Sinobiomed Replaces Management in Hopes of a Turnaround

Sinobiomed Inc. (SOBM.OB) has replaced its entire management team with people who have both venture capital and industry experience. Sinobiomed is up against the ropes financially – it has no cash and little in the way of revenues. It talks about its ten recombinant products – three on the market, four in clinical trials and three in research and development – but with only $347,000 in cash, just $827,000 in revenues (for nine months), and a net loss of $4.1 million (also for nine months), the company must do something quickly. It is looking at a working capital deficiency of $14.3 million.

For the past year, most of Sinobiomed’s announcements have been along two major themes: (1) departures and hires for its management team and board of directors, and (2) sales of unregistered securities as the company forestalls a slide into insolvency. Reports of clinical progress for new drugs have been, like cash itself, in short supply.

Here are the possible strategic alternatives as laid out by the new management. The company will seek:

• Licensing opportunities with Sinobiomed’s patented SFDA approved products in Asia, Europe, and the US;
• Strategic investments in Sinobiomed's product pipeline and protein discovery platform through fund raising via debt, equity, or a combination;
• To identify potential acquisition candidates in China;
• To implement a real-time online management information system.

One of the company’s promising clinical stage products is recombinant batroxobin. Naturally-occurring batroxobin is the world's most often prescribed product to stop bleeding, particularly during and after surgery. Batroxobin is found in the venom of the pit viper. rBAT from SinoBiomed is the world's first batroxobin synthesized through gene recombination. SinoBiomed’s version is less expensive and less likely to cause neurotropic side-effects that the existing batroxobin.

Sinobiomed’s products, including those in development, target malaria, hepatitis, surgical bleeding, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetic ulcers and burns, and blood cell regeneration.

In the release announcing the new strategic initiatives and new management, the company provided the following biographies of its newly installed executives:

Dr. Anchie Kuo, incoming President and Chief Executive Officer who expects to join the Board of Directors in the future. Dr. Kuo has 20 years of management experience in biotechnology and healthcare firms, most recently as CEO of ARC Medical. He was a founder and managing director of Bank America Venture Partners (now Scale Partners), a $600 million private equity firm and Genaissance Healthcare Fund, a healthcare focused hedge fund, where he focused on investments in the healthcare sector including biopharmaceuticals

Lionel Choong, recently appointed Chief Financial Officer who expects to also join the Board of Directors in the near future. A former partner with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Mr. Choong has 20 years of experience in corporate finance, business development, IPO and M&A, and financial management and reporting in a variety of industries in Hong Kong, China and overseas, most recently as head of corporate finance of Kennic L.H. Lui & Co, a CPA firm in Hong Kong.

Brent Suen, Head of Strategic Development and Mergers and Acquisitions. Mr. Suen has more than 20 years of experience in the investment industry, both as an investor and an operator of companies, most recently as Executive Director of IRG, where he oversaw deal sourcing and execution for the advisory business for the IRG TMT Asia Fund, primarily in Technology and Life Science companies.

Christopher Metcalf, incoming Chairman of the Board. Mr. Metcalf is an executive with extensive private equity and investment banking experience and has previously held investment positions at Morgan Stanley and GF Private Equity Group.

On Wednesday, Sinobiomed was trading for 9 cents per share, a loss of 1 cent for the session.

Disclosure: none.

Comments

[devassocx]

this company is one of many chinese walking dead men I think.l

There is little reason to believe that it has any future.

2009 Feb 19 01:40 PM