Gunsynd Regulatory News (GUN)

Evocutis plc

("Evocutis" or "the Company")

Contract wins

Evocutis plc (AIM: EVO), the company focused on advanced laboratory and clinical evaluations of skincare products for the health and cosmetic markets, is pleased to announce it has recently secured ten new contracts with a total value of £280,000, including early direct sales of its LabSkin™ living skin equivalent.

The contracts, all with well known global consumer healthcare companies, are expected to be delivered over a two to six month period.

The contracts cover a variety of technology areas including the use of LabSkin™ to evaluate product interactions, microbiological evaluation of products on skin and prebiotic evaluation of products on skin microflora. The contract values range from £9,000 for early exploratory research to £88,000 for larger scale product development analysis, and include early direct sales of LabSkin™. The contract wins, which incorporate microbial contract services, will assess products in consumer health, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals in multiple territories including the US, UK, and Europe.

LabSkin™ emulates living skin tissue and is comprised of both dermal and epidermal layers. Studies of the transdermal delivery of compounds through LabSkin™ have shown that its behaviour is closer to that of normal human skin than found in other published studies on Skin equivalent models. The model also exhibits a fully differentiated epidermal layer, which provides a completely dry surface for tailored testing requirements.

Gwyn Humphreys, Chief Executive Officer of Evocutis, commented: "I am delighted that the uptake of LabSkin™ is increasing and that our clients - all of which are household names - are seeing a clear benefit over alternative skin models available either commercially or in house. This is very positive in terms of future uptake of LabSkin™ and we are particularly pleased to see that our clients are using LabSkin™ successfully in their own laboratories. This validates our strategy of selling the product directly, as well as continuing to provide a full service offering to clients who require it.

"The significant combined contract value means that Evocutis is on course to meet management expectations and strengthens the Company's position in its ongoing search for a strategic partner, as announced in December."

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About Evocutis plc

With a rich portfolio of new product opportunities, Evocutis offers antimicrobial and dermatological expertise to the cosmetic, consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Being uniquely able to combine research for laboratory testing, advanced skin models and clinical testing, Evocutis offers a complete service for the development of skin care products and ingredients. Through research and testing Evocutis enables its clients to advance the discovery of skin care products that actually work.

Offering high quality contract research services, Evocutis specialises in Human Skin Microbiology, tissue culture systems and Human Volunteer and Clinical Dermatology Research. Unique characteristics of its colonised full thickness model of human skin (LabSkin™) allow rapid, cost effective screening of, for example, anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial ingredients and products for use on skin.

When it comes to advanced laboratory and clinical evaluations of skincare products for the health and cosmetic markets, the Evocutis focus is simple: intelligent and specialised R&D input.

For further information, please see www.evocutis.com

About LabSkin™

LabSkin™ is an animal-replacement technology, that emulates living skin tissue and is a high value research and product testing tool for the cosmetic and healthcare industries. It is a full thickness human skin model, comprised of both dermal and epidermal layers, and is produced exclusively and reproducibly on site at Evocutis from primary human cells (keratinocytes & fibroblasts). The model exhibits a fully differentiated epidermal layer, which provides a completely dry surface for tailored testing requirements.

LabSkin™ is highly versatile, and alongside its antimicrobial model, Evocutis is developing models to test anti-ageing and moisturising products. The antimicrobial LabSkin™ model allows testing using pathogenic microorganisms which would not be possible in human clinical studies. In addition, methods have been developed to allow LabSkin™ to be inoculated with skin washings taken directly from human skin, thus providing a step-change in the quality of data possible from a laboratory model. By benchmarking activity against best-in-class products, the activity of new ingredients and formulations can be assessed for several antimicrobial endpoints, including immediate kill, rate of kill and residual activity.

Recent research indicates that our natural microflora is an integral part of our skin and makes a significant contribution to skin health. LabSkin™ provides a unique living skin surface which is validated for microbial applications and can simultaneously provide information on irritation, penetration, barrier function and skin structure.