London, UK – September 11th 2017 – NetScientific plc (“NetScientific”, AIM:NSCI), the transatlantic healthcare IP commercialisation group, announces an update for its portfolio company, ProAxsis. ProAxsis today announces that it has signed a partnership agreement to develop activity-based immunoassays for two key respiratory proteases, utilising its novel ProteaseTag® technology. The unnamed partner is a large biotechnology company, headquartered in the US with a focus on developing new therapeutic options for patients with rare diseases.
Commenting on the news, Francois Martelet, Chief Executive Officer of NetScientific and Chairman of ProAxsis, said: “This partnership further demonstrates the value offered by ProAxsis’ technology to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, validating ProAxsis’ ongoing strategy to identify and form collaborations with biotechnology companies who are developing therapeutics where a protease is a key target or offers a valuable endpoint. We also believe this partnership is further validation of the NetScientific investment model, with our early stage financing enabling healthcare companies to develop revolutionary ground-breaking technology with important commercial potential.”
NetScientific holds a 57% stake on a fully diluted basis in ProAxsis.
The full text of the announcement from ProAxsis can be found below.
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For more information, please contact:
NetScientific
François R. Martelet, M.D., CEO
Ian Postlethwaite, CFO
Tel: +44 (0)20 3514 1800
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson /
Chris Welsh / Laura Thornton
Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
netscientific@consilium-comms.com
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (NOMAD and Broker)
Jonathan Senior / David Arch / Ben Maddison
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7710 7600
ProAxsis signs partnership with a large US based biotechnology company
Date: September 11th, 2017
ProAxsis Ltd today announces that the company has signed a partnership agreement to develop activity-based immunoassays for two key respiratory proteases, utilising its ProteaseTag® technology. The partner is a large biotechnology company, with headquarters in the US, and a focus on developing new therapeutic options for patients with rare diseases.
ProAxsis’ ProteaseTag® technology enables the specific and sensitive detection and measurement of the active form of proteases, which represent strong therapeutic targets in a number of different diseases. Early work has focused on neutrophil elastase, as a biomarker of lung infection and inflammation, but the platform technology potentially allows any protease to be targeted.
Dr David Ribeiro, CEO of ProAxsis, said, “A key part of our strategy for ProAxsis is to identify and form collaborations with biotechnology companies who are developing therapeutics where a protease is a key target or offers a valuable endpoint. We’re therefore delighted to have reached this agreement, and look forward to providing our partner with some useful tools for their ongoing clinical trial work.”
To find out how ProAxsis can support the measurement of active protease biomarkers of disease, or for any further queries, please contact info@proaxsis.com
About NetScientific
NetScientific is a transatlantic healthcare technology group with an investment strategy focused on sourcing, funding and commercialising technologies that significantly improve the health and well-being of people with chronic diseases. For more information, please visit the website at www.netscientific.net
About ProAxsis Limited:
ProAxsis is developing a range of products for the capture, detection and measurement of active protease biomarkers of diseases. Its first immunoassay measures neutrophil elastase, a leading indicator of infection and inflammation in patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis, and an important drug target. The rapid and easy-to-use tests being developed by ProAxsis incorporate patented ProteaseTags®; smart molecules which trap an active protease within a complex biological sample and enable a visual readout of its presence. ProteaseTags® provide a unique tool to identify and quantify active protease biomarkers and will assist in the clinical validation of new therapeutics.
ProAxsis is part of the NetScientific Group and is one of the Group’s core portfolio companies. The company is also supported by QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queens University.