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A director of Landcare Research’s DNA diagnostic facility, EcoGene®, has won the inaugural Women in Science Entrepreneurship Award sponsored by Pacific Channel, New Zealand’s leading venture development and investment firm and the Association for Women in the Sciences (AWIS).

Dr Dianne Gleeson, who oversees the fast-growing EcoGene® business which provides DNA-based diagnostics services that are used in biosecurity and conservation, said she was delighted to win the
award.

“This award recognises the contribution made by women in the commercialisation of science and will encourage more women at the top levels of the industry where they are underrepresented,” Dr Gleeson said.

“There is growing commercial demand for scientific services and women can make a valuable contribution to the development of the industry in New Zealand and overseas,” she said.

Dr Gleeson receives $50,000 of venture development advice from Pacific Channel, an Auckland-based firm specialising in life-sciences and clean-technology, and will have access to a world class international advisory board with experience in science commercialisation. The winner was announced at the AWIS conference being held in Auckland on 28 July.

Runners up for the award were Dr Fern Kelly, a PhD graduate in Textile Chemistry from Victoria University, who has developed an environmentally friendly antibacterial treatment for high quality natural textiles and Rachael D’Arcy Lacy, of D’Arcy Polychrome Limited who has developed a technology to produce encapsulated dry colour pigments that are easy to formulate and mix into liquid paint.

Pacific Channel Limited, New Zealand’s leading venture development and investment firm focused on early-stage life science and clean-tech innovation, announced today the closing of $350,000 new equity investment into Regen which it led with AngelHQ, Wellington’s angel investment club in exchange for equity in the company.

New investment of $250k was provided by investors, which included Pacific Channel’s co-investment partner, the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF). Another $100k is expected after a milestone has been met.

The fresh capital will be used to fund the marketing of an innovative farm-data system, Re:Gen, to dairy farmers and to continue product development.

Re:Gen collects data on rainfall, soil moisture, soil temperature and effluent pond levels and transmits readings to a centralised data base. It then analyses this information and based on its knowledge of site specific soil characteristics, uses proprietary algorithms to recommend daily actions that farmers can access via mobile devices or computer.

Brent Ogilvie of Pacific Channel said “Re:Gen provides farmers with clear recommendations that enables them to manage dairy effluent to comply with environmental standards while increasing farm productivity at a time when there is growing pressure on them to meet effluent-disposal standards.

“The product helps dairy farmers reduce the environmental impact of dairying and increase profitability, he said.

Regen has also received assistance from its partners Massey University and Gen-i with support from Ministry of Science and Innovation (formerly the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST)).

Pacific Channel Limited, New Zealand’s leading venture development and investment firm focused on early-stage life science and clean-tech innovation led $1 million of new equity investment for Caldera Health Ltd, enabling the company to advance development of its technology to diagnose prostate cancer.

The placement of Caldera Health shares to raise $1 million in Series A funding followed Pacific Channel securing $560,000 in seed-capital in June 2010.

Caldera Health director, Dr Jim Watson, who was the founder and chief executive of Genesis Research and Development, said Caldera had developed a “true partnership” with Pacific Channel. “Not only had Pacific Channel acted as lead manager on the capital raisings, it was also an investor, brought commercial expertise to the table in developing business strategy, and provided scientific, commercial and director-level recruitments,” Dr Watson said.

Caldera Health is in the advanced stages of developing non-invasive molecular in vitro diagnostic tests that could detect prostate cancer with a far greater degree of accuracy than the currently available, poorly predictive, PSA blood test. In vitro diagnostic tests are medical devices intended to perform diagnosis in a controlled environment outside a living organism. The set of biomarkers being developed by Caldera Health will enable prostate cancer treatments to be tailored to the requirements of individual patients.

After an introduction by Pacific Channel, Dr Roland Toder joined Caldera Health as Vice President Business Development to progress the development and commercialisation of Caldera Health’s diagnostic platform. Dr Toder’s experience includes molecular diagnostics, product and corporate business development. He has a track record of successful fundraising.

As reported in the last Bulletin, Caldera also plans to use its diagnostic tools to develop treatment regimes using drugs that are fully approved and already in use in the United States. This includes drugs approved for specific types of cancer but not for the treatment of prostate cancer.

About 600 New Zealand men die from prostate cancer each year, about the same as the number of women who die from breast cancer. With early diagnosis, at least one third of those who die from prostate cancer could be saved, Dr Watson said.

Pacific Channel managing director Brent Ogilvie has gained more than $1.8 million in capital for two companies he took through the Unlimited Investment Challenge.

The national programme helps companies fine-tune their business strategy with the aim of pitching to investors and gaining a prominent business mentor for 12 months.

Brent Ogilvie is encouraging more entrepreneurs to take the Challenge and get investment ready.

“Building companies with high-growth potential, getting them investment ready and securing investment is something a lot of people talk about as being important to New Zealand, but few roll up their sleeves to help,” says Mr Ogilvie. “The Unlimited Investment Challenge gives businesses an opportunity to present their work to experts and get feedback.”

Within a month of the Challenge, SciTOX, which has developed a bio-sensor that measures the toxicity of liquid waste, raised $1.3 million and is now preparing to sell the trial-proven sensor.

The other successful company Somnaceutics, co-founded by Pacific Channel, has taken its sleep-enhancing milk product ‘Sleep Time’ into Asia after securing investment of more than $500,000. Somnaceutics has since been acquired by a larger NZX listed company.

Investment Ready workshops are being held in Christchurch (21 June), Wellington (22 June) and Auckland (23 June). At these workshops business owners can learn about what investors are looking for, business strategy, intellectual property, marketing, sales, tax and finance.

“SciTOX and Somnaceutics had an assessment of their business, position in the market and what they had to offer investors. SciTOX significantly improved the way it told its product story after feedback received during the Unlimited Investment Challenge,” says Brent Ogilvie.

“Developing commercially viable high-growth companies is enormously challenging and requires the right sort of support if objectives are to be achieved. For this reason, the Unlimited Investment Challenge has had a big impact on our businesses.”

Following the Investment Ready workshops are Business Plan workshops in July. For information, workshop agenda and registration: www.unlimited.co.nz/investmentchallenge

Contact:

Sarah Gorringe
Strategic Programmes – Communication Manager

Fairfax Media Business Group

09 909 6983 or 022 037 4700
sarah.gorringe@ffxbusinessgroup.co.nz

Brent Ogilvie
Managing Director

Pacific Channel

09 337 9677
021 60 55 66
bogilvie@pacificchannel.com

Auckland: The business assets of a Pacific Channel Ltd start-up company that has successfully commercialised a sleep-enhancing milk product in Asia has been sold to New Image Group (NZX:NEW) for an undisclosed sum.

Somnaceutics was co-founded by Pacific Channel three years earlier to develop the milk product.

Pacific Channel Director, Brent Ogilvie, said “the sale of Somnaceutics’ business assets was very pleasing because it demonstrates that start-up companies based on New Zealand science can be commercially successful and generate returns for investors in a short period”.

Pacific Channel organised two investment rounds in Somnaceutics co-investing with the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and private individuals.

Pacific Channel also managed the company from start-up before identifying a Chief Executive Officer and Dr Gary Pace as Chairman. Dr Pace is a director of ResMed, a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of products for the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

The sleep-enhancing milk is based on a product that was initially developed by well-known New Zealander, Professor Bob Elliot, who is also the scientist behind ASX listed company, Living Cell Technologies (ASX:LCT), a global leader in cell therapy.

Production of the sleep-enhancing milk is being ramped up, with more cows that naturally produce milk with the sleep enhancement peptide being added to special dairy herds.

The sleep-enhancing milk will continue to be produced from New Zealand through New Image Group, which also has the marketing resources to develop sales globally.

Pacific Channel congratulates Ms Bridgit Hawkins and Re:Gen Limited for winning the TUANZ Innovation Rural award with Re:Gen, a dairy-effluent management system.

The award recognises the most innovative product, service or initiative developed in New Zealand to enhance productivity in the rural sector.

Re:Gen is a tool that provides data enabling farmers to monitor and manage the application of dairy effluent. It is recognised as a solution in helping dairy farmers to reduce environmental impacts.

Re:Gen was founded by Harmonic and has received assistance from its partners Massey University and Gen-i with support from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST).

Watch a clip about Re:Gen on TVNZ’s Rural Delivery Programme (select Episode 22, 14 August 2010)

NZ sleep-enhancing milk popular in Taiwan

Taiwanese trials of a New Zealand sleep-enhancing milk product proved there was interest. But joint venture partners New Image Group and Somnaceutics have been stunned by the demand for the milk powder-based drink since it launched six weeks ago.

Stephen Lyttelton, chief executive of health and wellness product group New Image (NZX: NEW), says the first shipment of Sleep Time sold out to its 20,000 Taiwanese distributors within half an hour of the product’s launch.

He says the demand confirms clinical trials in Taiwan that saw 88% of users report significant sleep improvement. People in the trials kept sleep diaries and gauged the product’s effectiveness.

Production in New Zealand is now being ramped up and Somnaceutics is adding more cows to the special dairy herds that produce milk containing a high level of sleep enhancing peptides.

The Auckland-based bio-technology company was established in 2007 to commercialise the discovery that certain cows carried peptides believed responsible for the sleep-enhancing effect of their milk. The peptides were discovered by Somnaceutics’ founding scientist and director Professor Bob Elliott. Prof Elliott, who is also the founding scientist of Living Cell Technologies (ASX: LCT and OTCQX: LVCLY), also developed the proprietary manufacturing process to stabilize the milk, extending the life of certain milk fractions in the body’s circulation.

Another Somnaceutics shareholder is its board chairman Gary Pace, a former Fullbright Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr Pace is also a director of ResMed (NYSE:RMD and ASX:RMD.AX) which develops, manufacturers and markets products for the screening, treatment and management of sleep and respiratory disorders.

The joint venture in Taiwan came about after New Image’s research among its more than 5000 direct selling distributors in Taiwan had shown it that sleep deprivation is a real concern to Taiwanese living a high-pressure lifestyle. A study by the Taiwan Society of Sleep Medicine also showed that the number of Taiwanese suffering from lack of sleep has doubled in three years to 22% of the country’s population of 23 million now having chronic insomnia and up to 60% suffering some form of sleep deprivation.

New Image sought the exclusive right to distribute the Somnaceutics milk powder through its direct selling channels in Taiwan and the joint venture partnership was established late last year.

Guy Wills, Somnaceutics’ chief executive, says the flavoured milk powder, which is mixed with a small amount of water, has a natural soporific effect and has been shown in clinical trials to provide a statistically significant improvement in quality of sleep and most notably on increasing time spent in the important rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase.

“Taiwanese like the fact that it is a natural product that has been scientifically developed and is clinically proven,” Mr Wills says. “The product was pretested with Taiwanese consumers and this helped fine tune elements such as flavour, formulation and packaging. The Taiwanese also like that it not only helps with sleeping, but also has strong nutritional benefits. It has less than 1% fat and is lactose free. Magnesium has been added to help muscles relax and for utilisation of calcium.”

Somnaceutics won the Cawthron Institute award for Innovation in Science and Technology for Sleep Time in the Natural Products New Zealand Industry Awards last month.

New Image Group is a large seller of branded New Zealand colostrum in Taiwan. The market trial is intended to demonstrate consumer uptake through sales and to obtain consumer feedback.

Pacific Channel managed the New Zealand side of the trans-Tasman capital raising for LCT which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

The successful capital raising involved the placement of 5.5 million ordinary LCT shares at 16.5 Australian cents per share with two options attached to every five shares.

Pacific Channel Director, Brent Ogilvie, said “it is pleasing that New Zealand investors supported LCT which will use the A$4.2 million to conduct clinical trials of a new treatment for Type 1 diabetes, DIABECELL®, in both New Zealand and Russia.”

The most recent patient taking part in trials, who had Type 1 diabetes for 15 years, became the second person to no longer require insulin injections after treatment.

Mr Ogilvie said “this is the third capital raising in 2009 in which Pacific Channel has worked with Professor Bob Elliott, the prominent New Zealander who co-founded LCT in 1987.

“In May, Pacific Channel raised a second round of capital for Sleep Limited, now Somnaceutics Limited, and in July raised first round capital for Breathe Easy Limited, a company developing a treatment for cystic fibrosis. Somnaceutics is commercialising a milk product to help people sleep,” he said.

LCT’s DIABECELL® treatment for diabetes involves implanting insulin-producing cells into patients to regulate glucose levels. The cells, taken from healthy Auckland Island pigs, are encapsulated with alginate to ensure acceptance by the body’s immune system.