Human Trials For Starpharma Gel
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday October 4, 2005
As a stitch in time saves nine, so this stuff in time might prevent HIV and herpes.
It seems that in the ever-progressing world of sexually transmitted disease prevention, condoms and vaccines are looking outdated.But luckily for investors, Australian companies are ahead of the curve.Citrofresh announced last week that its citrus disinfectant might also work as a handy post-coital treatment to prevent herpes and HIV if a condom breaks, although it later ran into trouble over some of its claims.But Starpharma upped the stakes yesterday after the US National Institutes of Health awarded it a $US20.3 million ($26.6 million) grant for further human trials of VivaGel, which a woman can apply vaginally before intercourse to prevent HIV and herpes without requiring the co-operation of her sexual partner.Starpharma shares closed 6.5c higher at 65c but reached as high as 71.5c in trading after the announcement and experienced 15 times the usual volume of sales.Investors seemed to have realised that VivaGel, which has already undergone Phase 1 human safety trials, is light years ahead of Citrofresh in the strict US approval process.The additional funding - the largest NIH grant ever given to an Australian company - will be used to conduct Phase 2 human trials of VivaGel in Australia and Thailand.Starpharma said the product would be attractive to sex workers but US surveys had found millions of US women would also be willing to try VivaGel."It's for every woman who wants to privately protect herself from these major diseases," Starpharma chief executive John Raff assured Xchange.Rio's pain Cazaly's gainWestern Australia's Pilbara iron ore province was abuzz last month with the news that explorer Cazaly Resources had snatched a great tenement that Rio Tinto had embarrassingly forgotten to renew.It seems Rio, which lodged a belated application, has been pressuring the WA Government to retain its lease.But although Cazaly has a market value of only $11 million, it's not about to give in to the mining behemoth.Instead, Cazaly announced a $400,000 capital raising and said it had hired legal counsel to offer strategic advice.Rio doesn't have a mine within 100 kilometres of the disputed tenement and has conducted little exploration there. But considering the tenement sits squarely between BHP Billiton's Shovelanna Hill and Orebody 31 and Orebody 18 deposits, it could be prime iron ore territory.The downside for Cazaly as a junior explorer is that, like Fortescue Metals, it lacks access to Rio Tinto's or BHP's Pilbara infrastructure.If Cazaly prevails in its battle to keep the tenement, the company will conduct some exploration on the deposit, says managing director Nathan McMahon.At that point, there are a few options. It could try to develop the project on its own, sell the project to another player or form a joint venture with Rio or BHP.In any case, investors approve of Cazaly moving beyond its core exploration portfolio of gold, nickel and copper. The shares were only at 26c when the company said it had acquired the iron ore tenement on September 7 but yesterday closed 3c higher at 41c.A call to armsWhile Sydneysiders headed to the beach for the Labour Day holiday yesterday, Australian Foundation Investment Co chairman Bruce Teele was making some fiery statements at his company's annual meeting in Melbourne.It seems Teele, whose company manages $3.8 billion in funds, said that although this year's round of takeovers was profitable for AFIC, the battles weren't hostile enough.Surely he wasn't talking about Portman - which accepted a $3.85 a share offer from Cleveland-Cliffs and has since seen the shares rise to $4.85 - when he said company directors should "be a little more red-blooded in their defence and their desire to gain a better and fairer price for all shareholders".Teele, it seems, isn't one to mince words. "Value-based shareholders such as AFIC are being cheated of their holdings and the benefits passed on to the predator," he said. "Much to our regret, we have lost many companies from our list in this manner."That's enough funAfter a weak day of trading yesterday due to the public holiday in NSW, the ACT and South Australia, things should heat up today when Alinta Infrastructure Holdings' $924 million float hits the boards.The massively oversubscribed offering - the biggest since the $2 billion Tattersalls float in June - closed early last month due to strong demand. Institutional investors bid shares to $3.20, the top of underwriter UBS's pricing band.
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald