Imricor flies high after Switzerland announcement. Picture Getty
Health & Biotech
MRI-compatible medical devices specialist Imricor Medical Systems (ASX:IMR) surged 7% this morning after saying that it has established its first iCMR site in Switzerland.
The company established the first iCMR lab at the University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV), which is widely considered one of the best hospitals in the world.
Imricor sells capital and consumable products to hospitals and clinics for use in Interventional Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (iCMR) labs, in which ablation procedures using the Vision-MR Ablation Catheter can be performed.
The CHUV has now submitted a purchase order to Imricor for the capital equipment required to fit out the CHUV’s new iCMR lab, scheduled to open this July.
The site at CHUV will be a Centre of Excellence for Imricor, where physicians from other hospitals can visit and be trained on real-time iCMR cardiac ablations and other future interventions.
The centre will start with electrophysiological interventions, and will then expand to other cardiovascular interventions to treat structural heart diseases.
The use of iCMR is said to allow for high precisions with higher success rate, lower relapse rate and less complications compared to conventional technique.
“We believe this very important site will be an incubator for new iCMR technologies, and a catalyst for new iCMR adoption across Switzerland and all of Europe,” said Imricor’s chair and CEO, Steve Wedan.
Medical Developments International (ASX:MVP) also surged 6% after its board formally approved the strategic pathway for commercialising Penthrox in the US.
Penthrox is an analgesic used by experts such as medical practitioners and ambulance paramedics to administer emergency pain relief.
The company will now commence a search for partner organisations to undertake the clinical and non-clinical programs and to launch Penthrox in the US market.
“We are in the final stages of a comprehensive commercial assessment of the US,” said MVP CEO, Brent MacGregor.
“Feedback received through this review affirms the substantial opportunity for Penthrox in this market, which is the world’s largest for pharmaceuticals.
“It is clear that delivering value from Penthrox in the US will be best achieved through the support of one or more partners.”
The company said it will provide further progress updates on the US Penthrox strategy in the coming months.
Previously, Nyrada (ASX:NYR) said it expected to be in a position to commence a Phase I/IIa study of its cholesterol drug candidate in the first half of the year.
However, the formulation work necessary to ensure the drug could be dosed to achieve sufficiently high exposures required additional time to complete. Consequently, this impacted the progress and timelines of commencing the clinical trial.
Nyrada said this work is advancing well, with the last remaining study (out of 8 in total) on track to be completed by the end of April.
Subject to receiving the draft reports for the studies, Nyrada said it could submit an application to the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) in July for approval to commence the Phase I/IIa study.
Following completion of the Phase I/IIa study, Nyrada anticipates submitting an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the US FDA.
Health & Biotech
Health & Biotech
Health & Biotech
