SYDNEY, Oct 23 AAP - Struggling biotechnology company Gradipore Ltd will concentrate on building sales of its core separation technology platform and seek a joint venture with an established laboratory equipment supplier in an attempt to become commercially viable. Gradipore chairman Professor Jeremy Davis told shareholders today a new strategy was needed after the company's "disappointing" performance in 2002/03. Thirty-three redundancies had already reduced running costs to $14 million from $21 million per annum, he said. Gradipore's core separation technology platform, Gradiflow, is a membrane-based process for large-scale biological separations - encapsulated in the BF400 research level instrument. "The goal is to build sales (of the BF400) urgently, initially both direct and by selected distributorships; but ultimately we see this business best suited to a joint venture agreement with an established laboratory equipment supplier," he said. The second prong of the new strategy would be to capitalise on Gradiflow's potential as an industrial technology. "Our vision is to move from the sale of instruments and consumables and the licensing of technology to the direct use of Gradiflow as a competitive weapon to produce niche products in high value areas," Prof Davis said in his address to the Gradipore annual general meeting. "As a technology for biological separations, Gradiflow offers unique capabilities which continue to be recognised and acknowledged within the scientific community. "One of our greatest challenges is to identify those which represent significant commercial opportunities." Earlier, Professor Davis outlined Gradipore's failure to limit "cash burn" to less than $10 million in financial year 2002/03, as had been stated as an aim last year. "The actual results fell short of these budget goals," he said. The company had relied on three risky strategies to pay off - none of which did. The expansion of its gels product range caused instability in the production process which showed up in the form of high scrap rates. Marketing of the BF400 turned out to be misguided in terms of sector, and the company failed to close a single licensing agreement in relation to the GF100 unit. Newly-appointed chief executive Greg Pynt said Gradipore would seek to reduce costs further by sub leasing spare space in its New York and Sydney offices. He described Gradipore as precocious teenager: "full of promise but hard to control". AAP
