Starpharma Launches New Start-Up Biotechnology Company

17-Mar-2005

Starpharma Holdings Limited announced the establishment of a start-up biotechnology company (as a foundation shareholder). The company - Dimerix Bioscience Pty Ltd ("Dimerix") - is a specialist drug development company established to commercialise unique technology developed at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research in the exciting new field of receptor coupling, specifically G-Protein coupled receptors ("GPCRs").

Receptor coupling is one of the basic signalling mechanisms of biological systems, and because of their size Starpharma's nano-structures have natural advantages in designing drugs to control receptor coupling and cell signalling. Starpharma assisted with the establishment of Dimerix and is providing in-kind contributions including commercial management expertise, and AUD$200,000 cash. In exchange Starpharma has received a 30% equity holding, making it the largest shareholder of Dimerix. Listed technology commercialisation company QPSX Limited is also a minor foundation shareholder in Dimerix. In addition to its equity position Starpharma has entered into a drug development project with Dimerix based on the combination of Starpharma's dendrimer nano-structures with the Dimerix Collision technology.

Dimerix's core business is the design of a novel class of drugs based on existing and validated drug candidates for well understood drug targets. This strategy reduces the development time and increases the likelihood of success. The Dimerix team has world recognised experience with GPCRs which are the single most successful class of drug targets, with more than one quarter of the top 200 best selling drugs targeting GPCRs. Dimerix's Collision technology allows Dimerix to look inside complexes of these GPCRs and to characterise them, in ways not possible with other existing technologies. A patent application has been lodged for the technology.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/44431/starpharma-launches-new-start-up-biotechnology-company.html