Gradipore to appoint CEO, independent chair

Gradipore is on the hunt for a global CEO and an independent chair in a bid to become a "multi-billion dollar organisation," executive chairman John Manusu said today.

Manusu said that Gradipore, a separation technology specialist based in Sydney but with an expanding US base, hired global search firm Heidrick and Struggles earlier this year to get advice on strengthening the company's executive team and board before it expanded.

Manusu said the board's decision had been unanimous in light of the company's drive to capitalise on its revenue streams, including commercialisation of its Gradiflow technology platform.

"We're setting ourselves a step above where we currently are," Manusu said. "We're in the same league as the Cochlears and the ResMeds - we don't see ourselves as a junior biotech."

Manusu said he saw the new chair as being an Australian, who had considerable international experience at bringing products to market. The two existing boards, he said, would be amalgamated, and he anticipated that its members would step down.

Gradipore is aiming to get US Food and Drug Administration approval for the Gradiflow, and make it a separation "gold standard" through strategic deals with several organisations and companies, including the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, Biomira, Bayer and Aventis.

Gradiflow is a process that the company says can be applied to a wide range of research, scientific and commercial applications such as blood purification and drug manufacture.

But the company was also finalising a raft of new deals, Manusu said, with a range of companies, including a non-biotech. He said most of the deals would be able to be made public within the next month.

"The biotech market generally is not buoyant, but it's certainly not flat," Manusu said. "We've seen our sales really take off, largely at the expense of other players."