London--(Marketwire - October 1, 2007) -
Curidium Medica plc ("Curidium" or the "Company")
CURIDIUM FOUNDER ASSUMES CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER POSITION
-Increased Focus to Benefit Company's Key Scientific Assets-
London, UK, 1 October 2007, Curidium Medica plc, (LSE: CUR), the
personalized medicine company focused on bringing the right drug to the
right patient, today announced that the Company's founder and scientific
originator, Dr. Anne Bruinvels, Ph.D., who has been Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) for the past six years, will assume the position of Chief
Scientific Officer (CSO) of the Company, effective today. Gosse B.
Bruinsma, M.D., the Company's Executive Chairman, will assume the duties
and responsibilities of the CEO. This move reflects Curidium's increased
focus on the commercialization and development of its diagnostic and
therapeutic product portfolio since the successful identification of
PsychINDx™, the Company's diagnostic blood test that classifies
patients with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder into different subgroups which may result in the improved treatment of these patients.
"There is an increasing level of interest from pharmaceutical companies
to work with Curidium's PsychINDx test and its proprietary platform
technology Homomatrix," stated Anne Bruinvels, Ph.D. "I am very pleased
to now fully focus my efforts on directing the Company's R&D efforts,
particularly, at a time when the interest in Curidium's products as well
as in the area of personalized medicine as a whole is reaching new
heights."
"Following Curidium's recent successful financing and the effort now
placed on concerted and dedicated business development initiatives, we
are poised to leverage our assets in the personalized medicine space",
stated Gosse B. Bruinsma, M.D., "In an effort to remain ideally prepared
for this we will continue to optimize our management structure".
For further information, please contact:
Gosse B. Bruinsma, M.D. +31 (0) 629 046 397
Chairman, Curidium Medica plc
Anne Bruinvels +44 (0) 20 7554 8790
Chief Scientific Officer, Curidium Medica plc
Rob Smith +44 (0) 20 7554 8793
Finance Director, Curidium Medica plc
Rhodri Cruwys / Romil Patel +44 (0) 20 7448 4400
Blue Oar Securities Plc
Billy Clegg / Edward Westropp / Annie Evangeli + 44 (0)20 7831 3113
Financial Dynamics
Notes to Editors
PsychINDxTM
PsychINDx™ is Curidium's schizophrenia/bipolar disorder diagnostic
blood test that classifies patients into different subgroups which are
each associated with distinct underlying disease mechanisms and specific
drug targets. The gene expression-based test was designed using
Curidium's Homomatrix® technology.
Homomatrix®
Homomatrix® is an analysis tool that uses proprietary pattern
recognition tools and sequences of mathematical algorithms together with
state-of-the-art statistical methods to objectively analyze large sets of
gene expression and biological data from heterogeneous populations. These
analyses can potentially lead to the development of diagnostics that
identify treatment-responsive patients and/or patient subgroups,
signaling pathways as well as drug targets. It is anticipated that
Homomatrix® could be of significant value in the drug development arena
where the "most likely to respond" patients could be pre-selected to
clinical trials.
Schizophrenia/Bipolar Disorder
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized in the active phase by
hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thoughts/speech, disorganized or
catatonic behavior, and apathy. It is estimated that 1% of the general
population suffers from schizophrenia. Bipolar affective disorder, also
known as manic-depressive illness, is a mental illness involving episodes
of serious mania and depression. The person's mood usually swings from
overly "high" and irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again,
with periods of normal mood in between. It is estimated that 0.5% of the
general population suffers from bipolar affective disorder. The global
market for antipsychotics, which are used to treat schizophrenia and
frequently bipolar affective disorder, was valued at $12.5 billion in
2004 and is expected to grow to $20.5 billion by 2009 (The CNS Market
Outlook to 2010, Reuters Business Insights, 2005). Further information
about schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder can be found at
www.schizophrenia.com or
www.moodswing.org.
Curidium Medica
Curidium is a personalized medicine company identifying targeted
medicines and companion diagnostics to treat patients more effectively.
Curidium's initial focus on diseases of the Central Nervous System has
resulted in the identification of a blood diagnostic test, PsychINDx™,
which classifies patients with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder into four
subgroups. PsychINDx™ may have the potential to improve the treatment
of patients with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder.
Many chronic human diseases are heterogeneous and their patient
populations consist of mixed subgroups. Through the use of its
proprietary analysis tool, Homomatrix®, Curidium aims to reveal
different patient subgroups characterized by distinct underlying disease
mechanisms potentially leading to the identification of:
1. Diagnostics for better identification and treatment within
heterogeneous
disease populations.
2. Improved therapies identified through novel drug targets.
3. Personalized medicines using companion diagnostics and targeted
treatments.
Curidium aims to continue to use this approach to improve patient
treatments in a variety of therapeutic areas. Further information on
Curidium can be found at the Company's website:
www.curidium.com.
Curidium Medica plc (c) 2002-2007. All rights reserved.
Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BB, United Kingdom.
Email: info@curidium.com
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7554 8790, Fax: +44 (0)20 7554 8791
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange