sti has had an approach

I came across this article from mergermarket:

"Stirling Products, the ASX-listed pharmaceutical company, has recently been approached from UK-based institutions wanting to take a stake of up to half the company, CEO Peter Boonen said.

Boonen said he refused the offers, to invest GBP 5m (AUD 8.3m), because Stirling does not need funding now and he ?did not want to sell half the company for GBP 5m.? He said the offers came from more than one party, which he declined to name. At Stirling?s current market cap of approximately AUD 13m, GBP 5m would amount to more than half the company.

He said that the company does not currently use external advisers but could be open to approaches.

The company could consider a full or partial sale at some point when the valuation is better, Boonen said, but he did not estimate a timeframe.

Boonen explained that the company?s current product focus is to develop its ?company maker? opportunity, a drug delivery platform. This nasal inhalation device allows a patient to reduce their drug dosage for a range of generic drugs, meaning 10% of the dosage would have the same effect.

Boonen said that while the approval for the inhalation device is pending, the company is generating cash flow from its over-the-counter products. Stirling is looking for ?product-related transactions,? for this business as it will need to ?own or successfully represent? more products, he said. The range currently includes its own products and ones marketed on behalf of other companies. Members of Stirling?s board and sales team have worked for large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Bayer, which should help in its efforts.

The drug inhalation device is being developed in partnership with listed Indian generic manufacturer Cipla, which produces a range of anti-AIDS and TB drugs. Stirling has 510K, the first of two major processes for FDA medical device approval and anticipates final regulatory approval by the middle of next year. The device can go into production shortly afterwards, he said. The process is not capital intensive and development should cost around AUD 700,000, for which it has funding. Boonen said that this will give the generics a competitive edge as the lower dosage needed will attract medical professionals to prescribe them.

In addition, Stirling has a patented anti-obesity drug, ST-810, a re-use of an existing drug for respiratory conditions. He explained that even though the drug has been used for many years so that there is less work to do on testing side effects, it would still cost AUD 35m to develop. Stirling is conducting a trial in India this year, which will not meet FDA standards but will be cheaper. After this, it will look for a large pharmaceutical partner to co-develop the drug.

by Alexandra Cain"