ASX health stocks: Mayne Pharma slapped with lawsuit, Patrys encounters clinical trial delays

ASX 200 health stocks index fell by 0.12% this morning, compared to the broader index which fell by 0.19%.

A class action proceeding against Mayne Pharma (ASX:MYX) has been brought by Phi Finney McDonald on behalf on investors who bought MYX shares and its US ADRs (American Depository Receipt) between 24 November 2014 and 15 December 2016.

The proceeding, which was filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, alleges misleading or deceptive conduct against Mayne.

The allegation says Mayne had breached its continuous disclosure obligations in respect of alleged anti-competitive conduct in the US, which has been the subject of investigations by the US Department of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General in the State of Connecticut.

In 2016, Connecticut Attorney General said his department has “uncovered evidence of a broad, well-coordinated and long-running series of schemes to fix the prices and allocate markets for a number of generic pharmaceuticals in the United States”.

Mayne Pharma has emphatically denied the allegations, and said it will vigorously defend the proceeding. The MYX share price fell by 3% today.

Mayne Pharma share price today:

Other notable health stocks announcements today

PharmAust (ASX:PAA) rose by 2% after announcing that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Epichem, has completed building the flow reactor using the benchtop Oxidative Hydrothermal Dissolution (OHD) tehcnology to convert waste into fuels.

The flow reactor is a world-first, with the potential to turn a wide range of waste and biomass feedstock into valuable energy products.

Patrys (ASX:PAB) dropped 16% after announcing delays in procuring certain key components required for its PAT-DX1 clinical trial program.

Patrys’ commercial contract manufacturer said the delays are entirely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the production and supply chains, and are outside if its control.

The anticipated delay means the start of the GMP toxicology studies for PAT-DX1 has been rescheduled to Q1 CY 22.

Paradigm Biopharma (ASX:PAR) also dropped 11% after receiving a written feedback from the US FDA on its Investigational New Drug (IND) application submitted in March.

The FDA has accepted Paradigm’s responses to five of the six questions, but requires further clarification on one remaining question.

The question is directed at the non-clinical interpretation and clinical mitigation relating to one of Paradigm’s recently completed GLP non-clinical toxicology studies.

The company said it will submit the requested information to the FDA within the month.

Ecofibre (ASX:EOF) rose by 1.5% despite reporting a 43% decline in revenue for the full year of FY21. Its NPAT was also down 153% for a loss of $7m.

These figures are in line with expectations, and the company expects profitabilty and cashflows to increase in FY22.