Revamped Start grants boosting biotechs

Biotech companies are shouldering their way into the first wave of successful applicants to the Federal Government’s re-launched R&D Start grant program, supporting research efforts with commercial potential.

Latest company to reveal an injection of funds from the new-look Start program, which supports R&D with commercial potential, is Queensland company Agenix. It revealed this week that it has received $AUD1.98 million to further work on its ThromboView blood clot imaging technology.

Simultaneously with the funding announcement, Agenix has initiated Phase I human clinical trials of ThromboView at the Royal Brisbane Hospital complex in Queensland. The trials mark the first time that a humanised monoclonal antibody has entered a phase I trial in Australia and the first time that ThromboView has been injected in a human anywhere in the world, according to Agenix CEO Don Home.

Another biotech successful in winning funding from the reorganised Start program, which was frozen for seven months last year before being relaunched with an increase in funding, is gene discovery company Bionomics.

The South Australian biotech was awarded $2.9 million in mid-February to advance its work on epilepsy genes into the discovery of new drugs to treat a range of central nervous system (CNS) disorders including schizophrenia and anxiety.

Although Bionomics application was successful, the money is not due to start flowing until July. To create fast track funding for its CNS drug discovery project, Bionomics this week will close a stock purchase plan that could generate an additional $12.5 million for its coffers if fully taken up by the company’s 2500 shareholders.

They are being offered the chance to purchase $5000 worth of new shares each at a discount of about 14.6 per cent to the quoted price. Acceptances for the offer, which will close March 21, were described as “very encouraging” by Bionomics’ CEO and MD Dr Deborah Rathjen.