Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) is an ASX 300 company and is a world leader in the development of dendrimer products for pharmaceutical, life science and other applications.

Starpharma’s underlying technology is built around dendrimers – a type of synthetic nanoscale polymer that is highly regular in size and structure and well suited to pharmaceutical uses.  Starpharma has three core development programs: VivaGel^® portfolio, drug delivery and agrochemicals with the Company developing a number of products internally and others via commercial partnerships. In addition, products for diagnostics and laboratory reagents are already on market through licence arrangements with partners including Siemens Healthcare and Merck KGaA.

Starpharma’s lead product is VivaGel^® (SPL7013 Gel), a gel-based formulation of a proprietary dendrimer. VivaGel^®   is under clinical development for the treatment and prevention of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and also as a vaginal microbicide to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted infections including HIV and genital herpes.

Starpharma has also signed separate licence agreements with Ansell Limited (ASX:ANN) and Okamoto Industries Inc (TSE) to market a value-added, VivaGel^® -coated condom.  Ansell manufactures and sells leading condom brands worldwide, including Lifestyles^®, ZERO^® and SKYN^®.  Okamoto is the market leader for condoms sold in Japan, the world’s second largest condom market.

In the wider pharmaceutical and life science fields, Starpharma has both partnered and internal programs in Drug Delivery, including programs with Lilly and GSK.  Most recently Starpharma announced pre-clinical results in its Docetaxel (Taxotere^®) program demonstrating significant improvements in that agent’s anticancer efficacy and the enhancement of solubility offering potential safety benefits as well.  The company is also exploring dendrimer opportunities in agrochemicals in a series of industry partnerships as well as with internal programs including an enhanced version of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup^®).

Starpharma’s headquarters and research facilities are located in Melbourne, Australia. Starpharma principally consists of two operating companies, Starpharma Pty Ltd in Australia and Dendritic Nanotechnologies, Inc. in USA. both with a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio.

Founded in 1996, Starpharma listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2000 (ASX: SPL). Starpharma securities also trade in the US under the American Depository Receipts (ADR) program, and are listed on the OCTQX platform (OTCQX: SPHRY). OTCQX is the premium tier of the US Over-the-Counter (OTC) marketplace, providing non-US companies with a visible cross-listing to access US investors, without the duplicative regulatory costs required of listing on a traditional US exchange.