Western Australia has the dubious distinction of being home to both the best and worst performing biotechnology stocks in Australia, according to the latest Intersuisse Biotechnology Index.
Western Australia has the dubious distinction of being home to both the best and worst performing biotechnology stocks in Australia, according to the latest Intersuisse Biotechnology Index.
Since December 2005, the share price of Subiaco-based drug discovery company Phylogica has risen 120 per cent, even though since June it has fallen 16 per cent. The increase has been driven by strong partnerships with the likes of Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Ltd, resulting in a collaboration to develop novel compounds using Phylogica’s proprietary Phylomer technology. If successful, the relevant Phylomer compounds would then be licensed and developed exclusively by JJR.
Phylogica has also received recent confirmation that its Phylomer stroke drugs have suitable stability properties to function as stroke therapies.
While Phylogica heads the list of top performers so far this year, Nedlands-based technology company Advanced Ocular Systems Ltd (formerly Regenera Ltd) heads the list of worst performers with its share price slumping 77 per cent since December 2005, closing at 10 cents on July 31.
Recently, the company announced major restructuring and cost cutting that included the closure of its corporate headquarters near Boston and the resignation of its US-based chief executive Kenneth Taylor, following a review of costs.
The company will consolidate core corporate activity at its Nedlands office under executive chairman Tony Fitzgerald.
The changes come less than a year after AOS’s merger with Regenera, which was designed to create an international business specialising in opthalmic devices.
The losers’ list also includes Perth-based companies Clinical Cell Culture, which has fallen 57 per cent since December, and pSivida, down 52 per cent since December and 34 per cent since June.
Earlier this year, pSivida announced it was undertaking a one-for-eight rights issue at 60 cents per share to raise up to $29 million through the issue of up to approximately 48.3 million new ordinary shares.
However, only $6.3 million before costs was raised with the issue of approximately 10.5 million shares, representing a subscription of 22 per cent of the total shares available under the rights issue.
The company noted that US shareholders, who were ineligible to participate in the rights issue, own 45 per cent of the shares on issue.
pSivida’s share price has dipped since opening on June 14 at 59 cents, closing at 34 cents at the end of July.
Overall, the index for July appears to have recovered from the falls in April and May, having grown 2.9 per cent, while the All Ordinaries Index and the NSADAQ Biotechnology Index declined 1.8 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.
The index showed gains outnumber falls during the month with increases in 45 stocks, falls in 31 stocks and four remaining flat. Of these, 23 of the rises but only six of the falls were in double digits.
Since December 2005, the index has slipped 6.4 per cent, in line with the 7.3 per cent drop in the Nasdaq biotechnology index, while the All Ordinaries, in contrast, grew 5.3 per cent.
