ASX 200 health stocks index (XHJ) rose by 0.23% this morning, compared to the broader index which rose by 0.11%.

Micro cap medical device company dorsaVi (ASX:DVL) took the limelight this morning, jumping by 12% after saying that it has extended the contract with Medtronic for a further 5 months, worth an additional ~US$171k.

The original deal, which was signed in March and was worth US$330k, saw Medtronic staff working alongside leading clinicians to evaluate and test dorsaVi’s technology to assess patients undergoing surgical evaluation.

The work  with Medtronic, one of the world’s largest medical technology companies, involves analysis of data on patients wearing dorsaVi medical grade wearable sensors.

dorsaVi’s technology revolves around wearable sensors that measure movement and muscle activity at 200 frames per second paired with patented algorithms.

Movement is measured through use of accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes, while muscles are measured through adhesive electrodes near the surface of the skin.

dorsaVi’s revenues grew by 45% in Q4 (vs Q3) to ~$650k on sales of these devices.

 

dorsaVi share price today:

 

 

Other notable health stocks announcements today

Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS)

The fibrotic and inflammatory disease specialist rose by 5% after presenting data from a preclinical study of PXS‐5505 in cholangiocarcinoma (liver cancer) to the Americas Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary Association (AHBPA) conference in Miami.

This was the first public data on cancer drug PXS‐5505 to be presented, following its study on whether PXS‐5505 can improve the efficacy of current chemotherapy drugs.

The study shows that PXS‐5505, when used in combination with standard chemotherapy, represents an innovative therapeutic strategy with potential to progress into clinical studies on malignant liver cancers.

Immutep (ASX:IMM)

The LAG-3 focused immunotherapy company rose by 4% after announcing the first patient has been enrolled and safely dosed in its INSIGHT-003 study, which seeks to evaluate the effect of a triple combination of IMU’s lead product candidate efti with chemotherapy and anti-PD-1 therapy.

Imugene (ASX:IMU)

The immuno-oncology market darling has entered into a research collaboration deal with Celularity (Nasdaq: CELU).

The agreement will see the two companies work on developing the combination of Imugene’s CD19 oncolytic virus technology and Celularity’s allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cellular therapy, CyCART-19, for the treatment of solid tumors.

The IMU share price is one of the best performers in the sector, having risen by 400% in one year.

Neuren Pharma (ASX:NEU)

The brain injury specialist rose by 5% after saying it has completed Phase 3 enrolment for the study of trofinetide in Rett syndrome (neuro-development disorder), with results on track to be published in Q4 of 2021.

The company is working with Arcadia (Nasdaq:ACAD) in this Phase 3 trial, which will test 180 patients for 12 weeks with trofinetide or placebo.

Noxopharm (ASX:NOX)

Shares in NOX rose 2% after announcing that an animal study showed that adding lead drug Veyonda to 177lutetium-PSMA-617 results in regression of prostate cancer.

This new data supports results from the Phase I/II LuPIN study, where Veyonda, when combined with the Novartis drug, shows an impressive median overall survival outcome of 19.7 months.

Both developments further support the company’s belief in a key role for Veyonda in the emerging multi-billion dollar radioligand therapy market.

 

Cannabis news

In cannabis news, Emyria (ASX:EMD) rose by 2% after announcing an exclusive agreement with the University of Western Australia (UWA) to develop a drug discovery pipeline of psychedelic therapies .

In the deal, Emyria will get access to a library of  MDMA-like compounds which has been developed over a period of 10 years by the highly regarded research group of medicinal chemist, Dr. Matt Piggott,

The agreement will assist Emyria in becoming a leader in the development of psychedelic-assisted therapies and treatments for major neurological disorders.

 

 

Share prices today: