Solbec trades gold stakes to boost biotech

Anti-cancer biotech Solbec Pharmaceuticals has committed to abandoning its mining roots with a penultimate sell-off of several mineral leases, and a pledge to sell the remainder soon.

The move, in which Solbec sold potash and gold stakes, is part of the company's transformation into a pure biotech.

"We have now divested ourselves of the majority of our mining leases, and have just a few remaining. The ones we just sold were not major titles, but the Jervois, Camperdown and Blue Bar titles should be worth several million dollars," said managing director Stephen Carter.

"We hope to see these sold by the end of the financial year, or by the end of the next quarter. We will put the money straight back into development of our lead cancer drug, BEC," he added.

Solbec's steroidal glycoside-derived anti-cancer drug BEC is derived from natural plant extracts based on the Devil's apple (Solanum sodomaeum).

In vitro studies indicate significant cytotoxic activity of BEC against a wide range of cancer types. Effective dose (ED50) levels are relatively low and therapeutic indices (TI) are high indicating high toxicity to cancer cells and low toxicity to normal tissue cells.