David Potts details how biotechnology companies are increasing in value and defying market conditions. He profiles 6 of the top buys, including Starpharma.

Flushed with funds after a capital raising at the end of last year, with 100 patents and some of the world's biggest drug companies as partners you couldn't pick a better name for Starpharma.

But its real beauty is that it doesn't have to invent new drugs - it makes existing ones work better, which also means it's not dependent on a specific one.

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Starpharma Holdings  today released its interim report and financial results for the half-year ended 31 December 2011.

Financial Results

• Cash position at 31 December 2011 $49.0M
• Net cash outflows from operations $3.9M
• Net cash inflows from financing $33.8M
• Reported loss $4.7M

Herald Sun Journalist John Beveridge details how biotechnology companies are working to ‘fix many ailments’, with specific reference to promising results emerging from Starpharma’s diverse research portfolio.

The best thing about Starpharma is that it owns a genuine platform technology that is capable of spinning off multiple products across a range of different and highly lucrative areas.

It owns a forest of patents on dendrimers—tiny polymers which can be engineered to create many different results, such as making a drug water soluble or preventing the transmission of viruses and bacteria.

Chief executive Dr Jackie Fairley said the recent approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and European regulators for phase 3 trials of its VivaGel product later this year was a highly significant step in bringing the product to market.

This Bioshares analysis provides insight into promising advancements within the Biotech sector in 2012. Starpharma is recognised for achieving a significant rise in shareprice and reaching exciting milestones in the development and pending commercialisation of its diverse research portfolio.

Download: Bioshares Issue 442 (pdf file, 27kb)

Australian Financial Review Journalist Brendon Lau investigates how Australian biotech companies are attracting the attention of local and international investors.

There is likely to be a sharp pick-up in interest in Australian biotechs this year as they move into their next phase of growth, which will pave the way for them to be taken over by global drug companies.

Most of the capital is expected to be invested in the Australian market as our biotech sector is considered to be the most mature in the region following the resounding success of the likes of Mesoblast, Acrux and Starpharma Holdings, which have put Australia on the global biotech stage.

Retail shareholders strongly oversubscribed for their entitlements at recent capital raisings by Alchemia, Phosphagenics and Starpharma – the latter two attracting new overseas professional and high net-worth investors.

-  Starpharma's dendrimer-docetaxel formulation significantly more effective than leading cancer drug docetaxel (Taxotere®) in breast cancer model

 -  More than half (60%) of animals treated with Starpharma's dendrimer-docetaxel formulation had no evidence of tumour at 94 days whereas with docetaxel significant tumour regrowth was observed in all animals

-  Starpharma's dendrimer-docetaxel formulation improved water solubility by 5000-fold