It's lonely being a biotechnology company in New Zealand, says Innate Immunotherapeutics which expects to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in late December.
Innate, which is developing a treatment for advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), recently moved to Sydney from Auckland.
The company intends to conduct a large clinical trial of its compound MIS416 in Australia and is seeking to raise $12 million in an initial public offer of shares before listing on the ASX.
Chief executive Simon Wilkinson says Australia has more patients and more specialist doctors involved in clinical research than New Zealand.
Australia also has attractive government rebates for research and development, and a much deeper pool of possible money sources.
"Another advantage in coming over here is that developing therapeutics in New Zealand is a very lonely business," Mr Wilkinson said.
"There's only three or four companies in the same sector.
"Peer support and collegeality are pretty important. It's nice to be with people who understand what it's all about."
MS can affect a person's ability to stand and walk, use their hands, and their bowel control, among other things.
It can cause significant pain and fatigue, and affect clarity of thought.
Mr Wilkinson said that in the early stages of multiple sclerosis, patients can recover from a neurological attack for a period before suffering another debilitating episode.
Existing drugs can reduce the severity of attacks and lengthen the period of remission, but there is no cure.
There are no effective drugs to treat patients in the latter stages of multiple sclerosis (secondary progressive MS), which occurs within 15 years of diagnosis.
Innate is targeting that area.
Mr Wilkinson said the market potential for a treatment was around $3 billion.
"We've got a high degree of confidence that the drug (MIS416) will work in that stage of MS, because we have been treating a small group of secondary progressive MS patients in New Zealand for the last five years," he said.
Innate says more than half of the money to be raised in the IPO will be spent on the multiple sclerosis trial in Australia.
The IPO opens on November 26 and closes on December 11.
Innate expects its shares to be quoted on the ASX on December 20.
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