Press Release

BIOTECH company Living Cell Technologies roared on to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday 25 per cent above its issue price. The company is headquartered in Adelaide and raised $6.36 million from investors for more testing of its diabetes, Huntington's disease and haemophilia treatments. Living Cell Technologies switched its listing to the ASX from the Newcastle Stock Exchange after offering 30 million shares at 20c each in its initial public offer. The shares hit the boards at 23.5c before closing at 25c. "We didn't know whether there would be a substantial number of sellers out there," executive director Roger Coats said. "I think it shows that there is a fairly solid shareholding base." The firm was founded in 1987 by David Collinson, whose son has diabetes, and Professor Robert Elliott. It is developing three products - NeurotrophinCell to treat Huntington's disease, Fac8Cell for haemophilia and DiabeCell for diabetes. The products use encapsulated cells that are transplanted into the patient and work by replacing and performing the functions of diseased or damaged organs. Mr Coats said "we should have the results from the primate trials for diabetes out later in the year, which I expect will create quite a bit of interest". The SA company also has research laboratories in New Zealand and a product-development arm in the US.