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RNS Number : 1748Y
Braveheart Investment Group plc
03 May 2023
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit)
Regulations 2019/310 ("MAR"). With the publication of this
announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside
information is now considered to be in the public domain.
3 May 2023
Braveheart Investment Group plc
("Braveheart" or the "Company")
Update on investments
Braveheart Investment Group (AIM: BRH), announces an update on
two companies within its investment portfolio, Paraytec Limited
("Paraytec") and Kirkstall Limited ("Kirkstall").
Paraytec (Braveheart owns 100% per cent of the company)
Paraytec develops high performance specialist detectors for the
analytical and life sciences instrumentation markets. In addition,
it has been undertaking a programme with the University of
Sheffield to develop rapid tests ("CX300") for identifying cancer
and pathogens, including viruses.
CX300 development programme and clinical study
The collection of patient specimens for the Covid-19 clinical
study at Sheffield NHS Trust Hospital has been successfully
completed. Initial results to compare performance of Paraytec's
CX300 instrument with PCR tests indicate up to 100% correlation
with patients who tested positive by PCR.
The study identified that many patients who tested positive by
PCR do not grow the virus when their sample is cultured, suggesting
they were not actually infectious at the time of testing positive
by PCR. Since PCR detects fragments of viral DNA, which are present
in patients both before and long after the infectious phase, a
person can receive a positive PCR test result for the virus but not
be infectious. The global PCR and realtime PCR testing market size
is forecast by The Business Research Company to grow to $26.12
billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 5.8%.
From Paraytec's initial results in the laboratory, without any
of the potential process automation, the CX300 is three times
quicker than conventional PCR tests at delivering a test result. It
is expected to be able to distinguish patients that are likely to
be infectious from those who are not, though they would test
positive with a conventional PCR test.
The independent clinical statistical analysis and report is
expected to be completed in June, at which time a further update
will be provided.
CE Marking
On 2 May 2023, the CX300 instrument passed independent testing
for CE marking, which certifies its compliance with required safety
standards for a laboratory use instrument. It will now be marketed
for sale for researchers to use in a range of applications.
Potential follow-on projects
Paraytec has been exploring potential follow-on projects and
potential use cases for the CX300. Applications already being
evaluated by Professor Carl Smythe's team at Sheffield University
include:
-- To accelerate the diagnosis of sepsis by identifying, within
1 hour, which of the three most common sepsis-causing pathogens is
present in a blood sample. Proof of concept is scheduled before the
end of the year.
-- Lipid nanoparticles are used to deliver drugs and vaccines
such as the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine into living cells. The CX300
has the potential to reduce both the time and cost of this work,
and therefore speeding up the development of new treatments.
-- Extra-cellular vesicles are a natural form of Lipid
nanoparticle. Cancer cells excrete extra-cellular vesicles and
researchers want to characterise them. There is intense interest in
this area with 7,500 papers published on the subject last year.
Current methods are either expensive or difficult, the CX300 has
the potential to reduce both the time and cost of this work, which
would speed up the development of new treatments.
-- Vaults are large intracellular objects linked to drug
resistance. Little is known about them, and currently there is no
method of analysing vaults. The CX300 has the potential to enable
this analysis, enabling researchers to study them.
-- Adeno-associated viruses. In gene therapy, virus-like
particles such as adeno-associated viruses are used to encapsulate
the new gene and deliver it into the body. There is potential for
the CX300 to be used by gene therapy manufacturers to assess the
quality of their adeno-associated virus products both during
research, development and manufacturing.
-- Protein aggregation analysis . Proteins are used in the
production of many drugs and diagnostics. Medical protein producers
need to know if the material is denatured or aggregated, there are
many methods to determine this, however they typically have low
sensitivity. The CX300 has the potential to greatly increase this
sensitivity and assist in the production of better drugs and
diagnostics.
-- Specific Immune cells in blood. There is the potential to use
the CX300 to inexpensively detect immune cells. These are used when
diagnosing and monitoring diseases, such as when studying cancer
auto-immunity and immunodeficiency.
-- Micro clots cause various problems including possible
involvement in long Covid. Sufferers with circulatory problems
caused by micro clots need to be diagnosed. There is currently no
simple method of quantitative detection. The CX300 has the
potential to offer a simple fast quantitative method of detection
of micro clots aiding medical diagnosis.
Kirkstall (Braveheart owns 80% of the company)
Kirkstall operates in the market known as 'organ-on-a-chip',
where it has developed Quasi Vivo(TM), a system of chambers for
cell and tissue culture in laboratories. Its patented technology is
used by researchers in the growing New Approach Methodologies
("NAMs"), which enable human-relevant drug safety decisions to be
made without the need for animal testing.
Kirkstall's newly developed QV1200 product was launched in
February 2023 and has already attracted strong interest from actual
and potential academic and commercial customers. The QV1200
combines all of the most useful features of the previous Kirkstall
products: it is easy to set up; it allows single and multi-organ
experiments; its has an air-liquid interface (e.g. for use on lung
experiments) and a liquid-liquid interface (e.g. for use on blood
brain barrier experiments); and it has a standard microplate
compatible with lab equipment and uses standard wells used in cell
experiments. In addition, the QV1200 has an increased throughput,
allows for cell imaging and uses improved bio compatible materials.
The QV1200 culture chambers are single use, which will provide
Kirkstall with the ability to seek repeat sales from each
customer.
Since 1999, animals have been recognised as sentient beings by
the EU, and following Brexit, this was ratified in UK law by the
Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. The United States of America
recently passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 which clarifies the
use of alternative testing methods by pharmaceutical companies.
Testing of cosmetics on animals has been illegal in the UK since
2013, and the Organ-on-a-Chip technology is designed to reduce or
replace the use of animals in research and testing.
Commenting on these updates, Trevor Brown, CEO of Braveheart,
said: "Shareholders have had to be patient for longer than we had
anticipated but with both Paraytec and Kirkstall now making
material progress towards the commercialisation of their
technologies your directors are optimistic that their patience will
be rewarded."
For further information:
Braveheart Investment Group plc Tel: 01738 587555
Trevor Brown CEO
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser Tel: 020 3328 5656
and Joint Broker)
James Reeve / George Payne
Peterhouse Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Tel: 020 7469 0936
Duncan Vasey / Lucy Williams
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