About ERIX
EiRx Therapeutics is a specialist provider of pre-clinical therapeutics to the pharmaceutical industry. Our unique scientific expertise and knowledge in the field of Apoptosis provide a sound base to discover and develop new medicines that will safely and selectively repair this natural process in disease. The potential benefits from these new medicines are enormous, since as many as 70% of all human disease have some defect in the control of Apoptosis.
Apoptosis - the biological process that determines whether cells in our bodies live or die...
http://www.eirx.com/index.html

Purchased some of these on the strength of the PROGRESS UPDATE looks promising.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200603200701130254A.html

ERX interview with John Pool
http://www.wallstreetreporter.com/interview.php?id=18589&player=real
Latest News
CANCER COLLABORATION WITH BIOMERIEUX SA
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200607120700230534G.html
Biomerieux Web Site
http://www.biomerieux.com/servlet/srt/bio/portail/home
ABOUT ERX Focus Of The Month
http://www.billamag.net/focus-document-text.asp?FocusTextID=1
ERX pdf filehttp://www.eirx.com/eirx_heading_images/Yokohama2005.pdf
19/09/2006 A 50% reduction in breast tumour volume size seen with Eirx lead molecule in animal studies
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200609190700171175J.html

Past and present collaborative partners include:

* bioMieux SA
* Almac Diagnostics Ltd
* Merck & Co, Ltd
* Biofocus plc
* MGI Pharmaceuticals, Inc
* OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc
* Sareum plc
* Regen Therapeutics plc
* SR Pharma plc

Cell death unnecessary for tumor suppression
Study shows p53's pathological responses to DNA damage are irrelevant to tumor suppression


6th September 2006 06:08 PM GMT]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The unpleasant side effects of cancer treatments may not be necessary for successful tumor suppression, according to a paper in this week's Nature. Researchers report that widespread cell death caused by the tumor suppressor p53 in response to DNA damage is not required for p53 to block tumor formation. Instead, p53 stops tumor cells by responding specifically to oncogenic mutations.

"There's a growing understanding that p53 responds to many different types of stresses," said Laura Attardi of Stanford University in California, who was not involved in the study. "Some of those may be more central in tumorigenesis than DNA damage per se."

p53 induces apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest in cells with damaged genomes, and this response has been thought to underlie its ability to stop tumor formation, said the new study's senior author, Gerard Evan of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). These cellular pathologies also cause immune suppression, bone marrow depletion, hair loss, and other side effects of cancer therapies. "That has always been considered the inevitable downside of p53 acting as a tumor suppressor," Evans told The Scientist.

To see if this widespread cell death is necessary for tumor suppression, researchers led by Maria Christophorou, also of UCSF, examined DNA damage and tumor development in mice in which p53 can be reversibly turned on and off.

They first turned on p53 in mice for six days while exposing them to gamma irradiation. As expected, mice with functional p53 showed high levels of cell death in radiosensitive tissues, while mice without active p53 showed no such cell death. However, neither group of mice was protected against development of lymphoma.

"You'd think that if you have a situation where p53 is culling a large number of damaged cells, that that would make some difference (for subsequent tumor development), but it's not in this system," Attardi told The Scientist.

When the researchers turned off p53 during radiotherapy but turned it back on eight days later, the mice suffered no cell death or other cellular pathology but did show significant protection against lymphoma development - even though p53 did not kill off cells in response to DNA damage.

The results "clearly show you don't have to have p53 there when you damage the DNA to get tumor suppression," said Scott Lowe of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, who was not involved in the study.

p53 signaling can be initiated not only by generalized DNA damage, but also by specific oncogenic mutations that disrupt the cell cycle. To see if this type of signaling could be responsible for p53's late protective effect against lymphoma development, the researchers examined the tumor suppressor p19ARF, which does not respond to DNA damage but activates p53 in response to aberrant cell proliferation. They found that p19ARF is necessary for p53 restoration to protect against radiation-induced lymphoma.

Instead of suppressing tumors by killing all damaged cells, p53 suppresses them by killing only those cells in which the damage has generated oncogenic mutations, according to Evan. P19ARF "activates p53 only in cells that really are in danger of giving you cancer," Evan said.

However, it's hard to say if "this will universally apply to every context or every tissue type," according to Attardi.

In humans, it's known that telomere shortening caused by DNA damage can induce p53 signaling, said Lowe. Laboratory mice do not suffer from telomere shortening, so the authors "couldn't assess whether that type of DNA damage could be relevant for activating p53's function as a tumor suppressor," he told The Scientist.

If p53's pathological response to DNA damage proves to be irrelevant to tumor formation in humans, blocking p53 activity during cancer therapies could alleviate unpleasant side effects, Evan suggested. "We could use drugs that will block that and yet we wouldn't suffer an increased cancer risk as a consequence as long as p53 is allowed to become active at some later point in time."

Verfentlicht am: 07.09.2006

Verfentlicht von: Barbara Bachtler
Max-Delbrk-Centrum f Molekulare Medizin (MDC) Berlin-Buch

Kategorie: erregional
Forschungsergebnisse, wissenschaftliche Tagungen
Biologie und Biotechnologie, Chemie und Biochemie, Medizin und Gesundheitswissenschaften
Druckansicht



Dr. Robert Korneluk from the University of Ottawa, Canada, and his team have been able to show that the inhibition of an intricate control system to balance cell proliferation and cell death, called apoptosis or programmed cell death, can rescue the function of neurons in the central nervous system.
At the international conference "Neurodegenerative Diseases: Molecular Mechanisms in a Functional Genomics Framework" in the Max Delbrk Communications Center (MDC.C) Berlin, Germany, Dr. Korneluk reported that this was shown in animal models for human neurodegenerative disorders such as retinal eye disease and Parkinson's disease.

In a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases the nerve cells progressively die leading to severe motor dysfunction, mental decline and eventually death.

Apoptosis is a safety system in cells, which enables damaged cells to literally commit suicide to protect the organism as a whole.

This programme appears to be a primary defect in cancer cells. Cancer researchers therefore aim to activate this programme for cancer therapy, inducing apoptosis in tumour cells that have lost this function and, therefore, continue to grow indefinitely.

Ten years ago, Dr. Korneluk, Professor of Paediatrics, and researchers from the Apoptosis Research Centre at the Children`s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, discovered a family of genes that control apoptosis.

"These Inhibitors Apoptosis (IAP) genes are highly conserved from insects to humans. Their proteins are potent suppressors of programmed cell death", he said in Berlin.

"They directly bind and inhibit caspases, enzymes that are key executioners of cell death and thus play a critical role in deciding cell fate. The IAPs are the only known intrinsic inhibitors of caspases, that are central to both the initiation and the execution of the apoptotic cascade."

"Increasing the expression of IAP genes has been shown to protect cells from apoptosis induction", Dr. Korneluk said. For example we have demonstrated that a gene therapy approach to increase IAP activity is protective in animal models of Parkinson's disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP, an inherited retinal eye disease) and stroke.

Therefore, strategies to increase the level of IAP expression in neurons, that are compromised by a neurodegenerative condition, should be effective in the treatment of these disorders.

The four-day conference, which started on September 6, is organized by the Max Delbrk Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), the CharitUniversitsmedizin Berlin, and the University of Bonn (all in Germany). 200 clinicians and researchers from Canada, Europe, Japan, and the USA discuss their latest findings there.

potatohead
Why dont you send some of the above to ERX they might learn something.

good idea ! may be then the sp might go up !

you dont alf moan

Hoodless Brennan plc, Registered No. 2693942, 40 Marsh Wall, Docklands, London E14 9TP
AUTHORISED AND REGULATED BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY LTD (REGISTER NO 155104) MEMBERS OF THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE
AND OFEX
Hoodless Brennan plc
40 MARSH WALL DOCKLANDS LONDON E14 9TP
Telephone: +44(0) 20 7538 1166 Fax: +44(0) 20 7538 1280
hb@hoodlessbrennan.com
www.hoodlessbrennan.com
Eirx Therapeutics 0.26p Highly Speculative Buy
Broker: HP-Corporate Listing: London Aim
Sector: Pharmaceuticals Market Cap: 7.4m
Reuters: ERX Year High/Low: 0.3p/0.19p
Website: www.eirx.com Next Results: Finals Dec 06
The full value of IP in this sector is ultimately only crystallized on when a drug has been approved (there are
milestone payments on the way). Eirx owns some leading science that is focused on cancer therapies and a number
of commercialisation opportunities are moving towards delivery. Currently M&A opportunities are being explored
while Eirx would also make an attractive target .Recently 1.2m was raised for working capital.
To June k 2004 2005
Turnover 87.6 69.1
R&D -441 -907
Admin Costs -294 -598
GW Impairment 0 1,500
Op. Loss -647.3 -2937.0
Net Interest 2.6 4.5
PBT -644.7 -2932.5
Tax 0 0
EPS -0.52 -2.02
Strengths
Strong news flow as three or four compounds move
along the drug discovery cycle.
Large Pharma competition pushing licensing
activity to earlier stages of development
Focus on cancer is lucrative in terms of both
licensing deals and M&A activity.
Also big Pharma can look to acquire cancer
companies for access to product pipeline
Weaknesses
Drug discovery companies may need to burn cash
for some time before reaching break-even
Winning contracts from pharma companies can have a
long lead- time. This may require further funding to
support working capital if licensing income is delayed.
This could be dilutive to the share price.
History
Eirx is a researchdriven healthcare company
developing new targeted therapies focused on the
treatment of cancer, They have two patented molecular
platforms which are powerful tools for target
discovery which would include inflammation diseases
such as Cystic Fibrosis, Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis as well as
Cancers such as Small Cell Lung, Colorectal, Breast
and Prostrate. There is clearly substantial commercial
potential for treatments for these diseases.
Current Trading
The recent interims showed turnover of 69,497 and
an operating loss of 883,233 which includes the
Auvation acquisition for the first time. These figures
represents a period of change as the new management
team from Auvation have taken the responsibility for
combined group operations. Auvation was a 2.7m
acquisition based in Aberdeen, which was completed
in August 05 for share consideration priced at 0.6p.
The new business strategy has moved the combined
group on from basic biological research and the
provision of contracted services to concentrate on the
development of its own range of anti-cancer drug
candidates.
Intellectual Property
In August 05 Eirx filed their first patents covering
distinct chemical components that may be useful in the
treatment of cancer. These drug candidates were
discovered using the companies EnPADTM screening
technology. These patent applications describe series of
novel compounds that selectively kill colorectal and
breast cancer cells invitro.Building the intellectual
portfolio is a fundamental element of the groups
strategy. They are expanding the portfolio by
strengthening their claims on existing filings and adding
new ones as gene targets are validated.
There could be strong product development and
commercialisation newsflow. There is significant
upside from out-licensing compounds to big pharma
and the milestone and royalty payments as a
compound develops over the years to becoming a
therapeutic drug is potentially in the $100m. Eg.
Serono SA license from Rigel Pharma Inc paid a
$160m package (upfront & milestones + royalty for a
preclinical caner inhibitor.
Eirx have a stated M&A strategy and the industrial
synergy between a science and chemical company
are strong. As chemical companies tend to have more
stable cashflows but less upside potential while
science and chemical processes combine to formulate
drugs. It is likely that the other party will be the
acquirer as Eirx would make a temping target as it has
a valuable IP estate.
Activities Market Financials
Developing small Molecule targeted therapie
for colorectal cancer based on a unique
technology platform
Market Makers: 5 NMS:100k
Screen Size: 500k Bid/Offer:
0.25-0.27p (7.4 %)
Net Cash Est 0.9
Net Current Assets- 0.6m
No shares: 2,459.2m
Product Development
The new directors Prof. Michael Fowler and Dr Colin
Telfer have set about redefining the combined groups
operational strategy. In four main areas;
1) the combined group is focused on the discovery
and development of small molecule drugs against
colorectal cancer, in which they have a strong
competitive edge. Although a large therapeutic area,
which provides much needed focus after the previous
management lost their way it remains a target for the
management to widen its activates through strategic
Merger & Acquisition (M&A)
2) The post Auvation acquisition strategy is being
implemented although there is no current plan to
merge the Irish and Scottish operations.
3) Delivery on product development and
commercialisation strategy. The joint venture using
the Biofocus cell library and the Sareum structure
based design skills has accelerated the development
of lead compounds which are going through efficacy
evaluation and should lead to an increase in the IP
estates value. Three active programmes are
underway in developing drugs that trigger tumour cell
death by activating apoptosis. Two of these
collaborations with OSI and Sareum are in assay
development and screening stages, which are
expected to achieve milestones by the 2nd Qtr 06.
The third programme involves anti-cancer kinase
inhibitors using the companies recently developed
EnPad TM platform and out-licensing negotiations
are ongoing with major pharma companies for
screening drug candidates. Finally commercialisation
is far advanced with P450 tumour targeting platform
and a cancer vaccine based on the IP licensed from
Auvation is scheduled to enter Phase 2 trials in 2006.
Discussion with major pharmas can be convoluted
and a number of such discussions to secure outlicensing
agreements are on going.
4) M&A opportunities are seen as the best way of
building an integrated pharma company and the board
are actively exploring a number of opportunities.
Financials
Since the year-end the company received the
repayment of a 0.28m loan from 52% shareholder
Eirx Pharma and 0.32m was owed by the vendors of
Auvation. A grant for Euro 0.2m has also been
received which combined with the recently raised
1.1m is expected to be sufficient cash for the next
12mothns.
RECOMMENDATION
Eirx lost its way after the float and it could be all too
easy to blame the previous operations management.
The problems were compounded by changes in the
dynamics of the drug industry where it become
increasingly hard to commercialise science platforms
as the industry wanted drug compounds. The strong
research base and pipeline of potential drug targets
should bare commercial fruit before the financial
year-end, which would ease further funding
requirement.
RATING Highly Speculative Buy
Analyst: Jon Levinson 3rd April 2006
Last Recommended March 05 Speculative Buy/
*MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS INCLUDE (%)
Eirx Pharma 51.2
Zyzygyu 8.5
Merk Kgaa 4.9
University of Aberdeen 4.7
Melvib 3.5
*Prefunding
FINANCIAL CALENDAR
Year End June
Interims May
Finals Dec
KEY RECENT EVENTS INCLUDE
1999
March 04
Oct 04
Aug 05
Dec 05
March 06
Fund Raising 3m
Raised 1m @0.5p listed on AIm
Euro 0.7m grant
Acquired Auvation for 2.6m @0.6p
1into 10 share split
Raised 1.207m at 0.2p
MANAGEMENT INCLUDES
John Pool Chairman
Dr Colin Telfer CEO
Prof. Thomas Cotter Executive Director
Nicholas Strong FD
Prof Michael Fowler Executive Director
Hoodless Brennan plc, Registered No. 2693942, 40 Marsh Wall, Docklands, London E14 9TP
AUTHORISED AND REGULATED BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY LTD (REGISTER NO 155104) MEMBERS OF THE LONDON STOCK
EXCHANGE AND OFEX
Key to Material Interests
Below are five standard disclosures of Material Interests. Of these five disclosures, the following numbers are relevant in this case:
Eirx Therapeutics Relevant disclosures: 2,3,4, 5
1. The analyst has a personal holding of the securities issued by the company, or of derivatives related to such securities.
2. Hoodless Brennan plc or an affiliate owns more than 5% of the issued capital of the company.
3. Hoodless Brennan plc or an affiliate is party to an agreement with the company relating to the provision of corporate broking services, or
has been party to such an agreement within the last 12 months. Our corporate broking agreements include a provision that we will prepare
and publish research at such times as we consider appropriate.
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within the last 12 months.
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All investments are speculative and prices may change quickly and go down as well as up. Past performance will not necessarily be repeated and
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shares. There can be a big difference between the buying price and the selling price of these shares and if they have to be sold immediately, you
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securities.

PH - You really should read your own posts before sticking them here, or have you now gone short?

From the above:

RATING Highly Speculative Buy
Analyst: Jon Levinson 3rd April 2006
Last Recommended March 05 Speculative Buy

I interpret that as a cautionary note from Hoodless Brennan. Their recommendation has changed fron Speculative to Highly Speculative.

potatohead
one bit of good news and supernova.

Nice tick up today punters are still interested in ERX while we wait for news.

Good luck.

You may need it.

Discovery on Target 2006
..................................................................................................................................
Dr. Finbarr Murphy, Managing Director, EiRx Therapeutics Ltd. is attending Discovery on Target 2006 in Boston from October 23-26, 2006 at the World Trade Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Dr. Murphy will take part in the Roundtable Buzz Session on Wednesday 25th and will also speak on "siRNA and the Problem of Getting What You Want" on Thursday 26th @ 11.35am.

For further information on this event please click here

http://www.eirx.com/eirx%5Fpages/

smiler
Nice one I will have to check the Web Site more often.

Further information on Discovery on Target 2006

http://www.eirx.com/eirx%5Fpages/

ERX is on the up with the Discovery on Target 2006 Conference news.

Driver

17.95 % might make some money out of this yet !

smiler
38% up and still going you should start making soon.

Driver

Got 200000 at .23

Driver

Some big buys today share wise ?? is there some news in the pipe line you think !

smiler
The rumour is that news is coming I would take that with a pinch of salt , I would say the Discovery on Target 2006 Conference and the rumour has stirred things up a bit.
News will come in time then hopefully we will see a steady increase in the sp.

Lots of trades today with some biggish volumes, lets see what tomorrow brings.