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Henderson Morley is a drug discovery company
The company has been developed specifically to carry out preliminary sourcing and screening of candidates to combat diseases caused by the herpes family of viruses and certain other DNA viruses
Latest GECR update 15th October 2006
Latest GE&CR update - 15th Oct 2006 :
The news investors have all been waiting for - regarding negotiations with a US dermatological pharmaceutical firm has finally been unveiled. The licence has been granted under an agreement to
Cutanea, a U.S. pharmaceutical company, specialising in the development of dermatology products in the US market.
The licence is for new applications of ICVT for the treatment of dermatological conditions in humans. The agreement and takes the form of an exclusive American, Mexican and Canadian wide licence to bring products to market through a programme of pre-clinical and clinical development of treatments either by Cutanea or through a sub-licence. Under the terms of the Agreement, Henderson Morley will receive up to 6.675 million dollars in development and commercialisation milestone payments up to the point at which the application receives regulatory approval, and will receive royalties on net sales thereafter.
Under its business plan, Henderson Morley has stated its belief that, following clinical development and regulatory licence approval, sales of the product in excess of $1.5 billion could be achieved over the subsequent ten year period. This would give a potential royalty to Henderson Morley in excess of $115 million over this term.
As a drug discovery company, it is imperative that Henderson continues to grant licenses to further develop its technology portfolio. This is the group's third ICVT license agreement. Encouragingly, Cutanea has a great management team with a proven track record of commercialising dermatology products.
Meanwhile, the company has announced that it has been working away on a vaccine against Koi Carp Herpes virus. The group believes it is now ready to start field trials of a
candidate vaccine, in a collaboration with the Internationally renowned Hagerman
Aquaculture Research Institute in Idaho USA. The initial immunogenicity studies should produce results within 6 months, enabling Henderson Morley scientists to optimise the vaccine formulation, with a view to securing a product licence from the veterinary authorities as soon as practicable.
Clearly activity at Henderson Morley has been significant in recent weeks. The licensing announcement is very encouraging, but with the news now out of the way, the shares have eased - a classic case of buy on the rumour, sell on the news. That said, the stock has now pulled back below the recent placing price. With so much going on at the company, further newsflow in the shorter term is far from unlikely.
*Henderson Morley is a corporate client of Bishopsgate Communications which is owned by RSH, the ultimate owner of GE&CR.
Forecasts and a formal recommendation are suspended ahead of the publication of a detailed note next month.