30 January 2012

Sareum Holdings plc

("Sareum" or "the Company")

Notice of Results

Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery business, will announce its Interim Results for the six months ended 31 December 2011 on Monday, 27 February 2012.

Along with its Interim Results, the Company will also provide a research update on its cancer and auto-immune disease drug programmes. 

Enquiries:

About Sareum Holdings plc

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that produces targeted small molecule therapeutics, focusing on cancer and auto-immune disease. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum's Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. The development candidate resulting from the collaboration increases the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in several in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum's drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company's Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK, VEGFR-3, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol SAR. For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

14 December 2011

Sareum Holdings plc

(“Sareum” or “the Company”)

Result of AGM

The Company announces that at the annual general meeting, held earlier today, all resolutions were duly passed.

Enquiries:

Sareum Holdings plc
Tim Mitchell	01223 497 700
Merchant Securities Limited (NOMAD)
Simon Clements/David Worlidge	020 7628 2200
Hybridan LLP (Broker)
Claire Noyce	020 7947 4350

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC

(“Sareum” or the “Company”)

Sareum to Present CHK1 Cancer Research Programme
at the 2011 AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference

Sareum Holdings plc, the specialist cancer drug discovery business, is pleased to announce that it will present recent results from its joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Cancer Research Technology Ltd. (CRT) at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) National Cancer Institute (NCI) European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) International Conference, to be held between 12 and 16 November 2011 in San Francisco, CA.

On Sunday November 13, scientists from the ICR and Dr John Reader, Sareum’s CSO, will present two posters^* that describe the discovery of CHK1 programme lead compounds and the effectiveness of an advanced lead in cancer models, both as a single agent and in combination with chemotherapy.

The Company is encouraged that some of the significant recent progress made by the joint research collaboration will be presented at a prestigious international cancer conference and believe this will assist in discussions with potential licensing partners.

* Session “Therapeutic agents: Small molecule kinase inhibitors 1”

“Structure-guided evolution of potent and selective oral inhibitors of CHK1 through scaffold morphing.” Abstract # A235

“CCT244747 is a novel, potent and selective inhibitor of CHK1 with oral efficacy both alone and in combination with genotoxic chemotherapeutic agents.” Abstract # A228

Sareum’s CEO, Dr Tim Mitchell, commented: “We are delighted to be presenting these results from this highly successful collaboration at this important cancer conference, at which we expect representatives from most of our potential customer companies to attend.”

Contacts:

Notes for editors:

About Sareum Holdings plc

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that produces targeted small molecule therapeutics, focusing on cancer and auto-immune disease. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum’s Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. The development candidate resulting from the collaboration increases the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in several in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum’s drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company’s Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK, VEGFR-3, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

4 November 2011

Sareum Holdings plc

(“Sareum” or “the Company”)

Availability of Report and Accounts and Notice of Annual General Meeting

Further to the announcement of the Company’s final results for the year ended 30 June 2011 released on 26 September 2011, the Company announces that the report and accounts are now available on the Company’s website www.sareum.co.uk. Copies of the report and accounts have been posted today to those shareholders that requested hard copies.

A notice of annual general meeting has been sent to all shareholders. The Company’s annual general meeting has been convened for 10.00am on 14 December 2011.

Further information:

  26 September 2011

Sareum Holdings plc

(“Sareum” or “the Company”)

Final Results

Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery business, is pleased to announce its final results for the year ended 30 June 2011. 

Operational Highlights

·         Significant progress on the two most advanced cancer programmes including positive in-vivo efficacy data from Chk1 and Aurora+FLT3 programmes

·         Nomination of preclinical development candidate for Chk1 in August 2011

Financial Highlights

·         £950,000 (before expenses) raised by way of three share placings

·         Cash at bank and in hand of £871,000; sufficient cash resources for foreseeable future, based on current spending levels

·         Loss on ordinary activities (after taxation) £568,000 (2010: £569,000 loss) in line with expectations

Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said: “The announcement of two successful in-vivo efficacy studies, and the selection of a preclinical development candidate, bring Sareum closer to the commercialisation of drug candidates from our in-house development pipeline.  We are currently actively seeking to license these programmes in order to allow us to drive forward other programmes that have been generated from our SKIL® platform.

The placings during the course of the year, which raised a total of £950,000, have provided us with sufficient working capital for the foreseeable future to continue the current level of development of our in-house programmes.”

Enquiries:

Sareum Holdings plc
Tim Mitchell	01223 497 700
Merchant Securities Limited (Nomad)
Simon Clements	020 7628 2200
Hybridan LLP (Broker)
Claire Noyce	020 7947 4350
The Communications Portfolio (Media enquiries) Ariane Comstive / Caolan Mahon ariane.comstive@communications-portfolio.co.uk	+44 (0) 20 7536 2028 / 2029

Annual Results 2010 available as PDF document: Annual Results 2011

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
(“Sareum” or the “Company”)

Sareum to Present at European Cancer Cluster Partnering Conference

Sareum (AIM: SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery business, is pleased to announce that Dr Tim Mitchell, CEO, will make two presentations at the European Cancer Cluster Partnering Meeting (ECCP) conference, being held in Toulouse, France.

Today, Dr Mitchell will illustrate the ability of Chk1 inhibitors to increase the potency of chemo- and radio- therapy at the European Technology Showcase session. The presentation will highlight public data from Sareum’s recently announced Chk1 pre-clinical development candidate and other companies’ Chk1 inhibitors. Tomorrow, Dr Mitchell will update the conference on Sareum and its cancer research pipeline at a Company Presentations session.

Sareum’s CEO, Dr Tim Mitchell, commented: “This exciting conference offers us great opportunities to present Sareum and our cancer research programmes to representatives from international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.”

Sareum Holdings plc
Tim Mitchell	01223 497 700
Merchant Securities Limited (Nomad)
Simon Clements	020 7628 2200
Hybridan LLP (Broker)
Claire Noyce	020 7947 4350

Notes for editors:

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that produces targeted small molecule therapeutics, focusing on cancer and auto-immune disease. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum’s Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. The development candidate resulting from the collaboration increases the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in several in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum’s drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company’s Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK, VEGFR-3, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
(“Sareum”)

Preclinical Development Candidate Selected for Chk1 Inhibitor Programme

Sareum, the specialist cancer drug discovery business, The Institute of Cancer Research (“the ICR”) and Cancer Research UK’s commercial arm, Cancer Research Technology Limited (“CRT”) are pleased to announce the selection of a preclinical development candidate from their joint research collaboration.

The joint research collaboration targets Chk1 (Checkpoint Kinase 1). Chk1 is important in controlling a cancer cell’s response to DNA damage, which may be a consequence of the cancer itself, or intentionally caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Preclinical model studies carried out at the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at the ICR demonstrate that the Chk1 candidate, dosed via the oral route, in combination with the chemotherapeutics gemcitabine or irinotecan significantly reduces cancer growth rates compared to treatment with the same dose of chemotherapeutic without the Chk1 inhibitor.

Further preclinical studies demonstrate the potential for the collaboration Chk1 development candidate to reduce tumour growth when given as a sole treatment in models of certain cancer types that are believed to be dependent on Chk1 for survival.

Sareum’s CEO, Dr Tim Mitchell, commented: “The selection of a preclinical development candidate is a major milestone for the collaboration that will significantly enhance the licensing package. Our research indicates that the selectivity and oral dosing properties of this candidate give it a competitive advantage.”

Professor Paul Workman, Director of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at the ICR, said: "The significant progress made so far is very pleasing and highlights the value of partnerships between industry and academic drug discovery groups like ours. There is further important development work to be done so that patients can one day benefit from these drugs, and we look forward to the progress of the compound towards the clinic.”

Dr Philip Masterson, Associate Director at Cancer Research Technology, said: “We are working to select the right commercial partner to take the Chk1 programme into clinical development. Our ultimate aim is that one day, this drug will become available to treat a range of cancers and save more lives from the disease.

Our scientists have shown that this drug is promising in preclinical studies, and we hope further research will prove that it can be used on its own or alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy to destroy cancer cells in patients.” 

For Further Information:

Notes for editors:

About Sareum Holdings plc

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that produces targeted small molecule therapeutics, focusing on cancer and auto-immune disease. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum’s Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. The development candidate resulting from the collaboration increases the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in several in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum’s drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company’s Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK, VEGFR-3, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)  

•       The ICR is Europe’s leading cancer research centre.

•       The ICR has been ranked the UK’s top academic research centre, based on the results of the Higher Education Funding Council’s Research Assessment Exercise.

•       The ICR works closely with partner The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust to ensure patients immediately benefit from new research. Together the two organisations form the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe.

•       The ICR has charitable status and relies on voluntary income

•       As a college of the University of London, the ICR also provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction.

•       Over its 100-year history, the ICR’s achievements include identifying the potential link between smoking and lung cancer which was subsequently confirmed, discovering that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer and isolating more cancer-related genes than any other organisation in the world.

•       The ICR is home to the world’s leading academic cancer drug development team. Several important anti-cancer drugs used worldwide were synthesised at the ICR, including the FDA-approved prostate cancer drug abiraterone, and it has discovered 14 preclinical candidates over the past five years.  For more information visit www.icr.ac.uk

About Cancer Research Technology Ltd

Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) is an oncology-focused development and commercialisation company that realises cancer patient benefit from publicly- funded research worldwide. CRT works closely with leading international cancer scientists, their institutes and funding bodies to protect, develop and commercialise oncology-related discoveries. CRT is wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world.  Further information about CRT can be found at www.cancertechnology.com.

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
(“Sareum” or the “Company”)

Sareum Website Update

Sareum (AIM: SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery business, is pleased to announce that the following documents are now available for download at the Company’s website, www.sareum.co.uk:

• Sareum Research Note dated 23 May 2011, prepared by the Company’s broker, Hybridan LLP

• Presentation given by Dr John Reader at the One Nucleus Oncology Leadership Meeting, 12 May 20

Sareum Holdings plc
Tim Mitchell	01223 497 700
Merchant Securities Limited (Nomad)
Simon Clements	020 7628 2200
Hybridan LLP (Broker)
Claire Noyce	020 7947 4350

Notes for editors:

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that is focused on producing targeted small molecule therapeutics to address unmet medical needs, primarily in cancer. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum’s Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. Novel chemical compounds developed by the collaboration have been shown to increase the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum’s drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company’s Aurora, VEGFR-3, ALK, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004, trading under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
(“Sareum” or the “Company”)

Sareum to Present at Oncology Leadership Meeting

Sareum (AIM: SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery business, is pleased to announce that Dr John Reader, Chief Scientific Officer, (“CSO”), will present Sareum’s Aurora+FLT3 Kinase cancer research programme at the inaugural Life Science Leadership Series conference, held in Cambridge, UK, today.

This series of events is organised by One Nucleus, the membership organisation for international life science and healthcare companies, with oncology being the focus of this first event of the series.

Sareum’s CSO, Dr John Reader, commented: “This exciting meeting offers us an ideal opportunity to present one of our leading cancer research programmes to representatives from international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.”

Sareum Holdings plc
Tim Mitchell	01223 497 700
Merchant Securities Limited (Nomad)
Simon Clements	020 7628 2200
Hybridan LLP (Broker)
Claire Noyce	020 7947 4350

Notes for editors:

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that is focused on producing targeted small molecule therapeutics to address unmet medical needs, primarily in cancer. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum’s Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. Novel chemical compounds developed by the collaboration have been shown to increase the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum’s drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company’s Aurora, VEGFR-3, ALK, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004, trading under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

7 March 2011

Sareum Holdings Plc

(“Sareum” or the “Company”)

Director Dealings

The Company announces that Mr Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of Sareum, has today sold a total of 500,000 ordinary shares in the capital of the Company (“Ordinary Shares”), half of which were sold at a price of 2.45 pence per share with the remaining sold at a price of 2.452 pence per share. Following the transactions, Mr Mitchell holds a total of 42,280,471 Ordinary Shares, equivalent to 2.91 per cent. of the Company’s issued voting share capital.

Enquiries:

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
(“Sareum”)

Research Update: Positive Chk1 Programme Model Studies

Sareum, the specialist cancer drug discovery business is pleased to announce positive results from pre-clinical in-vivo efficacy studies from their joint research collaboration with Cancer Research Technology Limited (“CRT”) and The Institute of Cancer Research (“The ICR”).

A recent colon cancer pre-clinical model study carried out by The ICR demonstrates that the combination of a collaboration Chk1 inhibitor, dosed via the oral route, in combination with a chemotherapeutic, gemcitabine, demonstrates a greater than two-fold reduction in cancer growth rate compared to treatment with the same dose of gemcitabine without the Chk1 inhibitor.

Further pre-clinical in-vivo studies for the programme show that the collaboration Chk1 inhibitor, dosed alone, can reduce cancer growth in models of AML (acute myeloid leukaemia) and neuroblastoma (a childhood cancer).  Certain cancers, such as these, are believed to be dependent on Chk1 for survival.

The joint research collaboration with the ICR and CRT targets Chk1 (Checkpoint Kinase 1). Chk1 is important in controlling a cancer cell’s response to DNA damage, which may be a consequence of the cancer itself, or intentionally caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Sareum’s CEO, Dr Tim Mitchell, commented:

“These are exciting advances, demonstrating efficacy of our Chk1 compounds in several cancer models. Studies on additional models are on-going. We believe the results from the recently conducted studies will significantly enhance the licencing package and assist the collaboration in selecting the best compound for development into a clinical trials candidate”.

Notes for editors:

About Sareum Holdings plc

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that is focused on producing targeted small molecule therapeutics to address unmet medical needs, primarily in cancer. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum’s Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. Novel chemical compounds developed by the collaboration have been shown to increase the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in several in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum’s drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company’s Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK VEGFR-3, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004, trading under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

About Cancer Research Technology Ltd

Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) is an oncology-focused development and commercialisation company that realises cancer patient benefit from publicly- funded research worldwide. CRT works closely with leading international cancer scientists, their institutes and funding bodies to protect, develop and commercialise oncology-related discoveries. CRT is wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world.  Further information about CRT can be found at www.cancertechnology.com.

28 February 2011

Sareum Holdings Plc

(“the Company”)

Total Voting Rights

The Company announces that, pursuant to the requirements of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the total number of voting rights in respect of each class of share in issue and admitted to trading on AIM at the date of this announcement is as follows:

The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company, under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Enquiries:

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC

(“Sareum” or “the Company”)

HALF YEARLY RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2010

Sareum (AIM: SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery business, is pleased to announce its half-yearly results for the six month period ended 31 December 2010.

Financial highlights

·         Cash at bank at period end was £621,000 (2009: £740,000)

·         Loss on ordinary activities (after taxation) of £258,000 (2009: £295,000)

·         Placings of £450,000 (gross) in the period to advance cancer drug pipeline

Operational highlights

·         Research programmes making good progress

·         Progress in Chk1 & VEGFR-3 cancer programmes and SKIL^® platform presented at IDDST drug discovery conference, China

Post period end highlights

·         Positive results in leukaemia studies from Aurora+FLT3 programme

·         Placing to raise a further £500,000 to accelerate Aurora+FLT3 programme development

Dr Tim Mitchell, CEO of Sareum Holdings plc, said: “We have been actively progressing and marketing our cancer research programmes and are pleased to announce positive results in our Aurora+FLT3 programme. The recent fundraisings provide us with additional resources to accelerate the development of this programme and sufficient working capital for the foreseeable future.”

 The full report is avaialble as a pdf document: Financial Results for the Six Months Ended 31/12/11

Half-yearly results for the six months ended 31 December 2010

Chairman’s Statement

In the period under review, Sareum has continued to progress its in-house cancer drug pipeline, whilst managing the research spend such that we can drive the most promising lines of development to build the asset value of our programmes.

Sareum’s most advanced in-house programme is carried out in conjunction with one of the world’s leading cancer research organisations, The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. This programme targets Checkpoint Kinase 1, which is important in controlling a cancer cell’s response to DNA damage, which may be a consequence of the cancer itself, or intentionally caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The latest progress in the programme was presented by the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr John Reader, at the IDDST meeting in Beijing, China in October 2010. We believe that the results we have obtained from compounds from this programme compare favourably with those from current ‘best in class’ clinical candidates, and presentations such as these will be viewed favourably by potential licensing partners.

This programme has recently shifted focus to studies designed to allow us to pick our strongest candidate compound and a good back-up compound for a main stream cancer application.  We have also been exploring the effectiveness of our lead compounds in other types of cancer model systems, the results of which are also encouraging. The Directors believe that a broader range of clinical applications for a compound provides a greater potential for completing out licensing agreements.  We anticipate producing a further update on this work before the end of the current period.

The Company’s other cancer programmes; targeting Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK and VEGFR3 kinases, are progressing to plan, and continue to be evaluated in in-vivo efficacy models. Earlier this month, the Company announced significant progress against AML (acute myeloid leukaemia, the most common form of adult leukaemia) in its Aurora+FLT3 programme. A recent study for the programme showed that the leukaemia regressed to such an extent that no detectable cancer could be found in any of the cases treated (ten in total) with a Sareum compound. By comparison, leukaemia increased five to fifteen fold in the study examples treated without Sareum’s compound.  At six weeks following treatment, no detectable cancer could be found in two of the ten examples dosed with the Sareum compound. In the remaining eight examples, the average time taken for the leukaemia to reappear and increase 5-fold was six weeks, compared to two weeks in the untreated cases. This study compares very favourably with similar studies published in the literature for the Aurora kinase inhibitors that are currently in clinical trials.

It is important to evaluate and benchmark the performance of our lead compounds against those already in clinical development as it not only shows how they rank with those already approved for clinical development but allows us to assess their relative strengths and weaknesses.  This means that we can develop analogues and modified versions to improve the compound’s overall profile, as far as is possible, and ensures we progress with those compounds with the best prospects.  Our ability to raise additional funds has greatly assisted in this process and allows us to accelerate the process further.

This research activity is coupled with a very active marketing campaign to licence the programmes to a prospective pharmaceutical or biotechnology company partner. In October 2010, Sareum Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell, presented the Company’s SKIL^® cancer drug discovery pipeline at the IDDST conference in China.  Presentation of programme data to conferences of this type provides an excellent opportunity to show what the Company has achieved. The conferences are attended not only by scientists but also by commercial and corporate representatives from potential licensing partners. 

Fundraising

Share placings in August and December 2010 help to maintain the Company’s cash resources and working capital for the foreseeable future whilst providing a significant investment in the Company’s pipeline of cancer programmes. The Directors were pleased to generate this support during the period under review and in the period following it, particularly in light of the challenging economic climate that small biotech companies are facing.

During the six months under review the group raised £450,000, before expenses, from two placings of new ordinary shares on AIM. £200,000 was raised in August at 0.2p per share and the remaining £250,000 was raised in December at 0.2p per share. Earlier this month a further £500,000 was raised at 1p a share. The funds raised will accelerate the ongoing development of the group’s drug discovery programmes; in particular the Aurora+FLT3 programme, and provide working capital for the foreseeable future.

Financial review

We ended the half year with net assets of £699,000, including £621,000 of cash in the bank.

Outlook

Our primary objective is to progress our in-house cancer drug discovery pipeline to deliver candidates that are positioned to attract lucrative partnering deals with pharmaceutical companies. We expect to develop further drug candidates for pre-clinical studies during the current financial year. Our Chk1 and Aurora kinase programmes are now maturing and producing high quality compounds that, on the basis of the data generated to date, will allow us to select candidate compounds that we believe will perform favourably when compared to those in clinical development at the present time.

We are actively seeking licensing partners with the aim of achieving a licensing deal on at least one of our current in-house programmes in addition to the Chk1 programme.

Dr Paul Harper,

Chairman, Sareum Holdings plc

10 February 2011

Sareum Holdings plc

(“Sareum” or “the Company”)

Placing to raise £500,000

The Company announces that, following investor demand, it has conditionally raised £500,000, before expenses, by way of a placing by Hybridan LLP of 50,000,000 new ordinary shares of 0.025p each in the capital of the Company (the “Placing Shares”) at 1p per share, representing a 40 per cent. discount to the closing market price of 1.65 pence on 8 February 2011, the price which formed the basis for the Board’s decision to undertake the placing. The Placing Shares have been issued to Xcap Securities plc, on behalf of its clients.

Following the results of the recent study that was announced on 7 February 2011 Sareum intends to use the proceeds of the placing to accelerate the advancement of the Aurora+FLT3 Kinase leukaemia drug discovery programme and for working capital generally.

It is the Board’s view that the placing is the most appropriate means of providing capital to accelerate its drug discovery programmes and to provide working capital for the Company. The cost of funds raised through the placing are substantially less than those for an open offer or a rights issue to shareholders.

Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will become effective and trading will commence on 15 February 2011. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares of the Company.

Following the admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM, the Company will have a total of 1,450,597,713 shares in issue.

Enquiries:

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
(“Sareum” or the “Company”)

Statement re Share Price Movement

Sareum (AIM: SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery business, has noted the recent significant rise in the Company’s share price, the volume of shares traded in the last two trading sessions and the bulletin board and press comments following the announcement made on 7 February 2011 with the headline “Research Update: Positive Leukaemia Model Study”.

The Company can confirm that it is not currently in advanced stages of discussion with a potential licencing partner and there can be no certainty that the announcement of these results will lead to a licencing agreement being entered into.

The Company can confirm that the results of the study have, in the ordinary course of business, been sent to potential licencing partners and the Company will be engaging with these partners to determine their interest in the data.

Notes for editors:

About Sareum Holdings plc

Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that is focused on producing targeted small molecule therapeutics to address unmet medical needs, primarily in cancer. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum’s Chk1 kinase cancer research programme is a joint research collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research Technology Limited. Novel chemical compounds developed by the collaboration have been shown to increase the effectiveness of current cancer therapeutics in in-vivo cancer models.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum’s drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company’s Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK VEGFR-3, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and auto-immune disease research programmes. SKIL can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004, trading under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk