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 expect to advance four drugs into clinical trials during 2012. These are ETS2101 (glioma and other cancers; phase I), ETX1153c (C. difficile infection, phase I), ETS6103 (major depressive disorder, phase IIb) and ETX1153a (MRSA infection, phase I).

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. We plan to start a phase I programme during Q1 2012. This will comprise two trials: a dose-escalating study that will enrol patients with a variety of solid tumours; and a focused investigator-initiated trial in patients with primary or secondary tumours in the brain. Together, these trials will allow the Company to probe the broad range of cancers where ETS2101 could provide benefit while also pursuing a specific indication where preclinical data were especially promising. Initial data from the phase I programme should be available in 2012 and we expect final results from both trials in 2013.

ETX1153c

ETX1153c is a drug with high potency against C. difficile, a bacterium that is responsible for severe and sometimes life-threatening outbreaks of diarrhoea in hospitalised patients. ETX1153c has shown activity that extends to resistant strains in laboratory testing. We expect to initiate phase I development in Q2 2012 and to complete this phase by the end of the year. Provided phase I data are satisfactory, we intend to complete a phase II trial during 2013.

ETS6103

ETS6103 is a drug we are developing for major depressive disorder. The drug has already produced encouraging data in a small phase II 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 Q3 2012 and to complete it in the second half of 2013.

ETX1153a

ETX1153a is a topical agent being developed for resistant hospital-based infections such as those caused by MRSA. We are currently working on the formulation of the product and expect to start a phase I study in Q4 2012.

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.

Professor Oliver Francis Wintour James - Non-executive Chairman

Oliver has been a non-executive director of BUPA since 1999 and was a non-executive director of Goldsborough Health Care plc from when it floated on the main market in 1995, until it was acquired by BUPA in 1997. He has also been a non-executive director of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2006. 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 been a member of many national and governmental medical related boards and committees. Oliver joined the Company as a non-executive director in October 2007.
 

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.

Major Shareholders

• Invesco - 65,384,615 (47.3%)
  

• Malcolm Young - 20,620,482 (14.9%)

• Gartmore Investment Limited - 15,396,408 (11.1%)

• Octopus Group – 8,768,508 (6.3%)

• Newcastle University Holdings Limited - 6,744,000 (4.9%)