An annual meeting to elect board members at OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎) yesterday secured Ruentex Group’s (潤泰集團) position as the largest stakeholder in the biotechnology firm.
People affiliated with Ruentex Group took four out of seven seats on OBI Pharma’s board, which also has three seats for independent members.
The outcome ended a rumor about an ongoing campaign, involving opposing major stakeholders vying to secure two seats on the company’s board, that was to be played out during yesterday’s meeting in Taipei.
OBI Pharma had originally planned to have five to nine board seats, but Ruentex Group affiliate Yi Tai Fund Co (宜泰投資股份有限公司) motioned to set the amount of seats at seven, which was approved by shareholders.
Shareholders also approved to extend Michael Chang’s (張念慈) chairmanship of the company.
Regarding OBI-822, a monoclonal antibody for treating cancer, Chang said that the firm has not ruled out collaborating with Academia Sinica or its peer Cho Pharma (醣基生醫), which have researched similar antibodies.
“OBI-888 is the result of our in-house research and we aim to secure our own patent,” Chang said.
“Although we do not rule out collaborative efforts in the future to reap the benefit of a more concerted effort with prospective partners, we do not see a need to begin licensing talks,” he added.
In addition, the company said that it is preparing to submit new drug applications for OBI-833 and OBI-834, immunotherapy drugs for treating epithelial cancer, to the authorities.
The company added that OBI-858, a product it developed to manufacture botulinum toxin, will be ready to enter the materials production phase before the end of this year, adding that it is optimizing OBI-868, a carbohydrate-based cancer diagnostic technology.
The company also announced that it will build three more research centers in the US and one in Taiwan.
OBI Pharma shares yesterday fell 3.45 percent to NT$528.
The shares fell due to a technical correction, as some retail shareholders collected short-term profits, Marbo Securities Consultant Co (萬寶證券投顧) analyst Winson Wang (王榮旭) said by telephone.
“We are positive on Ruentex Group’s dominance in the biotechnology company’s board, as it will ensure funding from the conglomerate for drug development projects,” Wang said.
After the company announced unfavorable clinical trial results for its breast cancer vaccine, OBI-822, in February, the company’s shares on April 25 dropped to this year’s lowest at NT$321.
Shareholders also approved the company’s NT$2.8 billion (US$86.1 million) deficit compensation plan, in light of a net loss of NT$941 million, or losses per share of NT$5.66, last year.
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