Gunsynd Regulatory News (GUN)

Evocutis plc

("Evocutis" or "the Company")

Directorate Change

Evocutis plc (AIM: EVO), the company focussed on advanced laboratory and clinical evaluations of skincare products for the health and cosmetic markets, announces that, further to its announcement on 4 April 2012, Dr. Stephen Jones will resign as a director and employee of the Company with effect from the close of business on Friday 4 May 2012.

Dr. Gwyn Humphreys, currently Senior Non-executive Director of the Company, has been appointed as interim Chief Executive Officer pending the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer.

The Company is progressing the process to identify a new Chief Executive Officer to continue the commercialisation of Evocutis' expertise in Microbiology, Clinical Services and the Company's human skin equivalent product Labskin™, and will update shareholders in due course.

Tom Bannatyne, Chairman, commented: "I am delighted that Gwyn has agreed to act as interim CEO pending the appointment of a replacement for Dr. Jones. Gwyn, a microbial biochemist by training has over 40 years of experience in the biotechnology sector. Having spent ten years at Celltech he was a co-founder and CEO of one of the UK's most successful University spin-out companies, Bradford Particle Design, which was sold in 2001 for $200 million. Gwyn is also Non-executive Chairman of Avacta plc."

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

Media enquiries:

Notes to editors

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 we enable our 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. Additionally, the clinical, human volunteer testing facility that is housed on-site provides rapid, bespoke evaluation of dermatological products.

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.