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Allied Minds PLC: Huge potential in cancer immunotherapies

Published: 06:01 28 Mar 2016 EDT

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There are countless exciting innovations happening across the field of academic research.

In recent times, immunotherapies, particular in the field of cancer treatment, have hit the headlines as being one step closer to an ultimate cure.

Immunotherapies use the body’s own defences to fight otherwise incurable diseases.

But many of these discoveries are early stage and under-funded, many barely out of preliminary research phase and a long way off being available to people suffering with cancer right now.

But there are companies out there aiming to provide a much needed boost for innovative research teams and their work to bring these novel therapies to the market.

Allied Minds (LON:ALM) and its subsidiaries provide a turnkey model for early stage drug discovery projects.

The US is perhaps the most robust area on the planet in terms of capitalisation on tax payer money going into scientific research and development.

US$50bn of taxes goes to research and development at a university level every year and US$150bn a year is pumped into Federal laboratory development programmes.

Even in the worst of economic times the total pullback of funding at university level is never more than 10%.

The reality is that in the US university system, US$100bn per year is focused on early stage, paradigm shifting research and development, which needs a shepherd to commercialise and bring those innovations to the market.

“We are that shepherd,” said Omar Amirana senior vice president of Allied Minds.

With a specific focus on the US, Allied Minds was scanning the country and beyond for early stage clinical opportunities.

Despite all this funding, there are still certain areas where money - for whatever reason - is limited, meaning the potential of possible ground-breaking innovations could be wasted.

Earlier this month, Allied-Bristol Life Sciences (ABLS), jointly owned by Allied and US pharma giant Bristol-Meyers Squibb, launched iβeCa Therapeutics to license a novel cancer therapy from researcher at the New York University School of Medicine.

The new drug developed at NYU medical school refined existing tumour-targeting therapies.

The subsidiary will develop a form of cancer therapeutics known as Inhibitors of Beta-Catenin Responsive Transcription (iCRTs).

iCRTs target the Wnt signalling pathway, proteins which pass signals between cells, reducing tumour growth.

The Wnt pathway plays a major role in the development and progression of certain types of cancers that are resistant to existing treatments.

The therapy provides huge potential for the improvement of existing cancer treatments.

But without the intervention of the Allied Minds management subsidiary, the innovation could well have slipped under the radar, explained vice president Donna See.

The starting point was biology first, said See. The team look for innovations with an existing strong scientific foundation, but also where academic funding was significantly limited, meaning the project couldn’t move forward without the intervention, funding and management of a larger body.

 “We look for existing developments that historically had limited understanding, such as the Wnt signalling pathway, or it could be a novel target were there has been a good level of work but the team was doing something completely new,” added Satish Jindal, chief executive officer of Allied-Bristol Life Sciences.

The group usually anticipate a year of feasibility work until the teams become functional, commercial subsidiaries. Although time varies from project to project.

There are countless exciting innovations happening across the field of academic research.

“We are fishing in waters that are relatively untapped, and by definition there are plenty of fish to choose from,” said Amirana.

In 2015, the group invested $102.8mln into new and existing portfolio companies.

During that year it engaged with over 90 new research institutions and reviewed 5,000 new technologies.

Following extensive due diligence, the group expanded its portfolio to 23 subsidiaries.

Its partner network with US universities and federal laboratories totalled 160, more than double what it was the year before.

The board’s own net asset valuation is around $631mln and the group reported net assets of around $270mln in June 2015.

However at the end of last year, revenues more than halved from $7.7.mln to $3.2mln.

Since January the share price has almost doubled and with a market cap of just over $1.2bn investors clearly have confidence in the group.

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