Shareholders back AGT-ChemGenex merger

Shareholders of Melbourne-based AGT Biosciences (ASX:AGT) have backed the company's merger with privately-held Californian firm ChemGenex Therapeutics.

The approval will lead to the creation of a new company, ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals, which will continue to trade on the ASX, with the stock symbol 'CXS'.

Dr Greg Collier, the CEO of AGT, will also be CEO and managing director of the new company. Dr Dennis Brown will be its president and a director.

The merger gives AGT an instant pipeline - Chemgenex has two products in Phase II clinical trials. Ceflatonin is a treatment for leukaemia, and Quinamed is a treatment for solid tumours.

In a statement, the newly merged company said it also had a pre-clinical pipeline of small molecules, therapeutic proteins and antibodies in several markets, including cancer, diabetes, obesity and depression. Through AGT, it also has a partnership with Merck KGaA to discover new therapies for diabetes and depression.

When the merger was first foreshadowed in late April, Collier said it would create a fully-integrated pharmaceutical company.

"We will still partner big disease areas with big pharmaceutical companies, but we will be able to go after smaller niche markets and personalised medicine opportunities," he said.

The new company will retain ChemGenex's Menlo Park, California operations and AGT's Australian operations in Geelong and Melbourne, as well as its Centre for Statistical Genomics in Texas.

AGT's shares were trading slightly higher at AUD$0.53 by press time.