Alchemia Limited is a listed Australian biotechnology company (ASX:ACL).  The Company has particular expertise in chemistry, which it has applied to the discovery and development of human therapeutic products.

Highlights:

• Near term revenues from generic fondaparinux
• US marketing agreement with Dr Reddy's Inc for generic fondaparinux
• Positive results for HA-irinotecan (HyCAMP) in colorectal cancer Phase II trial
• Validation for HyACTtumour targeting platform with multiple product commercialisation opportunities
• VAST^TM drug discovery platform offering novel chemistry and a novel approach to drug discovery
• VAST^TM libraries being synthesised that have the potential to address any target

Alchemia's antithrombotic drug, generic fondaparinux, is the Company's near term opportunity that targets the multi-billion dollar heparin-drug market and is expected to be generating revenues for the company in 2009.  Fondaparinux has a superior safety and efficacy profile to the market leading drug Lovenoxand the brand-name fondaparinux drug Arixtra(marketed by GlaxoSmithKline) continues to gain market share.

In contrast to normal generic drugs which are generally associated with low prices and low margins, Alchemia's product is likely to achieve high margins because the drug is very difficult to synthesize and therefore it is unlikely that there will be any competition from other generics.

HA-irinotecan is Alchemia's most advanced anticancer product.  It is produced with HyACT technology which combines the chemotherapeutic drug irinotecan (Pfizer's Camptosar) with hyaluronic acid (HA).  In May 2007, Alchemia reported exceptional results from a Phase II clinical trial.  HA-irinotecan not only allowed more cycles of irinotecan to be administered to cancer patients, but also produced statistically significant disease control and a doubling in progression free survival.

The HyACTdrug delivery platform presents the Company with multiple product opportunities.
HyACTimproves the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to cancer cells. HyACTboosts drug efficacy and reduces unwanted side effects.  The technology also has broad applications and is applicable to many different therapeutic agents from small molecule cytotoxics to much larger biologics (i.e. monoclonal antibodies). It has applicability to products in the R&D phase as well as products on the market. Proof of concept has been achieved in man with three different HyACTproducts (i.e. HA-irinotecan, HyDOX^TM and HyFIVE^TM). For HA-irinotecan, the lead product, we have successfully completed a Phase II clinical trail in colorectal cancer patients. Due to the versatilty and functionality of this technology, Alchemia is seeking to take this technology forward to improve the treatment and survival of patients with cancer.

Alchemia's VAST^TM drug discovery platform targets G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Currently half of the drugs on the market target GPCRs, with over US$100 billion in sales.  VAST^TM a revolutionary drug discovery technology with several drug candidates in early stages of development.  The key advantage to this technology is that it can be applied to almost any target and the structure of the target does not need to be known.

Alchemia has a balanced portfolio of lower-risk near-term opportunities with generic fondaparinux and HA-irinotecan and longer-term opportunities from other HyACTdrugs and its novel drug discovery engine, VAST^TM.