Industry News
CK Life mulling state sweeteners
Hong Kong's Cheong Kong Holdings-backed biotech venture CK Life Sciences is yet to decide which state will house its Australian operations, the company said on Tuesday, as it weighs up offers from some very determined suitors. [ + ]
ASX to help lift biotech's public image
The Australian Stock Exchange is poised to take an active role in the development of a healthy public biotech sector in Australia. [ + ]
Metabolic gets good results on obesity drug
Metabolic Pharmaceuticals has achieved another milestone in its development of a weight-loss drug after demonstrating that its obesity drug AOD 9604 is active after oral administration to human patients. [ + ]
ResMed launches lawsuit against competitor
Sleep care company ResMed is living up to a reputation for aggressively defending its market position by launching a US patent infringement lawsuit against competitor Fisher and Paykel Healthcare. [ + ]
Griffith has high hopes for patient monitor
Researchers at Griffith University have developed a new method that monitors patients' vital signs, and sends a message to doctors if there is a problem. [ + ]
Bionomics and Hybrigen explain their partnership
One of the more interesting collaborations between an Australian biotechnology company and a US company is the alliance between Adelaide genomics company Bionomics and proteomics company Hybrigen, based in Texas. [ + ]
Strategy to boost biotechnology's market share
A major strategy statement designed to ensure Australia becomes a stronger global competitor in the field of biotechnological research and development was launched by the CSIRO last week at the AusBiotech2002 Conference in Melbourne.
[ + ]US VC warns of early IPO dangers
Don't go public too early, use incubators to get your company off the ground and maximise collaborative opportunities, were the key messages from US venture capitalist Peter Morgan Kash at the AusBiotech 2002 conference this week. [ + ]
New technologies let researchers think outside the square
Just one in-house technology is not enough, if you're a company that's always looking for new ways to boost your drug discovery and manufacturing capabilities, delegates to this week's AusBiotech conference were told. [ + ]
Combinomics looks to sequence the unsequenceable
An Australian-developed technique for sequencing previously intractable regions of genomes is attracting increasing financial backing. [ + ]
Genetic Solutions beefed up by BIF grant
Agri-tech company Genetic Solutions will use a $250,000 Biotech Innovation Fund (BIF) grant to ride herd on a database holding more than one million samples of livestock DNA. [ + ]
Metabolic nets BIF grant for pre-clinical studies
Melbourne company Metabolic Pharmaceuticals has received a BIF grant of $234,700 to pursue pre-clinical studies on an orally available iron-chelating compound. [ + ]
We've paid the price, now let us work: Amrad boss
Gently suggesting that analysts and investors should back off and let Amrad focus on its product development, managing director Sandra Webb presented Amrad as a case study on maturing public biotechnology companies at the AusBiotech 2002 conference. [ + ]
Second BIF grant gives Protagonist an edge
For drug design start-up Protagonist, tucking a second BIF grant in as many years under its belt should help smooth future discussions with commercial partners. [ + ]
Heavy R&D spend sees Antisense book $6.3m loss
Biopharmaceutical research and development company Antisense Therapeutics reported on Wednesday a net loss of $6.3 million for the 12 months to June 30, 2002, driven largely by heavy early-stage expenditure on R&D, the company said. [ + ]