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Xenetic sights firmly fixed on NASDAQ listing

Last updated: 07:02 21 Jan 2015 EST, First published: 08:02 21 Jan 2015 EST

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Drug developer Xenetic Biosciences is still pinning its hopes on upgrading to NASDAQ a year after leaving London’s junior market for the US.

Xenetic left AIM in January last year in a bid to raise its US profile and get the better access to capital afforded there to biotechs.

But life on the US OTCBB (over-the-counter bulletin board) has been harder going than anticipated.

Opting against a dual listing meant distancing itself from its original shareholder base in the UK and Europe, while US interest has been muted.

Despite this, Scott Maguire, chief executive, told an investors' conference call on Tuesday that the priority remains getting the firm to a size where it can list on the North American Stock Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) system, though this is still some way off as it is currently worth a quarter of the US$160mln minimum market value for the US market.

“We’re at a stage where we need the capital markets to reflect our science, which is good and great,” said Maguire, adding that 2015 is shaping up to be a year of significant milestones for the group.

The firm is preparing to enter human clinical trials in the US with its lead product OncoHist in 2015 and has been pitching the treatment to US investors to help fund the trials.

“Only time will tell whether OncoHist a game changer for cancer treatment,” said Maquire, adding that it could revolutionise leukaemia therapy.

Meanwhile, a phase 1 clinical trial in 12 healthy volunteers of PulmoXen for the treatment of cystic fibrosis conducted by a licence partner in Russia was found to be well tolerated.

Encouraging results came from a clinical trial of PSA-Oxyntomodulin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity, also conducted in Russia.

Further results are also expected from the Phase 2 clinical trial for anaemia treatment ErepoXen being conducted in Australia and New Zealand.

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