Starpharma Holdings Limited
(ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) today announced it has appointed Malcolm McColl to
join the company's existing business development team as a Vice President
to meet the growing market demand for pharmaceutical and life science applications
of Starpharma's dendrimer technology, particularly in drug delivery.
Malcolm is a seasoned business development professional with more than 20 years'
experience with major biotechnology companies, including 13 years with CSL where
he negotiated major agreements with Pfizer and Bayer, amongst many others. Malcolm
joins Starpharma in August in the role of VP Business Development and will be
supporting and enhancing Starpharma's already successful partnering activities
and programs.
Malcolm returns to Australia from the UK where as Hospira's Business
Development Director, Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA), he was responsible
for growing the global and EMEA business through an ambitious plan of targeted
acquisitions and licensing activities. There he led negotiations and due diligence
for a significant number of license agreements and transactions including Hospira's
recent ~A$135M deal with Chemgenex for rights to Omacetaxine, a proprietary
oncology product.
Dr Jackie Fairley, Chief Executive Officer of Starpharma, welcomed Malcolm
to the executive team: “We are delighted to have Malcolm join Starpharma
at this exciting stage of the company's development. His contribution
will further enhance our already highly successful partnering activities in
drug delivery, VivaGel®, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) and agrochemicals. Malcolm's
international industry networks and experience will be a great asset in securing
further commercial agreements and with this additional business development
resource, Starpharma will significantly boost its commercial development capabilities.”
Starpharma has established a successful business model of partnering with market-leading
companies to maximise the value of its dendrimer platform in a range of industries
and applications. The company has a growing list of major companies that are
actively exploring the use of Starpharma's proprietary dendrimer technology
to enhance the performance their pharmaceutical products, including Lilly, GSK,
and in animal health, Elanco.
The company also has established commercial relationships with leading companies,
such as SSL International plc, Siemens Healthcare, and EMD Merck KgA for other
applications of its proprietary dendrimer technology.
Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) is a world leader in the
development of dendrimer nanotechnology for pharmaceutical, life-science and
other applications. SPL is principally composed of two operating companies,
Starpharma Pty Ltd in Melbourne, Australia and Dendritic Nanotechnologies, Inc
in Michigan, USA. Products based on SPL's dendrimer technology are already
on the market in the form of diagnostic elements and laboratory reagents.
The Company's lead pharmaceutical development product is VivaGel®
(SPL7013 Gel), a vaginal microbicide designed to prevent the transmission of
STIs, including HIV and genital herpes.
In the wider pharmaceutical field Starpharma has specific programs in the areas
of Drug Delivery and Drug Optimisation technologies (using dendrimers to control
where and when drugs go when introduced to the body) and Targeted Diagnostics
(using dendrimers as a scaffold to which both location-signalling and targeting
groups are added to allow location of specific cell type, such as cancer cells).
More broadly the company is exploring dendrimer opportunities in materials science
with applications as diverse as adhesives, lubricants and water remediation.
SPL has a comprehensive IP portfolio that comprises more than 224 patents/applications
issued and pending across 56 patent families - a unique level of IP concentration
among nanotechnology companies.
Dendrimers: A type of precisely-defined, branched nanoparticle. Dendrimers
have applications in the medical, electronics, chemicals and materials industries.
American Depositary Receipts (ADRs): Starpharma's ADRs trade under the
code SPHRY (CUSIP number 855563102). Each Starpharma ADR is equivalent to 10
ordinary shares of Starpharma as traded on the Australian Securities Exchange
(ASX). The Bank of New York Mellon is the depositary bank. Starpharma's
ADRs are listed on International OTCQX (otcqx.com), a premium market tier in
the U.S. for international exchange-listed companies, operated by Pink OTC Markets,
Inc.