Benitec appoints RNAi specialist to head US advisory board

Brisbane gene silencing company Benitec (ASX:BLT) has appointed a specialist in DNA-directed RNA interference to chair its scientific advisory board in the United States.

Dr John Rossi is currently the professor and chair of the Division of Molecular Biology at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, and is Dean of the Institute's Graduate School of Biological Sciences.

Benitec CEO and chairman John McKinley said Rossi's support for the company in agreeing to come on board "confirms that we're right on track in capturing the advantages of our proprietary ddRNAi technology and moving it towards the clinic".

McKinley said Rossi's involvement would accelerate the company's development programs for applying its technology to the treatment of diseases.

Rossi expressed delight at his selection, saying he looked forward to working with Benitec to develop the technology's potential.

"Through my research at the City of Hope, I've worked extensively with RNAi, and I'm convinced that Benitec's ddRNAi technology holds the greatest promise for the research and development of human therapeutics due to its excellent versatility, including the fact that ddRNAi avoids the interferon response in cells, a common cause of toxicity," Rossi said.

The City of Hope is a cancer centre dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes and other life threatening diseases.

Benitec's focus is on the application of ddRNAi, a method to trigger the natural gene suppression process that operates by destroying messenger RNA, which in turn delivers instructions to the ribosomes within the cell to manufacture the proteins coded for by DNA.

The company's technology triggers the production of double stranded RNA, which is then cleaved into small interfering RNA, resulting in the destruction of the target messenger RNA, thereby silencing the expression of the target gene.

It was the first to demonstrate RNA interference in mammalian cells and owns key intellectual property in the field.

Revenues swelled

Benitec's preliminary final report, released on Friday, shows that the company's revenues from ordinary activities swelled almost twofold, from $381,000 last year to $611,000.

The increase was attributed to the commercialisation of the company's ddRNAi technology in the United States, which generated licensing revenues of US$950,000.

At the same time, Benitec experienced a significant increase in its losses to $8,230,000, which it said was attributable to the consolidation of its businesses in order to focus on biotechnology.

But a year of major expenses depleted the company's cash reserves, with the end of year balance sitting at $202,000.

Benitec said expenses included $5.2 million in direct operational expenses, out of which $3.6 million relates to the funding of intellectual property costs.

The company had slipped 0.91 per cent at the time of writing to trade at $1.09.