Industry News
Placement nets $10m for GTG
Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) has raised AUD$10 million in a share placement to institutional and professional investors, managed by Sydney boutique investment bank EG Capital. [ + ]
Benitec not likely to leave IMB: McKinley
Gene silencing specialist Benitec has denied rumours that it is to relocate from its IMB (Institute for Molecular Bioscience) base in Queensland to the US, claiming that North American media misreported the situation. [ + ]
Antisense raises $5 million
Drug discovery biotech Antisense Therapeutics (ASX:ANP) has added AUD$5 million to its coffers with the placement of 38.5 million new shares to the institutional and specialist investor market. [ + ]
New virus linked to breast cancer
Researchers at the Prince of Wales Hospital have established a link between breast cancer and the human form of a mouse virus. [ + ]
Norwood Abbey moves into Asia
As part of its strategy to move into the Asian region, Norwood Abbey has appointed a new commercial partner to market its range of laser assisted drug delivery products. [ + ]
Peptech MD Kwik to resign
Peptech is to lose its managing director Stephen Kwik in the first glimpse of what chairman Mel Bridges has dubbed a "broadening and deepening of scope" for the therapeutic peptide and protein biotech. [ + ]
Australian science boosted by Synchrotron Research Fellowships
Chair of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program (ASRP) and ANSTO CEO, Professor Helen Garnett, has announced six leading scientists from Australia and overseas will each received fellowship grants of around $70,000 per year to conduct research into improved cancer treatments, forensics, molecular biology, minerals, synthetics and technology.
[ + ]pSiMedica's BioSilicon to undergo tissue engineering trial
pSiMedica, a subsidiary of Perth-based pSivida (ASX: PSD), has signed an agreement with the UK-based McComb Foundation to evaluate its nanostructured porous silica material BioSilicon as a tissue-engineering substrate. [ + ]
PwC gives the nod to a biotech bounce
A just-released BioForum report by business watchers PricewaterhouseCoopers has talked up the life sciences sector, based on a strong Q4 performance and positive investor sentiment thanks to better than average results compared to the five previous quarters. [ + ]
AGT Biosciences chases new market
Buoyed by the data from a recent research paper out of Cambridge University, gene discovery biotech AGT Biosciences has announced it has broadened its patent covering PARL (formerly gene AGT203) to cover cancer, aging and some other diseases. [ + ]
Novogen scores new US patent
Biopharma Novogen has been granted a US patent for isoflavone treatment for fibroids and endometriosis specific to women. [ + ]
APAF ups the discovery ante
The Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF) has "dramatically increased its throughput capability" with the installation of a new Applied Biosystems 4700 Proteomics Discovery System. [ + ]
Victor Chang Institute to work with BioDiem
Sydney's Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute has signed a deal to investigate a tissue restorative agent, BDM-K, for Melbourne biopharma BioDiem [ + ]
EpiTan answers ASX trading query
Melbourne-based EpiTan's share price (ASX:EPT) has doubled since April, but that's just because of increased market awareness, the company has told the Australian Stock Exchange. [ + ]
New fund aims to raise $150m for Australian biotech
A new fund, spearheaded by stockbrokers Intersuisse, British VC Rothschild Bioscience Managers and Sequence Capital Group, aims to raise AUD$150 million and overseas backing for Australian biotech companies. [ + ]