IM Medical to sell Intelliheart tests through Amcal pharmacies

Biochemical geneticist Kevin Carpenter discusses how he helped tracked down the blip in the Bindeez beads.

Former CSIRO chief John Stocker is now chairman of the board.

When Merck announced last year it was buying Sirna Therapeutics for over US$1 billion, the world sat up and took notice. RNAi was now being seen as not only a revolution in our understanding but something with an unimaginable dollar value as well.

Most of Australia's leading healthcare firms are expected to post strong first-half profit growth and provide positive outlook statements as the benefits of takeovers and spin-offs start to filter through, according to analysts.

"Seeing you all here means the company has survived," the chairman of RNAi specialist Benitec (ASX:BLT) Ray Whitten, told shareholders at today's AGM in Sydney.

The legal mists are lifting from Black Mountain in Canberra, and Mountain View in California, clarifying the ownership of key patents on RNA interference (RNAi) gene silencing technology.

Perth-based biomedical devices developer Visiomed Group (ASX:VSG) has successfully competed negotiations with three pharmaceutical wholesale distributors in Australia for the distribution of its Funhaler incentive asthma spacer into Australian pharmacies.

NeuroSolutions, the UK based subsidiary of newly listed neurology-focused biotech company NeuroDiscovery (ASX:NDL) has identified and selected Sigma Aldrich to provide scale-up and manufacturing services in relation to its lead pain drug candidate, NSL-043, which is due to enter a phase I clinical trial later this year.

Adelaide-based GroPep (ASX:GRO) has recorded pre-tax profit of AUD$3.1 million for the year ending 30 June 2005, an increase of more than 200 per cent over the $1 million reported last year.

Macquarie University spinoff Fluorotechnics is establishing a reputation for lucrative liaisons with giants, announcing a global marketing agreement with Sigma Aldrich for its new-tech FluoroProfile protein-quantification kits.