46

nanotimes

Companies Facts

coated condom. Starpharma terminates condom coating agreement with Reckitt Benckiser. The first of these is that, due to the failure to achieve satisfactory progress in relation to certain commer- cialisation milestones for the VivaGel®

the positive results of its first study of VivaGel® for -coated con-

dom, Starpharma’s Board has taken the decision to terminate the Licence granted to Reckitt Benckiser (RB; formerly SSL International plc) to commercialise the VivaGel®

-coated condom and all of RB’s rights

to the product, effective immediately. Starpharma is extremely disappointed to have to take this action but after full consideration of the situation, Directors and Management believe it to be the best course of action to ensure timely commercialisation and maxi- mise returns for the VivaGel®

-coated condom.

The second development is that Starpharma has executed a Licence Agreement with Ansell Limi- ted (ASX:ANN) giving Ansell marketing rights to the VivaGel®

-coated condom. The Agreement covers

marketing rights to the coated condom in countries which exclude Japan and a number of Asian markets.

Under the agreement Ansell will pay Starpharma royalties on sales of VivaGel®

-coated condoms and

will support registration and other commercialisation costs. Ansell is also responsible for manufacturing the VivaGel®

duct, which will include the VivaGel® with the respective Ansell brand.

-coated condom and marketing of the pro- brand together

Furthermore, Starpharma announced the commence- ment of its Phase 2 study of VivaGel®

for the preven-

tion of bacterial vaginosis (BV), following receipt of ethics approval. The prevention of BV is the second area of investigation of the VivaGel®

condition. In May 2011, Starpharma announced product for this

the treatment of BV, which showed that the product successfully treated patients suffering the illness, with very high levels of patient acceptability. Further dis- cussions with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulators on the development of VivaGel®

for the treatment of BV will occur over the

next few months, with Phase 3 studies for BV treat- ment expected to commence in late 2011 or early 2012. This new phase of the program will investigate the ability of VivaGel®

to prevent recurrence of BV,

which clinicians identify as a major unmet need. The trial will be conducted in women with a prior history of recurrent BV, and the product will be used every second day.

Starpharma released its annual report and financial results for the year ended June 30, 2011:

• Cash position at end of year $18.9M • Net cash burn for the year $3.9M • Cash outflows from operations $6.5M • Reported loss $8.9M

Commenting on the results, Starpharma CEO Dr. Jackie Fairley said: “We are pleased to report on the company’s activities in 2010/11, a year which has seen the achievement of important milestones for VivaGel®

and some exciting developments in

the strategic diversification of our platform techno- logy. Starpharma has ended the year with a strong cash position, an increasing number of partnered programs across several industry sectors, and strong support from our investor base, both local and inter- national.” Moreover, Starpharma and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced that GSK was awarded a grant to advan-

11-08 :: August 2011