CHEMEQ DRUG ACTIVE AGAINST GASTRIC ULCER GERM.

Pharmaceutical company Chemeq Ltd (ASX: CMQ) has produced an antimicrobial drug that kills a strain of the gastric ulcer germ, Helicobacter pylori which is resistant to antibiotics. This result is part of Chemeq's medium-term research program, aimed at taking the company into global, human health-care markets.

In vitro (in the test tube) experiments in the laboratories of Chemeq Ltd have shown that Chemeq's antimicrobial drug (0.1% w/w) is able to totally kill this strain of H pylori which is resistant to two of the remaining antibiotics, still able to treat the infection.

H pylori infects more than half the human population and while infection is often without symptoms, the organism is responsible for chronic gastritis, and most gastric and duodenal ulcers (excluding ulcers related to the use of non-steroidal antibiotic-inflammatory drugs). Additionally, the germ is a major factor in the onset of gastric adenocarcinoma, one of the most common of all cancers. Increasingly, strains of the germ are exhibiting resistance to existing antibiotics.

"Our technology is based on antimicrobial polymers large molecules that are inhibited from passing through membranes, like the intestine and the skin." said Dr Graham Melrose, Chairman and Chief Executive Director of Chemeq Ltd. "This way, the antimicrobials don't get to the blood stream and hence there's no chance of toxicity. Therefore, we are using our technology to investigate therapies in the gastro-intestinal tract and on the skin."

Chemeq is collaborating with the world's leading research-investigator of H pylori infection in humans, Professor Barry Marshall, Burnet Fellow at the University of WA. The collaboration has been consummated by an agreement between Chemeq Ltd and the University of WA, the terms of which stipulate that all intellectual properties and rights (including commercial) remain with Chemeq Ltd.

For more information, visit http://www.chemeq.com.au.