PharmAust/Epichem extends contract with disease research centre

ASX listed biotech, PharmAust, has been awarded a one-year extension to its contract with not for profit organization, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative which commemorates the 12th year of association between the two parties.

Under the contract, which is expected to bring in $1.24m in revenue, PharmAust’s subsidiary, Epichem, will provide synthetic and medicinal chemistry services focused on developing new treatments for neglected diseases.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative is a research and development organization that works to deliver new treatments for neglected diseases and to-date it has already provided seven new treatments for various ailments stretching back to 2003.

Epichem is now forecasting $3.34 million in revenues in the current which includes the $1.24 million expected from the latest contract extension.

Epichem CEO, Mr Colin La Galia said: “We are delighted the contract with DNDi has been renewed and excited by what we can achieve together in partnership to deliver the expected outcomes with our dedicated team of chemists.”

PharmAust’s Chairman, Dr Roger Aston said: “It is tremendous that Epichem has secured a further extension to this work with such a leading R&D organisation as DNDi”.

PharmAust is a clinical-stage drug development company that is focused on targeted cancer therapeutics for humans and animals. The company specialises in repurposing drugs, which potentially lowers the risks and costs of development given that existing drugs have already tackled a number of regulation hurdles that can sometimes be insurmountable and expensive for greenfield’s drugs.

The company’s lead drug is Monepantel, a potent inhibitor of the pathway that drives the development of cancer

The drug has been evaluated in phase 1 clinical trials in humans and dogs and was well tolerated in the trials, producing a significant reduction in key prognostic markers for cancer.

The company now aims to aggressively accelerate its phase II anti-cancer treatment trials with an ultimate view to successfully treating lymphoma in canines initially.

Epichem is a 100% owned subsidiary of PharmAust and is essentially a gun for hire in the biotechnology world. It is staffed almost exclusively by PHD’s and plenty of them and is a significant income generator for the parent company, PharmAust, whilst it pursues the development of its Monepantel drug.

Epichem located at Technology Park in Perth and to-date has delivered products and services in synthetic and medicinal chemistry to the global drug discovery and pharmaceutical industries in over 40 countries worldwide for over 16 years.

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