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AGM statement
At the Company’s Annual General Meeting held at 1100 hours today all resolutions were duly passed.
Chairman, Andrew Knight, made the following statement to shareholders during the meeting:
“On behalf of the Board of Henderson Morley, I am pleased to report on the current status of the Company’s various research projects.
Divestment of ICVT
“As announced on 9 October 2009, the Company has received a letter of intent from a potential purchaser of the ICVT human platform (excluding ophthalmic and orphan indications). The proposed sale of this IPR is still subject to further negotiation even though discussions are now at a stage where it is anticipated that a deal acceptable to each party will be completed by the end of 2009.
“The Company is also in discussion with a further potential purchaser which has also shown interest in acquiring certain indications of the technology.
“The Board expects to provide further updates on each of these negotiations once any definitive agreements have been signed.
Animal Health
“The data from the Koi Herpes virus challenge studies in Koi carp has been fully analysed by the Company’s scientists and has been sent to Schering Plough Animal Health for their opinion.
“The Company is in talks with a European animal health pharmaceutical company with a view to licensing the animal health application of ICVT for the treatment of feline herpes (“FHV”). A study into FHV is currently ongoing under the supervision of Triveritas (an animal health Contract Research Organisation).
“The Company is also in discussions with animal health companies to co-develop the animal health applications of PREPS and L-Particles in the treatment of canine cancer.
PREPS and L-Particles
“The Company has now sent the PREPS and L-Particles, which have been engineered to express Epstein Barr Poly-epitope, to the Australian Centre for Vaccine Development (ACVD). The ACVD has confirmed that the initial antigenicity studies are now underway and the results from these studies are expected within the next few weeks.
“The Company has also sent validated L-Particles to the Influenza Centre of Excellence at the University of Georgia where scientists will examine their role as biological adjuvants in naked DNA vaccination. The studies are designed to determine if their co-administration potentiates the role of naked DNA influenza vaccines in influenza models. The results of these studies are expected before the end of the year.
“We stated at the time of the fundraising in early June that the Company anticipated, in the following six months, receiving income in the form of disposal proceeds from the sale of ICVT for human applications and licensing income from other developed products in the pipeline. As is not uncommon for the industry in which the Company operates, the estimation of the timing of income from disposals and licensing is not an exact science. The Board is disappointed that near term revenue bearing agreements are taking longer than anticipated, however the Board is continuing to review its options and remains of the belief that each of these agreements will be concluded.
“Your Board remains focused on our stated strategy to divest ICVT; spin out the animal health, orphan and ophthalmic parts of the company, and to focus on becoming a pure play vaccine company by 2011.”
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