Ilika Plc Regulatory News (IKA)

Ilika plc

("Ilika" or the "Company")

Altrika grant award and new JDP

Ilika plc (AIM: IKA), the advanced cleantech and biomedical materials discovery company, is pleased to announce progress in its biomedical subsidiary, Altrika Limited ("Altrika"), relating to cell processing tools and high throughput polymer science.

 Altrika is heading up a consortium which has been awarded a £452k research and development grant from the UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board through its Regenerative Medicine Tools & Technologies competition.

The programme will develop a cell label capable of being used in vivo for cell therapy applications. In the first instance, it will be applied to Altrika's Cryoskin® allogeneic keratinocyte treatment for burns, allowing clinicians to image cells which have been applied to a wound, providing instant feedback on consistency and likely efficacy of application. The consortium includes the University of Edinburgh, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry as the clinical partner, and Roslin Cellab which will be expanding the use of this label into other areas of cell therapy-based R&D.

Altrika is also pleased to announce that it has entered into a separate joint development project (JDP) with a world leading life sciences diagnostic equipment manufacturer. The contract is to demonstrate Altrika's high throughput, polymer screening technologies for the identification and optimisation of the next generation of polymer filters, in return for stage payments.

Commenting on these announcements, Graeme Purdy, Chief Executive of Ilika, said: "This is the fifth award that Altrika has been successful in securing from the TSB in the last two years. This follow on commitment is testament to Altrika's technical capabilities and confirms it as a company at the forefront of this exciting emerging technology. This is reinforced by the partnership with a world leading diagnostic equipment manufacturer that has chosen Altrika as a research and development partner."

Zahid Latif, Head of Healthcare at the Technology Strategy Board, said: "When we launched this competition we invited business-led consortia to submit proposals that would address challenges in the development of cell-based therapies, leading to demonstrators with commercial applicability. We are delighted to support this Altrika-led consortium and look forward to seeing the results of their exciting work."

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ABOUT ILIKA

Ilika is an advanced materials company which accelerates the discovery of new and patentable materials using its unique high throughput technologies (''HTT'') process for identified end uses in the energy, electronics and biomedical sectors. This process enables hundreds of scalable materials to be made in a single, automated operation and subsequently tested for key properties.

Traditionally, materials development has been a slow and arduous task, with manual, sequential methods used to make samples of material that are then tested for suitability. On average, it takes between 7 and 10 years to move from an initial discovery through to the first commercial prototype. Experiments carried out by the Company can be executed 10 to 100 times faster than using traditional techniques.

The Company focuses on three principal sectors and has a number of active development programmes addressing markets within each sector:

Energy - developing innovative new materials for Lithium-ion batteries for vehicles for Toyota; developing high capacity hydrogen storage materials with Shell Hydrogen and Johnson Matthey through joint development programmes; developing cheaper alternatives to Platinum electrodes for use in fuel cells through a grant-funded project with the Carbon Trust; developing new materials for use in fuel cells for the transport sector for a major vehicle manufacturer; and carrying out in-house research on film photovoltaic solar cells.

Electronics - developing lead-free piezoelectric materials through a joint development programme with CeramTec; developing phase change memory materials for high capacity memory chips and high-performing electronic materials for a multi-national manufacturer.

Biomedical - developing polymers to enable the filtering of somatic stem cells from blood with a major global supplier of filters; it has been selling its Cryoskin and Myskin products for the treatment of burns and wounds in the UK through a specialist distributor and intends to commence clinical trials of its corneal bandage candidate.

The Group's commercialisation strategy is to enter into joint development or licensing agreements with large multinational companies which are seeking to commercialise products developed using the intellectual property created through jointly-funded programmes. Current commercialisation partners include large multinational companies such as Toyota, Shell, Johnson Matthey and CeramTec. The Company generates revenues from three sources: licensing and milestone payments from joint development programmes; fee for service from contract research projects; and from sales of Cryoskin and Myskin.

ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY BOARD

The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led government body which works to create economic growth by ensuring that the UK is a global leader in innovation. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy. For more information please visit www.innovateuk.org