Norwood Immunology to seek IPO in US

Immune therapy developer and Norwood Abbey (ASX:NAL) subsidiary Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIM) has revealed plans to seek an initial public offering (IPO) in the USA, subject to market conditions.

"The company is putting some feelers out now to see what the interest would be in the US," said Norwood Immunology COO Suzanne Lipe.

"We did an AIM listing [in the UK] a couple of years ago and we have access to some larger investors, but I think the reality is that the biotech market is much more mature in the US," said Lipe. "There are a larger number of investors in the US, there's a bigger pool of funds, and we want to be quite aggressive with implementing our clinical trial programs and our other development activities."

Norwood Immunology and its commercial partner TAP Pharmaceutical Products are exploring the use of TAP's GnRH drug analogue Lupron Depot in regenerating the thymus gland, in turn 'rebooting' the body's immune system.

While the company is not saying how much it intends to raise through the IPO, Lipe said: "We just costed our clinical trial program, we know what we'd like in order to do everything we want do. You structure your program on what you then raise.

"It depends on what the health of the biotech funding situation is like in the US at the moment," she said.

Lipe said the IPO would most likely happen in the first half of 2006. "It's a case of whether we're encouraged by the investors to do it more quickly, or whether it will take a bit longer to consolidate more widespread support."

Norwood has appointed an unnamed, boutique US East Coast advisory firm to "introduce us to some of their client base, make some presentations, have some discussions," said Lipe.

"It's not one of the larger M&A specialty banks," she said. "Whether that is the bank we'll retain, we're not sure."

The IPO will dilute Norwood Abbey's (ASX:NAL) shareholding in Norwood Immunology and "whether they'll retain a controlling interest or not, depends on how much funds are raised," said Lipe.

Norwood Abbey's shares remained steady at $0.47.

Resonance strengthens US base

Meanwhile, Resonance Health (ASX:RHT) has appointed US boutique investment bank Montgomery Pacific Group (MPG) as its US corporate adviser to assist the company in US-based strategic business development.

MPG will receive a small cash component and up to 833,333 shares paid in tranches on achievement of agreed milestones, with 416,667 shares already provided to MPF as an initial instalment.

MPG will focus on accelerating market penetration for Resonance's non-invasive test FerriScan that measures the iron content of the liver and developing the company product pipeline including its new Fibrosis test.

Resonance has also closed its share purchase plan, raising AUD$795,000. When combined with the $1 million raised recently through a placement, the company has cash reserves of $2.4 million.

Resonance's shares remained steady at $0.115.