FDA booster for retractable syringe makerKimina...

FDA booster for retractable syringe maker
Kimina Lyall
07nov06

SHARES in Occupational and Medical Innovations Australia shot up 70 per cent yesterday to 63c after the company announced its retractable syringe had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

OMI was founded in the 1990s by Brisbane boilermaker Bruce Kiehne, who invented the syringe after his brother-in-law received a needlestick injury when they were cleaning up a derelict building to turn it into a church community centre.
He said the injury, in 1996, ruined his brother-in-law's life because of subsequent rumours that he was infected with the AIDS virus.

Mr Kiehne, who last week extended a $300,000 loan to the company, is hoping that the FDA approval will help seal negotiations with hospital products distributors in the US.

Investors, many of whom are Mr Kiehne's friends, have long waited for a return on their $1 a share float price for the company in 2001. At one stage the shares were $6.30.

"Everyone's been waiting and waiting for us to start selling," Mr Kiehne said yesterday. The FDA announcement would help in the negotiations with distributors but he said those deals had not yet been signed.

The safety syringe comes in two versions, one for hospital use and one for the retail market.

It is being manufactured in China and marketed in Australia by Terumo, a Japanese company.

The Australian