IDT Australia (ASX:IDT) jumped more than 20% after announcing that it has formalised activities with the Australian Government to potentially assist with the production of a COVID-19 vaccine.

There was recent media interest surrounding a mRNA-based vaccine candidate being developed by Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences with the support of the Victorian Government.

IDT says following that development, the company signed a Sterile Readiness Agreement with the government to bring IDT’s sterile manufacturing facility into a state of readiness to potentially produce the vaccine.

The sterile readiness activities are being undertaken on a “vaccine agnostic” basis, meaning that IDT will be readying the facility to potentially manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine which may be nominated by the government at its discretion during the exclusivity period.

 

IDT share price today:

 

 

Other notable health stocks announcements today

ImpediMed (ASX:IPD) +4.5%

After announcing record Q4 results last week, medical device company ImpediMed has made another major announcement this morning.

The company says that its lead product SOZO has received a US FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, for treatment and diagnosis of renal failure.

SOZO is a bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) platform to provide an exact measure of fluid volume to remove during a dialysis session.

The company says the current process, which utilises weight scales to determine accumulation of fluid, has significant deficiencies.

For example, the scales cannot account for changes in body composition, especially as muscle loss is prevalent in end-stage renal disease patients.

The breakthrough designation positions ImpediMed to successfully expand its SOZO platform into the renal space, with the company also saying that it will now partner with the FDA to expedite the development and clearance of the platform.

“We believe SOZO can provide a significant improvement to the dialysis process by better quantifying the volume of fluid needed to be removed,” commented Richard Carreon, CEO of ImpediMed.

“It also allows us to advance the discussions with both potential clinical and commercial partners, with a goal of moving quickly to clinical trials and subsequently to commercialisation,” he added.

Last week, ImpediMed reported record revenue for Q4 of $2.6m, which was a 117% increase year-on-year.

The IPD’s share price rose by 4.5% today on the latest announcement.

Vectus Biosystems (ASX:VBS) +7.3%

The fibrosis and high blood pressure specialist says that it has completed dosing the first group of eight patients in a Phase I human trial of VB0004, a drug to treat mild to moderate hypertension with low cardiovascular risk.

The result for this cohort has been reviewed by the trial safety committee, and was deemed safe to proceed with the next dosage level.

Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) +6.7%

The company say top-line data of NOXCOVID Phase 1 clinical trial of Veyonda has been released today.

The results validate Veyonda’s position as an anti-inflammatory drug that could prevent patients with moderate COVID-19 symptoms from progressing to severe disease symptoms.

The aim of the drug is to suppress a self-harming inflammatory response to damaged lung tissue, without compromising a protective immune response to the coronavirus.

The full data will be released in several weeks, but NOX says that discussions are already underway for participation in future funded clinical trial platforms.

Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) -2.5%

The healthcare giant reported a 28% increase in full year revenue to $8.8b, for a net profit of $1.3b, a 149% increase from the previous year.

Sonic says that it has been playing a crucial role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in its markets, with COVID-19 testing products and services contributing significantly to its earnings in FY21.

The company increased its final dividends by 8% to 55c.

CycloPharm (ASX:CYC) +2.1%

The medtech company recorded $8.5m in total revenues for the half, up by 47% on the previous corresponding period (pcp). CYC has maintained its interim dividend at 0.5c a share.

Actinogen (ASX:ACW) +1.3%

The company announced that it has been granted a patent from the Brazilian Patent office for Xanamem.

This grant completes a key part of Actinogen’s intellectual property portfolio, with protection now across all major pharmaceutical markets including the USA, UK, EU, Japan, China, Canada and Australia.

Xanamem was developed in response to evidence that there is a strong association between chronically raised cortisol levels in the blood and in the brain, and cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Virtus Health (ASX:VRT) unch

The IVF specialist has delivered a full year FY21 revenue of $324.6m, compared to FY20 revenue of $258.9m.

The company also announced that Healius Limited (ASX:HLS) has entered into a binding agreement to sell Adora Fertility and three co-located Healius Day Hospitals to Virtus for $45 million on a cash and debt-free basis.

While the VRT share price is unchanged, the HLS share price rose by 1.45% this morning.

 

Share prices today: