The Board of Vela Technologies PLC noted the recent update published by St George Street Capital Limited and announced the approval received in Czech Republic and Romania in relation to its ARCADIA clinical trial to test SGS002, a drug that could be beneficial to diabetic patients suffering from COVID-19. Approval Received to Begin Recruiting in Czech Republic and Romania: The ARCADIA clinical trial is a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of AZD1656 in patients with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes and admitted to hospital with COVID-19. The trial, which is sponsored by the UK charity St George Street, has successfully recruited 50 of the planned 150 patients across 11 UK hospital sites over the past 3 months. To help ensure timely completion of study enrolment, the ARCADIA trial is now expanding with the addition of approximately 23 new hospital sites over the coming weeks. In addition to 4 new sites in the UK, up to 19 sites are to be opened in Czech Republic and Romania. Regulatory and ethics committee approval for both new countries was received at the end of December 2020 and the first patients from Czech Republic and Romania are expected to be recruited to ARCADIA before the end of January 2021. Both Czech Republic and Romania have a high prevalence of diabetes (10.2% and 8.8% of the population having diabetes respectively), this compares with around 6.5% of people in the UK. In addition, both countries have regularly reported over 100 deaths from COVID-19 per day throughout December, indicating a high unmet clinical need. The decision and rapid action to obtain approval in Romania and Czech Republic is testament to the strength of the St George Street team and its collaborative relationships with its development partners. St George Street is delighted to have received such rapid regulatory approval in the two new countries and looks forward to collaborating closely with the investigational teams in both countries. The mechanism of actions of AZD1656, both blood glucose lowering and potential immunomodulatory action, are independent of viral mutations. AZD1656 activates glucokinase, which is expected to increase the migration of T regulatory cells in addition to reducing blood glucose. Reducing hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose) is increasingly seen to be important to improve outcomes in people with diabetes and COVID-19. Migration of regulatory T cells is expected to dampen down the hyperinflammation seen in the lungs for instance, that results in severe COVID-19.