is forecast to surpass $212.6 billion in 2022, an increase at a CAGR of 12.0 per cent. for the period 2018 to 2022. In 2017, seven of the world's ten top selling drugs were antibody-based therapeutics with the combined annual sales of these drugs exceeding $63.2 billion.