U.S. Department of Defense to Fund Research at Indiana University and Epistem UK Investigating Treatments for Radiation Sickness

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Nov. 11, 2015) - Epistem Holdings Plc (LSE:EHP) ("Epistem" or "the Company"), the personalised medicine and biotechnology company, which has expertise evaluating treatments for gastrointestinal damage following radiation exposure, and Indiana University, with complementary experience evaluating treatments for similar bone marrow toxicity, today announced that they have received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to evaluate the effects of pegylated hematopoietic growth factors on the mitigation of the hematopoietic and gastrointestinal acute and delayed radiation syndromes. The pegylated growth factors will be provided by Bolder Biotechnology Inc. of Boulder, CO, USA.

Lead grant Principal Investigator at Indiana University and hematopoietic specialist, Prof. Christie Orschell commented, "We have collaborated with Bolder Biotechnology previously and demonstrated the efficacy of their novel pegylated growth factors as hematopoietic radiomitigators. This grant will allow us to investigate the synergies of combinations of their growth factors in both the acute and delayed stages of radiation damage."

Dr Catherine Booth, Co-Founder of Epistem and gastrointestinal specialist, commented, "This collaboration with Indiana University extends the extremely productive complementary relationship we had working together within the Medical Countermeasures Against Radiological Threats (MCART) program funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). I am excited to continue working with Dr. Orschell, building on the prior data that suggested the pegylated hematopoietic factors can modulate gastrointestinal recovery post irradiation."

The project will last from 2015 to 2018 and will run from Indiana University's facilities in Indianapolis, USA and Epistem's facilities in Manchester, UK.