BresaGen nets $200,000 SA govt grant

BresaGen (ASX:BGN) has been awarded a Commercial Infrastructure Grant of AUD$200,000 from Bio Innovation SA, the South Australian government's biotechnology agency.

The grant will be applied toward the purchase and installation of an aseptic filling line, enabling BresaGen to provide a small to medium scale sterile filling service to clients.

BresaGen's chief operating officer, Meera Verma, said the grant provided the company with an important avenue for revenue growth. "It gives us the capability to offer a complete service and it complements our existing services," she said.

The expansion may lead to additional clients, Verma said. "We might not be able to manufacture their product but we will be able to provide the aseptic filling service," she said.

Verma said there were currently only two other aseptic filling services available in Australia. "Only CSL and Mayne provide the service and they cater for larger companies. We will provide for the smaller end of the scale," she said.

"Up until now it has been very difficult, inefficient and expensive for small batches of sterile product to be produced for pre-clinical and clinical trials, with the companies sending them overseas for aseptic filling."

Under Bio Innovation SA's terms, BresaGen is required to match the grant. "We will more than match the grant dollar for dollar, but without it we would not have been able to offer the service for a few years," Verma said.

The equipment for the aseptic filling line has been ordered and is expected to be installed by the end of the year and commissioned and licensed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in the first quarter of 2006.