The New Zealand business implanting pig tissues in diabetics to help them improve insulin production says it has sold 5 percent of its shares to a big Chinese investor, and given it an option to control the technology in China.
The New Zealand business implanting pig tissues in diabetics to help them improve insulin production says it has sold 5 percent of its shares to a big Chinese investor, and given it an option to control the technology in China.
Nanjing-based Jiangsu Aosaikang Pharmaceutical (ASK) -- a private research-based pharmaceutical company established in 2005, with over 60 pharmaceutical products in the market -- will take 5 percent of Living Cell Technologies (LCT).
A binding subscription agreement means ASK will buy 14,334,080 LCT shares at A12 cents per share, to raise $A1.72 million ($NZ2.208m) with payment due by March 4, LCT said. Shareholder approval to the proposed share issue is not required.
The New Zealand company, which is listed on the ASX, will use proceeds from the investment to fund further development and clinical trials of its lead product Diabecell, now undergoing clinical trials at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital for treatment of type 1 diabetes.
The company kills quarantined piglets to harvest islet cells, which are then wrapped in a seaweed-based gel to reduce the chance of an immune response and rejection.
LCT said today it had also agreed to negotiate a research deal which would give ASK a right of first refusal to negotiate a licence to commercialise the use of Diabecell in China: it would become the sole agency to implant and treat patients there.
"We are very pleased to have the support of Jiangsu Aosaikang, through this investment and interest as a collaborator," said LCT managing director Dr Ross Macdonald .
"Our relationship with ASK provides us with a highly experienced, knowledgeable local partner in a large and promising emerging market."
LCT chairman and medical director Robert Elliott said the company was looking forward to working with ASK in China, as the company had a proven track record in developing and marketing innovative products "and therefore understands the potential of a therapy like Diabecell".
ASK chairman Qingcai Chen said his company was excited by the opportunity to bring the New Zealand xenotransplants into China. Type 1 diabetes was a major disease in China, which currently had inadequate treatment options.
"We see Diabecell as a significant step in offering Chinese diabetics real treatment options and improved lifestyles," he said.
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