Provexis Regulatory News (PXS)

14 October 2022

Provexis plc

('Provexis' or the 'Company')

Directorate change

Provexis, the business that develops, licenses and sells the proprietary, scientifically-proven Fruitflow® heart-health functional food ingredient, announces the resignation of Frédéric Boned, a Non-executive Director of the Company, with immediate effect.

Frédéric Boned joined the Board of Provexis as a Non-executive Director in July 2018, at which point he was EMEA Vice President of DSM's Human Nutrition & Health business, a part of DSM Nutritional Products.

Frédéric, who is currently Regional Vice President Health Nutrition & Care North America at DSM, has announced his resignation from DSM with effect from 15 October 2022.

The Board thanks Frédéric for his contribution to Provexis and wishes him very well for the future.

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Notes for editors

About Provexis plc

AIM-listed Provexis is focused on the development, licensing and sales of its proprietary, scientifically-proven Fruitflow® heart-health functional food ingredient.

Fruitflow is a natural, breakthrough ingredient that helps with platelet aggregation. This helps promote normal blood flow and circulation, which in turn benefits cardiovascular health. Fruitflow helps the platelets to circulate freely and smoothly throughout your blood, without sticking to one another or to the blood vessels themselves. Freely flowing blood helps reduce stress on your cardiovascular system.

Fruitflow is a highly concentrated form of bioactives which is lycopene-free and contains over 30 known anti-platelet compounds. Published clinical studies have shown that Fruitflow works to maintain healthy blood flow in a similar way to 75mg aspirin but with a milder and reversible action; Fruitflow has a similar antiplatelet effect to a single dose of aspirin - but when taken daily, it has none of aspirin's side effects.

The science behind Fruitflow has been validated by leading peer review publications and regulatory authorities. Fruitflow is the only natural antiplatelet to have a health claim approved by the European Food Safety Authority, stating that 150mg of Fruitflow 'helps maintain normal platelet aggregation, which contributes to healthy blood flow'.

Provexis entered into a long-term Alliance Agreement with DSM Nutritional Products in 2010 to commercialise Fruitflow through sales as an ingredient to brand owners in the food, beverage and dietary supplement categories. More than 100 regional consumer healthcare brands have now been launched by direct customers of DSM, and a number of further regional brands have been launched through DSM's distributor channels.

In June 2022 Provexis announced it had secured two new agreements with DSM for Fruitflow, to replace the Alliance Agreement: (i) a Transfer of Business agreement and (ii) a Premix and Market-Ready Solutions supply agreement, both to take effect from 1 January 2023.

DSM's existing and prospective pipeline customers for Fruitflow as a straight ingredient will transfer to become direct customers of Provexis WEF 1 January 2023, and Provexis will take over the outsourced supply chain / production process for Fruitflow at that time. The customer transfer process from DSM to Provexis is currently ongoing, and thus far it has seen a number of positive interactions with customers for direct sales of Fruitflow by Provexis in 2023 and beyond.

Fruitflow has a number of specific health benefits which have been reflected in separate patent filings for the use of Fruitflow in:

· mitigating exercise-induced inflammation;

· managing blood pressure;

· protecting against the adverse effects of air pollution on the body's cardiovascular system. Laboratory work has shown that Fruitflow can reduce the platelet activation caused by airborne particulate matter, such as that from diesel emissions, by approximately one third; and

· conferring health benefits in modulating the gut microbiome of humans, following the completion of a successful human study.

A new partnership was agreed with DSM in June 2022 relating to the commercialisation of the gut microbiome patent, subject to certain milestones which have been agreed between the parties.

In November 2021 Provexis entered into a long term supply and distribution agreement for Fruitflow with By-Health Co., Ltd. ('By-Health'), a £4bn listed Chinese dietary supplement business, to support the planned launch of some Fruitflow based products in the Chinese market.

The planned launch is progressing well with potential sales volumes remaining at a significant multiple of existing Fruitflow sales.

By-Health has made a significant investment in eight separate studies in China, at its sole expense, in support of the Fruitflow based products which it plans to launch in China.

The five completed studies showed excellent results in use for Fruitflow, and they provide strong evidence for its efficacy on platelet functions. The Chinese regulatory system for functional health food ingredients such as Fruitflow is governed by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China's top market regulator, and it is based on a defined list of 27 permitted health function claims which brand owners are permitted to use on product labels.

By-Health is working on an extensive regulatory submission to the SAMR for Fruitflow, seeking to establish a new permitted health function claim for food ingredients such as Fruitflow that can demonstrate an anti-platelet effect, addressing the aberrant blood clots which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

If By-Health is successful in obtaining a new permitted health function claim it is currently expected that this would result in some significant orders for Fruitflow, potentially at a multiple of current total sales values.

Provexis sells a high quality dietary supplement product containing Fruitflow and Omega-3 from its website www.fruitflowplus.com on a mail order basis. The product is also available to purchase from Amazon.co.uk and from Holland & Barrett.

COVID-19

In September 2020 Fruitflow was recognised in a review article by the Frontiers in Nutrition journal www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2020.583080/full which stated that nutraceuticals such as Fruitflow may serve as:

'A safe antiplatelet prophylactic treatment for those at high risk of COVID-19 who may also be at increased risk of thrombotic complications and an alternative to pharmacological compounds that may cause greater risk of bleeding.'

Provexis was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Reading, Berkshire.

Provexis shares are traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PXS.

For further information, please visit www.provexis.com and www.fruitflowplus.com.