Starpharma technology gives glyphosate a boost

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) said tests of its new agrochemical dendrimer formulations suggest that the candidates can work better and in more adverse conditions than currently marketed products.

The company has been conducting internal testing within its agrochemical program, including for lead program dendrimer-glyphosate.

Dendrimer-gyphosate is a reformulation of popular herbicide glyphosate, produced using Starpharma's dendrimer molecule nanotechnology platform.

As well as demonstrating improved efficacy in internal testing, Starpharma's formulation was shown to be up to 250% more rain-fast than glyphosate formulations without dendrimer.

Under its various trade names, Glyphosate sales amount to around $5 billion annually. It has been off patent since 2000.

The lab tests also suggest that agrochemicals produced with the dendrimer platform can improve the loading of the active ingredients – reducing the costs of transporting and handling goods – and help control soil penetration on application.

Besides its internal agricultural programs, Starpharma has since August been involved in a collaboration with Nufarm to develop crop protection formulas using its dendrimer technology.

Starpharma plans to use its dendrimer platform for a variety of uses, including developing improved versions of off-patent drugs in multiple classes. One of the major dendrimer projects in development is chemotherapy drug dendrimer-docetaxel.

On Monday, Starpharma announced pre-clinical data suggesting dendrimer-docetaxel could be 40 times more effective at targeting tumours than the original formulation, Taxotere. Pending further pre-clinical studies, Starpharma plans to conduct its first human trial for the treatment candidate in 2013.

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) shares were trading 1.87% higher at $1.63 as of around 2:30pm on Wednesday.