Briefcase: Business Snippets from around South Australia
In this week’s briefcase, local medtech firms head overseas to pitch investments while Ferronova secures millions at home, K-TIG goes nuclear and rural women are in the running for national honour.
Adelaide high-tech welding company K-TIG has announced a further expansion into the UK. Photo: supplied
- SA companies to make investor pitch in Dubai
- Ferronova secures $11m to advance nanotech image-guided cancer therapy
- K-TIG looks to acquire specialist manufacturer in UK
- SA Rural Women’s Award finalists announced
- Patient feedback to help health system
SA companies to make investor pitch in Dubai
Nine South Australian medical and biotech firms will be showcasing their technology in Dubai this week as part of a global health technology conference.
Local firms Fusetec, BiomeBank, Micro-X designs, PlasmaShield, TekCyte, BIONAT Australia Pty Ltd, Flourish Pharmaceuticals Australia, RehabSwift, and Surgical Order (SOx) have made the trip to Dubai to exhibit their technology at this week’s Arab Health Global Healthcare Medical Expo.
The annual event, which starts today, is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre and gives attendees the chance to network and pitch to global investors.
Organisers are expecting more than 100,000 to attend over the week and view more than 3000 exhibitors from more than 70 countries.
The South Australian Department for Trade and Investment will have its own booth to support the local companies involved.
“Industry is always looking at new ways of solving health challenges – and South Australia is increasingly recognised as the number one destination in providing the answer,” Trade and Investment Minister Nick Champion said.
“We are proud to display what we are capable of while connecting with more consumers and building trade links across the globe.”
Ferronova secures $11m to advance nanotech image-guided cancer therapy
South Australian biotech company Ferronova has secured a further $A11 million to progress the company’s nanoparticle platform to assist surgeons to more accurately locate and remove malignant cells during treatment of gastrointestinal and brain tumors.
Irish company Renew Pharmaceuticals Limited (Renew) led an $A8 million capital raise, with a further $A3 million secured via an Australian Government Co-operative Research Centers Project (CRC-P) grant.
Existing Ferronova shareholders, led by Uniseed with Artesian Venture Partners, also participated.
The latest round of funding for the Adelaide headquartered company builds on seed capital and Series A funding of $4.6 million.
Ferronova chair Dr John Parker said the international investment from Renew Pharmaceuticals and existing investors, and the CRC-P grant, has created a strong platform to accelerate trials in gastrointestinal and brain cancers.
“Research now shows one in two people will develop cancer in their lifetime and thanks to new technology, awareness and screening programs cancers are being detected earlier,” he said.
“Improvement in precision imaging, surgery, and therapy are now essential to improving long-term outcomes.
“We are delighted to welcome Renew Pharmaceuticals as a shareholder. They are a world leader in the provision of dye-based contrast agents for image guided cancer surgery, and this collaboration will help us to progress our trial program and ultimately deliver our products to the 80+ countries that Renew’s distribution network supports.”
Ferronova CEO Stewart Bartlett said Ferronova’s proprietary iron-oxide nanoparticle platform and Renew’s Verdye (Indocyanine Green) infrared dye were successfully tested in the first human trials at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
“The new funding will be applied to expanding the trial program to brain and gastric-esophageal cancers, which have among the poorest outcomes of all solid tumors.”
Renew managing director Declan Cassells said Ferronova’s novel approach to address the most challenging gastrointestinal and brain cancers was one of the elements that attracted Renew to invest in Ferronova.
“We believe that through this investment we will accelerate the clinical programs and approvals of Renew’s fluorescence dye combined with Ferronova’s magnetic nanoparticles for surgical use in the treatment of cancers which have some of the worst survival rates, so that we can make this unique solution available to patients through our global distribution network,” he said.
K-TIG looks to acquire specialist manufacturer in UK
Mile End-based K-TIG Limited (KTG), a manufacturer of hi-tech welding equipment, has signed a binding conditional agreement to acquire Graham Engineering Limited (GEL), a United Kingdom-based advanced manufacturer of highly engineered, large-scale metal fabrications to the UK nuclear decommissioning sector.
The acquisition will be funded by K-TIG raising $20 million through a public offer at an issue price of $0.20 per fully paid ordinary share.
GEL has decades of manufacturing experience not only in the nuclear but also aerospace, security and medical industries.
GEL will be a wholly owned subsidiary of K-TIG, with its chair, Tony Eckford, joining the K-TIG board of directors.
K-TIG first expanded into the UK in 2021 via the creation of wholly-owned subsidiary Keyhole-TIG with an in-region direct sales force and technology demonstration centre.
The ASX-listed firm also has a similar offering in the United States.
SA Rural Women’s Award finalists announced
Five women from across the state have been announced as the 2023 SA AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award finalists.
The award provides a $15,000 Westpac grant to an existing project, business or program run by Australian women to benefit their industries and communities.
The finalists are:
- Ali Paulett, Clare
- Bridget Johns, Alford
- Emily Riggs, Burra
- Kerri Cliff, Kimba
- Lyndsey Jackson, Moonta
The state winner will be announced in May 2023 and they will then represent the state at the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award Gala Dinner and National Announcement in Canberra later in the year.
The national winner will be awarded an additional $20,000 Westpac grant.
Patient feedback to help health system
South Australia’s Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health and SA Health have partnered with digital health company The Clinician to implement a state-wide Patient Reported Measures (PRM) program to collect and analyse patient-reported outcome and experience measures (PROMs and PREMs).
The program will be powered by The Clinician’s digital health platform, ZEDOC, which will integrate with SA Health’s information systems to automate the distribution, collection and analysis of PROMs and PREMs.
The platform prompts patients to complete the questionnaires and allows clinical teams able to access real-time and actionable results within their own information systems.
The Clinician was selected as the technology and implementation partner for the PRM program through an open tender process, led by the CEIH.
The program will be roll-out over several stages at selected SA Health services, with the initial implementation phase planned for mid-2023 and subsequent implementations in 2024 and 2025.
The program managers envisage there will be approximately 5000 clinical users of the system by mid-2025 with approximately 1 million patients enrolled.
