Shares will be readmitted to official quotation at 10am on Wednesday, 3 February 2016 having successfully recompiled with Chapters 1 and 2 of the ASX Listing Rules following the acquisition of IVD company TBG Inc and COMPLETED raising $12,721,590 via a public Offer.
TBG core focus will be as an in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) company that is involved in work such as:
• developing Nucleic Acid Test (NAT) products;
• developing human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing reagents based on NAT technologies;
• developing automation systems for NAT operations; and
• development, manufacture and marketing of IVD related NAT kits and services
IVD refers to techniques of diagnostic tests used to diagnose and detect diseases or infection in a controlled environment and monitor prescribed treatments and assessment of medical intervention outside of the human body. The information obtained from IVD allows for earlier and more targeted treatment, increasing the efficiency of the healthcare system. The IVD market is currently undergoing a period of growth, and this growth is expected to continue for a number of years. Based on Allied Market Research 2013, the global IVD market was approximately US$53.3 billion in 2013 and expected to reach US$74.7 billion by 2020.
TBG plans to expand its footprint in the Chinese market by introducing its current products and developing new products suited for the growing Chinese market.
The Chinese IVD market is in its early growth stage, and it is expected that the growth potential for IVD and molecular diagnostics will be significant. As at 2012, the China biotechnology market was the 4th largest globally estimated at US$19 billion, and expected to grow to US$55 billion by 2020 becoming the 2nd largest market globally.
Having regard to the key drivers of growth in the Chinese IVD market, TBG’s main areas of development will include:
• expanding its offering of HLA typing kits and reagents, including real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) HLA SSP typing, an advanced laboratory technique compared with convention HLA SSP typing;
• virology diagnostic products targeted at lower respiratory tract diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, hand, foot and mouth disease and pneumonia;
• oncology diagnostic products for the testing of targeted cancer therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal, and melanoma. TBG also plans to develop a range of products in line with Chinese Government’s push for cervical and breast cancer screening; and
• new automated molecular diagnostic products in its range, including a new generation ChiTaS, clinical automation product and a real-time PCR analysis machine.
