26 February 2024
ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS
PLC
("Ananda"
or the "Company")
Management accounts for the
quarter ended 31 January 2024
Ananda Developments Plc (AQUIS: ANA),
the company whose ambition is to be a leading provider of
cannabinoid-based medicines for the treatment of chronic, complex
inflammatory pain conditions, announces its unaudited management
statements for the quarter ended 31 January 2024.
This announcement contains inside
information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and
the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of
this announcement.
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ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC
Chief Executive Officer
Melissa Sturgess
Executive Director
Jeremy Sturgess-Smith
|
+44 (0)7463
686 497 ir@anandadevelopments.com
|
SP
ANGEL CORPORATE FINANCE LLP
Corporate Finance
Richard Morrison
Harry Davies-Ball
|
+44 (0)20 3470 0470
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Corporate Broking
Abigail Wayne
Rob Rees
|
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Yellow Jersey PR
Charles Goodwin
Soraya Jackson
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+44 (0)20 3004 9512
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Directors Statement
Introduction
Ananda Developments Plc ("the
Company" or "Ananda") is a company quoted on the Aquis Stock
Exchange ("AQSE") Growth Market. The Company was incorporated
on 19 January 2018 and its shares were admitted to trading on 4
July 2019.
Below is a summary of activities
during the period in question and certain post-period
events.
Activities during the period
Ananda Corporate
Ananda will be
attending and speaking at the Master Investor Show in London at The
Business Design Centre 52 Upper Street London N1 0QH on the
9th of March. The Company will be represented at the
event by its CEO, Melissa Sturgess, and its Finance Director,
Jeremy Sturgess-Smith.
To attend the show,
please follow the following link:
https://masterinvestorshow-2024.reg.buzz/?exhibitor-inviter=18f1c1fa-b9ee-11ee-9af7-000000000000
Ananda has recently
opened its InvestorHub (the "Hub") for all shareholders,
stakeholders and interested parties to sign up to. This was
launched on 14 December 2023 with the intent to increase the
Company's ability to engage directly with individual stakeholders.
To join the Hub, follow the link here: https://investors.anandadevelopments.com/s/a66906
Also during, and just after, the
period the Company announced the appointment of Professor Cherry
Wainright and Dr Katie Sloper, PhD as Scientific Advisers (30
January 2024) to the Company, and Vitalii Ratushni as Data and
Analytics Adviser (6 February 2024).
·
Professor Cherry Wainwright is a pharmacological
research expert with over 42 years of experience and is the
President Elect of the British Pharmacological Society ('BPS'). The
mission of the BPS is to promote and advance the whole spectrum of
pharmacology - the scientific study of the effects of drugs and
chemicals on living organisms. The BPS leads the way in the
research and application of pharmacology around the world and has
over 4,000 members from more than 60 countries
worldwide.
Cherry will advise the Company on
its drug development activities, areas of potential unmet need that
could benefit from Ananda's medicines, and clinical trial
activities including protocol development.
·
Dr. Katie Sloper, PhD is a medical research expert
with a particular focus on the therapeutic profile of
cannabis-based medicines and innovative approaches to cancer
treatment. Katie's work with Ananda will focus on developing the
Company's scientific understanding of cannabidiol and its
mechanisms of action, with a particular focus on chronic pain and
inflammation. Katie will help the Company to continually refine its
scientific approach and identify potential new areas for clinical
investigation.
·
Vitalii Ratushni is a data, analytics, and
quantitative modelling expert. His appointment gives Ananda the
analytical capability to better target its research activities by
identifying potential current and new disease areas where
cannabinoids may be efficacious. His expertise in big data will
enable Ananda to assess patient populations in areas of unmet need
and support new cannabinoid drug development. Vitalii's focus will
be on creating a database of over 10,000 diseases which have
symptoms for which cannabinoids may have potential for activity.
The database will then be refined to conditions which have evidence
that cannabidiol has treatment potential. Refinement and
interrogation will provide Ananda with information sets to identify
clinical trial research opportunities.
MRX Medical
(MRX)
Clinical
Trials
During the period,
MRX continued to progress its two already announced clinical trials
and to put the foundations in place for future clinical trials in
other conditions. As a reminder, Ananda announced during 2023 that
MRX will be supplying its patent-pending MRX1 cannabidiol oil to
two Phase II trials. Those trials are investigating:
·
The pain relieving effects of MRX1 on sufferers of
endometriosis. The RCT, funded by a £300,000 non-dilutive grant
from the Chief Scientist Office in Scotland, is being led by Dr
Lucy Whitaker, a Senior Clinical Research
Fellow at the Centre for Reproductive Health, University of
Edinburgh. The trial will be a pilot trial, with the end goal being
to assess the feasibility of running a further nation-wide trial on
the use of CBD versus placebo in the treatment of
endometriosis-associated pain. The study will be located at NHS
Lothian and NHS Grampian with a 100‑patient recruitment
plan.
Endometriosis is a condition where
tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the
uterus. It can cause severe pain in the pelvis and affect
fertility. Globally, 10% of women suffer from
endometriosis* and currently the
only treatments are surgery, hormonal treatment or pain
killers. The global market of 190 million sufferers was valued
at $1.05bn in 2020 and is expected to achieve CAGR of 9.6% from
2020-2030**.
·
The pain relieving effects of MRX1 on sufferers of
Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy ("CIPN"). This trial,
funded by a £1.25m non-dilutive grant, is being led by Professor
Marie Fallon who is a leading researcher at the University of
Edinburgh (the "UoE") and the St Columba's Hospice Chair of
Palliative Medicine as well as Honorary Consultant in Palliative
Care with 256 publications and over 10,000 citations. The trial
will be a double-blind crossover trial, located at Western General
Hospital with a 92 patient recruitment plan. CIPN is a common and
debilitating side effect of chemotherapy with approximately 160,000
new cases per year in the UK, with a prevalence of 60% 3 months
after chemotherapy treatment.
Signing of Drug Supply Agreement
On 14 November 2023, the Company
announced that MRX has signed a Drug Supply Agreement ("DSA") with
the UoE and the Lothian Health Board ("LHB"). This agreement
provides the legal framework for the provision of MRX1 to UoE for
the CIPN trial and confirms that MRX has been granted a licence
over all arising (generated from the trial) Intellectual Property
("IP") for internal research and development purposes, as well as
an option to licence the arising IP for all commercial purposes.
MRX will maintain full ownership of all IP as relates to the
Investigative Medicinal Product (MRX1) and its matching Placebo.
There are no preventative treatments for CIPN and symptom
management is commonly ineffective. The CIPN global market was
valued at US$1bn in 2021 and is estimated to reach US$1.5bn in 2030
and, given most treatments are ineffective, the Directors believe
that this figure may not accurately reflect the true market
size.
Patents
On 8 November 2023,
the Company announced that MRX has filed a fifth patent application
with the UK Government's Intellectual Property Office. The
application covers a new cannabinoid formulation known as MRX2T.
This formulation is based on MRX's patent pending MRX2 cannabidiol
formulation, with the addition of tetrahydrocannabinol ("THC").
This formulation has been developed for use in Randomised
Controlled Trials ("RCTs"). This application is in addition to four
previous applications which cover the proprietary formulation
methodology and three different cannabinoid formulations known as
MRX1, MRX2 and MRX3.
Throughout the
remainder of the period the team at MRX pressed on diligently with
MRX's research partners, and we look forward to bringing all our
shareholders more information on this and any other developments at
MRX as soon as possible.
DJT
At the beginning of
the period, on 1 November 2023, the Company announced that Ananda
and DJT had signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with
Nottingham Trent University ("NTU") to pursue third-party grant
funding to progress DJT's medical cannabis breeding programme and
its low-carbon medical cannabis cultivation and manufacturing. The
shared vision, beyond the MOU, is to create a formal strategic
partnership and the establishment of a Cannabinoid Centre of
Excellence at NTU.
Throughout the
period the Company's Head of Operations continued discussions with
NTU's Grant Capture department to begin assessing which grants were
most appropriate for DJT to apply for. Our Finance Director has
also worked to reduce DJT's monthly cash burn as far as possible to
preserve Company cash.
Whilst we continue
to believe that DJT shows incredible promise as a business unit,
until the market demand increases and the regulatory framework
becomes less opaque the Directors believe that MRX is the Company's
core value driver and the Company will be applying most of its
efforts and resources in this area in the near term.
Melissa
Sturgess
Chief Executive
Officer
* https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/endometriosis
**https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/endometriosis-market-analysis/#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20endometriosis%20market,9%25%20during%202020%2D2030.
Ananda Developments Plc is a public
limited company limited by shares and was incorporated on 19
January 2018 with company number 13440398. Its registered
office is at 60 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0HR.
The Company's shares are traded on
the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market under symbol ANA and ISIN
number GB00BDQPXQ60.
The information for period ended 31
January 2024 are unaudited.
Basis of preparation
These quarterly management accounts
of Ananda have been prepared in compliance with United Kingdom
Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102,
"The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom
and the Republic of Ireland" ("FRS 102") and the Companies Act
2006.
These management accounts are
prepared on a going concern basis, under the historical cost
convention, as modified by the recognition of listed invests at
fair value.
The management accounts are presented
in Pounds Sterling, which is the Company's presentation and
functional currency.
The preparation of the management
accounts requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates.
It also requires management to exercise its judgment in the process
of applying the Company's accounting policies. The areas involving
a higher degree of judgment and complexity, or areas where
assumptions and estimates are significant to the management
accounts are disclosed below.
1
Going Concern
The Company does not have a bank
account. Ananda's cash is held by its subsidiary companies
DJT Plants Ltd and MRX Global Limited. As at 31 January 2024,
the subsidiaries jointly held cash of £84,428.
For this reason, it continues to
adopt the going concern basis in preparing the management
accounts.
2
Earnings per share
The calculation of earnings per share
is based on the loss attributable to ordinary shareholders divided
by the average number of shares in issue during the
period.
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31 January
2024
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Earnings
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£
|
Loss for the quarters
ended
|
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(244,322)
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Number of shares
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|
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Weighted number of shares for the
purpose of basic and diluted earnings per share
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2,878,027,906
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Earnings per share
(pence)
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(0.008p)
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https://investors.anandadevelopments.com/link/YeN0kP