ASX Health Stocks: NeuroScientific soars 10pc on COVID-19 drug, Telix advances prostate cancer studies

The ASX 200 health stocks index (XHJ) rose by 0.62% this morning, compared to the broader index which fell by 0.51%.

The shares of NeuroScientific Biopharma (ASX:NSB) rocketed 10% after it announced results of studies on lead drug EmtinB, to treat severe symptoms arising from COVID-19.

The study found that treatment with EmtinB significantly reduced SAA, IP10, Eot3 biomarkers associated with severe COVID-19 and poor patient prognosis by more than 50%.

This indicates strong therapeutic potential for EmtinB in preventing severe immune responses resulting from COVID-19 infections.

Additionally, EmtinB was shown to be safe and well-tolerated across all dose concentrations.

While multiple tools are available to aid oxygenation, NSB says there is unmet medical need in immunomodulatory therapy that can adjust inflammatory immune responses and prevent fatal cytokine storms across COVID disease stages.

“For the first time, our team have demonstrated an EmtinBTM-mediated effect on adaptive immune responses as evidenced by regulation of these inflammatory biomarkers,” says NeuroScientific’s CEO Matt Liddelow.

Another health stock that climbed significantly today was Telix Pharma (ASX:TLX), which rose by almost 5%.

Despite reporting a $33.4m loss for the half, Telix shares rose after releasing details of studies which indicated that TLX591 antibody-therapeutic platform could be significantly extended into other areas of prostate cancer treatment.

The two studies run alongside the Phase III ProstAct Global study, and will evaluate the efficacy and safety of PSMA-targeted lutetium therapy in early-stage, localised disease all the way through to advanced metastatic disease.

Metastatic disease is also known as metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, or mCRPC.

Other notable health stocks announcements today

Nova Eye Medical (ASX:EYE) reported a 25% increase in glaucoma device sales for the 2021 fiscal year.

Those sales have underpinned the company’s total full year revenue of $13.4 million, compared to $12.8 million in the previous corresponding period (pcp).

Nova’s bottom line EBITDA however, showed a loss of $3.7 million, compared to $5.9 million loss in pcp.

Meanwhile, Rhythym Biosciences (ASX:RHY) said it has submitted an initial documentation required for Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval in Australia for ColoSTAT.

ColoSTAT is RHY’s proprietary product aimed to be a low-cost, simple blood test for the early detection of colorectal cancer for mass-market screening.

The TGA submission process will require two key steps, consisting of filing both the manufacturers evidence documentation (now completed), and filing for an Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) listing.