Xenome CEO steps down as focus moves to US

Xenome CEO Dr Tony Evans has stepped down as the company prepares to move into a new phase of development and activity with a focus on opportunities in the US.

Co-founder, former general manager and head of research Dr Roger Drinkwater will temporarily take the reins of the company while a US-based CEO is sought.

"Xenome is at a position where it is really moving forward into the next stage -- we have a lead compound in clinical trials, a financing round coming up and a new R&D platform coming in," Drinkwater said. "There was a need for a redefined strategy and management to take that forward."

In addition to a US-based CEO, the company will also seek a US-based VP of business development to help it explore opportunities in the US market.

Drinkwater said the company would start working with business development consultants while recruiting for the role, but expected to have both positions filled in the next six months or so.

"We don't want to rush into the new CEO hire -- we want to get the right person who best suits our needs," he said.

Board member Harry Karelis, whose investment company Biotech Capital (ASX: BTC) is a major shareholder in Xenome, said the board had recognised the need for the company to bring in management with different skill sets in order to move forward.

"We want to engage a bit more with big pharma, so we need people with different skill sets than the current management team," he said.

One of Xenome's needs will be a financing round to be initiated during the 2004-2005 financial year. Drinkwater ruled out floating on the public markets at this stage, saying the company would seek private equity funding from both Australian and international investors.

"Once a company gets to the stage that Xenome is at, it gets increasingly hard to raise finance in Australia," he said. "There has always been an underlying policy that an IPO would be a good end stage for the company, but we've had the view that we would do a number of financing rounds to position the company properly first."

While Drinkwater declined to comment on the amount of funding they would seek, he noted that the company had an ambitious program, and that development of drugs was not a cheap process.

The company is in the midst of its first clinical trial, a Phase I study to determine the safety of its lead drug Xen2174, a peptide derived from the venom of coneshells.

"The trial is proceeding very well ... we can say that it is progressing uneventfully," Drinkwater said. Results from the trial are expected at the end of September.

In the meantime, the company is working on the development of a new technology platform, using the venom peptides as molecular probes for the discovery of small molecule drugs.

"We can use our peptide libraries very uniquely in that sense," Drinkwater said.