Devine, Progen split

Queensland biotech Progen Industries and business development vice president Dr Peter Devine have parted company.

Devine's surprise departure caps an 18-month tenure which saw Progen deliver record revenues from its contract manufacturing operations while making significant progress with its drug discovery program.

It recently announced hospital ethics committee approval for its cancer therapy PI-166 to be investigated in a Phase I liver cancer trial at St George Hospital in Sydney.

PI-166 complements Progen's lead cancer drug PI-88 which is currently in multiple trials in patients with multiple myeloma and advanced cancers.

Over the full year to June 30, the company showed a 58 per cent revenue rise to $3.850 million from the previous corresponding period.

Progen has not officially announced the reasons for the departure of Devine, who has a high profile in industry development circles.

He is a national director of director of industry association AusBiotech and chief organiser of its Queensland state conference, ClubBio.

Before joining Progen, Devine was research and commercialisation manager for another Queensland biotech, Panbio, and worked with UniQuest, the commercialisation arm of the University of Queensland.

Devine said he was seeking to move his career into more senior positions in the life sciences industry while taking on consultancy work in the short term.

"I'm looking for something to challenge me a bit. A natural extension of what I've been doing would be a CEO role," he said.