Regular news within the Australian biotech industry.
- Bionomics receives grant extension for neuro drug
- CollTech awarded collagen innovation patent
- Compumedics break even forecast to boost 2006 activities
- Healthscope extends Nova Health bid
- Mayne considers demerger for local and global markets
- Peptech announces full-year profit upgrade
- ResMed to acquire Saime
- Grain Biotech Australia trial salt tolerant GM crop
- Uniseed boost funds with AU$15 million partnership
Bionomics receives grant extension for neuro drug
May 5 – Bionomics has received a two-year extension and an additional AU$859,000 in funding to the Federal Government R&D START grant for its central nervous system drug development program. The original AU$2.87 million grant awarded in 2003 has now been extended to June 2007. The additional funding will be put toward accelerating a number of projects including Bionomics GABA-A receptor targeting drugs for the treatment of epilepsy.
[Source: Company Announcement]
CollTech awarded collagen innovation patent
May 6 – CollTech Australia has been awarded an Australian Innovation Patent entitled 'Collagen and method for producing the same', which protects aspects of the company's process for isolation of collagen and gelatine from animal skins. Patents covering the procedure are also pending in China, USA and Europe.
[Source: Company Announcement]
Compumedics break even forecast to boost 2006 activities
May 6 – Compumedics has announced previous full year revenue guidance will meet AU$38 to AU$40 million expectations, however investments in US, Asian and European markets to implement its sales and marketing resource plan has resulted in a profit downgrade. Compumedics anticipates full year earnings to break even with the realisation of this financial years investments in 2006.
[Source: Company Announcement]
Healthscope extends Nova Health bid
May 9 – Healthscope has announced an extended offer period for its takeover bid for Nova Health, following Nova Directors acceptance and recommendation of the bid. Healthscope is offering AU$0.30 per share for the remaining 31.13 per cent of Nova shares it does not already own. The offer period has now been extended to June 7 2005. Healthscope has also acquired through its Gribbles Pathology Group, all equity in Quest Laboratories in Singapore for S$4 million. Quest is the largest operator in the private non-hospital based pathology market in Singapore with annual revenues of approximately S$7 million. The acquisition adds substantially to the existing S$2.3 million gained from the Singapore market through its 57 per cent interest in Gribbles Pathology.
[Source: Company Announcement]
Mayne considers demerger for local and global markets
May 4 – Mayne Group has announced its board will consider the merits of a demerger involving separate listings of its global pharmaceutical business and a subsidiary focussed on the Australian domestic market. Mayne cited both domestic, European, Indian and USA markets have significantly increased the value of its pharmaceutical businesses. It also stated that the demerger would give investors choice between investing in long term domestic growth or in a high growth global pharmaceutical business. Mayne shares soared nearly 20 per cent to AU$4.14 prior to the announcement.
[Source: Company Announcement]
Peptech announces full-year profit upgrade
May 6 – Peptech has reported strong half-year results and has announced an 18 per cent profit upgrade to its full year forecast to a net profit in excess of AU$22 million. Following the settlement of a dispute with Centocor, revenue from royalties was reported to be up for the half-year to AU$32.9 million. The profit forecast upgrade comes after the realisation of cost savings due to new company premises enabling internalisation of numerous activities it had previously expected to outsource.
[Source: Company Announcement]
ResMed to acquire Saime
May 6 – ResMed has entered into an agreement to acquire Financiere ACE SAS, the holding company for ventilation product develop and distributor Saime SA. The agreement is worth an estimated 86 million Euro, consisting of 40 million Euro in equity and 46 million Euro in debt that ResMed will finance through existing cash reserves and debt. The acquisition will expand on ResMed's current European distribution network, and is expected to close later this month.
[Source: Company Announcement]
Grain Biotech Australia trial salt tolerant GM crop
May 4 – WA-based Grain Biotech Australia will plant two types of GM wheat within weeks under strict controls at Corrigin. The GM wheat to be planted has been grown in water one-third the saltiness of sea-water, producing three times the seed weight of non-GM salt-tolerant wheat. Supporters of the trial, including National Party agriculture spokesman, Terry Redman, have hailed it as an opportunity to improve cash flow in struggling, salt-affected Wheatbelt communities. Agriculture Minister Kim Chance said the State Government supported controlled field trials of GM crops. Anti-GM lobbyists say Grain Biotech should have been made legally liable for potential economic loss faced by other Corrigin farmers who were not growing GM wheat, prior to approval. Mr Chance conceded liability issues remain unresolved but said he was confident GM wheat pollen would not cross over to other crops given the strict controls, citing a previous canola trial, which was far more likely to cross over, that had been trialled in WA under the same controls without mishap.
[Source: The West Australian]
Uniseed boost funds with AU$15 million partnership
May 10 – University based pre-seed venture fund Uniseed has signed a AU$15 million partnership with Westscheme, Western Australia's biggest private sector superannuation fund. The partnership will provide Westcheme with equity in both Uniseed's existing portfolio and all its new investee companies. The Westcheme partnership continues a strong 18 months in which Uniseed have concluded five follow-on investments in Uniseed start-up companies, plus a licensing deal with another. Established in September 2000 as a AU$20 million joint venture pre-seed and seed fund between the commercial arms of the University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne, Uniseed was the first university pre-seed fund of its type in Australia.
[Source: Company Announcement]
