Croma Pharma update

RNS Number:1393V
Henderson Morley PLC
09 February 2004


HENDERSON MORLEY PLC

HENDERSON MORLEY RECEIVES UPDATE FROM CROMA PHARMA - FIRST PATIENTS TREATED

The Board of Henderson Morley plc ("Henderson Morley" or "the Company"), the
drug discovery company, announces that it has received a written report from
Croma Pharma concerning the ongoing Phase II trial with the eye application of
ICVT.

Croma has confirmed that all six centres in Austria and Slovakia have received
the necessary Ethics Committee approval and that stocks of the treatment have
been delivered. Initiation visits to ensure the correct interpretation of the
trial protocols at the relevant centres have also taken place.

In parallel, Croma has conducted stability studies for the trial medication and
these tests have now satisfactorily confirmed the stability of the product.

Croma has also confirmed that the first patients were enrolled during January
2004, and treatment of these patients has now commenced.

Dr Andreas Clausen, Head of the Clinical Project Team for the ICVT A12 trial
commented: "The start of this clinical trial means that our aim of producing a
safe and effective therapy for Adenoviral Keratoconjunctivitis has taken a step
forward".


                                      Ends

Enquiries:
HENDERSON MORLEY PLC Tel: 0121 442 4600
Andrew Knight, Chairman

BREWIN DOLPHIN SECURITIES LTD Tel: 0113 241 0126
Neil Baldwin

BISHOPSGATE COMMUNICATIONS LTD Tel: 020 7430 1600
Maxine Barnes
Dominic Barretto

Copies of this announcement will be available free of charge to the public at
the Company's registered office at Metropolitan House, 2 Salisbury Road,
Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8JS and at the offices of Brewin Dolphin Securities
Ltd, 34 Lisbon Street, Leeds LS1 4LX for 14 days.


Notes to Editors

Adenovirus Keratoconjunctivitis
Adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis is a highly contagious disease that occurs
worldwide sporadically and epidemically. Although not permanently blinding,
adenoviral ocular infections remain the most common external ocular viral
infection worldwide. The natural course of the acute phase of adenoviral
keratoconjunctivitis has a wide spectrum of duration and intensity of local
symptoms. After an incubation period of 2 to 14 days, symptoms usually begin in
one eye, and the other eye becomes symptomatic after 2 to 4 more days. Typical
symptoms include conjunctival hyperemia and chemosis, swelling of the
conjunctival plica, and intense tearing. Conjunctival pseudomembranes occur in
some cases. The corneal involvement sets the adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis
apart from other forms of viral conjunctivitis. During the course of the
infection corneal subepithelial opacities frequently develop. These nummular
opacities or infiltrates can impair visual function and can persist for months
to years, and therefore make treatment of this debilitating condition desirable.

Currently, no specific antiviral therapy is available to shorten the course of
the infection, to improve the distressful clinical symptoms, to stop viral
replication, or to avoid the development of corneal opacities.

Ionic Contra Viral Therapy

Developed in-house by Henderson Morley, ICVT is an innovative compound for
treating virus infections. It exploits the little known finding, that many of
the biological processes involved with virus DNA synthesis are sensitive to
local potassium ion concentrations.

ICVT uses a proprietary combination of two established drugs currently used in
cardiovascular medicine that have no prior use as anti-virals. The component
drugs used in ICVT cause depletion of intracellular potassium and inhibit the
replication of DNA viruses, while normal host cell metabolism and function is
only minimally affected. By combining two compounds that act on ion transport in
different ways, the antiviral effect is enhanced. This combination therefore
offers the prospect of preventing viral replication with little or no adverse
effects.

The anti-viral effects of the two drugs in ICVT are synergistic. The effects of
ICVT on host cell metabolism have been measured in a variety of cell lines and
the rate of cell metabolism is unaffected by prolonged incubation with ICVT.
Pilot human studies have not demonstrated any local or systemic toxicity when
used at anti-virally effective doses.

Additionally, the component drugs used in ICVT have a long history of being
widely co-prescribed in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. As such, ICVT
offers potential in the treatment of a range of viral infections for which
current therapy is inadequate, such as adenovirus.

The directors believe that no other antiviral treatments are under clinical
development for Adenovirus Keratoconjunctivitis, and if further studies prove
successful ICVT could address a sizeable market of unmet medical need.

ICVT is currently being investigated as a treatment for several other DNA virus
infections, and clinical developments will be reported in due course.




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