More to Come? Benitec Halted on the Australian Exchange

In what cannot be described as anything short of an amazing day for the Business of RNA(i) Therapeutics, Benitec has just announced their request to halt trading of their shares: http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20080108/pdf/316tqqh1t4xm4g.pdf

This comes on the back of an Stock Exchange enquiry about irregular trading associated with rumours last week that Pfizer was interested in Tacere (as it turns out, rumours are true sometimes). As the Tacere news was already out before today's trading session, it will be interesting to see whether the trading halt request is linked to and possibly an extension of the Pfizer deal.

Update: Benitec confirmed Tacere-Pfizer news and is currently up by more than 100%. An interesting interview last year with Benitec CEO MacLeman about the possibility of Pfizer coming back to take a therapeutic DNA-directed RNAi license from Benitec in the wake of taking a research license can be found on the following website (listen carefully):

http://www.brr.com.au/event/17735