Cash up for grabs from NZ fund

The NZ$12 million Australia New Zealand Biotechnology Partnership Fund has awarded NZ$6.76 million in its first round of grants to trans-Tasman biotechnology projects.

Four grants were awarded between $635,000 and $3 million from the fund, which aims to facilitate collaboration between Australian and New Zealand biotechnology companies, with a focus on development, marketing and manufacturing activities rather than research.

The grants provide 25-50 per cent of project costs with the recipients expected to provide the remainder of the funding from private sector sources.

"One of the keys to sustained economic growth is New Zealand's ability to developed world leading technology. Our biotechnology sector is at the forefront of innovation and this fund is designed to accelerate its growth and global reach," said Pete Hodgson, NZ's Associate Minister of Industry and Regional Development.

"Partnering with Australian biotech companies enables Kiwi firms to accelerate their development not only within the trans-Tasman market, but globally."

NZ company Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU), recently listed on the ASX, received a NZ$635 grant (AUD$585,000) with partner Metabolic Pharmaceuticals (ASX:MBP) to co-develop Neuren's neuro-protective peptides treatment of degenerative conditions including peripheral neuropathy, motor neuron disease and spinal cord injury repair. The focus of the collaboration will be on developing and evaluating the efficacy of a new lead compound over the next 18 months, with the goal of moving it into formal preclinical development and clinical trials.

"There are substantial synergies between our two companies, having complementary experience in protein chemistry and interests in overlapping scientific fields," said Neuren's CEO David Clarke.

In fact, the two companies already have a close relationship, with an ongoing collaboration on the biochemistry of Metabolic's growth hormone derived obesity drug and the recent acquisition of AUD$0.5 million of shares by Metabolic during the NZ company's ASX float.

The two companies are also putting in funds, with the grant providing 25 per cent of the project costs, Neuren contributing 25 per cent and Metabolic the remaining 50 per cent, and will share IP and commercial outcomes equally.

Melbourne-based Starpharma will also share in the spoils from the fund, through its collaboration with NZ Crown Research Institute Industrial Research, which has netted a NZ$945,000 grant to work on the development of glycodendrimers, or carbohydrate-functionalised dendrimers, for pharmaceutical use.

The project will select lead candidates for further development, with Starpharma providing development and commercialisation expertise, and Industrial Research providing manufacturing and carbohydrate design expertise through its GMP manufacturing business unit GlycoSyn. At the front of the pipeline is the manufacture of intermediates for Starpharma's vaginal microbicide Vivagel, which has recently completed Phase I clinical trials as a preventative for HIV infection.

The two companies have been working together since mid-2003 with the support of a NZ$5.9 million grant from the NZ Foundation for Research Science and Technology. Industrial Research will contribute another NZ$1.02 million to the project.

Receiving the most funding in this round is a collaborative venture between NZ agritech company Wrightson and the Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre to develop and commercialise genetically modified ryegrass to enhance quality traits. The three-year project is slated to receive NZ$3 million from the fund.

NZ cancer therapeutics company Proacta Therapeutics will receive $2.19 million over three years to develop a second cancer therapeutic in parallel to its lead compound dinitrobenzamide mustard PR-104. The company's Australian partner is venture capital group GBS Ventures, which last year led a US$8 million series A international financing round with investors including Genentech, Roche, and NZ venture firms No. 8 Ventures Management and Endeavour I-Cap.

A second round of funding for trans-Tasman collaborative ventures will open in July.