now thats a balanced post...

Now here a balanced post...

Chairman’s Address and Managing Director’s Presentation (8/11/11)

I am pleased to report to you that your Company has strengthened and enhanced its portfolio of very promising projects built on patented antisense molecules obtained from our partner, Isis Pharmaceuticals who most of you will recognise is the clear world leader in antisense technology.

Biotechnology is characterised by stunning successes and sometimes equally dramatic failures. With the high level of risk comes the knowledge that when our drug development efforts are successful, the benefits can be very significant, often life-enhancing and sometimes life-saving as well as yielding very large returns on our investments. Drug discovery and development presents challenging hurdles for Companies such as ours. The Companies that survive and thrive in our industry are those that not only have promising technologies, but also have the discipline, focus, tenacity and a clear business strategy capable of leveraging value from successes, and perhaps more importantly, overcoming the inevitable setbacks. It is of course equally important to retain the support, loyalty and patience of shareholders, and in this regard, Antisense Therapeutics has been very fortunate to have some exceptionally loyal and supportive shareholders.

The setback that our Company encountered in 2010 was perhaps more profound than most because it related to our very promising lead product, ATL1102 for MS; a product that had already demonstrated both safety and efficacy in previous human clinical trials.

When our development and commercialisation license with Teva Pharmaceuticals was unexpectedly terminated, Antisense Therapeutics took a major hit, no doubt about it, but fortunately our Company’s management and Board had in place a strategy of “not putting all of our eggs in one basket.” We were working on other antisense projects, admittedly earlier stage projects, but they are good projects. In addition to those, we are also pursuing other commercially attractive applications for ATL1102 that could put significant value back into this very promising drug. Our CEO, Mark Diamond will give you an update on these new opportunities in his presentation in a few moments.

The point I wish to make here is that, thanks to the diligence, foresight and commitment of our management team, Antisense Therapeutics is bouncing back from the 2010 setback and now has an exciting and diversified portfolio of antisense projects that give us great encouragement and expectation that our shareholders will be rewarded as these projects gain commercial recognition.

We are particularly excited about the prospect within the next 4-6 weeks of reporting results of our first human clinical trial of ATL1103, which has as its lead indication, among other potential indications, the treatment of the growth disorder acromegaly which is a serious medical condition that can lead to premature death. Shareholders who have some familiarity with this disease, or who have perhaps researched it on the internet, will appreciate that these trial results, if successful, will underpin a major step forward in the development and valuation of your Company. The results of this first human trial of ATL1103 may also allow the Company to capitalise on partnering opportunities for this drug.

We have been prudent with our capital management and in the difficult capital markets that we are currently experiencing we have been able to successfully fund our development projects. This has enabled us to complete the very important clinical trial of ATL1103.

Most shareholders will be aware that our business model involves a small, but highly focussed and experienced team that project-manages all of the technical work which we contract to carefully selected third parties that have the proven skills and abilities to meet our technical needs. This is very cost effective because we only retain these third parties as, and when we need them. As a result, our cash burn is very modest yet our team has consistently delivered on its milestones. In fact our ATL1103 project is running ahead of its original schedule. As noted earlier, we are expecting results from that trial before Christmas. Hopefully it will be a good Christmas for us all!

Another project in our portfolio is our promising drug, ATL1101 which has potential as a treatment of cancer. This compound has an encouraging pre-clinical background. Earlier this year, ANP granted an exclusive option to licence this drug to the company, Afandin. The principals of Afandin are highly experienced biotechnology business executives with very strong and successful histories of development of anticancer products including a very successful anticancer product which has been taken all the way through development and commercialisation in the US.

In summary, we are very happy with all of the antisense projects in our product development portfolio. We will likely encounter future challenges as that is the nature of Biotech, but our experience and our track record gives us confidence in our ability to deal with these challenges as they present. Accordingly we are optimistic about the Company’s prospects for the future and our ability to deliver value for shareholders.

After you have listened to the presentation from our CEO, Mark Diamond, I believe you will understand why your Board and Management are so enthusiastic about the prospects for Antisense Therapeutics in 2012. We thank you for your continuing support and hope you share that enthusiasm.

Mr Robert W Moses
Chairman