SUMM.L Regulatory News (SUMM)

10 Mar 2005 07:00

VASTox plc10 March 2005 For immediate release 10 March 2005 VASTox plc ("VASTox" or "the Company") Appointments to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) Oxford, UK: 10 March 2005 - VASTox plc (AIM: VOX), the Oxford-based drugdiscovery and services business focused on chemical genomics, is pleased toannounce that it has appointed three new members to its Scientific AdvisoryBoard. They include Professor Francesco Muntoni, Professor Roger Patient and DrMarcel van den Heuvel. Professor Francesco Muntoni is Professor of Paediatric Neurology at ImperialCollege London. Professor Muntoni completed his medical training in ChildNeurology and Psychiatry in 1989. Since then he has worked primarily onclinical, genetic and therapeutic aspects of childhood neuromuscular disordersinitially in Italy and from 1993 in London. Originally appointed as Lecturer atthe Neuromuscular Centre of the Hammersmith Hospital, he was made Head of theUnit in 1996 and Professor of Paediatric Neurology since 1998. In March 2004,Professor Muntoni was appointed Principal Investigator of a UK Government backedconsortium investigating treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Professor Roger Patient is Research Professor at the Weatherall Institute ofMolecular Medicine, University of Oxford. He was Professor of MolecularGenetics at King's College London and Professor of Genetics at the University ofNottingham prior to his current post. Professor Patient was one of the firstpeople, more than 10 years ago, to work on zebrafish (Danio rerio) in the UK andhas tremendous knowledge of zebrafish systems for scientific testing. At theWeatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, his research is focused on thegenetic regulatory networks of blood and the cardiovascular system. Dr Marcel van den Heuvel is Group Leader at the Medical Research CouncilFunctional Genetics Unit, University of Oxford. Dr van den Heuvel completed hisdoctorate training at the Netherlands Cancer Institute partly in Amsterdam andpartly in Palo Alto, California at Stanford University. Dr van den Heuvel hasworked on fruitflies (Drosophila melanogaster) for more than fifteen years usingthem to study developmental signalling pathways. He published in Nature in 1996on a pathway called Hedgehog, identified through his work on fruitflies.Hedgehog is now an accepted target for treatment of cancers in people. Hiscurrent research analyses fruitfly homologues of genes that cause disease inhumans, and has already generated a model system for the human disease SpinalMuscular Atrophy. Professor Kay Davies CBE, FRS, Chair of the SAB of VASTox, commented: "Theappointment of Marcel, Roger and Francesco clearly strengthens the ScientificAdvisory Board in multiple areas of science and technology development. Byadding to our core team, we have expanded our network to ensure we maintainleadership in all our areas of interest." Dr Steven Lee, CEO of VASTox, commented: "I congratulate Kay on strengtheningthe SAB with such high calibre individuals. VASTox was created from excellencein science, and its long-term business growth will come from leveraging itsrelationships in academia. These appointments demonstrate that we are committedto continually improving and strengthening our core technologies in addition tosigning commercial deals." --ENDS- Contact details:VASTox 01865 316917Steven Lee, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Tim Anderson / Mark Court / Mary-Jane Johnson Note for Picture Editors: High resolution images are available for the media to view and download free ofcharge from http://www.vismedia.co.uk Notes for Editors: About VASTox VASTox is a chemical genomics technology company that both provides services tothe pharmaceutical industry, and discovers and develops proprietary novel drugs.The company's technology platform aims to use high volume, high contentscreening using zebrafish and fruitflies to provide a high level ofpredictability of the efficacy and toxicity of potential drug compounds inhumans which has the potential to dramatically decrease the time and cost ofdrug discovery and development. VASTox was formed in January 2003, from theUniversity of Oxford, by some of the UK's foremost scientists who have taken ahighly creative approach to the problems involved in drug discovery and who havea proven record in delivering technological excellence. The company listed onthe London Stock Exchange AIM in October 2004. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange