SYDNEY, Australia - The difficulties of developing biotechnology products has caught up with one Australian biotechnology company, ForBio Ltd. in Brisbane, which has fallen into insolvency owing A$6 million (US$3.8 million).

Peter McClusky, a partner at the major specialist Australian insolvency firm of Ferrier Hodgson, is now assessing whether the company can be sold as a going concern or broken up and the pieces sold off.

Under Australian law the directors of an insolvent company must hand over control to an independent administrator, and it is understood that the directors of ForBio have resigned.

ForBio's main specialty is in developing genetically modified, high-growth eucalyptus trees but it also had some spin-off intellectual property involving human genetics, which the company had hoped to sell to any interested U.S. company.

ForBio directors had recently declared that the company would be delisted from the Australian stock exchange and listed on the Nasdaq exchange, because they believed that U.S. investors have a better understanding of technology. The company's problems occurred between being delisted from the Australian exchange and listing in the U.S.

McClusky has said publicly the company has very little cash flow and that its intellectual property required further development to be commercially viable.