Prana Biotechnology’s History
Prana Biotechnology is an Australian company that
is governed by Australian Law and trades in Australian dollars. It was incorporated in Melbourne, Australia
in 1997. The company is listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: PBT) in 2000 and listed on the NASDAQ
(NASDAQ: PRAN) in 2002.
Prana Biotechnology falls under the Australian
Government tax incentive scheme relating to eligible research and development
activities, introduced on 1 July 2011.
This means that entities with an aggregated turnover for the income year
of less than A$20 million will be entitled to a 45% refundable tax offset. Here is a link to the announcement that Prana receives $6.8 million R&D Tax
Incentive Refund http://pranabio.com/news/prana-receives-6-8-million-rd-tax-incentive-refund
The earliest beginnings of Prana Biotechnology
began in the laboratory of Professor Rudo9lph Tanzi at Massachusetts General
Hospital in the 1980’s when he was investigating the molecular and genetic
basis of neurological disease. Prana
Biotechnology is developing first-in-class therapies to treat neurodegenerative
disease.
The Company’s lead drug candidate – PBT2 – is
being developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. The Company is targeting lodgment of a New
Drug Application for Huntington’s disease in 2016/2017 pending positive trial
results. Prana Biotechnology also has
advanced a drug candidate for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders
(PBT434) and brain cancer (PBT519), which are in pre-clinical toxicology
testing. Development of PBT434 has
received funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s UK.
Prana Biotechnology are pleased to announce the
Orphan Drug designation by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). Orphan drug designation is granted to promote
the development of drugs for diseases affecting less than 200,000 people in the
United States. Orphan drug designation
entitles Prana to seven years of market exclusivity for the use of PBT2 in the
treatment of Huntington Disease; protocol assistance by the FDA to optimize
drug development in the preparation of a dossier that will meet regulatory
requirements; and reduced fees associated with applying for market approval.
Appointing Professor Ira Shoulson as a
non-executive Director is pivotal in charting a course to develop PBT2 as a
treatment for Huntington Disease.
Professor Shoulson’s experience and insight as a former FDA advisor will
be invaluable during preparation of the End of Phase 2 meeting with the US FDA. Here is an interview with Professor Ira
Shoulson http://www.brr.com.au/event/123434/
Elsevier Business Intelligence named PBT2 as one
of the Top 10 Neuroscience projects to watch in the world, this was followed by
a report in the Aging Cell journal, which showed PBT2 reversed memory and
cognitive loss in aged mice.
Here is a link to a Channel 9 news story that
aired regarding the level 3 clinical trial that Prana Biotechnology is working
on. New Alzheimer's Drug News Story
What Concerns do I have at this Stage?
I am happy with the company that has been
selected for me. I appreciate that it is
an Australian company and in a field that I know a little about. My sister previously worked for Sonic
Clinical Trials in Sydney, where she tested all the samples for numerous clinical
drug trials and we had some discussions, without breaking any confidentially,
on clinical trials. As a Lions member I
have visited the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute at the Royal
Brisbane and Woman’s Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital Centre’s for Health
Research and UQ’s Diamantina Institute, speaking with researchers and listening
to lectures on their work.
I’m quite ‘old school’ and like the feel of paper
and being able to flick through a large publication such as an annual report and
these annual reports are 70 – 116 pages each.
I find that a bit difficult to read on screen.
Formatting of the three different annual reports
including the financial reporting is slightly different. The company has run at a loss for at least
the last 4 years. Not sure how they can
keep running.
When entering the financial statements into our
company spreadsheet I was wondering if there was a way to link the total of the
Reserves from the Statement of Changes in Equity to the Reserves amount in the
Balance Sheet. In the examples that I
found the Statement of Changes in Equity wasn’t that detailed as to include the
Issued and Unissued Capital and Reserves.
My nominated company has been operating at a loss
for at least the past 5 years. It seems
strange that a company can continue to make such losses and still operate. Upon further reading, I discovered that they
are eligible for the Australian Government tax incentive scheme relating to
eligible research and development activities, introduced on 1 July 2011. This assists them in continuing to operate.
No comments:
Post a Comment