Biota Holdings Biota reported a 2002 full year loss of $8.6m versus its 2001 loss of $0.7m. The majority of the decline in revenues was associated with lower grants ($2.1m) and the continuing fall in Relenza sales. In 2003, Biota will receive the majority of the payments from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for its licensing deal on Hepatitis C stemming from the acquired N.MAX technology. This is estimated to be $4m in 2003 and will help offset the US$8m the company is spending on research & development in the US over two years as part of the NuMAX acquisition. Potential milestones for Biota over the next 12–18 months include: · Agreement with GSK on the future of Relenza; · US-based funding in the form of private equity for Biota Inc and/or grant funding in the US; · A partner for new generation flu drug – FLUNET; · A second collaboration from the N.MAX technology. Success in these areas will help in the ‘rebuilding’ process for Biota. However, clinical trials are likely to remain at least two to three years away. In other words, Biota’s current pipeline is at a relatively early stage. We retain our Underperform recommendation. Biota is undertaking a long rebuilding process that may well produce collaborations and licensing deals along the way. However, the real end game – commercial products (or even clinical trials) – remains some time away. ASX Code: BTA Share Price: $0.46 Short term: Underperform Long term: Underperform Risk factor: Speculative
BTA Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
