Avexa nearer to coal/drugs mix April 22, 2013 - 5:57PM Australian biotech Avexa is moving closer to discovering if coal and drugs really do mix. Avexa expects that it may have revenue from coal mining by late 2013 to help it fund drug development. Avexa announced in November 2012 that it would pay $US4 million for a 25.5 per cent stake in Coal Holdings USA which owns the North Pratt coal mine near Birmingham, Alabama, in the United States. Avexa aims to use money generated by mining to fund the final clinical development of apricitabine (ATC), a compound it hopes will be used in the treatment of drug-resistant HIV. Avexa said on Monday that the North Pratt mine had been granted a draft permit to start mining. The draft permit is now open to public comment and review by the Environmental Protection Agency. Granting of the final permit, which is anticipated by early June, will allow mining operations to commence. "We are pleased that we are now close to receiving the final approvals which will enable mining activities to begin," Avexa chairman Iain Kirkwood said. Revenue is likely to be generated later this calendar year. The remaining clinical development of ATC will involve a 300-patient trial, which will begin once the Avexa board is confident of sufficient cashflow from the coal mine investment or other sources. Shares in Avexa were steady at 1.7 cents on Monday.