(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)
() has complimented its cash reserves with a payment from the Australian government for the further commercialisation of company products including the fast-developing PromarkerD platform.
The life sciences company received A$309010 for the year ending in June as part of the government’s R&D tax incentive program after spending more than $700000 on R&D activities within its world-leading proteomics-focused business.
Proteomics is the industrial-scale study of the structure and function of proteins.
The tax incentive from increased R&D activities represents a key element of Proteomics’ operating strategy as the company seeks to develop new diagnostics tests in other areas of unmet medical need such as Alzheimer's disease.
Proteomics’ combined income for FY2015 was almost $1 million including the R&D tax incentive and grants.
The latest funding builds on a A$3 million capital raising through its prospectus earlier this year.
This investor confidence in the novel science which underpins the company has also resulted in a 90% climb for Proteomics stock since it hit the ASX boards in mid-April.
Global exposure
Increasing investor support for Proteomics has coincided lately with a string of international engagements and marketing achievements.
In recent weeks the company has been represented at a major biosimilars conference in the U.S. an Australasian health showcase in South Korea and a medical exposition in China.
Proteomics managing director Richard Lipscombe was in Shanghai last month at the invitation of Chinese biopharmaceutical company Newsummit Biopharma to attend the sixth China International Medical Expo and to begin discussions on potential licensing and funding partners.
Lipscombe also presented the company’s leading proteomics-based technology platform and services to the exclusive Australasian Life Science and Healthcare Showcase in Seoul South Korea.
The event was open to only a small number of Australasian life science and healthcare companies and was attended by around 50 strategic and corporate investors and fund managers from South Korea seeking capital links and transaction opportunities between Korea and innovative Australian companies.
Also Proteomics global head of business development Chuck Morrison recently attended the fourth International Conference and Exhibition on Biologics and Biosimilars in the U.S. to showcase the company’s new biosimilars data pack.
Brand exposure efforts such as these helped earn Proteomics the prestigious Health and Biotechnology Export Award last month at the Western Australian 2015 Industry and Export Awards.
This award recognised Proteomics’ progress over the year in internationalising its products and addressing cross-border trends in protein-based drug markets. It also validated the company’s world-leading expertise and capabilities in the industrial-scale study of the structure and function of proteins.
Flagship product
As part of his visit to Shanghai Lipscombe met with key opinion leaders in relation to the commercialisation in China of Proteomics’ predictive and diagnostic test for the early diagnosis of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) PromarkerD.
These meetings included discussions with the director of the Shanghai Diabetes Institute and president-elect of the Chinese Diabetes Society Professor Weiping Jia who also attended the formal signing ceremony for Proteomics’ existing PromarkerD agreement with Newsummit.
The Newsummit agreement was entered into in February this year prior to the company’s ASX listing. It is a significant milestone and the first commercial agreement for PromarkerD. It is also the first-ever proteomics derived in-vitro diagnostic to enter the massive Chinese market.
Asia and China in particular represents a key market for PromarkerD as the incidence of diabetes in the region has increased dramatically in recent years with chronic kidney disease being one of its major complications. World Health Organisation figures indicate that 120 million Chinese have diabetes and are at risk of kidney disease – presenting a massive and growing market for Proteomics and PromarkerD.
PromarkerD was granted a U.S. patent last month a critical milestone in a country which represents the world’s largest health care market. An Australian patent for the product was granted in September and is valid until 2031.
Avenues for monetising the technology have been identified in a range of medical applications; including specialist diagnostic tests run by clinical laboratories clinical pathology tests produced by diagnostic companies and companion diagnostic tests used to monitor a patient's response to drug therapy.
Analysis
The R&D incentive payment from the Australian government is a welcome boost for Proteomics’ ongoing product developments especially for PromarkerD which has recently been granted a critical U.S. patent.
Government validation in the form of the R&D tax incentive also highlights broader industry recognition of Proteomics’ product development success including the recent winning of the Health and Biotechnology Export Award at the Western Australian 2015 Industry and Export Awards.
Proteomics’ outstanding work in internationalising its technologies has been well illustrated by the company’s recent forays into Asia where PromarkerD is expected to access a huge market associated with a growing local risk of DKD.
The company had cash of $1.5 million at September quarter end.
The global diagnostics market is expected to double in size to $45.6 million by 2020 with the specialist proteomics market alone representing a market tipped to value $20.8 billion by 2018.
Proteomics is also targeting the peptide therapeutics market which is currently estimated to be worth about $17 billion.
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