SALV.L Regulatory News (SALV)

3Legs Resources plc

("3Legs" or "the Company")

Investment in SalvaRx Limited

The Company is pleased to announce it has subscribed £215,000 for new shares in SalvaRx Limited ("SalvaRx"), a company owned by Jim Mellon and Dr Greg Bailey, which owns 60.5 per cent. of iOx Therapeutics Limited ("iOx"), a new company which is developing a series of compounds for cancer immunotherapy. Mr Mellon and Dr Bailey are also subscribing £215,000 for new shares in SalvaRx on the same terms. 3Legs holds 11.1 per cent. of the enlarged share capital of SalvaRx following the investment.

iOx's technology is based on a discovery by Professor Vincenzo Cerundolo MD, PhD, the Director of the Human Immunology Unit at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford University and supported by the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Its compounds stimulate invariant natural killer T cells, and preclinical testing in several cancer models suggest the compounds can inhibit the growth of tumours.

SalvaRx has a strong management team with considerable experience in the field of cancer immunology. It is being led by Ian Walters, MD, who is a veteran oncology drug developer, formerly of Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he managed physicians overseeing the international development of several oncology compounds and was also a core member of the Strategic Transactions Group, which evaluated and executed licencing agreements and the company's immunotherapy strategy. Ian is joined by SalvaRx's Chief Scientific Officer, Rob Kramer, PhD, who was Global Head of Oncology Discovery Research at Bristol-Myers Squib and Jansen Pharmaceuticals. Together, the team have contributed to the development of over 30 drugs, including blockbuster cancer immunotherapies Yervoy® (ipilimumab) and Opdivo® (nivolumab).

Dr Walters commented, "The SalvaRx team welcome the investment from 3Legs as helping us execute on our business model of identifying, developing, and financing novel therapeutics that stimulate the immune system to fight cancer. The team are eager to build on the iOx investment by adding additional products or companies."

Richard Armstrong, the Company's Chairman, added, "The particular area on which SalvaRx is focused has recently attracted considerable interest as an approach to the treatment of cancer and the Board believes that this investment represents an exciting development and is a first step in implementing the Company's new investing policy."

Related Party Transaction

Jim Mellon and Greg Bailey are both Non-executive Directors of 3Legs and own, in aggregate, 29.9 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital. They are also Directors of SalvaRx and own 50 per cent. each of its issued share capital. Consequently, the Company's investment in SalvaRx constitutes a related party transaction under the AIM Rules. The independent directors of 3Legs, being Richard Armstrong and Colin Weinberg consider, having consulted Northland Capital Partners Limited, the Company's Nominated Adviser, that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned. 

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