Gene discovery lifts AGT turnover
By Sue Cant
August 26, 2003
Shares in biotechnology company AGT Biosciences shot up 26¢ to 62¢ yesterday after a discovery highlighting the importance of its work in countering a genetic cause of type 2 diabetes.
It is the second significant piece of news on the company in less than two weeks, and sparked the stock's highest-ever daily turnover of more than 6 million shares - more than triple the average number.
AGT specialises in therapeutic treatments for diabetes, obesity and depression, and has patents on about 50 genes. New research strengthens the company's patented gene, called PARL, as a drug target for type 2 diabetes.
The research, unveiled at an international genetics meeting over the weekend, shows that PARL significantly counters the increase in insulin resistance that occurs as people age.
PARL is part of a family of genes specific to mitochondria, which generate up to 90 per cent of cell energy and play a big role in diseases such as diabetes and age-related degeneration. Last week the company expanded its patent on PARL to cover diseases such as cancer after research in the journal Nature showed that PARL was critical to mitochondrial functioning.
AGT's director of business development, James Campbell, said the research showed that 25 per cent of people were born with a variant in the PARL gene, and they were more predisposed to type 2 diabetes than those without the variant. "It's a huge problem," Dr Campbell said.
AGT Biosciences has a research and commercialisation licence with the European pharmaceutical company Merck-Sante, which is funding all pre-clinical, toxicology and clinical trial of the PARL lead.
Under the deal, the company has received $24 million in milestone payments and will receive a 5-7 per cent royalty on sales based on PARL discoveries.
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