Industry News
ATP takes equity in start-up Elastagen
Technology investment company ATP Innovations has taken equity in Sydney University spin-off Elastagen, investing AUD$250,000 to support commercialisation of the company's recombinant tissue-engineering protein tropoelastin. [ + ]
Living Cell aims to be on US market in three years
Living Cell Technologies (ASX:LCT) has announced preliminary animal results after 12 weeks of a six-month study evaluating the safety and tolerability of its pig islet cell product, Diabcell. [ + ]
AustCancer claims good results in prostate trial
Cancer therapeutics company Australian Cancer Technology (ASX:ACU) announced today its GPI-0100 vaccine adjuvant has produced an enhanced immune response in its Phase I clinical trial in men with relapsed prostate cancer. [ + ]
Two more Australian biotechs to list on ASX
Two Australian biotech companies lodged IPO prospectuses with ASIC this week, both looking to list in the next couple of months. [ + ]
Half-year results: Agenix, Progen, C3, Cygenics
Brisbane's Agenix is not yet out of the red, announcing a net operating loss of AUD$5.2million, up from $2.1 million in the corresponding period last year. [ + ]
Ambri reveals plans to slash workforce
Medical diagnostics company Ambri (ASX:ABI) has announced plans to halve its workforce and is on the hunt for new medical diagnostic products to shore up its product pipeline after the suspension last year of its SensiDX project. [ + ]
Benitec to collaborate in AIDS therapy trial
Australian gene therapy company Benitec (ASX:BLT) is taking its novel AIDS therapy into a Phase I clinical trial in volunteers with AIDS-related lymphoma at the City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, California. [ + ]
Chemgenex gets milestone from Vernalis
Chemgenex Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CXS) will receive a AUD$720,000 milestone payment from its partner Vernalis for progress made on its depression and anxiety target discovery program. [ + ]
Cryptome acquires option for anti-inflammatory
Melbourne-based Cryptome (ASX:CRP) has joined the ranks of Australian biotech companies sourcing potential products from overseas, with the acquisition of an option for an exclusive licence over a novel class of protein-derived anti-inflammatory compounds from the University of Virginia. [ + ]
Japanese giant Suntory to partner Aust plant biotech
Unlisted Australian horticulture group Oasis Horticulture has teamed up with Japanese beverage company Suntory in an R&D joint venture to develop new plant varieties for the international market. [ + ]
CSL reports $160m profit at half-year
CSL (ASX:CSL) has reported a strong net profit of $160.1 million for the first six months of the 2004-2005 fiscal year, up more than 500 per cent on the figures reported last year. [ + ]
Board shake-up mooted at Polartechnics
Dramatic board changes have been proposed at Sydney device company Polartechnics (ASX:PLT). [ + ]
Melbourne scientist finds gene that makes a man a man
When it was cloned in 1991, the sex-determining region, Y-chromosome (SRY) gene was hailed as the elusive 'master switch' that sets an genetically male embryo on the path to male development. But it is now clear that SRY is just the finger that flicks the real switch to 'male'. It's the transcription factor gene SOX9 that causes the embryo's indeterminate gonads to develop as testes, not ovaries [ + ]
Young brains give clues to schizophrenia
An international study led by Australia's National Institute of Schizophrenia and Associated Disorders (NISAD) has shown, for the first time, that cognitive abnormalities in schizophrenia map closely to structural abnormalities in the brain. [ + ]
Norwood Immunology lays its plans
Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIM) CEO Richard Williams is planning a busy year. Along with an Australian trial of GnRH analogue in bone marrow transplant patients, the company is gearing up for preclinical trials Lupron's ability to induce tolerance to donor cells prior to transplantation. [ + ]
