Vastox has purchased the core assets of MNL Pharma, a privately-held fellow UK-based biotechnology firm that went into administration in October 2006, for a total cash consideration of L240,000 ($470,735). The assets include a fully-staffed laboratory in Wales focused on R&D in complex carbohydrate chemistry. To this end, Vastox has retained Robert Nash, MNL's former R&D head and scientific founder, and a leading international chemist in plant-derived chemicals and carbohydrate-related compounds.
In addition, Vastox gains a pipeline of preclinical drug candidates including MNLP462a, an orally-administered anticancer immune system stimulator, which has generated positive preclinical data and could enter Phase I trials by second-half 2007. The drug is currently undergoing Good Manufacturing Practices-certified production and is completing preclinical tests. Evolution Securities analyst Michael Aitkenhead estimated it would cost an additional L500,000 R&D investment to bring MNLP462a to the candidate stage for clinical trials, and the cancer indication will most likely be out-licensed prior to Phase I, he noted.
Oxford, UK-based Vastox also gains MNL's chemical library containing over 1,300 proprietary sugar-based compounds (including over 200 novel amino sugars) that Vastox can screen through its zebrafish and fruit fly assays in search for new drug candidates.
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