About Argenica Therapeutics
Commercialising the novel neuroprotective therapeutic ARG-007 to reduce the damaging effects of stroke and other acute CNS injuries
Company Overview
Argenica Therapeutics was incorporated on 20 November 2019 as a proprietary Australian company to undertake the development and commercialisation of a novel drug based on the pioneering work of Professor Bruno Meloni and Clinical Professor Neville Knuckey at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science (Perron Institute). The drug, known as ARG-007, a cationic, arginine rich peptide, has neuroprotective properties that has the potential to offer protection to the brain following stroke and other acute central nervous system injuries. In June 2021, the Company listed on the ASX, raising the necessary funds to allow Argenica to develop a best in class neuroprotective therapeutic. The Company has since completed a Phase 1 clinical trial proving the safety and tolerability of ARG-007 in healthy human volunteers and will shortly commence dosing acute ischaemic stroke patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial in Australia.
Drug development is tightly regulated and involves the sequential demonstration of both safety and efficacy of compounds. Argenica is undertaking the required Drug Research and Development Process to progress through to commercialisation. The Company has recently received ethics approval to commence the phase 2 clinical trial of ARG-007 in acute ischaemic stroke patients. Dosing of patients is expected to commence in Q1 calendar year 2024.
Our Mission
There is currently a large unmet need for a safe, early intervention therapeutic that provides protection to brain cells immediately following a stroke, until the underlying cause of stroke can be diagnosed and alleviated.
It is our mission to provide a solution for this unmet need. Our aim is for ARG-007 to be administered by first responders in the field to provide neuroprotective treatment prior to a patient’s arrival at the hospital which will result in improved patient outcomes.
Board
Ms Angus brings extensive executive managerial and company director experience in the biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, agritech and healthcare industries. She has long been involved in path to market asset development and commercialisation in these industries, notably including the clinical validation of drug therapeutics to create asset valuation uplift. Ms Angus has held Director roles in a number of ASX and NASDAQ-listed companies and as is currently a Non-Executive of Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX: NEU), Cyclopharm (ASX: CYC) and Imagion Biosystems (ASX: IBX), she is also a council member of Deakin University.
Additionally, Ms Angus holds a Master of Biotechnology, Bachelor of Science (Hons), and a Graduate Diploma of Intellectual Property (IP) Law. She is a registered patent attorney and a member of Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
Dr Liz Dallimore (B. Sc. (Hons), MBA, PhD, GAICD)
Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director
Read ProfileDr Dallimore has over 20 years’ experience in both biotechnology and management consulting across Australia and the UK. She has held senior roles in management consulting as KPMG’s Australian Director of Research Engagement and Commercialisation, structuring technology commercialisation deals across a range of sectors, with a specific focus on biotechnology. Prior to this Liz held senior management roles with Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers in technology advisory and R&D. Prior to moving into management consulting, Liz was a research scientist at the Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute (now the Perron Institute of Neurological & Translational Sciences) and the UK’s Food Standard’s Agency.
Dr Dallimore is also a Non-Executive director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA and AusBiotech, as well as and Industry Advisor to the Telethon Kids Institute’s Innovation and Commercialisation Committee and member of the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation’s Health Research Advisory Panel advising on child health research funding.
Dr Dallimore holds a PhD in Neuroscience jointly completed at Oxford University and the University of Western Australia, an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Mr Terry Budge was a Director of Aspen Group Limited from 6 May 2005 to 23 November 2012. He was also Chancellor of Murdoch University from 2006 to 2013 (appointed to Senate 1 June 2004). Mr Budgeholds a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University and is a Graduate of the Advanced ManagementProgram from Harvard Business School. He is also a Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Senior Fellow of FINSIA. He is currently a non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Westoz Investment Company Ltd (ASX:WIC).
Dr. Mark Etherton has over 10 years experience in Stroke clinical practice, clinical research, and clinical development. His clinical development expertise includes serving as the Study Lead Physician for several Phase 1, 2, and 3 programs investigating novel therapeutics to improve outcomes in Ischemic Stroke and TBI.
Prior to joining industry, Dr. Etherton was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Acute Stroke Center at MGH, Associate Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at MGH, Site Principal Investigator for multiple Stroke Clinical Trials, and conducted NIH-funded research on ischemic stroke.
Dr Etherton holds an MD and PhD completed at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association. He completed his residency and Vascular Neurology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr Joughin is an experienced biopharmaceutical and medical device leader with extensive experience locally and internationally. She is responsible for sourcing and supporting biotech, device and diagnostics companies to achieve future success. Having held senior executive level positions globally, she brings learned expertise in business development transactions, strategic partnerships and alliance management to support investment strategy. Her operational and leadership experience in research, clinical trial and commercial management has been forged through conducting research at universities, holding positions of increasing seniority in multi-national pharmaceutical companies and from start-up environments in private and listed companies located in the USA, Europe and Australia.
Jeannie holds a PhD and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Immunology from Monash University in Melbourne, a Diploma of Marketing from the Melbourne Business School and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Management
Prof. Meloni is the head of stroke laboratory research at UWA and the Perron Institute.
Prof. Meloni has over 25 years’ experience as a research scientist, the last 20 in the field of stroke/cerebral ischaemia. His research in the stroke/cerebral ischaemia field has focussed on understanding the mechanisms associated with ischaemic brain injury, the identification of potential neuroprotective targets and the development of new therapies. Prof. Meloni has experience with designing preclinical stroke trials, and the use of peptides as neuroprotective agents.
Dr Meghan Thomas has over 15 years experience in the biotechnology sector spanning basic
research, clinical trial design and oversight, regulatory pathways, and product development.
She has a PhD in Neuroscience jointly completed at Cambridge University UK and the
University of Western Australia.
Prior to joining Argenica, Dr Thomas was the Vice-President of Clinical Programs and
Operations at Zelira Therapeutics. Whilst at Zelira, Dr Thomas was responsible for the
successful completion of multiple clinical trials validating the role of medicinal cannabis as
well as the development of commercialisation and intellectual property strategies. Dr
Thomas founded and directed a research centre aimed at coordinating a holistic clinically-
driven approach to Parkinson’s research focused on curing, halting or reversing Parkinson’s
symptoms. In her clinical trial regulatory role Dr Thomas oversaw a team that implemented
and ran a centralised research ethics and governance system across a state-wide public
health service that included two tertiary hospitals and five general hospitals.
Dr Thomas has a proven track record in project management, stakeholder engagement and
high quality research and clinical trial outcomes that directly impact patient populations.
Dr Stuart Gribble has over 25 years’ experience in leading multi-national
product development teams to evaluate, plan and execute complex product
development programs from laboratory to global commercialisation.
Stuart holds a PhD in Neuroscience completed at The University of Melbourne
and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Monash University.
Dr Gribble is a highly experienced biotechnology executive with an extensive
background in drug development across large pharmaceutical companies and
ASX listed company. Prior to joining Argenica, Dr Gribble was the Vice-
President of CAIX Programs at Telix Pharmaceuticals. During his time, Dr
Gribble was responsible for the oversight of all aspects of drug development
including non-clinical studies, pharmaceutical manufacturing, global clinical
trials, and engagement with global regulatory interactions including the US
Food & Drug Administration. This included the development of complex drug
development plans including commercialisation and intellectual property
strategies. Prior to joining Telix, Dr Gribble had worked at both Pfizer and CSL
in a variety of product and research development roles.
Dr Gribble has a proven track record in pharmaceutical product development,
stakeholder engagement and high-quality research and clinical trial outcomes
that have directly impact patient populations.
Ms Waldon has diverse accounting, capital markets and corporate governance experience in Australia and the UK and is currently Company Secretary of EMVision Medical Devices Ltd (ASX:EMV) and a number of unlisted companies. Ms Waldon was Company Secretary of Hazer Group Limited (ASX: HZR). Ms Waldon was a director of Moko Social Media Ltd (ASX:MKB) when voluntary administrators were appointed to the company on 31 May 2017.
Dr Adam Edwards is a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, the Western Australian Department of Health and the University of Western Australia. Adam has over 9 years of experience in neuroprotective research, completing his PhD in 2019 where he demonstrated the effectiveness of arginine-rich peptides to treat hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy. Adam’s research interests include neuroprotection, complex preclinical models of neonatal brain injury and neuroimaging. Adam also has 3 years of Regulatory Affairs experience in both Australian and United States jurisdictions and has a keen interest in improving safety outcomes and clinical trial design for neonates.
Clinical Advisory Committee
Professor David Blacker is an acute stroke clinician/neurologist who has previous experience initiating neuroprotection clinical stroke trials in Western Australia and being the local Principal Investigator of a number of national and international acute and secondary prevention stroke studies. Prof. Blacker is thePerron Institute Medical Director and consultant neurologist and stroke physician.
Professor Geoffrey Donnan AO is a Professor of Neurology at The University of Melbourne and former Director of The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. His research interest is clinical stroke management. He was co-founder, with Prof. Stephen Davis, of the Australian Stroke Trials Network (ASTN) within which there have been numerous investigator driven and other stroke trials. The first of these was the Australian Streptokinase Trial (ASK). He has since been involved in numerous clinical trials of therapy as Chair, Co-chair or Steering Committee member. These include ECASSII and more recently EPITHET. He is currently Co-chair of the EXTEND group of trials, including the recently published EXTEND IAtrial of thrombectomy in acute ischaemic stroke. The EXTEND trial itself, in which thrombolysis was safely and effectively given out to 9 hours, was also recently published, again with Prof. Davis. He was a co-founder of Neurosciences Trials Australia and has a major interest in the imaging of the ischaemic penumbra. The interface between basic sciences and clinical stroke medicine has been a research focus and, in collaboration with Messrs Malcolm Macleod and David Howells, has adapted the meta-analysis technique to assess therapies in animal stroke models. He was Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Stroke and is Past President of the World Stroke Organization. In 2012 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to neurology and research contributions and is the recipient of a number of international awards including the American Stroke Association William Feinberg Award (2007), the World Stroke Organization Leadership Award (2012), Karolinska Institute Award (2012) and Wepfer Award Of the European Stroke Congress for excellence in stroke research (2014).
Assoc. Prof. Bailey is Perth based, completing his medical degree at the University of Western Australia in 1992, and becoming a Fellow of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine in 2000. He completed a Biochemistry / Physiology laboratory PhD in 2007 – investigating the functional and structural characteristics of Australian jellyfish venom. More recently Assoc. Assoc. Prof. Bailey’s research focus has been in the areas of out of hospital cardiac arrest, anaphylaxis, emergency department systems and trauma – with 29 papers published in the scientific literature since 2015. In early 2020, Assoc. Prof. Bailey successfully completed the AICD’s Company Directors course. Assoc. Prof. Paul Bailey was previously the Medical Director for St John Ambulance Western Australia. Assoc. Prof. Bailey and his team are active participants in the WA Stroke Advisory Group – which has transformed the clinical approach to stroke patients in the prehospital environment in WA.
Dr Tim Phillips is an Interventional Neuroradiologist with 15 years’ experience, currently working at the Neurological Intervention and Imaging Service of Western Australia (NIIS WA) and the Perth Children’s Hospital. Prior to returning to Perth he undertook post-specialist fellowship training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Royal London Hospital, Queens Hospital Romford, The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Dr Saver is Professor and Senior Associate Vice-Chari of Neurology at UCLA, and Director of the UCLA Comprehensive Stroke Centre. He trained at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard-Longwood Neurology Training Program (neurology), the University of Iowa (neurobehavior), and Brown (vascular neurology). Dr Saver’s research interests are in acute stroke treatment, stroke prevention, neuroimaging, clinical trial design, and neurocognition consequences of stroke. He has served as the principal investigator on a number of key stroke trials, including the Global PI for the SWIFT PRIME trial.
Development Partners
Argenica is undertaking the development and commercialisation of ARG-007 developed by world-leading researchers at UWA and the Perron Institute.
Development of the underlying technology has progressed over the last 6 years from initial concept and proof-of-concept experiments through pre-clinical research. Argenica is now poised to begin the human testing phase of product development for its initial target application of acute ischaemic stroke. Our ongoing partnerships with UWA and the Perron Institute will provide continuing research and pipeline development.
