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

I bet we are at this meeting in paris

DRUGS IN DEVELOPMENT



EpiCept Announces Results of European Phase III Trial for LidoPAIN SP



ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Sept. 5, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EpiCept Corporation announced today that LidoPAIN(R) SP, a sterile prescription analgesic patch designed to provide sustained topical delivery of lidocaine to a post-surgical or post-traumatic sutured wound, did not meet its co-primary endpoints in a Phase III clinical trial in Europe.




The Phase III clinical trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 440 patients who underwent hernia repair surgery. The trial results indicate that LidoPAIN SP did not achieve a statistically significant effect relative to placebo with respect to the primary endpoint of self-assessed pain intensity between 4 and 24 hours. In addition, a statistically significant effect was not achieved in the trial's co-primary endpoint of patient use of "rescue" medications, i.e. systemically-delivered analgesics used to alleviate pain.

The Company's initial analysis of the trial data indicates that the total amount of pain from 4-24 hours as measured by the area under the curve (AUC) had a p value of approximately 0.4; the co-primary endpoint of rescue medication use from hours 4-24 had a p value of approximately 0.09. Both treatment groups showed an analgesic effect with the greater analgesic response in the active group. The product was well tolerated in all treatment groups.

Jack Talley, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are obviously disappointed that LidoPAIN SP did not meet its co-primary endpoints, particularly in light of the positive results achieved by the product candidate in its Phase II trial. We will in particular be looking at changes which occurred in going from Phase II to Phase III. A thorough analysis of the trial results has been initiated and our findings will serve as the basis for our decision on next steps for this product candidate. As this analysis proceeds, we remain focused on continuing to advance our other late-stage pain and cancer product candidates in our pipeline, each of which target significant unmet medical needs. Notably, we remain on schedule to file our Marketing Authorization Application for Ceplene for Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Europe later this year, we are in the final stages of preparing our IND filing for EPC2407 a novel apoptosis inducer for certain types of cancer and we are continuing to scale up manufacturing for EpiCept NP-1 and LidoPAIN BP in anticipation of the initiation of pivotal trials."

About Ceplene(TM)

Ceplene is a registration-stage compound for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) as remission maintenance therapy. AML is the most common type of leukemia in adults, with an estimated 30,000 AML patients in the U.S. and an estimated 47,000 patients in the EU. There are currently no approved remission drug therapies for AML patients.

EpiCept is currently preparing a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) in Europe for Ceplene. This MAA is expected to be filed in the fourth quarter of 2006. The basis of this application will be the results of a 320 patient Phase III clinical study, in which Ceplene met its primary endpoint of increased leukemia-free survival among AML patients in remission. Ceplene has been granted orphan drug status for the treatment of AML by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA).

About EpiCept(TM) NP-1

EpiCept NP-1 is a prescription topical analgesic cream designed to provide effective, long-term relief from the pain of peripheral neuropathies. Peripheral neuropathies are medical conditions caused by damage to the nerves in the peripheral nervous system. It is estimated that these conditions affect more than 15 million people in the U.S. alone and is associated with conditions that injure peripheral nerves, including herpes zoster, or shingles, diabetes, HIV and AIDS and other diseases. It can also be caused by trauma or may result from surgical procedures.

EpiCept has successfully completed Phase II clinical trials in the U.S. and Canada for EpiCept NP-1, which included 343 subjects. The Company is in the process of scaling up the production of NP-1 to prepare for the product candidate's Phase III clinical trials, which are scheduled to commence at the end of 2006. The initial planned indication for this product candidate is post-herpetic neuralgia, a specific type of peripheral neuropathy associated with shingles.

About LidoPAIN(R) BP

LidoPAIN BP is a prescription analgesic non-sterile patch designed to provide sustained topical delivery of lidocaine for the treatment of acute or recurrent lower back pain of moderate severity of less than three months duration. The LidoPAIN BP patch is intended to be applied once daily and can be worn for a continuous 24-hour period. The patch's adhesive is strong enough to permit a patient to move and conduct normal daily activities, but can be removed easily.

EpiCept has completed Phase II clinical trials in the U.S. for LidoPAIN BP. EpiCept is currently working towards scaling up production of this product candidate in order to commence Phase III clinical trials. These trials will be conducted in close consultation with Endo Pharmaceuticals, which is EpiCept's partner for the commercialization of LidoPAIN BP worldwide.

Conference Call

EpiCept will host a conference call to discuss the LidoPAIN SP trial results on September 6, 2006 at 8:30 AM EDT. To participate, please dial 888-243-6208 from the U.S. or Canada or 973-582-2869 from international locations (please reference access code 7834338).

About EpiCept Corporation

EpiCept is an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company focused on unmet needs in the treatment of pain and cancer. The Company has a staged portfolio of product candidates with several pain therapies in late-stage clinical trials, and a lead oncology compound (for AML) with demonstrated efficacy in a Phase III trial; the compound is intended for commercialization in Europe. EpiCept is based in New Jersey, and the Company's research and development team in San Diego is pursuing a drug discovery program focused on novel approaches to apoptosis.

If you are going to try so hard to ramp a share, ph, I suggest you read your own posts first.

No mention of EirX in the above post and it's a neagtive one - the drug didn't achieve what they hoped for, perfoming no better than the placebo.

starfrog is right there is NO mention of ERX IN the info above, there is a lot of similar research going on and SOME have no connection with ERX !

suggest you know what your talking about first starfrog

novel approaches to apoptosis

read the whole article

for new drug candidates with the potential to treat a range of cancers including
colorectal and breast tumours.
EiRx said it used its proprietary ALIBI and EnPAD technologies to discover
compounds with selective activity against cancer cells.
EiRx research director Finbarr Murphy said the lead compunds will be moved
into preclinical studies.
Chairman John Pool said: "This latest advance proves the potential of EiRx's
new EnPADTM technology to drive value creation through discovery of new drug
candidates, either to enlarge our in-house product pipeline or as a revenue
generating service offered to collaborative partners."
newsdesk@afxnews.com

potatohead - suggest you know what your talking about first starfrog

Well lets have a look at what I said, shall we:

1) No mention of EirX in the above post

Guess what? There isn't any mention (Point 1 to me I believe)

2) the drug didn't achieve what they hoped for, perfoming no better than the placebo.

And their wording: ".... The trial results indicate that LidoPAIN SP did not achieve a statistically significant effect relative to placebo...." (Point 2 to me as well)

So I suggest my post shows that I do know what I am talking about, wouldn't you think!

novel approaches to apoptosis

read the whole article

apoptosis apoptosis apoptosis apoptosis apoptosis apoptosis apoptosis

About Us .......................................................................................................................................... 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.


EpiCept is an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company focused on unmet needs in the treatment of pain and cancer. The Company has a staged portfolio of product candidates with several pain therapies in late-stage clinical trials, and a lead oncology compound (for AML) with demonstrated efficacy in a Phase III trial; the compound is intended for commercialization in Europe. EpiCept is based in New Jersey, and the Company's research and development team in San Diego is pursuing a drug discovery program focused on novel approaches to apoptosis

potatohead - Youv'e completely lost the plot now.

Is EpiCept some strange anagram of EiRx?

There is no point in doing a google search on the word apoptosis and then cutting and pasting every article you find on the subject and sticking it here in the strange belief that it is somehow connected to this company. It isn't.

Rigel, Serono Enter $160M Aurora Kinase Inhibitor Deal



By Karen Pihl-Carey



Staff Writer
A preclinical program focused on Aurora kinase inhibitors brought Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. its fifth oncology deal, this one signed with Serono SA and worth up to $160 million.

Geneva-based Serono gains an exclusive license to develop and commercialize product candidates from the program everywhere, except Japan - although Serono could include that region at any time within two years. Rigel's lead candidate, R763, could move into clinical trials in 2006 if the company files an investigational new drug application as planned in December.

"For Rigel, this is a very important deal. It's our largest deal to date, and it's for a project that's the most advanced to date," said Raul Rodriguez, the South San Francisco-based company's executive vice president and chief operating officer. "This is a program that we think has tremendous potential and so we wanted to have a very aggressive partner. This amount of money is tremendous for us."

Terms call for Rigel to receive $25 million in initial payments - a $10 million license fee and a $15 million equity purchase at a premium to the market price that will give Serono less than a 3 percent stake in the company. Additional development and sales-based milestone payments for R763 bring the total value of the deal up to $160 million, not including royalties.

In early studies, R763 has been shown to inhibit proliferation and trigger apoptosis in several tumor cell lines, including those found in the cervix, lung, pancreas and prostate. With the agreement, Serono will cover all further development and commercialization costs of R763, as well as other product candidates that come out of the program.

"We're going to file the IND - Rigel is responsible for that effort in December of this year, which means in the first half of next year we could conceivably start trials," Rodriguez told BioWorld Today. He expects Serono will keep the same development timeline. "They wouldn't be paying this much money for a program if they were going to sit on it," he added. "They're going to be aggressive with it."

When Aurora kinase is overexpressed, it can cause cells to develop an abnormal number of chromosomes. At elevated levels, it is associated with cancers of the breast, bladder, colon, ovary, head and neck, and pancreas. By inhibiting it, a compound like R763 can arrest cell division and promote apoptosis. Rigel discovered R763 using its cell-based PAD assays applied to tumor cell lines.

"We are going to have the second most advanced Aurora kinase to go forward," Rodriguez said. "We have a product that is very potent and more selective, and ours is both oral and [intravenous], and the other one that's ahead of us is just I.V."

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and partner Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., started a Phase I study of its Aurora kinase inhibitor VX-680 in January. The study is evaluating the product's safety and tolerability when administered in multiple cycles to patients with solid tumors refractory to prior chemotherapy treatment. Vertex and Merck signed their deal in June 2004. (See BioWorld Today, June 23, 2004.)

Also working in the Aurora kinase space are Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, and Avalon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Germantown, Md., to name a few.

While Serono is well known for its work in reproductive health, it has products positioned in the neurology, metabolism and growth and psoriasis markets. Only recently has it begun to establish new therapeutic areas of focus, including oncology. The company, which had worldwide revenues of $2.5 billion in 2004, currently has 30 ongoing development projects.

If R763 reaches the market, it could have blockbuster potential for Serono and Rigel, because it appears to work in so many different types of cancer.

"Taxotere and Taxol have been used in an equally broad number of tumor types as this," Rodriguez said, "and they have had well over $1 billion in sales."

In the pipeline, Rigel has three product development programs, including R763 for cancer, as well as R112 for allergy and asthma, and R406 for rheumatoid arthritis.

The Serono deal is its fifth collaboration in oncology, which is added to partnerships signed with New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson on cell cycle inhibition; Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG on anti-angiogenesis targets; Tokyo-based Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. on a specific ubiquitin ligase target; and with Merck on various ubiquitin ligase targets. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 15, 1999; Aug. 1, 2001; Aug. 13, 2002; and Nov. 16, 2004.)

Rigel also entered a deal with New York-based Pfizer Inc. earlier this year focused on preclinical work with IgE receptor inhibitors in respiratory mast cells to treat allergic asthma and other diseases. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 21, 2005.)

Pfizer holds an option to license Rigel's Phase II rhinitis drug, R112. In August, the company enrolled the first patient in a 375-patient study comparing the compound with placebo and Beconase AQ (beclomethasone) nasal spray over a seven-day period. The trial should be complete in early December. Rigel also completed a Phase I study earlier this year of R788, its solid oral form of R406 (an oral liquid), for rheumatoid arthritis. A Phase I/II trial in RA patients is expected to begin in the first half of next year.

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
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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
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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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AIM: The Alternative Investment Market (AIM) is market designed primarily for emerging or smaller companies. The rules of this market
are less demanding than those of the official List of the London Stock Exchange and therefore companies quoted on AIM carry a greater risk
than a company with a full listing.
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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.