An Australian firm that owns a sizable stake in Hawaii Biotech Inc. said it is moving to oust several board members of the 'Aiea-based company in an effort to more aggressively pursue commercialization of Hawaii Biotech's vaccine technologies.

A board meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow to discuss the matter, said William Ardrey, chief executive of Acuvax Ltd., which owns 28 percent of Hawaii Biotech.

Acuvax, based in Adelaide, is traded on the Australian Securities Exchange, while Hawaii Biotech is privately held. Acuvax shares closed Friday at 1.9 Australian cents.

Ardrey, who also holds a seat on Hawaii Biotech's five-member board of directors, said under its current leadership Hawaii Biotech has not pushed hard enough to generate revenue from the work it is doing in developing vaccines for West Nile virus, dengue fever and tick-borne encephalitis. The company currently is undergoing human clinical trials for its West Nile and dengue fever vaccines.

In addition to tomorrow's board meeting, Acuvax officials have requested a meeting of Hawaii Biotech shareholders in mid-December to seek the removal of board members Elliot Parks and Debra Guerin Beresini. Parks also is president and chief executive officer of Hawaii Biotech.

"The current management team is very technologically oriented. Like many emerging companies spun out of universities their bias is toward research and development," Ardrey said.

"The issues are simply a need for an even stronger focus on revenue, commercialization and exit," he said.

Parks called the challenge from Acuvax "reckless," and said he was confident the current management team would prevail.

"This unnecessary and seemingly desperate action is inexplicable and we hope it is withdrawn," Parks said in an e-mail. "Regardless, management and Hawaii investors are confident that they can prevail in any dispute with Acuvax, including maintaining the current board."

He continued: "We do not believe that this reckless action by Acuvax management is in the best interests of either the shareholders of Hawaii Biotech or the minority shareholders of Acuvax.

"The company will take all appropriate actions to put an immediate stop to this maneuvering and allow Hawaii Biotech to continue on its path to profitability," Parks said.

Hawaii Biotech already has generated $1 million in licensing revenue from the diagnostics side of its business.

"We think that even more commercial revenue can be generated, and even more quickly," the company said in a news release.

"The last thing we want to see is another five years of R&D. Acuvax shareholders want to see more good news, with revenue attached, and there's never been a hotter or better time to be doing deals in the vaccine space," Ardrey said.

Should Hawaii Biotech put itself up for sale it could probably fetch anywhere from $50 million to as much as $400 million, Ardrey said.

"That's what comparable vaccine companies are selling for. And Hawaii Biotech is a great asset."

Ardrey also was critical of Hawaii Biotech's capital- raising efforts, saying it needed to seek a broader pool of potential investors and strategic partners.