Sumimoto goes cold on Qcide

Brisbane biotech BioProspect (ASX:BPO) has received a knockback from Sumitomo Australia as a potential licensee for its eucalypt-derived biocide Qcide, as a natural pesticide to control carpet beetles and clothes moths.

The company announced today that Sumitomo Australia had advised that it did not wish to proceed with further tests of Qcide.

BioProspect's company secretary, Colin Johnston, said, "The results weren't as positive as they had hoped for hygiene market sector. "

But Johnston said BioProspect was progressing towards an exclusive product agreement with Germany's Neudorff GmbH KG to develop Qcide as a microbocide for the consumer hygiene market. The two companies signed a heads of agreement last year, and trials were progressing "very well".

Johnston said a trial of its other lead compound, AP778, is confirming its promise as a specialised agent for controlling termites.

AP778, which is extracted from the wood of a native Queensland tree that exhibits long-term resistance to termite attack, is being trialled by Southern Cross University researchers at a termite-infested woodland site near Narrandera, in southern NSW.

"Everything they've done is showing that termites hate this stuff, and will turn 180 degrees when they encounter it," Johnston said.

He said the company had been advised by its researchers that the compound could be made by synthetic chemistry, avoiding the need to extract it from living trees in the wild.