Anatara Lifesciences names new CEO

Anatara Lifesciences (ASX:ANR) has appointed a new CEO and has reported a fivefold increase in its net loss for the half-year ending in December due to spending on commercialisation efforts for lead product Detach.

The company has named Dr Paul Schober to the CEO role, effective from next week. Schober is joining Anatara from animal health company Virbac, where he was general manager for the company’s Peptech division.

During his career, Schober played a role in securing the first FDA registration for an Australian biotech product - animal health product Ovuplant in 1998 - and in launching the product in the US and the EU.

He will take over from managing director Dr David Venables, who will retire as a director but remain working for Anatara on a contractual consultancy basis. The UK-based Venables is expected to play a key role in Anatara’s UK registration plans.

Anatara has also appointed Damian Wilson as the company’s head of global business development and added a new director to its board.

Wilson has experience working at both Australian and international animal health companies ranging from start-ups to large private companies, including large agribusiness companies Norbook Laboratories and Coopers Animal Health.

The new director, Paul Grujic, was most recently president of CSL Animal Health. He has also held senior roles at companies including Glaxo, Pitman-Moore and Webster Animal Health.

Anatara separately revealed that its net loss for the December half grew 530.5% to $776,000 due to development costs for Detach, the company’s non-antibiotic therapy for diarrhoea in pigs.

During the half-year period, Anatara listed on the ASX in October with a $7 million IPO and scaled up manufacturing of Detach for field trials. The company recently reported results from its first field trial showing that the treatment reduced piglet mortality by nearly 50% compared to the control group.

Anatara is now preparing to commence additional trials to complete its application with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), with the goal of launching the product in Australia in 2016.

The company is also pursuing approvals in the EU and the US, and is seeking interest from potential partners in the product.

Anatara’s half-year report states that due to accumulated losses there is material uncertainty as to the company’s ability to operate as a going concern. But it adds that the recent IPO has left it in a strong enough cash position that directors were confident in preparing the financial statements on a going concern basis.

Anatara Lifesciences (ASX:ANR) shares were trading unchanged at $0.465 as of around 1 pm on Tuesday.

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