Exclusive agreement for DNA NGS panel

ANGLE plc ("the Company")

ANGLE ANNOUNCES NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING ASSAY AGREEMENT WITH NUPROBE

Option for exclusive licence to highly sensitive NGS assay for use with CTCs and dual analysis of CTCs with ctDNA

Combining the Parsortix system with comprehensive DNA molecular analysis opens up a broad range of pharma services opportunities

ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology, is delighted to announce that it has signed an agreement with the cutting-edge genomics and molecular diagnostics company, NuProbe USA, Inc. ("NuProbe"), to use its proprietary pan-cancer next generation sequencing (NGS) panel ("the NGS panel").

Under the terms of the agreement, NuProbe has granted the Company an option for an exclusive global license to the NGS panel outside of China for the analysis of CTCs and the dual analysis of CTCs and ctDNA. In this first stage of the collaboration, NuProbe will transfer manufacture of the NGS panel to a larger-scale manufacturing site and ANGLE will undertake internal validation of the initial batches.

The NGS panel, which has been validated on the Illumina sequencer, enables highly sensitive and specific detection of over 6,500 DNA mutations in 61 clinically relevant genes and been found to be the highest performing multi-gene assay of those evaluated by ANGLE. These genes include those with matched targeted therapies currently selected using assays which use tumour tissue or circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) and aligns with many key drug targets under development by large pharma.

This agreement will help accelerate the Company's ability to commercialise its first pan-cancer molecular sequencing assay either for CTC-DNA analysis alone or dual analysis of CTCs and ctDNA from a single blood sample. The NGS panel enables highly sensitive and specific high throughput gene analysis and has immediate applicability to ANGLE's pharma services customers and translational researchers using the Parsortix^® system. In the longer-term, repeatable, minimally invasive, molecular profiling using liquid biopsy analytes has the potential to be a key step for clinicians tracking tumour evolution, treatment response, early identification of drug resistance and disease progression. 

The Company has already successfully completed a pilot study with the NGS panel, with results published at the EACR Annual Meeting in June 2024 (see: https://angleplc.com/resources/posters/). In this study CTC-DNA (from CTCs harvested using the Parsortix system) and ctDNA were evaluated in blood samples from breast, lung and ovarian cancer patients. In all three cancer types, more mutations were identified exclusively in CTCs, as compared to ctDNA alone, highlighting the potential value of profiling CTCs in addition to ctDNA.

NuProbe Chief Executive Officer, Yingshuang Chai, commented:

"We are excited to enter into an agreement with ANGLE plc, a world leader in the harvest of CTCs from blood for analysis. NuProbe's NGS panel is a low-cost, ultra-sensitive pan-cancer NGS panel that can accurately detect mutations and has demonstrated robust performance in both CTC and ctDNA sample types. By combining CTC and ctDNA detection, this collaboration will help drive the development of personalised treatment options for cancer patients. We look forward to the development of a strong partnership with ANGLE in the future."

ANGLE Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Newland, commented:

"We are delighted to have signed an agreement with NuProbe which grants the Company an exclusive worldwide licence option (outside of China) to the NGS panel for the analysis of CTCs and dual analysis of CTCs and ctDNA. The Company's marker-independent Parsortix system has been exemplified in 24 cancer types representing 90% of all solid tumour cases. As such we are strongly positioned to leverage a pan-cancer gene panel across 61 oncogenes and thousands of mutations.  The Company believes that this agreement will enable us to combine the leading CTC harvesting solution with an optimised DNA sequencing panel for analysis of CTCs and dual analysis of CTCs and ctDNA."

ANGLE Chief Scientific Officer, Karen Miller commented:

"We are pleased to sign an agreement with NuProbe which will support our ongoing development of highly sensitive and specific molecular assays using CTCs harvested using the Parsortix system together with ctDNA from a single blood sample. Dual analysis of CTCs and ctDNA can provide additional and complementary information which will provide pharma services customers with unparalleled and repeatable insights into a range of cancers, and in the longer-term provide clinicians with the potential for continual optimisation of personalised cancer treatment plans."

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Notes for editors

About ANGLE plc

ANGLE is a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology using a simple blood sample. ANGLE's FDA cleared and patent protected circulating tumour cell (CTC) harvesting technology known as the Parsortix^® PC1 System enables complete downstream analysis of the sample including whole cell imaging and proteomic analysis and full genomic and transcriptomic molecular analysis.

ANGLE's commercial businesses are focusing on diagnostic products and clinical services. Diagnostic products include the Parsortix^® system and associated consumables. The clinical services business is offered through ANGLE's GCP-compliant laboratories in the UK. Services include custom made assay development and clinical trial testing for pharma.

Over 90 peer-reviewed publications have demonstrated the performance of the Parsortix system. For more information, visit www.angleplc.com

About NuProbe                                 

NuProbe is a cutting-edge genomics and molecular diagnostics company with revolutionary molecular diagnostic technologies to improve the sensitivity of sequencing mutations and copy number variations by over 10-fold. NuProbe has sites in Houston, USA, Shanghai, China and Suzhou, China. NuProbe's vision is to offer affordable, timely, and accurate disease state information to enable precision medicine and improve patient outcomes.