The ASX 200 health stocks index (XHJ) fell by 0.90% at the time of writing, compared to the broader ASX 200 index which fell by 0.40%.

Medicinal cannabis play, Cronos Australia (ASX:CAU), has jumped by 19% in morning trading, after announcing a merger with Queensland-based medicinal cannabis company, CDA Health.

Cronos will merge with CDA through a combination of cash and scrip, where CDA shareholders will hold approximately 73.7% of Cronos shares.

CDA operates across various facets of the medicinal cannabis industry.

Its wholly-owned subsidiary Burleigh Heads Cannabis operates a successful pharmacy and doctor online portal “CanView”, which distributes over 120 different products in Australia.

It also has a network of medicibal cannabis clinics on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast, in addition to nationwide telehealth services and hemp food business.

Cronos believes the merger will provide a material increase in the scale of its operations, and a potential route to early profitability.

“The merger with CDA Health is a game changer for Cronos and its shareholders,” said CAU CEO, Rodney Cocks.

“Moving forward as an executive team, we are fully aligned in the bold vision for the company as we scale existing operations and move into new markets and exploit strategic opportunities.”

Cronos share price today:

 

 

Other ASX healthcare stocks with notable announcements

Telix Pharma (ASX:TLX) +7%

The oncology company announced the US FDA has accepted its Investigational New Drug Application to undertake a clinical study of the company’s investigational kidney cancer therapy, TLX250.

The primary endpoint of the trial is to determine the efficacy of combining immunotherapy with TLX250, versus the current standard of care alone.

“This therapy may potentially offer a new paradigm of more accurate staging and personalised treatment for kidney cancer patients through a theranostic approach,” says Telix Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Colin Hayward.

MGC Pharma (ASX:MXC) +12%

The Europe-based biotech company says a landmark UK import permit has been granted for CannEpil+, MGC Pharma’s drug to treat refractory epilepsy.

This is the first time that an epilepsy treatment currently in a clinical trial process and containing THC has been approved by the authorities in the UK for import.

ResApp Health (ASX:RAP) +11%

The digital health tech company says it has received approval from AusIndustry for expenditures associated with its COVID-19 clinical studies.

The Advanced and Overseas Finding provides eligible overseas R&D expenditure a 43.5% cash rebate under the Australian Federal Government’s R&D Tax Incentive Program.

The company estimates that it will receive an R&D rebate of approximately $820,000 for the financial year ended 30 June.

Doctor Care Anywhere (ASX:DOC) +2%

The UK-based telehealth company announced it has expanded its digital healthcare service to self-pay patients in Ireland.

This expands on the company’s offering in the country, where it already provides digital healthcare services to employees of one of the UK’s largest banking groups.

Universal Biosensors (ASX:UBI) unchanged

The medtech company has entered into a deal with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, to supply cancer patient samples which will be used to validate the performance of UBI’s handheld point-of-care cancer biosensor for Tn Antigen.

The agreement provides UBI with access to plasma samples collected from patients with colorectal, breast and prostate cancer.

Argenica Therapeutics (ASX:AGN) -1.47%

The brain-focused biotech company says it’s scaling up its manufacturing capabilities of its drug ARG-007 through its manufacturing partner in Australia, AusPep.

AusPep has tested all aspects of ARG-007 production and has confirmed the successful process development and scale up of GMP grade ARG-007.

The scaled-up manufacturing process by AusPep resulted in a final product with a purity of 99.9%, an important milestone for the company.

 

Share prices today:

 

 

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While MGC Pharma is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

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