ANDREW ''Twiggy'' Forrest is launching a new venture on the stockmarket just weeks before he retires as chief executive of his multibillion-dollar empire, Fortescue Metals.
Listed biotechnology company bioMD last week won shareholder approval to take over unlisted Allied Medical, in which Mr Forrest is the biggest shareholder, owning 46 per cent.
A reverse takeover has since taken place, with Allied shareholders gaining 70 per cent of the new group's issued capital as well as ASX listing.
Advertisement: Story continues below For every Allied Medical share, Allied shareholders received 32 bioMD shares, which valued Allied at about $38 million.
Yesterday, the new group reshuffled its management. Allied chairman Chris Catlow, Fortescue's former chief financial officer, kept his role, while Graeme Rowley, who played a key role in Fortescue's development, was appointed a non-executive director.
Allied's former chief executive and now its managing director, Lee Rodne, said he hoped to bring bioMD's lead product, CardioCel, a soft-tissue patch that repairs conditions such as holes in the heart, to the market by the end of the year or early next year.
Successful phase II trials had been completed and the regulatory application process had begun, he said.
Although there are other soft-tissue patches on the market, Mr Rodne believes BioMD's has a greater chance of success because it helps to regenerate damaged tissue.
Allied began its push into biotechnology last year when it bought Coridon, a company led by Ian Frazer, who co-founded the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. The deal could deliver Mr Forrest tens of millions of dollars in royalties and profits from any blockbuster drug that emerges from Coridon's portfolio.
But the Australian biotechnology sector has a mixed history. Successful companies can take many years to emerge because of the tough regulatory approval process and strong competition from larger rivals in the US, meaning, as stated in Mr Forrest's BRW rich-list profile, investors need plenty of patience and money.
BioMD shares surged 14.8 per cent yesterday before settling to close up 0.4?, or 6.6 per cent, at 6.5?.
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