IXICO plc is a UK

clinical research Clinical research is a branch of healthcare science that determines the safety and effectiveness ( efficacy) of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatm ...

firm that provides

neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incre ...

and digital biomarker analytics to

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

firms conducting clinical trials into neurological diseases such as

Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

(AD) and

Huntington’s disease Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is mostly inherited. The earliest symptoms are often subtle problems with mood or mental abilities. A general lack of coordination and an unst ...

(HD).

Company history

IXICO was incorporated in 2004 as a spin-out from three London academic institutions:

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. The initial 3-year research project was called ‘Information eXtraction from Images’ (hence the IXI name), and funded by the UK e-science core and other industry partners. In October 2013, IXICO entered the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange through a reverse takeover of defunct pharmaceutical drug company Phytopharm.

Phytopharm

Phytopharm was a British

pharmaceutical company The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...

, incorporated on 28 November 1995. Briefly known as Lawnhale, it changed its name to Phytopharm in March 1996 and listed on the London Stock Exchange on 25 April of the same year (LSE:PYM). It announced plans for a secondary listing on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

in 2004 (NASDAQ:PHYOF). By 2012, the Phytopharm group consisted of a parent company, Phytopharm plc, a wholly owned trading subsidiary, Phytotech Limited, and a dormant subsidiary, Phytodevelopments Limited. Amongst other activity, Phytopharm raised funds for research into treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) from sources including the Michael J Fox Foundation, but the company collapsed in 2013 following the failure of its main PD drug (Cogane) during clinical trials. Its shares were suspended from trading on 20 May 2013.

References

{{Authority control Biotechnology companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 2004 Technology companies based in London Companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market