Bird flu inhibitor hope for Kevin Parry's Astop Biohealth

Former Western Australian high flier Kevin Parry last link with avian issues was probably as the head of the Kookaburra yachting sydnicate, but now his biotech enterprise hopes to have an answer to bird flu.

Astop Biohealth, chaired by Mr Parry, said earlier this week that it had acquired the rights to a broad spectrum anti-viral formulation of botantical extracts to treat animal and human flu. Clinical trials have not been completed, however the company said it was excited by the possibility that it may inhibit things like SARS and bird flu.

Astop is understood to be planning an ASX float and, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission records, has launched a prospectus seeking $500,000.

The company's launch on the publis stage was reported in WA Business News in May 2003, when it was known as AsthmaStop Ltd and was seeking to raise a similar amount for working capital prior to a float in either the ASX or Newscastle Stock Exchange.

At that stage its key product was a natural remedy for asthma.

Mr Parry was a major WA retailer who funded the Kookaburra yachting syndicate which unsuccessfully defended the Amercia's Cup when it was contested off Fremantle in 1987. After the 1987 share-market crash his empire was carved up by Asian corporate raiders.

In recent years he has had a relatively low profile, with a tax-effective wine project being one investment he was involved in.

This is the small story we carried in 2003:

WABN, May 2003: A new product designed to help those with breathing difficulties is the backbone of a company which is hoping to raise between $5 million and $20 million through an initial public offer on either the Australian Stock Exchange or the Newcastle Stock Exchange.

Chaired by the former head of Parry Corporation, Kevin Parry, AsthmaStop Ltd has trialled on 300 people its new medicine Astop, which has been developed over the past ten years. Prior to listing the company is also seeking to raise around $500,000 in working capital of which at least half has been raised.

Below is the full Astop announcement:

Australian bio-tech company Astop Biohealth Ltd has announced that it has acquired exclusive licence rights to the Company's second product, virus inhibitor VIRA 38.

VIRA 38 is a broad spectrum anti-viral formulation of botanical extracts, and is designed as a treatment for human and animal influenza. Subject to satisfactory clinical trials being completed, VIRA 38 may potentially be an effective inhibitor of a range of influenza, including SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and possibly the Bird Flu virus (H5N1).

Astop Biohealth's Executive Chairman, Mr Kevin Parry, said the company is pleased to have acquired exclusive rights to its second product.

"While it is still early days and VIRA 38 is to be the subject of rigorous testing, the potential for the product is very exciting, not just for the Company and its shareholders, but for the community as a whole," Mr Parry said.

VIRA 38 is designed to treat influenza by disrupting the viral life cycle at different stages - binding, uncoating, replication and release. Inhibition of the viral life cycle results in a reduction of the duration and severity of influenza symptoms.

VIRA 38 was developed in the United States by Dr. Charles B. Hensley of PRB Pharmaceuticals, who previously developed one of the United States' top-selling common cold medicines. VIRA 38 is currently sold as an over-the-counter medicine in Hong Kong.

Astop Biohealth holds the exclusive rights to produce, market and sell VIRA 38 throughout Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia - covering a total population of approximately 136 million people.

The medication first gained attention when it was used by the Taiwan Presidential staff and doctors at Sungshan Hospital (the principal SARS management facility in Taiwan) during the SARS outbreak of 2003. This year's June edition of Evidence-based Complementary Alternative Medicine (an Oxford Journals publication) published the results of an in vitro screening study that showed compounds in VIRA 38's active ingredients to be effective at inhibiting the SARS virus.

According to Dr. Hensley, VIRA 38 is designed to attack viruses at multiple points of its life cycle, which improves the medication's efficiency by reducing the likelihood of the virus developing resistance. Viral resistance to readily available antivirals has already been reported, with the H5N1 virus shown to be resistant to Amantadine, and the World Health Organisation reporting resistance to Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in Northern Vietnam.

The announcement comes as Astop Biohealth gears up for the release of its first commercial product, a complementary medicine called ASTOP.