Industry News
Firestone: Why I left Polartechnics, and why I would return
Medico and property investor Richard Opara resigned as interim chairman of Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) on June 8. The next day, US biotech executive Len Firestone stepped down as a director. [ + ]
Resonance to provide FerriScan to Novartis Pharma
Resonance Health Analysis Services (RHAS), a subsidiary of Perth-based Resonance Health (ASX:RHT) and formerly known as Inner Vision Biometrics, has agreed to provide its FerriScan diagnostic test to Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis Pharma for use in its clinical studies. [ + ]
Biosignal to raise $1m in placement
Sydney-based Biosignal (ASX:BOS) has revealed plans to raise AUD$1 million for additional working capital, as it prepares to take its biofilm technology into contact lens clinical trials. [ + ]
Melbourne Uni's 'nano-beacon' plays tricks with DNA
In medicine, good things are coming in increasingly tiny packages: microscopic delivery systems made from polymers or other bio-friendly materials, and stuffed with therapeutic genes, proteins or small synthetic molecules, that can be implanted strategically in the brain or body. [ + ]
Dispute between HeartWare and Ventracor heats up
The legal battle between artificial heart firms HeartWare (ASX:HTW) and Ventracor (ASX:VCR) has intensified, with HeartWare filing a strong rebuttal to patent infringement action commenced against it by Ventracor and the University of Technology, Sydney. [ + ]
Biotech to get Club fever
Just what is the centre of the Australian biotech universe? Is it Melbourne, or Sydney, or Brisbane? [ + ]
Starphama receives Frost & Sullivan leadership award
Melbourne drug developer Starpharma (ASX:SPL) has received the 2005 Frost & Sullivan Growth Strategy Leadership Award for the company's development of VivaGel and other polyvalent dendrimer-based products relating to the world nanobiotechnology market. [ + ]
Genesis Biomedical reveals details of $1m rights issue
Genesis Biomedical (ASX:GBL) will be undertaking a non-renounceable rights issue to raise about AUD$1 million. [ + ]
In brief: SciGen, Cryptome, Circadian, ChemGenex, Synchrotron
SciGen (ASX:SIE) executive vice-chairman and founder Saul Mashaal has been reappointed as CEO, a position he held until September 2001 when executive management of the company was transferred to Australia. [ + ]
Victorian medical research institutes net $26m in state grants
The Victorian government has pledged $26.6 million in infrastructure funding to 17 independent medical research institutes in the state. [ + ]
Geelong biotech cluster receives $50,000 grant
The Geelong Region Biotechnology Cluster Project has received a $50,000 Regional Innovation Clusters Program grant from the Victorian government to support its growth. [ + ]
Circadian clocks up $21.8m profit
Veteran biotech investment group Circadian Technologies (ASX:CIR) has posted an AUD$21.77 million profit before tax for the 2004/05 financial year, up from $5.8 million for the previous corresponding year. [ + ]
Norwood Immunology, US hospital team up for tolerance trial
Melbourne immune therapy developer Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIM) has signed a collaboration agreement with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to conduct a proof-of-concept preclinical trial to determine whether tolerance to donated organ transplants can be established without the need for prolonged immunosuppressants. [ + ]
Peplin bows to pressure, reinstates leukaemia program
Peplin (ASX:PEP) is set to raise AUD$4 million through the issue of 11.4 million ordinary shares at $0.35 per share to institutional and sophisticated investors. [ + ]
LCT elated by Huntington's preclinical study
Auckland-based Living Cell Therapies (ASX:LCT) today announced "extraordinary" results from its preclinical trial of alginate-encapsulated pig brain cells in a primate model of Huntington's disease. [ + ]
