ValiRx acquires assets of in-liquidation Imagen Therapeutics

Life science company ValiRx has successfully completed the acquisition of the scientific assets of Imagen Therapeutics, it announced on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said Imagen, a pharma services company that offered a patient-derived screening platform for large global clients, recently underwent liquidation.

Its acquisition of Imagen's assets was made possible through a single cash payment of £0.17m, using the company's existing resources.

The acquired assets encompassed a range of valuable components, with ValiRx now possessing an extensive biobank of patient-derived cells.

ValiRx said the biobank served as a crucial resource for conducting various research and development activities related to cancer therapeutics.

In addition, the firm said it had gained access to a comprehensive array of laboratory equipment required for the analysis and application of those cells.

The laboratory equipment included several high-value items that were already part of the financial plan for Inaphaea BioLabs - a subsidiary of ValiRx.

Additionally, ValiRx obtained all intellectual property (IP) associated with Imagen, including a granted patent that specifically covers the use of certain methods for growing and testing patient-derived cell lines.

Another valuable aspect of the acquisition was the inclusion of data derived from Imagen's in-house screening programme.

The programme focussed on studying the activity of non-oncology drugs against cancer cells, and the obtained data would provide valuable insights and potential avenues for exploring novel treatments and repurposing existing medications for cancer therapeutics.

“We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of the Imagen assets; in particular, the biobank of patient derived cell lines is a valuable resource as it enables Inaphaea to offer screening of a wide-range of oncology drug candidates against patient derived cell lines,” said chief executive officer Dr Suzy Dilly.

“This is an important step towards our ambition to make our assays more closely aligned to a complex human system, rather than rely on commercially available immortalised cell lines.

“This transaction gives us significant lab equipment at a substantial discount to our budgeted cost for these items had we purchased new, with the cell lines and other IP acquired at modest additional cost.”

Dr Dilly said the firm believed the services would generate near-term market interest and differentiate Inaphaea's offering.

“Furthermore, the equipment, acquired at a fraction of market prices, will support both the new cancer drug screening services and Inaphaea's wider business interests.”

At 1403 BST, shares in ValiRx were up 2.97% at 9.37p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.