ASX or Nasdaq? Acrux investigates listing opportunities

Transdermal drug delivery company Acrux is planning a public listing in the next year but is yet to decide whether it will be on an Australian or United States bourse.

The company is hoping to gauge potential investor interest for US mezzanine financing and possible Nasdaq listing when it attends Bio2002 in Toronto next month.

But chief executive officer Dr Igor Gonda said the fact that Acrux was a pooled development fund meant its investors would probably favour an Australian Stock Exchange listing first.

"It is a question of an ASX or Nasdaq listing and which one do you do first," Gonda said. "Your real value is the Nasdaq value and unless you do that you won't know the real value of the company and, I think generally speaking, where the money is where the business is.

"At present it seems the ASX and then the Nasdaq seems the logical thing to do, but I need to test the water."

Acrux is built around proprietary "invisible patch" technology in which drugs are combined with a sunscreen formula and delivered through a spay applicator that puts a fine film of mist on the skin.

The drugs, which are small molecule compounds no longer protected by patents, are then absorbed through the skin to treat conditions ranging from menopause to pain management and depression.

Gonda said the company's most advanced project was its hormone replacement therapy for women studies, which included a late phase II study using estradiol and two studies using progestogen.

This year, Acrux signed an agreement with Pharmacia to examine the use of the Melbourne company's Metered Dose Transdermal System (MDTS) with the pharmaceutical giant's own drugs.

The company says it is able to enjoy a faster track to market because the drugs it uses in its delivery system have already been approved for human use, making the trial period considerably shorter.

Gonda said Acrux had so far conducted two rounds of capital raising, with its main investors being Blue Dot Capital in Singapore and Deutsche Bank.

He said it planned to conduct another private round of funding to raise up to $20 million in order to accelerate clinical development and make its product line more attractive to big pharmas.

"The pharma industry is now more interested in late stage product licensing than in early stage technology development," Gonda said.

"One of the big problems with Australian biotech and pharma is that they partner too early and sell the farm before there is food growing on it. We don't want to make that mistake."

He said another reason for a private round was to attract some institutional investors before launching an initial public offering.

"We would do the next round some time this year and would be looking to list on a 12 month time scale," he said.

Gonda said he hoped Bio2002 would help to bolster short-term mezzanine financing and start preparing the ground for an IPO.

"We need first to develop a relationship with investors to help us get more well known in the US," he said.