Melbourne, Australia; 6 March 2012: Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) is one of four leading Australian healthcare companies invited to present at the 9^th Citi Annual Australian and New Zealand Conference in London.

Commencing today, the conference is expected to be attended by more than 200 people including the leading institutional investors from London and Europe.  Thirty six top ASX listed companies have been invited to present, most of which are in the ASX 100 index.  The other Australian healthcare companies presenting are Cochlear Ltd, Sonic Healthcare Ltd and QRxPharma.

Starpharma Chief Executive Officer Dr Jackie Fairley said the Conference is an excellent opportunity to detail Starpharma’s continuing progress and its strong links to the UK and Europe, including the recent investment by major UK based global fund M&G, which now holds 7% of Starpharma.

“We are delighted to present at the Conference alongside our peers and feel it’s timely in consideration of our recent achievements and the expansion of our global investor footprint,” said Dr Fairley.

In addition, Starpharma will be presenting at the ASX Emerging Growth Conference also in London on Thursday 8^th March.  In its fourth year, this London conference features a selection of emerging market leaders in the small to mid cap segment of the Australian public market.  

As both conferences Dr Fairley will detail Starpharma’s maturing development portfolio across sexual and women’s health, drug delivery and agrochemical platforms.  She will also discuss important upcoming commercial milestones. 

Highlights of the presentation include:

VivaGel^® Bacterial Vaginosis program:  The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recently agreed to a Phase 3 clinical trial program for VivaGel^® as a treatment for bacterial vaginosis (BV), in addition to the agreement reached with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which includes Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) by FDA.  A Phase 2 study of prevention of recurrence of BV is also underway.

Drug delivery program:  Starpharma’s dendrimer-docetaxel formulation was found recently to be significantly more effective than leading cancer drug docetaxel (Taxotere^®) in breast cancer model.

Agrochemical program:  The improved performance of market leading agrochemical candidates including glyphosate (active ingredient in Roundup^®) when formulated with Starpharma’s dendrimers.

Financials:  Starpharma completed a A$35 million capital raising late last year firming up its strong cash position to $49 million at 31 December 2011.  Net cash outflow from operations was $3.9 million.

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