ASX Health Stocks: After TGA approval in Australia, Telix now gets license to sell in Brazil

The ASX 200 Health Index (XHJ) is up by 0.80% at the time of writing, compared to the broader index which is down by 0.15%.

Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) revealed this morning that Illucix has been granted exceptional authorisation for prostate cancer imaging in Brazil.

This authorisation grants permission to commence the selling of Illuccix in Brazil, ahead of a full regulatory approval expected next year.

Illucix is a positron emission tomography (PET) agent used in the diagnostic imaging of men with prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in Brazil, with approximately 65,000 cases a year.

“PSMA-PET imaging has the potential to have a profound impact on the management of prostate cancer,” says Dr Christian Behrenbruch, CEO of Telix.

“Our product Illucix will enable clinicians to detect prostate cancer right throughout the body.”

Illucix was granted a TGA approval in early November, making it the first commercially approved PSMA-PET imaging agent available in Australia.

Telix Pharma share price today:

In other ASX health news this morning

Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM) +5.5%

In a presentation released to investors, Chimeric outlined its plans to conduct four clinical trials by 2023.

Central to its plan is the Core_NK platform, a clinically validated, off the shelf, and an ‘Natural Killer” cell platform obtained from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) via an exclusive license.

The company will conduct four clinical trials under this platform, which will broaden its reach into 10+ disease areas including blood cancers and solid tumours.

Starpharma Holdings (ASX:SPL) unchanged

SPL’s antiviral nasal spray VIRALZEE has now been officially registered for sale in Vietnam.

SPL is launching the spray in the country this week, after having recently signed an initial supply contract for approximately 100,000 units.

VIRALEZE is an antiviral nasal spray that contains SPL7013, which has been shown to have potent antiviral activity that kills >99.9% of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV in laboratory studies.

Neurotech International (ASX:NTI) unchanged

Preclinical studies demonstrate that its lead drug, NTI164, can improve the efficacy of prednisone at low doses.

Significant anti-inflammatory activity was observed when NTI164 was combined with prednisone at the low doses of 5uM and 25uM.

The company will now look to fast-track commercial negotiations with strategic partners to further develop and commercialise the drug for the most common indications worldwide.

PharmAust (ASX:PAA) +5.4%

PAA’s two upcoming Phase 1 human clinical trials have just received a major boost, following the successful production of smaller-sized non-GMP monepantel (MPL) tablets.

A total of 2,000 demonstration batch tablets were successfully produced using the same process used to produce the previous larger tablets.

Manufacturing of the GMP version tablets is now scheduled for February 2022, while the two clinical trials are expected to start concurrently in May 2022.

Epsilon Healthcare (ASX:EPN) -4.3%

Epsilon and Valens have agreed to extend their agreement to 31 January 2022, to allow additional time for the execution of formalising the partnership.

Both companies entered into a partnership deal in September, in order to give Valens access to Epsilon’s facilities at Southport in Queensland.

Under the signed agreement, Valens would fund all operational and capital expenditure of the Southport facility, operated by Epsilon’s wholly owned subsidiary THC Pharma.

In return, Valens would be granted preferential access for up to 85% of the operational capacity over the next five years, with an option to extend the arrangement for a further six years.