BioDiem appointment ramps up market bid

Drug development company BioDiem has appointed a pharmaceutical industry heavyweight to its board in the lead-up to a public listing this year.

The Melbourne company named Rod Unsworth as its chairman, saying his experience and market profile would assist in its upcoming float.

CEO Tom Williams said the company had been looking for a chairman who would increase BioDiem's profile in the market. "Rod will add value to the business through his experience and understanding of both big and small pharmaceutical business," Williams said.

"He understands who our customers are very well and that our business is set up ultimately to out-licence products to big pharma companies. He also understands how to build a small business into a bigger one as well as the whole drug development business."

Unsworth comes to BioDiem from Pharmacia, where he has spent the past four years as Asia-Pacific region president.

Prior to that he held the title of group vice-president, global business management, where he was responsible for ophthalmology, growth hormone and Parkinson's disease programs, and before that was Australasian regional president.

Unsworth joined Pharmacia after its subsidiary, Upjohn, purchased his Perth-based generic drug company, Delta West. He remains a director on the boards of Pharmacia Australia, Objectivision and Medical Corporation Australasia.

He takes on the BioDiem role today (Monday, May 6), taking over from Michael Nicholas who will remain on the board as a non-executive director.

BioDiem seeks out and commercialises research for vaccines and other therapeutics and currently has a licensing agreement with US company Merck & Co to make and market the Australian company's live attenuated influenza vaccine.

Williams said Unsworth's background with Pharmacia could prove a useful foot in the door for future licensing deals.

"It's something we will consider at the right time," he said. "It will obviously open doors for us but any proposal will be viewed on its own merits."

BioDiem's latest project is in preparing a tissue repair agent, acquired from St Petersburg Institute of Experimental Medicine, for pre-clinical trials.

Williams said the treatment had shown potential to improve the speed and quality of tissue repair externally - for wounds such as burns or ulcers - and internally as a remedy for repairing gastric ulcers and myocardial infarcts.

He said it remained feasible that the company could list by August, but said the timeline would be clearer once a review by Deloittes Corporate Finance was completed in a couple of weeks.

"We're moving towards making all the final preparations to get ready for our listing and electing a chairman is obviously an important step in that," Williams said.