Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

23 May 2007 08:00

Imperial Innovations Group plc23 May 2007 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") Investment in IXICO Limited Imperial Innovations Group plc, the technology commercialisation and investmentcompany (AIM: IVO) and The Capital Fund, the £50 million Regional VentureCapital Fund for London, today announce that they have together invested£850,000 to co-lead an investment round of £2.44 million ($4.8 million) intoIXICO Limited ('IXICO'), a provider of image analysis solutions for thepharmaceutical industry. The fundraising will enable the company to sustain itsgrowth, build value, and reinforce the company's balance sheet. Founded in 2004, using technology from Imperial College London and King'sCollege London, IXICO provides state of the art image analysis solutions forpre-clinical and clinical trials. The company's products and services combineworld-leading image acquisition expertise with sophisticated computer algorithmsdevised by its employees and four scientific founders. Imaging has the potential to assess the effectiveness of new drugs, and can alsodetect possible side effects early in the development process. For imaging tofulfil this potential, it needs to be performed in a standardised andquantitative way. As IXICO's service is scaleable, it can be used to analysethousands of images in very early drug tests or in late phase trials. IXICO'stechnology and expertise provide its customers with fast and accurate resultsabout the impact of potential new drug molecules on disease symptoms includingbrain volume changes in dementia and bone degeneration in arthritis. The endresult for patients is the faster development of new, more effective treatmentsfor painful or life threatening conditions. IXICO's technology is proven and already used globally by some of the world'slargest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for imaging trials from Phase0 to Phase III. The service has been shown to be effective in a wide variety ofmedical applications, though the company's initial focus is on developing itsservices to assess the impact of new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, dementiaand oncology. Professor Derek Hill, CEO, IXICO, said, "IXICO's vision is to transform the way that imaging is used in clinical trials,and to help our customers bring safe and effective treatments to patients morerapidly than was previously possible. This investment will enable us to expandour activity substantially, and give us the working capital to be able to bidfor larger imaging analysis contracts with our customers. " Susan Searle, CEO, Imperial Innovations, said, "IXICO's medical imaging technology has the potential to play a very importantrole in accelerating developments in the pharmaceutical industry. We aredelighted to support them as they embark on their next stage of growth." Helen Reynolds, Investment Manager at The Capital Fund, said, "This is the second time that The Capital Fund has invested in IXICO and we arepleased to have provided a further round of crucial development capital to growthe business. The company has created a truly innovative technology with thepotential for use across a wide range of medical applications. We remainimpressed by the quality of the research behind the IXICO service and thecalibre of the management team who combine substantial experience of thehealthcare industry with significant image analysis acquisition know-how. Wewish Derek Hill and his team every success with their future plans." -Ends- For more information contact: Imperial InnovationsSusan Searle, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)20 7594 6591Lucy Ahfong, Marketing Communications Executive +44 (0)20 7594 6644 M:CommunicationsPatrick d'Ancona / Eleanor Williamson +44 (0)20 7153 1539 The Capital Fund +44(0)1865 811199Margaret Henry, PR ManagerEmail: m.henry@oxin.co.uk JP Morgan Cazenove +44(0)20 7588 2828Steve Baldwin Notes to Editors About Imperial InnovationsImperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology transfer andcommercialisation companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinaryshares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc inJuly 2006, raising £26 million. The company's integrated approach encompassesthe identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, developmentand licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment intechnology businesses. A wide range of technologies are commercialised withinthe areas of healthcare, energy, environment and emerging technology trends. Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in70 technology businesses and has completed 116 commercial agreements. ImperialInnovations also commercialises technologies originating from outside ImperialCollege through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and hasrelationships with a number of multinational corporations including BAE Systems. Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of spin-out companies, includingThe Acrobot Company Limited, BioCeramic Therapeutics Limited, Cardiak Limited,Circassia Holdings Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Equinox Pharma Limited, FutureWaves PTE Limited, HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSense Limited, LontraLimited, Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, Nexeon Limited, NovaTheraLimited, Thiakis Limited and Veryan Medical Limited. Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in four technology businesses nowlisted on AIM including the fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc. www.imperialinnovations.co.uk About the Capital Fund Launched in 2002, The Capital Fund is a £50 million venture capital fund whichbacks fast-growing, small and medium-sized enterprises in Greater London. Todate, the Fund has made over 50 investments in London-based companies and wasnamed Regional Venture Capital Fund of the Year at the Investor Allstars Awards2005. Initial investments can be up to £250,000 and the Fund can invest a further£250,000 after six months or more. In some circumstances, alongside other newinvestors, the Fund can follow on its investments with up to £5m in total in asingle company. The Capital Fund is the largest of the nine Regional VentureCapital Funds and has a mixture of public and private sector investors. Forfurther information: www.thecapitalfund.co.uk The Capital Fund is managed by YFM Venture Finance Limited, which is authorisedand regulated by the Financial Services Authority and part of the YFM Group. TheYFM Group provides investment capital and business development services to SMEsthroughout the UK. It currently has £250m in funds and consultancy contractsunder management, with over 70 employees. For further information:www.yfmgroup.co.uk About IXICO Ltd IXICO Ltd is a spin-out company from the University of London and ImperialCollege London. The company's innovative automated data analysis software isbased on the research work of its scientific founders, Professor Derek Hill andProfessor David Hawkes of University College, London and Professor Jo Hajnal andProfessor Daniel Rueckert of Imperial College, as well as technology licensedfrom Kings College London. UCL Business PLC (the company through whichUniversity College London transacts knowledge transfer activities), KingsCollege London and Imperial Innovations Group plc hold equity stakes in thebusiness. The global market for image analysis during clinical trials is currentlyestimated to be worth $200 million and is set to grow tenfold by 2010. IXICO's Chairman, Peter Morgan, brings considerable experience of the softwareand electronic industry. He is Chairman of Strategic Thought Group plc, a globalleader in risk management software, which floated on AIM in 2005, and a directorof Oxford Instruments plc, a global leader in advanced instrumentation. MrMorgan is also a former Director General of the Institute of Directors. IXICO has eighteen staff and is located in the London Bioscience InnovationCentre. For further information: www.ixico.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange