Tiziana Life Sciences PLC Tiziana acquires a unique bio-repository (3925E)
July 18 2016 - 1:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMTILS
RNS Number : 3925E
Tiziana Life Sciences PLC
18 July 2016
Tiziana Life Sciences PLC
("Tiziana" or the "Company")
Tiziana acquires a unique bio-repository from Shardna SpA and
establishes LonGevia Genomics Srl, a Sardinian based subsidiary to
further enhance and develop its portfolio
London, 18 July 2016 - Tiziana Life Sciences plc (AIM:TILS), a
clinical stage biotechnology company focused on targeted drugs to
treat diseases in oncology and immunology, announces today that it
has purchased key assets from Shardna SpA ("Shardna") a biobanking
and genomics research company located in Cagliari, Sardinia, for a
total value of EUR258,000. Tiziana has also established an Italian
subsidiary in Sardinia, LonGevia Genomics Srl, specifically to
develop these assets to identify novel drug targets and diagnostic
applications, through integration with its global research
network.
Prof. Napoleone Ferrara, a member of Tiziana's Scientific
Advisory Board, states that "the acquisition of Shardna represents
an opportunity to study a unique collection of DNA samples from a
homogeneous and well-characterized population. This could advance
our understanding of aging and other key pathophysiological
processes and potentially result in diagnostic and therapeutic
advances".
"Sardinia is renowned as one of only three regions in the world
with an exceptionally high proportion of centenarians," commented
Tiziana's Chairman and founder, Gabriele Cerrone, "This transaction
provides access to a unique bio-repository, which we can now
leverage and combine the massive power and low cost of next
generation gene sequencing with the full complement of "-omics"
technologies. The opportunity is to generate valuable insights into
gene regulatory networks, genotype-phenotype linkage and
gene-environment interactions that will feed into and inform our
drug discovery and diagnostic programmes. We believe our management
team, who have collectively been instrumental in the discovery and
development of blockbuster drugs such as Avastin and broadly
adopted diagnostics such as the PSA test for prostate cancer, have
the capability, expertise and insights to discover new drugs and
diagnostics to address important unmet medical needs using this
biobank resource."
The Shardna biobank, one of the largest and oldest in the world,
includes 230,000 biological samples, from the almost 13,000 fully
genealogically linked residents of the Ogliastra region of
Sardinia. This genetically homogenous community has certified
record data that traces back genealogy over four hundred years and
is supplemented with genotyping data and clinical status. This high
level of characterisation within the well-maintained records has
resulted in a biobank that is a uniquely rich and a potentially
valuable source of scientific data.
In recent years a number of biobank assets have been
consolidated and vertically integrated with genomics, diagnostic,
and pharmaceutical/biotech companies that are vying to control
access to samples of value for drug development. For example,
deCODE Genetics, the Iceland-based genomics and biobank company was
bought by Amgen for approximately $415M.
This Ogliastra region of Sardinia has a prevalence of
centenarians almost fifty times that of the US or UK. Indeed
inhabitants have the second highest longevity after Okinawa Island,
Japan. The longevity "Blue Zone" located in the provinces of
Ogliastra and Nuoro in the mountainous region of Sardinia, where
villages have been isolated for centuries, shows a value of the
Extreme Longevity Index computed for the newborns between 1880 and
1900 that is more than twice as high as that of whole Sardinia.
Strikingly the female/male ratio among centenarians in this
population is close to one, as 47 male centenarians and 44 female
centenarians were found.
Shardna SpA was founded in 2000 and was the first Italian
research company in the field of genomics, created initially
through a public private partnership. Research at Shardna was aimed
at the identification of genetic and environmental factors which
carry a predisposition to common multifactorial diseases through
the study of the genetically homogeneous population from the
isolated communities in the Ogliastra region of Sardinia.
Contacts:
Tiziana Life Sciences plc
Gabriele Cerrone, Chairman and +44 (0)20 7493
founder 2853
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP
(Nominated adviser) +44 (0)20 7148
Liam Murray 7900
Beaufort Securities Limited
(Broker) +44 (0)20 7382
Saif Janjua 8300
FTI Consulting +44 (0)20 3727
Simon Conway / Natalie Garland-Collins 1000
About Tiziana Life Sciences
Tiziana Life Sciences plc is a UK biotechnology company that
focuses on the discovery and development of novel molecules that
treat human disease in oncology and immunology.
The Company is focused on its lead compound, milciclib, a
molecule which blocks the action of specific enzymes called
cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) involved in cell division as well as
a number of other protein kinases. Milciclib is currently
completing phase II clinical trials for epithelial thymic carcinoma
and/or thymoma in patients previously treated with chemotherapy and
has filed an IND to enroll patients in an exploratory trial in
Hepatic Cellular Carcinoma (HCC).
The Company is also in clinical development of foralumab.
Foralumab is the only fully human engineered anti-human CD3
antibody in clinical development. This phase II compound has
potential application in a wide range of autoimmune and
inflammatory diseases, such as ulcerative colitis, multiple
sclerosis, type-1 diabetes (T1D), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD),
psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, where modulation of a T-cell
response is desirable.
Tiziana Life Sciences' clinical development teams are working on
its Bcl-3 candidate; which has a prominent role in the metastasis
of mammary cancers, and has elucidated the mechanism of Bcl-3
action to be a regulator of cancer cell motility and has also
determined that Bcl-3 inhibition suppresses cell motility in
triple-negative, HER-2-positive PR- and ER-positive breast cancer
sub-types, suggesting that Bcl-3 may be a master regulator of this
metastatic property not only in aggressive breast cancers, but
across the clinical spectrum of breast disease. The Company is
preparing the IND package with the intention of progressing to
clinical trials early 2017.
For more information go to
http://www.tizianalifesciences.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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