Sydney - Wednesday - October 17: (RWE Aust Business News) - VIRALYTICS LTD (ASX:VLA) is an oncolytic virotherapy company developing new drugs to treat a wide range of cancers.
In its most recent shareholder update, directors say it is a very exciting time for Viralytics.
The research and development team has relocated to a new world-class facility and Cavataktm development is progressing to expectation.
What attracted market attention at the beginning of the week was the announcement that Chairman Paul Hopper will lead a shareholder investor roadshow in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth in late October.
Its objective is to update the market on the company's current activities.
Mr Hopper is based in Los Angeles, but regularly returns home to Sydney to work with the company's Chief Scientific Officer, Professor Darren Shafren, and his team at the University of Newcastle.
"In the USA I am close to our developing relationships there, including the Phase II trials currently underway at five leading cancer research centres," Mr Hopper said.
"We are one of the few ASX-listed biotechs conducting Phase II clinical trials under an FDA Investigational New Drug clinical trial scheme, also known as an IND," he declared.
The Chairman said the company was actively working with a professional search firm to interview candidates for the role of CEO.
"It is a very exciting time for Viralytics," Mr Hopper told shareholders.
"Management strategies evolve but the very essence and core of the company flows out of Professor Shafren's lab in Newcastle.
"We keep a tightly run, small head office but the heartbeat is in Newcastle where it has been a fruitful year and where our science is progressing to expectation," he said.
SHARE PRICE MOVEMENTS
Shares of Viralytics eased 1c to 26c yesterday. Rolling high for the year is 52c and low 20c. The company has 75.4 million shares on issue with a market cap of $20.3 million.
In July the company relocated its research and development team to the new Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) in Newcastle.
The HRMI building is a 16,000 square metre facility located on the Rankin Park campus adjacent to John Hunter Hospital, allowing ready access to clinicians from the hospital to the research building.
The $100 million project started two years ago and was funded by the Federal and State Governments.
It represents a state-of-the-art facility that is expected to bring together 450 of the best scientific minds in health and medical research.
BACKGROUND
Viralytics's principal asset is the intellectual property relating to Cavataktm, an oncolytic virus technology.
Cavataktm is the trade name for Viralytics's proprietary formulation of the Coxsackievirus Type A21 (CVA21).
Evataktm is the trade name for Viralytics's proprietary formulation of the Echovirus Type 1 (EV1). CVA21 and EV1 are viruses that occur naturally in the community.
CVA21 and EV1 attach to the outside of cells, using a specific receptor on the cell's surface - like a key fitting a lock.
CVA21 uses the receptors, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and/or decay accelerating factor (DAF) to bind and infect target cells.
Both of these receptor proteins have been demonstrated to be highly expressed on multiple cancer types, including - melanoma, prostate cancer, breast cancer, multiple myeloma and others.
EV1 uses the receptor, integrin.2.1 to bind and infect target cells.
Integrin.2.1 has been demonstrated to be highly expressed on multiple cancer types, including- prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and others.
VLA Price at posting:
28.4¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
