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

Starpharma today released its Appendix 4C - Quarterly Cashflow report for the period ended 31 December 2011.

Australian Financial Review Journalist Carrie LaFrenz reports: Emerging biotech Starpharma Holdings has been given the tick of approval from the US Federal and Drug Administration on the design of its Phase 3 clinical studies for its key VivaGel product, taking it one step closer to market.

Starpharma has a number of promising technologies and has caught the attention of some large investors. UK-based M&G Investments took a 6.7 per cent stake following the successful $32 million placement in November.

Australian Life Scientist Journalist Tim Dean notes the significance of Starpharma's written agreement from the FDA on the design of its Phase 3 clinical studies of VivaGel^® under the FDA’s Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) scheme: Starpharma has kicked off the year with a tick from the US Food and Drug Administration for its study design for phase III trials of VivaGel under the FDA’s Special Protocol Assessment scheme.

Rebecca Richardson of Finance News Network presents on Starpharma's written agreement from the FDA on the design of its Phase 3 clinical studies of VivaGel^® for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) under the FDA’s Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) scheme.

Go to the video (external link)

Starpharma today announced that it has received final written agreement from the FDA on the design of its Phase 3 clinical studies of VivaGel^® for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) under the FDA’s Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) scheme.

The SPA is a binding declaration from the FDA that the Phase 3 clinical study design, endpoints, statistical analyses, and other aspects of the planned studies are acceptable to support regulatory approval of the product.

In this issue:

› Starpharma raises $35m to advance pipeline

› Starpharma signs with Ansell for condom coating

› Putting a stop to stubborn BV: The VivaGel^© solution

› Clinical trials for VivaGel^© gather pace

› M&G invests $20 million

› Dendrimers through the eyes of Professor Donald Tomalia

Download: Shareholder Update: December 2011 (pdf file, 628kb)