Dimerix Bioscience Pty Ltd today announced that it has closed a Series A financing which was led by venture capital firm Foundation Capital, and supported by the Murdoch Westscheme Enterprise Partnership fund. Dimerix is a drug development company striving to develop more effective drugs with fewer side-effects, by applying its innovative technologies to novel G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) cluster targets.

The Series A capital raising follows an earlier investment by listed nano-pharmaceutical company Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL). The proceeds of the raising will be used to accelerate the development of the Company’s new compounds targeting chronic gut disorders, such as the inflammatory bowel diseases Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The Dimerix compounds, being developed in a joint venture with Starpharma, are unique because they utilise Starpharma’s dendrimer nano-structures that enable activation of multiple receptor sites on the cell surface and are designed to have a biodistribution profile that may eliminate the side-effects that accompany all other drugs targeting this type of receptor.

“Investment by institutionally invested VC’s provides a validation of the importance of our technology and the strategy that we are adopting”, Dimerix CEO Matt Callahan stated, “in addition to cash, the investors add to our network of contacts and experience in growing sustainable nanotechnology and life sciences companies.”

Dimerix’s core business is the design of novel classes of drugs based on existing and validated compounds for well understood GPCR drug targets. This strategy reduces the development time and increases the likelihood of success during the clinical phases. The Dimerix team has world recognised experience with GPCRs which are the single most successful class of drug targets, with more than more than one quarter of the top 200 best selling drugs in 2000 targeting GPCRs.

Dimerix’s Collision (Combinatorial Light Emission) and FADE (Fluorescence based Activity Detection) technologies are utilised in the drug development process and allow Dimerix to understand the importance of GPCR clusters, and to characterise and measure the effect of compounds on them in ways not possible with other technologies.

In addition to the dendrimer program, the Company’s technologies are being applied to other GPCR cluster targets, including receptors associated with the progression of HIV. Dimerix is currently collaborating with the respected Burnett Institute in Melbourne to validate the discovery of a potential new mechanism for virus-host interactions, which may in turn lead to a therapy which delays the onset of AIDS. The Company intends to develop other valuable demonstrations of its unique technology capabilities through collaborations focusing on other GPCR targets.

Dimerix is the recipient of a Commercial Ready grant for the Starpharma project which is a competitive merit-based grant program managed by AusIndustry supporting innovation and its commercialisation. Dimerix is based at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research in Nedlands which is supported by sponsors including Wesfarmers Limited and Bankwest.

Further Information:

Dimerix Bioscience Pty Ltd Matt Callahan, Chief Executive Officer, Dimerix
Tel:+61 411 119 179
Email: matt@dimerix.com
Website: http://www.dimerix.com

Dimerix Bioscience is pleased to announce that it has been offered a $200,000 ‘Commercial Ready’ grant by AusIndustry to support the development of a new class of drugs targeting G-protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in a way that exploits their ability to form complexes to achieve enhanced therapeutic benefits.

Mr Matt Callahan, Dimerix Bioscience’s Chief Executive Officer, said the grant represented major support for the company’s research effort in the development of this new class of compounds.

“As an Australian company, we are extremely grateful for the support of AusIndustry. The grant will play a significant role in accelerating our research and early-stage commercialisation activities.”

GPCRs are the single most successful class of drug targets, with more than one quarter of the top 200 best selling drugs targeting GPCRs as single elements or ‘monomers’. Scientific and industry research now realises, however, that most GPCRs form complexes with each other which significantly changes their function compared to the GPCRs by themselves. This important feature has been difficult to analyse and thus, has not been systematically applied for the design of superior drugs and therapeutic strategies. To address this challenge, Dimerix have developed a proprietary assay system which allows researchers to look inside GPCR clusters, and to characterise them in ways not possible with existing technologies.

Dimerix are undertaking their development program in joint venture with listed nano- medicine company Starpharma Limited (ASX:SPL). The grant funds will be used to accelerate the design of new polyvalent compounds utilising Starpharma’s proprietary dendrimer structures. Starpharma’s own product Vivagel recently completed a Phase I trial and is proceeding to Phase II trials in coming months.

Matt Callahan, CEO of Dimerix, said that, “the offer of Commercial Ready support provides excellent independent validation of Dimerix’ technology and drug discovery strategy.”

Commercial Ready is a competitive merit-based grant program supporting innovation and its commercialisation. It aims to stimulate greater innovation and productivity growth in the private sector and offers industry a single entry point to competitive grants for early-stage commercialisation activities, research and development (R&D) with a high commercial potential, and proof-of-concept activities.

About Dimerix Bioscience

Dimerix is a drug discovery venture which focuses on fully validated drug targets and leverages existing knowledge on drug-like molecules. As a consequence, Dimerix leapfrogs the initial, low-value drug discovery steps. Using innovative technologies, these existing drugs or drug-like compounds are modified in a rational way to enhance their properties and achieve higher efficacy. The time to enter clinical trials is expected to take 2-3 years which is significantly shorter than the industry’s average of 5-8 years.

About AusIndustry

AusIndustry is the program delivery division of the Australian Government Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources. AusIndustry delivers a range of innovation grants, small business services, tax and duty concessions, industry support, and venture capital products to more than 10,000 businesses every year. Commercial Ready is a competitive merit-based grant program within

AusIndustry supporting innovation and its commercialisation. It aims to stimulate greater innovation and productivity growth in the private sector by providing around $200 million per year in competitive grants to small and medium-sized businesses between 2004-05 and 2010-11. It offers industry a single entry point to competitive grants for early-stage commercialisation activities, research and development (R&D) with a high commercial potential, and proof-of-concept activities.

Further Information:

Dimerix Bioscience Matt Callahan, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +61 (0) 411 119 179
Email: matt@dimerix.com
Website: www.dimerix.com