Proactiveinvestors Australia

e-Therapeutics was founded in 2001 and listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2007. A drug discovery and development company, its mission is to apply network pharmacology to find new treatments for human disease.  The Company has a clinical pipeline of four drugs and is seeking new candidates for development at its Network Pharmacology Centre near Oxford.

e-Therapeutics has developed a proprietary platform in network pharmacology. The Company uses this platform to analyse networks of proteins associated with particular diseases. In each case it identifies a disease signature, a set of points in the network at which intervention would have maximum impact. e-Therapeutics then seeks drug candidates whose footprint – the set of proteins impacted by the presence of the drug – matches the relevant disease signature. Current work with the platform is focused particularly in cancer and degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Drugs discovered previously for cancer, infectious disease and depression have now progressed into our clinical development pipeline.

Scientists at the Company’s Network Pharmacology Centre near Oxford are seeking novel treatments for cancer and degenerative diseases of the nervous system. During 2012, e-Therapeutics plans to advance four drugs derived from network pharmacology research into clinical trials. These include potential treatments for cancer, major depressive disorder and resistant bacterial infections.

Clinical Development Pipeline

e-Therapeutics has two drugs in clinical development. These are ETS2101 (glioma and other cancers; phase I) and ETS6103 (major depressive disorder, phase II).

ETS2101

ETS2101 was discovered in a programme that sought drugs to promote apoptosis (programmed death) of malignant cancer cells. It is supported by preclinical data in multiple cancer types and a substantial safety file from its previous development as a potential treatment for trauma patients. An investigator-initiated phase I trial in patients with primary or secondary brain cancer began in June 2012. This is taking place at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla, California, and is led by Professor Santosh Kesari. During September 2012, a company-sponsored phase I trial was initiated at two centres in the UK (Newcastle and Leeds). The UK trial is enrolling patients with a variety of solid tumours. Together, these trials will allow the Company and its collaborators to probe the broad range of cancers where ETS2101 could provide benefit while also pursuing a specific indication where preclinical data were especially promising. In December 2012 we announced that the two trials were progressing according to plan. We expect interim findings during H1 2013 before final data from the brain cancer study in Q4 2013 and final data from the solid tumour study in Q1 2014.

ETS6103

ETS6103 is a drug we are developing for major depressive disorder. The drug has already produced encouraging data in a small phase IIa study in which it was compared with the tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline. Our next step is to conduct a phase IIb trial, which will evaluate a range of dosing options. We plan to start this trial in Q2 2013 and to complete it in Q2 2014.

C. difficile programme (ETX1153c)

ETX1153c is a product that combines two active ingredients to combat the bacterium C. difficile, a cause of serious bowel infections. The combination of ingredients in ETX1153c yields both high potency and low rates of resistance, but we have faced practical issues in formulating them into a single tablet. Preclinical work is ongoing and we expect to make a decision on whether we will be advancing a candidate into the clinic in mid-2013.

Clinical Trials

You can find more information about trials of our drug candidates at www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Network Pharmacology

Overview

Based on advances in chemical biology and network science, network pharmacology is a distinctive new approach to drug discovery. It involves application of network analysis to determine the set of proteins most critical in any disease, and then chemical biology to identify molecules capable of targeting that set of proteins. By addressing the true complexity of disease and by seeking to harness the ability of drugs to influence many different proteins, network pharmacology differs from conventional drug discovery approaches, which have generally been based on highly specific targeting of a single protein. Network pharmacology has the potential to provide new treatments for complex diseases where conventional approaches have failed to deliver satisfactory therapies.

e-Therapeutics' Network Pharmacology Platform

e-Therapeutics has developed a proprietary platform in network pharmacology. The Company uses this platform to analyse networks of proteins associated with particular diseases. In each case it identifies a disease signature, a set of points in the network at which intervention would have maximum impact. e-Therapeutics then seeks drug candidates whose footprint – the set of proteins impacted by the presence of the drug – matches the relevant disease signature. Current work with the platform is focused particularly in cancer and degenerative diseases of the nervous system.  Drugs discovered previously for cancer and depression have now progressed into our clinical development pipeline.

Professor Oliver Francis Wintour James - Non-executive Chairman 

Oliver has served as Senior Medical Advisor to the Penrose Inquiry since 2009 and has been a Non-Executive Director of NHS North of England Strategic Health Authority Cluster since 2011. He was a Non-Executive Director of BUPA from 1999 until 2007 and of Goldsborough Health Care plc from its flotation on the main market in 1995 until it was acquired by BUPA in 1997.Oliver qualified as a physician in 1975 and practised until 2004 when he became head of the medical faculty at Newcastle University.He was Senior Vice-President of the Royal College of Physicians from 1997 to 1999 and has also been a member of a number of medically related national and government boards and committees. Oliver joined the Company as Non-Executive Chairman in November 2007.

Professor Malcolm Young - CEO

Professor Malcolm Young is a scientist by background. He has recently been Director of the Complex Systems Group; Director of the Institute for Neuroscience; Provost of the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering; and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Strategic Development at Newcastle University, after having been a Royal Society Research Fellow at the RIKEN Institute in Japan, and at Oxford University. His research expertise lies in complex systems analysis and informatics, and his research outputs include 6 publications in Nature and Science and 12 in Proceedings and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The main goals of his research were to understand how biological function arises from structural aspects of complex biological systems. He is one of eighteen scientists worldwide nominated by the Sunday Times as the "Brains behind the 21st Century". Professor Young founded e-Therapeutics, and has led its development since.


Steve Self - Development Director

Steve Self began his career in Chemistry in 1975 with The Wellcome Foundation. He held positions in both R&D and Operations before being appointed as a full time Project Manager in Wellcome Research in 1987. He became Head of Project management in 1991, and was appointed Group Vice-President for Project Management in 1993. Steve Joined Boots Healthcare International in 1995 as Head of Respiratory and Analgesic product development, before joining Merck Generics in 1997 as European Technical Director. He was appointed as MGG’s Group R&D Director in 1999, and stayed with Merck until the sale of the company to Mylan in 2007. Since then he has worked for a private equity bank on major US pharmaceutical acquisitions, before joining e-Therapeutics to drive the Company’s clinical development activities.

Dr Daniel Elger - Chief Financial Officer

Daniel Elger has 17 years' experience in healthcare businesses. He began his career in medical publishing. He then spent five years at pharmaceutical marketing consultancies Blackwell Healthcare and Avenue, becoming a Programme Director in 1999 and leading accounts for GSK, Janssen, Roche, Pfizer and Merck. In 2002 Daniel joined cancer drug developer Antisoma as Head of Corporate Communications, becoming Communications Director in 2005 and VP, Marketing & Communications in 2008. He served on the Senior Management Team and played significant roles in corporate strategy, fundraisings and the acquisition of two US biotech companies. Daniel has a BA in Physiological Sciences (Medicine) and a PhD in cancer cell biology, both from Oxford University.

Mr Brad Hoy - Non-executive Director

Brad has over fifteen years of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries through financial and general management roles in the UK and USA. Brad is Director and co-founder of Seven Hills Venture Partners Ltd, a life sciences advisory firm based in Edinburgh. Previously Brad was Chief Financial Officer of Plethora Solutions Holdings plc, an AIM-listed speciality pharmaceutical company, Chief Executive Officer of Xcellsyz Ltd, a UK venture capital-backed life science company, and Senior Director of Geron Corporation’s stem cell-focussed UK subsidiary. Prior to co-founding Seven Hills, Brad was Chief Financial Officer at Cyclacel Ltd, a UK oncology company, and he held senior financial management positions at ChiRex Inc, a US-based pharmaceutical CMO. Brad is a Chartered Management Accountant.

Dr Rajesh Chopra - Non-executive Director

Raj Chopra is Vice President of Translational and Early Drug Development at Celgene Corporation. He leads a group of around 100 people working to integrate drug discovery and clinical development at Celgene sites in San Diego and San Francisco, CA, Summit, NJ, and Seville, Spain. Raj has extensive experience of all phases of drug development, in drug portfolio management including acquisition of new assets, and of dealing with regulators and government agencies. Before joining Celgene, he spent five years at AstraZeneca in the US and the UK, culminating in the role of Medical Science Director, Senior Principal Scientist and Disease Area Team Leader for blood cancers. He also has a distinguished track record as a clinician, academic and scientist in the UK, including seven years as Clinical Director of the Department of Haematological Oncology at the Christie Hospital, Manchester. Raj holds a BSc and an MBBS from University College and Middlesex School of Medicine, University of London and a PhD from the University of London. He is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists in the UK. Raj joined the Board of e-Therapeutics in February 2012.

Information taken from Company website 09.05.2013