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October 28, 2015 Press Releases

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 July 2015

C4X Discovery Holdings plc

(“C4XD”, “C4X Discovery” or the “Company”)


28 October, 2015 – C4X Discovery Holdings plc (“C4XD”), a leader in rational drug discovery and design, is pleased to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 July 2015.

Corporate Highlights

  • Successful IPO on AIM completed in October 2014 raising £11.0 million before expenses
  • Orexin programme candidate drug progressed into formal pre-clinical and safety studies
  • Renewal of our collaboration with Evotec AG (“Evotec”) providing access to C4XD’s conformational design technology
  • Renewal of our collaboration with Takeda Cambridge Ltd (“Takeda”) providing access to C4XD’s conformational design technology
  • Entered into research agreement with Evotec to develop back up series for C4XD’s Orexin programme
  • Expansion of senior team to provide biology, pre-clinical and early stage clinical expertise

Financial highlights

  • Cash, cash equivalents and deposits at 31 July 2015 of £7.5 million (31 July 2014: £0.7 million)
  • Total assets at 31 July 2015 of £8.7 million (31 July 2014: £1.2 million)

Progress since year end

  • Collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Structural Genomics Consortium department (“SGC-Oxford”), providing access to protein structural information, expressed protein and assays
  • Identified novel lead molecules that activate GPR142, a key factor in the production of insulin
  • Designed novel activators for the NRF-2 pathway, important in mediating diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (“COPD”) and Multiple Sclerosis (“MS”)

Chairman’s statement

“With the successful IPO, C4XD has secured the funding that enables us to advance our lead programme in Orexin, for the treatment of addiction, into formal pre-clinical safety and toxicity studies,” stated Clive Dix, Chairman of C4XD. “We have also designed lead compounds against multiple targets, further validating our platform. The support and confidence of our collaboration partners, AstraZeneca, Evotec and Takeda, now joined by the Structural Genomics Consortium provides independent recognition of the significant impact our novel approach can make in enabling ultra rational drug design. I am delighted with the progress made since IPO and believe the business is well positioned to deliver future value for shareholders.”

For further information please contact:
C4X Discovery Holdings plc
Piers Morgan, CEO 07912 293832

Zeus Capital
Dan Bate / Jonathan Sharp 0161 831 1512
Dominic Wilson 020 3829 5000

FTI Consulting
Matthew Cole / Brett Pollard / Rob Winder / Matthew Moss 020 3727 1000

C4XD began trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2014 under the ticker symbol C4XD. For further information please visit: www.c4xdiscovery.com.

CHAIRMAN’S AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S JOINT REVIEW

C4XD is a drug discovery and development company with a unique platform that enables us to develop therapies to treat a wide range of diseases. We are currently working on proprietary programmes against certain targets to treat:

  • addiction via Orexin-1 (Ox-1);
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and inflammation via NRF-2;
  • diabetes via GPR142 and GLP-1; and
  • inflammation and autoimmune diseases via Interleukin 17 (IL-17),

all of which represent multi-billion dollar market opportunities and where there is substantial unmet medical need.
C4XD’s proprietary platform enables it to generate better and safer drug candidates much faster and more affordably than is generally possible using conventional small molecule pharmaceutical industry approaches.

The C4XD platform is the only technology in the world that can generate accurate, experimentally-derived dynamic solution 3D structures of drug molecules in just a matter of days, helping to accelerate product development. Our conformational insights can be used in conjunction with existing technologies for rational drug design and can make a particularly high impact when protein crystallography for the drug target is not routinely available, as is the case for GPCRs (G-protein-coupled receptors, such as Orexin receptors) and ion channels.

Addiction

The treatment of addiction represents a substantial area of unmet medical need, forecast to be worth an estimated $13 billion per annum by 2018. C4XD’s lead programme, targeting Orexin-1, could represent a major new method of treating addiction. We have patented a number of distinct chemical series, providing us with a lead programme and multiple follow-up programmes. We expect to file the application for our lead programme to enter clinical development by the end of 2016, and we continue development of other follow-up programmes. We believe this broad approach will underpin a substantial licensing transaction with a pharmaceutical company in the future.

The Orexin-1 receptor is of particular interest to the pharmaceutical industry for the development of treatments for stress-related addictive disorders (e.g. binge eating, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and opiate addictions). However, to date no drug candidate that specifically targets Orexin-1 has progressed into clinical development, in large part due to the difficulty in identifying candidates that are specific only to Orexin-1. In particular, there is another receptor, Orexin-2, that appears to be structurally very similar to Orexin-1 but which has a very different biological function, and it has proved highly challenging to develop drug candidates which will target Orexin-1 selectively, without targeting Orexin-2.

C4XD’s programme has identified multiple lead compounds with more than 1,000-fold selectivity for Orexin-1 over Orexin-2. From these we have selected a candidate drug which we have progressed into formal development. This represents a key step for the Company and we expect to file with regulatory authorities by the end of 2016 to enable clinical development.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

COPD, an umbrella term for a group of progressive lung diseases including chronic bronchitis and emphysema (or smokers cough), is another area of substantial unmet medical need, and the market opportunity is estimated at $44-48 billion per annum.

The pathway targeted by C4XD, the NRF-2/Keap-1 protein complex (“NRF-2”), plays a significant role in COPD, and which also has other potential applications in areas such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Cancer.

C4XD has already developed some of the most potent compounds so far reported against NRF-2, based on searches of scientific literature. We expect to test our compounds in a disease model during 2015 and, if the results are encouraging, this programme could progress to clinical development over the next two years.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a large and growing market, estimated to be worth $50 billion per annum by 2016. Although current treatments exist, healthcare professionals would prefer more oral treatments to replace current therapies which require injection. Oral therapies offer the opportunity of lower cost, easier administration, and improved patient compliance. C4XD currently holds two separate grants from the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, to research new therapies to treat diabetes, targeting GPR142 and GLP-1 respectively.

GPR142, is a key factor in the production of insulin. Targeting GPR142 may stimulate insulin production in a glucose-dependent manner, avoiding the hypoglycaemia risk associated with existing diabetes therapies. GPR142 has recently become the focus of considerable research and patent activity within the pharma industry. Using its proprietary technology, C4XD has identified critical drug design principles, enabling us to generate potent, orally available compounds in just a few months.

GLP-1 is another important diabetes target. The market leader for GLP-1 agonists, Victoza®, achieved 2014 sales of $2.4 billion. However it is a monoclonal antibody which requires injection and is expensive to manufacture. C4XD believes there is a significant opportunity to develop a more convenient oral therapy.

Inflammation and autoimmune diseases

IL-17 is implicated in multiple inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and is the subject of numerous clinical studies. Current attempts to target IL-17 are largely based around monoclonal antibodies, which have the necessary size required to inhibit the IL-17/IL-17R engagement. Historically, identifying small molecules that specifically inhibit the IL-17 pathway has been extremely challenging, but our technology has identified small molecules that can selectively block the IL-17/IL-17R interaction with high potency. These are conventional, drug-like compounds, for oral and/or topical use, which would offer benefits over injectable therapies such as IL-17 antibodies. We aim to advance our IL-17 programme towards optimisation and in vivo validation over the coming months.

The first significant market to be targeted by IL-17 antibodies is psoriasis, which is estimated to be worth $6bn per annum. Other significant IL-17 market opportunities include psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, together estimated to be worth a further $6bn per annum.

Conformational Design Platform

C4XD’s platform enables the accurate measurement of the shapes of small molecules in solution. This is particularly relevant for the shapes of small molecule drugs in the human body because we can mimic the actual bodily conditions at the site where the drug will act, including temperature, pH and other factors.

The ability to measure molecular shapes enables C4XD to better understand how the small molecule binds to the target protein. C4XD uses this to design novel shapes that may bind more effectively to make better, more potent lead molecules. C4XD can also learn which shapes risk binding to other proteins, which could give rise to off-target effects (side effects), and can design lead molecules to exclude these conformations, giving safer lead molecules.

The C4XD proprietary software analyses data from conventional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (“NMR”) equipment through proprietary software, including a patented algorithm, to provide the conformational information which can then be used to drive medicinal chemistry structural design. C4XD is the only company able to generate this level of experimentally derived conformational information, giving it an advantage in efficiently designing and optimising novel small molecule candidate drugs.

Collaborations

C4XD has collaborations with AstraZeneca, Evotec and Takeda which enable them to access our conformational approach for use in their own programmes. These relationships validate the power and utility of our technology platform.

After the year end, C4XD has also signed an agreement with the University of Oxford’s Structural Genomics Consortium department (“SGC-Oxford”). SGC-Oxford is part of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine and consists of around 100 scientists who collaborate widely with major pharma companies and the worldwide academic network, including several other University Departments, such as the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, the Botnar Research Centre and the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS). These scientists combine world-class expertise in therapeutic target validation, protein expression, assay development and protein structural information. To date, SGC has been funded by the members of a consortium of major pharmaceutical companies and public health bodies, including Abbvie, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda and the Wellcome Trust, each of whom donates $8 million towards running costs.

Under the terms of the collaboration C4XD will be granted access to structural, biological and therapeutic information that SGC-Oxford holds in relation to various therapeutic targets and related assays, as well as initial ‘hit’ molecules that SGC-Oxford has identified against these targets. C4XD’s expertise in ligand design will be used to complement SGC-Oxford’s expertise in x-ray crystallography, screening and chemical biology in the identification of new and improved hit molecules against the SGC-Oxford targets.

Improvements made to SGC-Oxford’s existing hit molecules will be the exclusive property of SGC-Oxford, which will make them freely available in line with SGC-Oxford policy, while new compounds independently identified by C4XD will belong to C4XD. There are no cash payments due under the collaboration.

Other applications

The C4XD platform can also be used to predict and control the different crystalline forms which small molecules are able to adopt. These different forms have different properties and these insights are valuable in the development of robust, consistent manufacturing processes for small molecule therapies which are administered in solid form; different crystalline forms often dissolve at different rates which alters the effective dosing for patients. Control and consistency of solid formulations is therefore an important part of pharmaceutical supply.

Management

C4XD has expanded its management team during the year adding expertise in biology, pre-clinical and clinical development, and Project Management. Dr Almond has informed the company that he has stepped down as CTO to pursue his full-time academic career at Manchester University and has resigned as Chief Technology Officer (“CTO”) of the company with immediate effect; the company has entered into a consultancy agreement on arm’s length terms with Dr Almond to secure continued access to his expertise in the future. Dr Charles Blundell has taken on the role of CTO, and is succeeded as CSO by Dr Craig Fox, who joined the company in June 2015. C4XD believes it has the right balance of skills to progress the business.

Outlook

C4XD has made significant progress since IPO and the business is well positioned to deliver future value for shareholders. In particular, the progression of the Orexin-1 programme has shown that the Company is able to generate candidate drugs for important clinical targets more efficiently than conventional approaches, with savings of up to 90%; part of this cost saving derives from the faster progress which can reduce the time required by up to 50%. The Company is well on the way to replicating this success in its other programmes with exciting progress announced since the year end in IL-17 for inflammation and autoimmune diseases, GPR142 for diabetes, and NRF-2 for COPD. The Company believes that these programmes have the potential to deliver significant returns to investors.

Clive Dix                                                   Piers Morgan
Chairman                                                  Chief Executive Officer

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Results

Revenue for the twelve months ended 31 July 2015 amounted to £312,000 (2014: £619,000). These revenues are largely generated through collaborations with our partners. Grants secured are accounted for as a reduction in research and development (“R&D”) expenses.

R&D expenses were £3,159,000 for the year ended 31 July 2015 (2014: £1,180,000), reflecting the increase in activity and headcount following the successful move to AIM and the positive progress being made, particularly with our Orexin programme.

Administrative expenses were £904,000 for the year ended 31 July 2015 (2014: £636,000) reflecting, amongst other things, additional operating costs incurred by C4XD as an AIM listed company. The cost of issuing new share capital on the move to AIM, which amounted to £877,000, has been charged against the share premium account.

The loss after tax for the year ended 31 July 2015 was £3,064,000 or 10.77 pence per share (2014: £1,118,000 or 5.60 pence per share).

The Company had net assets at 31 July 2015 of £7,968,000 (2014: net liabilities of £1,333,000) and cash, cash equivalents short term investments and deposits of £7,485,000 (2014: £673,000).

C4XD expects to continue to increase its expenditure on research and development as its programmes, including the Orexin-1 programme, progress through further pre-clinical development during the subsequent years. The Orexin-1 programme has entered into formal pre-clinical safety and toxicity testing which is significantly more expensive than early stage discovery. C4XD expects to file for approval to commence clinical studies by the end of 2016; these subsequent studies in man will be more costly than pre-clinical work.

Both cash and costs continue to be prudently and tightly managed.

Piers Morgan
Chief Executive Officer

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C4X Discovery Holdings PLC
Manchester One
53 Portland Street
Manchester
M1 3LD

Catherine Tralau-Stewart PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Cathy joined C4XD in January 2022 with more than 20 years of senior academic and industry leadership experience. She has an in-depth knowledge of drug discovery and translation of early research innovation into robust drug discovery programmes. Previously she was Senior Director, Alliances, for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, responsible for the strategic development and management of academic alliances for Takeda for the US, Australia, Japan and Europe. Cathy started her career at GSK before moving into academia where she held senior leadership roles building drug discovery portfolios through to Phase III clinical studies, at Imperial College London, University of California San Francisco and Stanford University-Takeda Alliance. Cathy has a BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences (Biochemistry/Pharmacology) and a PhD (Clinical Sciences) University College Hospital Medical School, National Medical Laser Centre, Dept. of Surgery and ICRF (CRUK). She has published more than 25 publications and is the inventor of three granted patents and is a non-inventor contributor of many more. Cathy received the President’s award of Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), is International Meeting Chair 2022 & Previous Invited Board Director Society of Laboratory Screening & Automation (SLAS), Fellow of SLAS, Member of British Pharmacological Society, and acted as advisor to academic entrepreneurship & commercialization programmes including Stanford SPARK, UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis and the NIH.
Catherine Tralau-Stewart PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Cathy joined C4XD in January 2022 with more than 20 years of senior academic and industry leadership experience. She has an in-depth knowledge of drug discovery and translation of early research innovation into robust drug discovery programmes. Previously she was Senior Director, Alliances, for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, responsible for the strategic development and management of academic alliances for Takeda for the US, Australia, Japan and Europe. Cathy started her career at GSK before moving into academia where she held senior leadership roles building drug discovery portfolios through to Phase III clinical studies, at Imperial College London, University of California San Francisco and Stanford University-Takeda Alliance. Cathy has a BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences (Biochemistry/Pharmacology) and a PhD (Clinical Sciences) University College Hospital Medical School, National Medical Laser Centre, Dept. of Surgery and ICRF (CRUK). She has published more than 25 publications and is the inventor of three granted patents and is a non-inventor contributor of many more. Cathy received the President’s award of Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), is International Meeting Chair 2022 & Previous Invited Board Director Society of Laboratory Screening & Automation (SLAS), Fellow of SLAS, Member of British Pharmacological Society, and acted as advisor to academic entrepreneurship & commercialization programmes including Stanford SPARK, UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis and the NIH.
Emma Blaney PhD
Chief Operating Officer
Emma oversees the day-to-day operations of the business with responsibility for defining and implementing operations strategy, structure, and processes. As a trained medicinal chemist, Emma joined C4XD in 2014 as a Senior Programme Manager and has gained more than 18 years’ experience working on Drug Discovery programmes within the Pharmaceutical sector. She brings extensive project management experience to the Executive Team with a particular focus on outsourcing management and collaborations. Previously she was a Section Head at Peakdale Molecular leading multiple projects for pharmaceuticals clients and a Medicinal Chemistry Team Leader at GSK within the Neurology and Gastrointestinal Department. Emma has a PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Leeds, and a first-class Chemistry and Pharmacology degree from the University of Liverpool.
Emma Blaney
Chief Operating Officer
Emma oversees the day-to-day operations of the business with responsibility for defining and implementing operations strategy, structure, and processes. As a trained medicinal chemist, Emma joined C4XD in 2014 as a Senior Programme Manager and has gained more than 18 years’ experience working on Drug Discovery programmes within the Pharmaceutical sector. She brings extensive project management experience to the Executive Team with a particular focus on outsourcing management and collaborations. Previously she was a Section Head at Peakdale Molecular leading multiple projects for pharmaceuticals clients and a Medicinal Chemistry Team Leader at GSK within the Neurology and Gastrointestinal Department. Emma has a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Leeds, and a first-class chemistry and pharmacology degree from the University of Liverpool.
Bhavna Hunjan
Chief Business Officer
Bhavna has spent almost 15 years in commercial and corporate roles, first as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Nomura International and then in corporate strategy at PwC and Cancer Research UK. In 2016, she was hired by C4XD to incept and establish a new team focused on business development, deal structuring and execution, commercial intelligence, financing, and strategic planning / M&A. Since then, Bhavna has led this team to execute a series of successful licensing deals and strategic partnerships, as well as driving business growth and capital raising as part of the Executive Management team. Bhavna has a first class Masters degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. She was awarded a Rising Star in the Movers & Shakers in BioBusiness 2017, and also voted one of the 30 Rising Leaders in Life Sciences 2020 by In Vivo.
Bhavna Hanjan
Chief Business Officer
Bhavna has spent almost 15 years in commercial and corporate roles, first as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Nomura International and then in corporate strategy at PwC and Cancer Research UK. In 2016, she was hired by C4X Discovery to incept and establish a new team focused on business development, deal structuring and execution, commercial intelligence, financing, and strategic planning / M&A. Since then, Bhavna has led this team to execute a series of successful licensing deals and strategic partnerships, as well as driving business growth and capital raising as part of the Executive Management team. Bhavna has a first class Masters degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. She was awarded a Rising Star in the Movers & Shakers in BioBusiness 2017, and also voted one of the 30 Rising Leaders in Life Sciences 2020 by In Vivo.
Simon Harford
Non-Executive Director
Simon’s career spans more than 30 years with significant financial and investor relations expertise in global pharmaceutical companies. Simon is currently CFO at Albireo Pharma Inc., a NASDAQ-listed biotech company where he has raised more than $200 million in equity financing and was previously CFO of Parexel International Inc., a global clinical research organisation, which was acquired by private equity in 2017. Prior to this, Simon held various financial leadership roles at GSK, including SVP Finance, Global Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure, he was responsible for finance in all pharmaceutical markets globally and was a member of the Global Pharmaceutical Operations Committee. Simon also held key financial management roles at Eli Lilly and Company over two decades including Vice President and Controller, CFO and Executive Director Finance for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and led the global investor relations function as Executive Director of Investor Relations. He also received the Lilly, Chairman’s Ovation Award 2004 for outstanding achievement to Lilly. Simon has an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Simon Harford
Non-Executive Director
Simon’s career expands more than 30 years with significant financial and investor relations expertise in global pharmaceutical companies. Simon is currently CFO at Albireo Pharma Inc., a NASDAQ-listed biotech company where he has raised more than $200 million in equity financing and was previously CFO of Parexel International Inc., a global clinical research organisation, which was acquired by private equity in 2017. Prior to this, Simon held various financial leadership roles at GSK, including SVP Finance, Global Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure, he was responsible for finance in all pharmaceutical markets globally and was a member of the Global Pharmaceutical Operations Committee. Simon also held key financial management roles at Eli Lilly and Company over two decades including Vice President and Controller, CFO and Executive Director Finance for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and led the global investor relations function as Executive Director of Investor Relations. He also received the Lilly, Chairman’s Ovation Award 2004 for outstanding achievement to Lilly. Simon has an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Natalie Walter
Non-Executive Director
Natalie is a corporate finance lawyer with more than 20 years of experience advising on international equity capital markets transactions in the healthcare sector. Natalie is currently General Counsel to Oxford Biomedica plc, a FTSE 250 gene and cell therapy company. Prior to joining Oxford Biomedica, Natalie was an Equity Partner at Covington & Burling LLP advising Boards on a range of strategic, transactional and general corporate finance matters, with particular expertise in advising on deals in the life sciences sector. Prior to this, Natalie had been an Equity Partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP and had spent part of her career as a Director and Legal Counsel on the ECM desk at Lehman Brothers. Natalie was a Board member of RSA (Holdings) Limited until March 2020.
Natalie Walter
Non-Executive Director
Natalie is a corporate finance lawyer with more than 20 years of experience advising on international equity capital markets transactions in the healthcare sector. Natalie is currently General Counsel to Oxford Biomedica plc, a FTSE 250 gene and cell therapy company. Prior to joining Oxford Biomedica, Natalie was an Equity Partner at Covington & Burling LLP advising Boards on a range of strategic, transactional and general corporate finance matters, with particular expertise in advising on deals in the life sciences sector. Prior to this, Natalie had been an Equity Partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP and had spent part of her career as a Director and Legal Counsel on the ECM desk at Lehman Brothers. Natalie was a Board member of RSA (Holdings) Limited until March 2020.
Alex Stevenson PhD
Non-Executive Director
Alex began his career as a microbiologist, working in research for a number of years before joining an NYSE-quoted drug development company. He subsequently moved into pharmaceutical and healthcare investment and has fulfilled a number of board-level investment and operational management roles. He was a Director and shareholder in Aquarius Equity from 2008, where he was responsible for identifying new investments and developing and implementing scientific strategies both pre and post-investment. These included Tissue Regenix Group plc, C4X Discovery Holdings plc and Brabant Pharma (subsequently sold to Zogenix, Inc.). Alex joined the Board of C4XD as a Non-Executive Director following Aquarius’ investment in the Company. Prior to joining Aquarius, Alex worked for IP Group plc, where he specialised in life sciences investments identifying, developing and advising a number of companies in its portfolio, some of which went on to list on AIM. He joined IP Group following its acquisition of Techtran Group Limited in 2005 and Alex is a Co-Founder of 4D pharma plc and has served as Chief Scientific Officer since 2014.
Alex Stevenson PhD
Non-Executive Director
Alex began his career as a microbiologist, working in research for a number of years before joining an NYSE-quoted drug development company. He subsequently moved into pharmaceutical and healthcare investment and has fulfilled a number of board-level investment and operational management roles. He was a Director and shareholder in Aquarius Equity from 2008, where he was responsible for identifying new investments and developing and implementing scientific strategies both pre and post-investment. These included Tissue Regenix Group plc, C4X Discovery Holdings plc and Brabant Pharma (subsequently sold to Zogenix, Inc.). Alex joined the Board of C4XD as a Non-Executive Director following Aquarius’ investment in the Company. Prior to joining Aquarius, Alex worked for IP Group plc, where he specialised in life sciences investments identifying, developing and advising a number of companies in its portfolio, some of which went on to list on AIM. He joined IP Group following its acquisition of Techtran Group Limited in 2005 and Alex is a Co-Founder of 4D pharma plc and has served as Chief Scientific Officer since 2014.
Chief Financial Officer
Brad Hoy
Brad has more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and has held a number of senior financial and general management positions in both the UK and the US. Previously, Brad was Chief Financial Officer of Plethora Solutions Holdings plc, an AIM-listed specialty pharmaceutical company, Chief Executive Officer of Xcellsyz Limited, a UK venture capital-backed life science company, and Senior Director of Geron Corporation’s stem cell-focused UK subsidiary. Brad was formerly a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors for e-Therapeutics plc.
Brad Hoy
Chief Financial Officer
Brad has more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and has held a number of senior financial and general management positions in both the UK and the US. Previously, Brad was Chief Financial Officer of Plethora Solutions Holdings plc, an AIM-listed specialty pharmaceutical company, Chief Executive Officer of Xcellsyz Limited, a UK venture capital-backed life science company, and Senior Director of Geron Corporation’s stem cell-focused UK subsidiary. Brad was formerly a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors for e-Therapeutics plc.
Chief Scientific Officer
Craig Fox PhD
Craig is an experienced biologist and NIH funded Principal Investigator who has worked on and managed many Drug Discovery and development projects over more than 20 years in the industry, from initial target selection right through to investigating clinical efficacy and safety in Phase 2 patient studies. Craig joined C4XD as Head of Biology in June 2015 before becoming Chief Scientific Officer in October later that year. Prior to joining C4XD, Craig was Director of Respiratory Research at Pulmagen Therapeutics, a clinical stage company spun out of Argenta in 2010. At Pulmagen, Craig managed several of its collaborations and partnerships, including those with AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Domantis, Dr Reddy’s, Skyepharma and Teijin Pharma. Craig was part of the Etiologics team that merged with Argenta Discovery in 2004 and prior to this he worked for Bayer as a Research Scientist. Craig has a PhD in Respiratory Medicine from Birmingham University and a first-class Biochemistry degree from the University of Surrey.
Craig Fox PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Craig is an experienced biologist and NIH funded Principal Investigator who has worked on and managed many Drug Discovery and development projects over more than 20 years in the industry, from initial target selection right through to investigating clinical efficacy and safety in Phase 2 patient studies. Craig joined C4XD as Head of Biology in June 2015 before becoming Chief Scientific Officer in October later that year. Prior to joining C4XD, Craig was Director of Respiratory Research at Pulmagen Therapeutics, a clinical stage company spun out of Argenta in 2010. At Pulmagen, Craig managed several of its collaborations and partnerships, including those with AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Domantis, Dr Reddy’s, Skyepharma and Teijin Pharma. Craig was part of the Etiologics team that merged with Argenta Discovery in 2004 and prior to this he worked for Bayer as a Research Scientist. Craig has a PhD in Respiratory Medicine from Birmingham University and a first-class Biochemistry degree from the University of Surrey.
Clive Dix BSc PhD HonFBPhS
Chief Executive Officer
Clive has more than 30 years’ experience through senior pharmaceutical industry positions and a degree and PhD in Pharmacology. His expertise includes an in-depth understanding of Drug Discovery and development, a broad knowledge of the science and commercial landscape across therapeutic areas and solid experience of the pharmaceutical business and finance community supporting the sector. Clive was Co-Founder and CEO of Convergence Pharmaceuticals Ltd, acquired by Biogen, and Co-Founder and CEO of PowderMed Ltd, acquired by Pfizer. Previously, he was SVP, Research and Development and a Board member of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, acquired by Chiron Vaccines. Clive began his career in industry at Ciba-Geigy and GlaxoWellcome. Clive is currently a Non‑Executive Board member of the Medicines Discovery Catapult and on the Board of PHTA, the University of Birmingham’s flagship research facility. He was Chairman of the BioIndustry Association and interim Chair of the UK Vaccines taskforce who oversaw the supply of one of the most successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout programmes in the world.
Clive Dix PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Clive has more than 30 years’ experience in life science research, with over 20 years in senior pharmaceutical industry positions and a degree and PhD in Pharmacology. His expertise includes an in-depth understanding of all facets of Drug Discovery and development, a broad knowledge of the science and commercial landscape of a variety of therapeutic areas and solid experience of the pharmaceutical business and finance community supporting the sector. Clive was Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Convergence Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which was acquired by Biogen in January 2015. Clive was previously Co-Founder and Chief Executive of PowderMed Ltd, a vaccines development company acquired by Pfizer in November 2006. Before that he was Senior Vice President, Research and Development and a Board member of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc until its acquisition by Chiron Vaccines in 2003. Clive began his career in industry at Ciba-Geigy and then GlaxoWellcome, where he left as UK Research Director in 2001. Clive, a recent past Chairman of the BioIndustry Association, is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Centauri Ltd and a Non‑Executive Board member of the Medicines Discovery Catapult. Clive was appointed Deputy Chair of the UK Vaccines taskforce in June 2020, the group set up by the Government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and In December 2020, he stepped up to the role of Interim Chairman to oversee the supply of one of the most successful vaccine rollout programmes in the world.
Eva-Lotta Allan
Non-Executive Chairman
Eva‐Lotta has more than 30 years' experience in the healthcare industry. During this time, she has been a senior executive and Board member at both public and private companies. Most recently, Eva‐Lotta was Chief Business Officer (and previously a Board member) at Immunocore, where she held full responsibility for all aspects of business development and played an instrumental role in the $320 million fundraising in 2015. Prior to this, Eva‐Lotta served as Chief Business Officer and member of the Executive Committee and Euronext IPO team for Ablynx NV, as well as senior positions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Ltd, Oxford Asymmetry International plc, Oxford Glycosciences and Amersham International. Eva-Lotta currently serves as Chair of Draupnir Bio, Non-Executive Director and member of the Corporate Governance Committee and the R&D Sub-Committee of Oslo listed company, Targovax ASA, and is a Non-Executive Director and member of the Nomination and Remuneration commission of Almirall, and Non-Executive Director of Crescendo Biologics and Aleta Biotherapeutics. Eva-Lotta was a Board member of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA).
Eva-Lotta Allan
Non-Executive Chairman
Eva‐Lotta has more than 30 years' experience in the healthcare industry. During this time, she has been a senior executive and Board member at both public and private companies. Most recently, Eva‐Lotta was Chief Business Officer (and previously a Board member) at Immunocore, where she held full responsibility for all aspects of business development and played an instrumental role in the $320 million fundraising in 2015. Prior to this, Eva‐Lotta served as Chief Business Officer and member of the Executive Committee and Euronext IPO team for Ablynx NV, as well as senior positions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Ltd, Oxford Asymmetry International plc, Oxford Glycosciences and Amersham International. Eva-Lotta currently serves as Chair of Draupnir Bio, Non-Executive Director and member of the Corporate Governance Committee and the R&D Sub-Committee of Oslo listed company, Targovax ASA, and is a Non-Executive Director and member of the Nomination and Remuneration commission of Almirall, and Non-Executive Director of Crescendo Biologics and Aleta Biotherapeutics. Eva-Lotta was a Board member of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA).
Mario Polywka DPhil
Non-Executive Director
Mario has more than 20 years’ experience in leadership roles across the biotech industry with strong operational, commercial, strategic and drug discovery expertise. He was Chief Operating Officer of Evotec SE for 12 years, where he was involved with transactions worth more than $1.0 billion within Evotec and Oxford Asymmetry International, prior to becoming a Member of the Evotec Supervisory Board. Previously he was CEO and Chairman of Glycoform Limited, Chairman of Nanotether Discovery Sciences, and CEO of Southampton Polypeptides Limited. Mario holds a number of Non-Executive Board Director positions in biotech companies including Exscientia, Forge, Blacksmith Medicines and Orbit Discovery. Mario studied chemistry at Oxford University, where he also completed a DPhil with Professor Steve Davies and a postdoc with the late Professor Sir Jack Baldwin. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has published a number of papers in leading publications.
Mario Polywka DPhil
Non-Executive Director
Mario has more than 20 years’ experience in leadership roles across the biotech industry with strong operational, commercial, strategic and drug discovery expertise. He was Chief Operating Officer of Evotec SE for 12 years, where he was involved with transactions worth more than $1.0 billion within Evotec and Oxford Asymmetry International, prior to becoming a Member of the Evotec Supervisory Board. Previously he was CEO and Chairman of Glycoform Limited, Chairman of Nanotether Discovery Sciences, and CEO of Southampton Polypeptides Limited. Mario holds a number of Non-Executive Board Director positions in biotech companies including Exscientia, Forge, Blacksmith Medicines and Orbit Discovery. Mario studied chemistry at Oxford University, where he also completed a DPhil with Professor Steve Davies and a postdoc with the late Professor Sir Jack Baldwin. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has published a number of papers in leading publications.
Clare Murray PhD
SVP Drug Discovery
Clare, a trained pharmacologist, joined C4XD in 2015 as Project Manager to lead the preclinical development activities for the Orexin-1 receptor antagonist project now licensed to Indivior. She leads the Biology and Taxonomy3 teams at C4XD and, as Senior VP Drug Discovery, is jointly managing the C4XD research and development pipeline with Dr. Nick Ray. Clare has over 30 years’ experience in Drug Discovery and Development having worked in the Respiratory and Inflammation, Oncology and Emerging Innovations disease areas in AstraZeneca before joining C4XD. As Associate Director and Project Leader at AstraZeneca she provided leadership of cross-functional small molecule and biological drug discovery projects and supported development projects up to Phase 2 clinical studies. Clare was also involved in establishing the AstraZeneca Open Innovation platform and in managing academic industry partnerships. Clare has published more than 20 scientific papers, has a PhD in Neuropharmacology and a first-class Biochemistry degree from the University of Kent.
Clare Murray PhD
SVP Drug Discovery
Clare, a trained pharmacologist, joined C4XD in 2015 as Project Manager to lead the preclinical development activities for the Orexin-1 receptor antagonist project now licensed to Indivior. She leads the Biology and Taxonomy3 teams at C4XD and, as Senior VP Drug Discovery, is jointly managing the C4XD research and development pipeline with Dr. Nick Ray. Clare has over 30 years’ experience in Drug Discovery and Development having worked in the Respiratory and Inflammation, Oncology and Emerging Innovations disease areas in AstraZeneca before joining C4XD. As Associate Director and Project Leader at AstraZeneca she provided leadership of cross-functional small molecule and biological drug discovery projects and supported development projects up to Phase 2 clinical studies. Clare was also involved in establishing the AstraZeneca Open Innovation platform and in managing academic industry partnerships. Clare has published more than 20 scientific papers, has a PhD in Neuropharmacology and a first-class Biochemistry degree from the University of Kent.
Nick Ray PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Nick oversees the C4XD Drug Discovery portfolio from target selection through to pre-clinical candidate generation and partnering alongside Dr. Clare Murray, SVP Drug Discovery. Nick also leads the medicinal chemistry, structural analysis and computational chemistry/cheminformatics teams and together, with our CTO Dr Charles Blundell, is leading the continued development of our conformational analysis technology, 4Sight. Nick joined C4XD in 2016 and has more than 30 years’ experience leading key programmes at large multi-national companies including Rhône-Poulenc, Celltech and Argenta/Charles River, in the therapeutic areas of oncology, respiratory diseases, inflammation, CNS, pain and metabolic diseases. Eight of these programmes have progressed into the clinic to date. As head of the chemistry department at Charles River’s Harlow U.K. site, Nick was responsible for more than 70 chemists, fostering both the importance of strong medicinal and synthetic chemistry skills and championing professional development for his team, winning the Royal Society of Chemistry Retrosynthesis competition in 2015. He is a named inventor on over 75 patents and patent applications and has published 21 papers and presentation abstracts. Nick holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK.
Nick Ray PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Nick oversees the C4XD Drug Discovery portfolio from target selection through to pre-clinical candidate generation and partnering alongside Dr. Clare Murray, SVP Drug Discovery. Nick also leads the medicinal chemistry, structural analysis and computational chemistry/cheminformatics teams and together, with our CTO Dr Charles Blundell, is leading the continued development of our conformational analysis technology, 4Sight. Nick joined C4XD in 2016 and has more than 30 years’ experience leading key programmes at large multi-national companies including Rhône-Poulenc, Celltech and Argenta/Charles River, in the therapeutic areas of oncology, respiratory diseases, inflammation, CNS, pain and metabolic diseases. Eight of these programmes have progressed into the clinic to date. As head of the chemistry department at Charles River’s Harlow U.K. site, Nick was responsible for more than 70 chemists, fostering both the importance of strong medicinal and synthetic chemistry skills and championing professional development for his team, winning the Royal Society of Chemistry Retrosynthesis competition in 2015. He is a named inventor on over 75 patents and patent applications and has published 21 papers and presentation abstracts. Nick holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK.

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