Phytopharm to acquire IXICO for £5.6m in reverse takeover
After completion enlarged group will be renamed IXICO
Huntingdon, UK-based pharmaceutical firm Phytopharm is to acquire IXICO, a medical technology and diagnostics company, for approximately £5.6m in a proposed reverse takeover.
After completion, the enlarged Phytopharm Group will be renamed IXICO.
IXICO has established itself as a leading provider of medical imaging analysis services in the clinical trials market. It is expanding into digital healthcare with products to support dementia diagnosis.
The firm's vision is to build on its credibility internationally to position itself as a brain health company and bring innovative technologies to those involved in researching and treating serious brain diseases enabling them to help patients quicker. It will continue to explore opportunities to widen its product and service offerings through product licensing, collaborations and corporate activity, potentially including mergers and acquisitions.
After completion, Andy Richards and Professor Derek Hill, currently non-executive Chairman and CEO of IXICO respectively, will assume the same roles in the enlarged group, while Tim Sharpington, current CEO of Phytopharm, will remain on the board as a non-executive director. John Bradshaw and Maina Bhaman will join as non-executive directors while Charles Spicer will join as an executive director.
A general meeting of the company will be held to approve the acquisition and name change on 14 October.
Sharpington said: 'The directors consider the IXICO opportunity to be in the best interests of the company and shareholders. Since its foundation in 2004, IXICO has established itself as a leading provider of medical imaging analysis services with a focus in dementia. It has developed and successfully launched innovative technologies in the clinical trials and experimental medicines markets, with an impressive record of increasing revenue generation in these areas.'
'It now has the potential to translate these technologies, validated in clinical trials, into medical device products in the wider healthcare diagnostic market with the potential to enable rapid, accurate and cost-effective dementia diagnosis.'
