City Equities
EiRx can spot the difference
Developing potential cancer treatments has become somewhat of a holy grail amongst biotech companies, but it is eirxs expertise in
apoptosis that the Board believes sets it apart from the pack. EiRx was formed in 1999 and debuted on AiM in 2004. Focusing on cancer therapies, with par-ticular attention on breast and colorectal cancer, the Company aims to leverage its knowledge of the Apoptosis process by which cells die in a reg- ulated manner and are absorbed into the body. This aim is also assisted by use of the Companys two core technologies. These are the ALiBi plat- form and the Engineered Pathway Dependence Screening Platform, or EnPAD, which have been developed to find and develop genes involved in the early stages of apoptosis that could become targets for novel therapeutic treatments. it could certainly be said that the potential mar- ket for a company engaged in this kind of work is considerable, especially when it is estimated* that up to 70% of all human diseases have some sort of defect in apoptosis control. EiRx currently has more than 15 patent applications pending in both the UK and US and a further development to the story came in September, when the Company announced that trials con- ducted on mice had shown a 50% reduction in breast tumour volumes, with good tolerance to the compound and no toxic or side effects. Pro- fessor Tom Cotter, CEO, commented at the time a reduction in tumour volume of 50% is seen by the National Cancer institute in America and
other leading authorities as being highly signifi- cant. it was estimated* that 443,000 women in 2004, across the seven major markets had developed breast cancer and forecasts indi- cated an annual increase to this at a rate of 3%. When you also consider colorectal cancer is the number two cause of cancer related deaths worldwide, EiRxs focus seems to be timely. it is therefore obvious that a therapy, which suc- cessfully differentiates between cancerous and non-cancerous cells has huge potential and we look forward to further updates as development continues in this worthwhile cause.
(*Source: EiRx Therapeutics) n eIrx THerAPeuTIcS
Status AIM
Code ERX.L
Recent Price 0.25p (0.22p-0.28p)
High 0.33p
Low 0.13p
Market Cap 6.8m
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