Rockeby Biomed readies for IPO

Diagnostics company Rockeby Biomed is readying itself to float on the ASX in a back door listing through Carbine Corporation.

The company is planning to raise AUD$4 million at $0.20 a share in an IPO, which will be put towards the development of new products as well as sales and marketing activities as the company moves into new markets with its diagnostic products.

The IPO is scheduled to open on November 28 and close on December 12, with trading on the ASX likely to begin by December 22.

Rockeby is incorporated in Singapore with two subsidiaries, one based in Western Australia focussing on R&D under the direction of Dr John Warmington, and the other in Singapore.

"The partnership between Australia and Singapore represents a convergence of members of the Singaporean medical community and Australian scientists who have worked together to accelerate the commercialisation of a rapid point of care diagnostic. It is a successful formula, as our first product is also a world first," said Dr Tan Sze-Wee, Rockeby's managing director.

The company's two diagnostic products are already on the market in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Its first, an ELISA-based hospital test for systemic candidiasis, SYSCAN 3, was launched in Australia in late 2001 and is available in five countries. More recently, a point-of-care test for the rapid detection of thrush, CANDIA5, was launched in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

It's through sales of the latter product that Rockeby expects to earn its revenue for the next few years. Designed as an antibody-based blood test to be used in the doctor's office to quickly and accurately identify whether a patient has thrush, the company is working on a similar test for saliva that it plans to market as an over-the-counter (OTC) test. This second generation test is expected to be ready for the market in the first half of 2005.

Thrush is a common vulvovaginal infection, says Warmington, which around 50 per cent of sexually active women experience at least once a year. In Australia alone, 500,000 swab tests for the infection are performed annually, but the majority of diagnoses are presumptive, without confirmation by microscopy or swab culture.

While the tests do not command high margins, Tan estimates that as much as 90 per cent of the cash flow for the next few years will come from the point-of-care test, as the company builds its market.

Now the company is planning to expand its markets for the tests, initially in South-East Asia, where it has appointed a distributor for its products, and ultimately in the lucrative markets of the USA, Europe and Japan.

The company is working to get the clinical data it requires in the US to apply for approval for its two tests through the FDA's 510(k) scheme, and is already starting discussions with potential marketing partners.

In addition to the diagnostic products, Rockeby is also working on a long-term effort to develop new drugs to treat fungal diseases. "The currently available drugs inhibit the growth of fungus but don't kill it," Warmington said.

He said the company's R&D group was actively working on three targets, and planned to develop lead compounds over the next couple of years, using animal models of systemic candidiasis and thrush to validate the targets and the lead compounds prior to starting clinical trials.

Rockeby's float is being managed by Perth broker Hartleys.