Solbec board casts off its mineral past

Western Australian mining-turned biotech company Solbec Pharmaceuticals has severed its last links with the minerals industry in a move it has signalled as "showing the market all our past history has gone."

The departure of Dr Michael Ruane as director marks the company's new sole focus on biotech, said managing director Steven Carter.

"Michael realised it was time to move on. He has a strong interest in the mineral field, and understood that [his departure] would remove the constraints of a mining heritage. It was a mutual agreement that he should go, and it allows the company to make a fresh start," he said.

The move, which Carter described as "cordial and friendly" came at the end of March, and was accompanied by the appointment of Anthony Kiernan and Michael Grant to the board.

Both Kiernan and Grant bring a depth of financial and corporate management experience to the new board, and were the first stage in a push to strengthen corporate governance, compliance and biotech investment capability said Carter.

"It's not that we were lacking in these areas before, but the new appointments will strengthen our focus, and take us that extra step away from being a mining company. Previously, there were mineral experts on the board; now there are none," he said.

Carter noted that initial trials with the company's new anti-cancer drug, BEC, were proving highly successful on 'compassionate use' patients.

"We have had phenomenal results both in the lab and on humans. The drug comes originally from a plant, but we produce it using a full pharmaceutical process," he said.

The plant, solanum sodomaeum (also known as devil's apple) has been claimed effective in slowing the growth of various skin cancers on horses and cattle. Dr Bill Cham, who was principal research fellow at the University of Queensland's Department of Medicine, discovered the plant's effectiveness in cancer treatment was due to a mixture of steroidal glycosides.

The glycosides have the same aglycone (steroidal function) solasodine in combination with a variety of plant sugars. In vitro studies indicate significant cytotoxic activity of BEC against a wide range of cancer types.

Describing Ruane as "having provided a great service" to the company, Carter noted that the departure will allow the company to signal the market its new, purely biotech intentions.

"With the addition of the new members to the board, we will strengthen our biotech networking capacity, and get better links to the industry. We are really well cashed up at the moment, with about $AUD2 million in assets. But moving to the US for clinical trials will be very expensive, and we will definitely have to raise some money sometime," Carter said.

"This new board will open up a broader range of investors to the company."