Starpharma enters agrochemical tie-up

US-based crop protection firm Gowan Company is evaluating using Starpharma’s (ASX:SPL) Priostar dendrimer nanotechnology platform.

Starpharma said its collaboration with Gowan will involve evaluating using Priostar in certain Gowan crop protection products.

Through the partnership, Gowan hopes to broaden its crop protection offerings and open up new markets.

Starpharma touts its Priostar platform as being able to improve efficacy of crop protection products by improving concentration, reducing solvent loading and increasing bioavailability and adhesion.

The company is commercialising the technology for crop protection applications through internal development programs as well as partnerships with agrochemical vendors.

In March, the company signed a similar evaluation deal with Makhteshim Agan, another large manufacturer and distributor of crop protection products.

Starpharma is also using dendrimer technology for VivaGel, its lead product in clinical development as a vaginal microbicide.

VivaGel is also under development for bacterial vaginosis; but after a recent phase III trial failed to meet is primary endpoint, the company will pursue commercialising the product not as a cure but as a treatment to prevent recurrence.

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) shares were trading 2.08% lower at $0.94 as of around 1 pm on Monday.