NuSep moves in with Minomic

Sydney bioseparations company NuSep has bought a 16.5 per cent shareholding in Minomic, a private biotech specialising in proteomics research.

The two companies, close neighbours in the suburb of French's Forest, have also entered into an agreement in which NuSep has an exclusive right for six months to negotiate both a manufacturing and a marketing deal for a range of diagnostic kits.

Minomic is hoping shortly to commercialise a urine test for prostate cancer based on a novel biomarker. It is also working on protein biomarkers for type 2 diabetes and its complications, including diabetic retinopathy.

NuSep, which listed on the stock exchange in May, is a new company formed to develop and market products first developed by Life Therapeutics, which is now concentrating solely on its plasma therapeutics business in the US and Italy.

NuSep manufactures and markets products such as electrophoresis gels, laboratory instruments using the well-known Gradiflow technology, and plasma-based reagents for the research community.

NuSep CEO, John Manusu, said NuSep was actively looking for both acquisitions and agreements both here and in the US to expand its product offering.