Minomic gets $5m investment funding

Australian prostate cancer diagnostic biotech Minomic International will receive funding injection worth as much as $5 million from venture capital firm Carnegie Innovation Fund.

Minomic and Carnegie have signed a definitive agreement under which Carnegie will subscribe for up to $5 million in Minomic shares, the companies announced.

Under the arrangement, Carnegie's head of healthcare investing Nicola Young will join the Minomic board.

Minomic was established in New South Wales in 2007 to commercialise biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of major diseases.

The company has developed a prostate cancer diagnostics test based on a protein it has discovered that is only present on the surface of cancer cells.

Current prostate cancer diagnostics measure levels of Prostate-Specific-Antigen (PSA) in the blood, but because this substance is made by normal prostate cells the test has a false positive rate estimated to be as high as 75%.

Announcing the investment agreement, Young said Minomic's technology also provides a platform for the development of potential therapeutic applications in prostate and other cancers.

“We look forward to working with the company to secure timely global partnering for distribution of its products and an appropriate merger take-out by a pharmaceutical or diagnostic major,” she said.

The Carnegie Innovation Fund was set up to invest in early-stage Australian companies under the auspices of the government's IIF program. It is a subsidiary of fund manager MH Carnegie and Co.

In early 2009, Global Metals Exploration (ASX:GXN) - then known as Global Nickel Investments – agreed to acquire Minomic for 80 million shares and 20 million options.

But the deal collapsed later that year, with the mining investment company stating that it had “not been able to complete a number of key matters satisfactorily in connection with its proposed acquisition.”