Oxford
BioDynamics
("OBD" or the
"Company" and, together
with its subsidiaries, the "Group")
Board
Changes
Update on
Funding
Appointment of Joint
Broker
Oxford, UK - 16 December 2024 -
Oxford BioDynamics, Plc (AIM: OBD, the Company), a precision
clinical diagnostics company bringing specific and sensitive tests
to the practice of medicine based on its EpiSwitch® 3D genomics
platform announces that Dr Jon Burrows, Chief Executive Officer,
has resigned from his Board and officer positions with the Company
and its affiliates with immediate effect.
Iain Ross has agreed to join the
Company with immediate effect and will be appointed to the Board as
Executive Chairman in January, subject to the successful completion
of an equity fundraise and the completion of normal regulatory due
diligence by the Company's Nomad.
Iain has over 40 years' experience
in the international life sciences and technology sectors and has
held significant roles in multi-national companies including
Sandoz, Hoffman La Roche, and Celltech Group plc. He has completed
multiple financing transactions and turnarounds and has over 30
years' experience in cross-border management as a chairman and CEO.
He has led and participated in eight Initial Public Offerings
(IPOs) and has direct experience of M&A transactions in Europe,
the USA and the Pacific Rim. Iain led the turnaround and
re-structuring of several biotech companies including Ark
Therapeutics, Redx Pharma, Silence Therapeutics and more recently,
ReNeuron.
Iain currently serves as Chairman of
Silence Therapeutics and ReNeuron Group and is a non-executive
director of Tern plc and AdAlta Limited. He is a qualified
Chartered Director and former Vice Chairman of the Council of Royal
Holloway, London University.
On the date of Iain's appointment to
the Board, Matthew Wakefield will move to Deputy Chairman. In order
to ensure an orderly transition, Matthew will take on some
executive responsibilities with immediate effect.
The Company is continuing to explore
a number of different options to bring additional near-term funding
into the business. In particular, the Company is exploring a
potential equity fundraise of £4m (the "Potential Equity Raise")
and has appointed Oak Securities (a trading name of Merlin Partners
LLP) as joint broker to the Company and sole broker on the
Potential Equity Raise. Oak Securities have agreed to make a
cornerstone investment of £400,000 as part of, and subject to
successful completion of, the Potential Equity Raise. There is no
guarantee of a successful conclusion and as previously announced
the Company requires additional cash resources by early Q1 of 2025.
The Board will provide further updates as appropriate.
Matthew Wakefield, Chairman of
Oxford BioDynamics said: "On behalf of the Board, I would like to
thank Jon for his contribution to the Company over the
last four years. In that time, Jon has led the Company from
being predominantly R&D focused to a position where we now have
two tests on the market. We thank him for his hard work and
his assistance with the current transition and wish him well for
the future."
-Ends-
For
more information:
Oxford BioDynamics
Plc
Matthew
Wakefield, Chairman
Paul Stockdale, CFO
|
+44
(0)1865 518910
|
Shore Capital
(Nominated Adviser and Broker to OBD)
Stephane Auton
Lucy Bowden
|
+44 (0)20
7408 4090
|
WG Partners
(Joint Broker to
OBD)
David Wilson / Claes Spång /
Satheesh Nadarajah / Erland Sternby
|
+44
(0)20 3705 9330
|
Oak
Securities
(Joint Broker to
OBD)
Jerry Keen / Henry Clarke
|
+44 (0)20
3973 3678
|
Vigo
Consulting (Media / Analyst enquiries
for OBD)
Rozi Morris
|
+44 (0)20
7390 0230
obd@vigoconsulting.com
|
Notes for Editors
About Oxford BioDynamics Plc
Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD) is
an international biotechnology company, advancing personalized
healthcare by developing and commercializing precision clinical
diagnostic tests for life-changing diseases.
Currently OBD has two commercially available products:
the
EpiSwitch® PSE (EpiSwitch
Prostate Screening test) and
EpiSwitch® CiRT (Checkpoint
Inhibitor Response Test) blood tests. PSE boosts the predictive
accuracy of a PSA test from 55% to 94% when testing the presence or
absence of prostate cancer. CiRT is a
highly accurate (85%) predictive response test to immuno-oncology
checkpoint inhibitor treatments.
The tests are based on OBD's
proprietary 3D genomic biomarker platform, EpiSwitch® which enables screening, evaluation, validation and monitoring
of biomarkers to diagnose patients or determine how individuals
might respond to a disease or treatment.
OBD's clinical smart tests have the
potential to be used across a broader range of indications, and new
tests are being developed in the areas of oncology, neurology,
inflammation, hepatology and animal health.
The Group's headquarters and UK
laboratories are in Oxford, UK. Its US operations and clinical
laboratory are in Maryland, USA, along with a reference laboratory
in Penang, Malaysia.
OBD is listed on the London Stock
Exchange's AIM (LSE: OBD). For more information, please visit the
Company's website,
www.oxfordbiodynamics.com, X
(@OxBioDynamics) or
LinkedIn.