New Screening Service

RNS Number:6073O
Cytomyx Holdings PLC
07 July 2005

For immediate release                                             7 July 2005

                                  Cytomyx Ltd


                  New IonScreenTM Service from Cytomyx
             Enables Rapid, Reproducible Ion Channel Screening


Cambridge, UK: Cytomyx Ltd ("Cytomyx"), part of Cytomyx Holdings plc, a
world-leading supplier of drug discovery products and services, is pleased to
introduce IonScreenTM, its new ion channel screening service.  The service
combines Cytomyx' unparalleled range of validated ion channel cell lines with
its expertise in automated electrophysiology to deliver timely, high quality
data.

The service supports Cytomyx' customers in their efforts to develop safer and
more efficacious medicines by profiling compounds against a broad panel of
sodium, potassium and other ion channels targets.  This allows the development
of drugs that are highly specific to their pharmacological targets and are
therefore potentially more potent and could have fewer side effects.


IonScreenTM is a fee-for-service, high-throughput automated electrophysiology
offering run by a team of experienced scientists headed by expert
electrophysiologist Dr Ray Helliwell. Cytomyx has already delivered data to its
first customer and has 10 validated assays ready for use.  The number of
available assays will be further increased as more than 50 new ion channel cell
lines in development become available. The new cell lines represent a broad mix
of known drug targets and important channels that should be considered in safety
testing for new drugs.


Dr Umesh Patel, Cytomyx' Director of Biological Operations, stated: "IonScreen
is a premier service because it allows access to a breadth of well-validated ion
channel cell lines that are not available elsewhere.  Our assays developed on an
automated electrophysiology platform are robust, enabling delivery of high
quality results within tight deadlines."



Rod Westrop, Cytomyx' Commercial Director, concluded: "We are proud to be the
first company to offer a service that allows drug candidates to be rapidly
tested across a broad range of ion channels using a functional assay platform.
This type of testing is highly desirable but has hitherto been impossible in the
ion channel field due to the lack of validated biological tools and the
technical limitations of screening technologies."


                                     -Ends-


For further information please contact:

Cytomyx

Karen Chandler-Smith, Business Development and Marketing Manager
6-7 Technopark, Cambridge, CB5 8PB, UK.
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail] Web: www.cytomyx.com


Buchanan Communications                                  + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000
Mark Court/Mary-Jane Johnson

Notes for Editors



About Cytomyx Ltd

Cytomyx Ltd is a division of Cytomyx Holdings plc a rapidly growing life science
company based in Cambridge, UK. The Company's primary focus is on developing
novel technologies that assist pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in
their efforts to develop new treatments more effectively.  The company does this
by providing solutions that provide early insights into the likely efficacy and
safety profile of new drugs in development.  The Company has two main areas of
expertise: the use of human clinical samples in understanding the linkage
between gene expression and disease and the development of cell-based assays
that are used to support ion channel drug discovery and predict potential
cardiac toxicity in new drugs.  Cytomyx is listed on the AIM market of the
London Stock Exchange (CYX.L). For more information visit
www.cytomyx-holdings.com



About Ion Channels

Ion channels are protein structures embedded in the cell membrane of most cells
in the body and form the basis of the electrical properties of cells.  The
function (or dysfunction) of ion channels can have a strong impact on a cells
physiology, behaviour and signalling pathways.  Ion channels are known to have a
critical role in nerve and muscle function and consequently have a key
involvement in the central nervous system (CNS) and the heart.  However,
electrical functions are ubiquitous across most cells and tissues and are seen
in many diseases, disorders and also in the side effects of drugs.  Hence ion
channels are of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry.



Ion channel modulators are already a successful drug class including
blockbusters such as the anti-hypertensive Norvasc (sales of $4bn in 2003).
But, when compared to other drug target classes (GPCRs, Kinases), ion channels
are under exploited by the pharmaceutical industry.  It is well accepted that
one reason for this under exploitation is that ion channels are technically
complex targets.  The best existing technology (patch clamp electrophysiology)
is resource intensive and inefficient.  Traditional higher throughput
alternative methods of studying them such as fluorescent dyes, radiometric flux,
and binding assays present serious technical limitations.  In recent years,
there has been a drive towards the development of new technologies to enable
higher throughput ion channel screening using electrophysiology (automated
electrophysiology platforms).









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