LCT posts $8.1m 1H profit on JV deal

Shares in Living Cell Technologies (ASX:LCT) climbed as high as 13% on Wednesday, a day after the company reported a swing to a swing to an $8.1 million profit for 1H12.

The half-year result compares to a net loss of $4.3 million for 1H11 and $6.9 million for the full year.

The Sydney- and Auckland-based biotech attributed the turnaround to the sale of its DIABECELL treatment for Type 1 Diabetes to new 50/50 joint venture Diatranz Otsuka Limited (DOL).

DOL was set up in November with partner Otsuka Phamaceutical Factory to accelerate the commercialisation of DIABECELL. Under the arrangement, LCT provides R&D and administrative services to DOL at commercial rates.

LCT received $25 million in DOL shares for its DIABECELL assets, and booked an $11.2 million gain on the deal.

LCT is also currently developing a cell-based treatment for Parkinson's disease, NTCELL, and on Tuesday revealed it has completed pre-clinical studies for the treatment candidate.

A trial of the treatment in non-human primates with chemically-created symptoms of Parkinson's showed improvements in neurological function, and a reduction in motor abnormalities.

The company will now apply to New Zealand's medicine's safety authority to commence a phase I clinical trial in Parkinson's patients.

The approach taken with NTCELL differs from previous attempts at cell transplant treatments for Parkinson's by using a naturally occurring support cell to induce neuron regeneration, rather than implanting adult neurons or embryonic stem cells.

“It seems we are prompting the brain’s own biology to heal itself,” LCT medical director Professor Bob Elliot said.

LCT also announced on Tuesday that it had been granted an EU patent covering the ability to culture two types of cells derived from Auckland Island pigs and assemble a mix of cells or artificial tissue from them.

Living Cell Technologies (ASX:LCT) shares climbed as high as $0.077 in Wednesday's trading – a 13.25% gain on Tuesday's $0.068 closing price – before settling back to $0.071 at the open on trade today.