Avexa lists on ASX

Amrad (AML) spin-off Avexa (ASX: AVX) listed on the ASX this morning with trading hovering around AUD$0.265.

"I think it went very well, considering that not many people would know about us," said Avexa's CEO Julian Chick. "There's a significant air of optimism in the company."

The newly launched company has taken with it all of Amrad's anti-infectives projects, leaving the original company to focus on the development of therapeutic biologicals for inflammatory diseases and cancer.

"We're a pure play anti-infectives company, completely independent of Amrad and playing in large growing markets with great economic opportunities and significant unmet medical needs," Chick said.

"We've got a nice portfolio of projects, enormous capabilities and great experience to draw on."

Amrad has retained about 20 per cent of the shares in the new company, providing $12 million in funding to get it started. The remaining shares were distributed to existing Amrad shareholders including Fibre Optics (Australia), the Victorian state government through State Trustees, QIC and others.

Avexa currently has three projects including a hepatitis B drug targeting the viral polymerase enzyme, an HIV integrase inhibitor and a new antibiotic targeting vancomycin-resistant 'superbugs'.

The HBV project is the most advanced of the three, according to Chick. Based on a non-nucleotide analogue, the lead compound will be tested in animal proof-of-concept studies this year, with results due in early 2005. If the results show the drug works, clinical trials are planned for late 2005.

The other two projects are currently undergoing lead optimisation studies prior to proof-of-concept studies, which would be expected to commence in late 2005.

"We think we can build value fairly early on as the path to market [for these anti-infective drugs] is clear," said Chick.

He noted that animal efficacy studies for anti-infective drugs provide a clear go-no go decision point, as the drugs either work to clear an infection or they don't. It means that the time to market is significantly faster -- six years compared with the ten years required for a typical CNS drug, and the success rate of anti-infectives entering Phase I clinical trials is typically around 30 per cent compared with a 0.5 per cent success rate in CNS drugs.

Chick said the existing funding has been budgeted to last for two years, although if the HBV drug shows efficacy in the animal proof of concept studies, additional funding will be required to support clinical trials.

"Assuming success there, we'd go back to the market in a year or so," said Chick. "It would depend what we could get from other sources, such as grants from the NIH or the federal government's P3 program."

As far as partnering goes, Chick said the company would take a project-by-project approach. The HBV drug, for example, which is in a novel class of drugs, is likely to be used in combination therapy with other HBV therapeutics, and so partnering with a suitable partner for clinical trials may be on the cards once proof-of-concept data is at hand.

But in any case, Avexa plans to carry each project as far as it can, and with a team with technical experience covering concept to clinic, the company is likely to try to leverage its capabilities to the fullest, through collaborations with research institutions and other biotech companies.

Chief scientific officer Jonathan Coates said the company has a clear and simple path to follow.

"Everyone at Avexa has one goal and that is to get medicines to market," he said. "We know what the risks are, and we want to move hard and fast into the markets."