Patents boost pSivida

PSIVIDA prices have trended upwards again over the past four weeks, assisted by two Australian patent grants.

The patents are for the transfer of materials - including drugs and genetic material - into cells through porous silicon, and for porous silicon implants for drug delivery.

These have been granted to pSivida’s UK subsidiary pSiMedica, which owns the intellectual property for applications of the company’s trade-marked porous silicon platform technology, BioSilicon.

Research into porous silicon applications began a decade ago, initially in Europe and Japan, and the field is large.

Medical applications are competitive and potentially lucrative, with ready markets in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors worldwide.

pSivida was this week selling at around $0.185.