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COMPUTERISED brain function testing company CogState has cut another deal with a major pharmaceutical company, after announcing the company's first agreement with AstraZeneca for the use of CogState's cognitive testing technology and associated services.The agreement is part of a good recent run for the company, which has also announced deals for clinical trial services with global giants Merck and GlaxoSmithKline in recent weeks.

MELBOURNE-based Xceed Biotechnology will spin out its 60% owned subsidiary, PolyNovo Biomaterials, into an initial public offering if Xceed shareholders approve the move at a general meeting later this year.Xceed said the demerger and IPO are intended to optimise the value and prospects for its subsidiary, which has recently begun preclinical trials of its dermal scaffold product, NovoSorb, in Australia.PolyNovo also has a number of other collaborations relating to the product with existing US licensing partners Medtronic and Biomet. In a statement released to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday, Xceed said that PolyNovo has numerous other highly prospective options for the commercialisation of NovoSorb. The company said that, in order to maximise PolyNovo's potential, the Xceed board believes that PolyNovo should have direct access to the Australian capital markets.

This information is extracted from the website http://www.biotechnologynews.net published by Aspermont Limited.
Karen Sinclair