About

Company Overview

Benitec Limited is an international biotechnology company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:BLT). Benitec is a leading company in the area of RNA interference (RNAi) technology, which utilises the body’s own mechanism to turn off the expression of defective genes, thus opening up potential new therapies for a range of serious life-threatening diseases. The discovery of this science won two US researchers the Nobel Prize in 2006.

Benitec's core patents and licenses provide it with key technologies to turn off target genes using DNA-directed RNAi (ddRNAi) or vector expressed technology in human cells and in live animals. Benitec holds exclusive worldwide rights for development and commercialization for all therapeutic human applications of this technology.

The corporate goal of Benitec is to develop RNAi-based therapeutics for serious diseases such as infectious diseases, cancers and autoimmune disorders through co-investment and out-licensing. Benitec is now well advanced along this path, with three projects underway - two in infectious disease and one in cancer:

1. HIV/AIDS. The first is Benitec's RNA-based HIV therapeutic, co-developed with the City of Hope in Duarte, California, which has entered human clinical trials with promising interim results.
   
2. Hepatitis B. Benitec has commenced a research project aimed at using RNAi to treat another infectious disease, Hepatitis B, in collaboration with Biomics Biotechnologies Inc., a biotechnology company located in China with RNAi expertise. The RNAi is targeted at turning off a gene vital to the growth of the hepatitis B virus.
   
3. Lung cancer. In collaboration with researchers in the Children’s Cancer Institute, at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Benitec is undertaking a project to validate preliminary findings that turning off a gene in human lung cancer cells using Benitec’s technology can make those cancer cells much more sensitive to current anti-cancer drugs.

Benitec derives revenues from out-licensing its proprietary ddRNAi technology to life sciences companies in various fields. The Company's proprietary ddRNAi technology provides unique capability and significant competitive advantages for: