ASX Health Stocks: Inoviq’s tech boosts early detection of Parkinson’s disease

Inoviq’s NEURO-NET validated for Parkinson’s disease
Nyrada’s NYR-BI03 shows safety in rats; Phase I planned for late 2024
Immutep at ESMO: data on eftilagimod alpha will be presented

Inoviq’s NEURO-NET validated in Parkinson’s

Inoviq (ASX:IIQ) has announced that its NEURO-NET technology has been further validated for isolating brain-derived exosomes in Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Earlier this year, Inoviq demonstrated that NEURO-NET could successfully isolate brain-derived exosomes from blood and identify a distinct protein fingerprint that differentiates Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from healthy samples.

Now, NEURO-NET has also proven effective in isolating exosomes from the blood of Parkinson’s disease patients, revealing a unique protein profile that contrasts with healthy individuals.

Initial studies show that NEURO-NET enhances the detection of known neurodegenerative disease biomarkers by 5-8 times compared to direct blood measurement, potentially allowing for earlier detection of Parkinson’s disease.

Analysis by the Walter & Elisa Hall Institute found more than 200 proteins with altered levels in Parkinson’s patients compared to healthy controls.

CEO Leearne Hinch said that NEURO-NET’s success in identifying exosomal protein biomarkers for both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases could lead to new blood tests for earlier diagnosis and treatment selection.

“These biomarkers can be used to develop potential exosome-based blood tests for earlier detection and/or treatment selection of AD and PD,” she said.

The next steps involve further clinical validation and collaborations with academic and industry partners in neurological research.

Update from Nyrada’s brain injury program

Nyrada (ASX:NYR) has provided an update on its brain injury program.

The company is developing NYR-BI03, a pioneering treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke.

Earlier this year, Nyrada reported promising results from preclinical stroke studies, showing that NYR-BI03 significantly protected brain tissue.

Recently, Nyrada completed a rat respiratory study under Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) conditions, demonstrating the drug’s safety and tolerability.

The study examined how NYR-BI03 affects respiratory functions in rats, including respiratory rate and volume, and established how different doses impact these functions.

Nyrada is continuing to analyse the remaining GLP study results and plans to submit a Human Research Ethics Application.

If all studies are satisfactory, the company expects to start its first human Phase I clinical trial for NYR-BI03 by late 2024.

Immutep’s data selected for presentation at ESMO 2024

Meanwhile, Immutep (ASX:IMM) has announced that a late-breaking abstract from its TACTI-003 Phase IIb trial will be featured as an oral presentation at the 2024 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Barcelona.

The presentation will discuss results from the trial, which tests Immutep’s drug eftilagimod alpha (efti) in combination with pembrolizumab against pembrolizumab alone in treating first-line recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients, with any level of PD-L1 expression.

The session will be held on September 15 and will be led by Dr Claus Andrup Kristensen from Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.

The TACTI-003 trial explores how eftilagimod alpha, a novel LAG-3 protein, performs alongside pembrolizumab compared to pembrolizumab alone, aiming to assess its effectiveness in this patient group.

The trial’s primary goal is to measure the objective response rate, with secondary goals including overall survival, progression-free survival, and duration of response.