Collaboration

    RNS Number : 7834X
  Vivomedica PLC
  30 June 2008
   

 For immediate release  30 June 2008

    VivoMedica plc
    ("VivoMedica" or the "Company")

    VivoMedica plc announces collaboration with Cellartis AB 

    VivoMedica plc (AIM:VVM) the pharmaware company, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with
Cellartis AB to extend VivoMedica's DrugPrintTM platform for use with cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESC). The
combination of DrugPrintTM's sophisticated proprietary waveform analysis with a novel human heart cell model for measuring drug induced
effects is expected to provide hitherto unprecedented discriminatory power in cardiac safety screening.

    DrugPrintTM is a preclinical tool for the early identification of potentially fatal cardio-toxic side effects of lead compounds in the
drug discovery process. Accurate profiling of lead compounds early in the drug development cycle allows research and clinical trial funding
to be more efficiently targeted towards compounds that are likely to succeed as safe effective pharmaceutical products, avoiding the costly
and high profile withdrawals of drugs that had reached the market. 

    The agreement between VivoMedica plc and Cellartis AB, a Swedish / British biotechnology company leading in the development of hESC
technologies for drug discovery research, toxicity testing and regenerative medicine, entails a study to evaluate drug-induced changes on
hESC-derived heart cells.  Cellartis is the world's largest single source of defined hESC and has developed more than 30 well documented
hESC lines.  The cell work will be conducted at Cellartis' facilities in Gborg, Sweden.  The combination of stem cells and the sophisticated
analytical capabilities of VivoMedica's DrugPrintTM system are expected to yield discriminatory power needed by the pharmaceutical and
biotech industry and increasingly expected by the regulatory authorities. The potential human and financial benefits are substantial.

    Dr Johan Hyllner, CSO of Cellartis AB, commented 'There is a great need for improved and clinically relevant in vitro models for
predicting adverse effects of new drugs. Human stem cell based models in combination with advanced hard- and software have the potential to
meet this need." 

    Peter Leyland, CEO of VivoMedica, commented "The evaluation of the safety and toxicity profiles of new drugs, and indeed existing drugs,
on the heart has become of paramount concern to the pharmaceutical industry. 

    This collaboration is an exciting opportunity to combine our revolutionary technologies to develop a solution that could deliver
significant benefits to the pharmaceutical industry".


    For further information, please contact:

 VivoMedica                                  01795 414460
 Peter Leyland, Chief Executive Officer
 Susan Veness, Finance Director

 Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking (NOMAD)  0845 270 8600
 Mark Brady / Alison Barrow

 Buchanan Communications                    020 7466 5000
 Diane Stewart / Catherine Breen / Tim
 Anderson




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