ASX Health Stocks: Noxopharm plunges 45pc after discontinuing Veyonda clinical trials

• Noxopharm plunged 45pc after scaling down its Veyonda program
• Rhythm Biosciences rose 25pc after saying that ColoSTAT will be presented at a prestigious gathering
• Immuron surged 24% as global sales rose significantly

Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) plunged 45% today after announcing that to preserve exisiting funds, it will focus on the development of the Chroma and Sofra programs instead, and move away from its flagship Veyonda program.

The company said it will limit further investment into Veyonda clinical trials by discontinuing Noxopharm’s DARRT-2 and CEP-2 trials.

The DARRT-2 and CEP-2 Veyonda trials have experienced slow patient recruitment and delays due to hospitals in the US struggling with reduced staffing capacity.

The expectations for significant cost increases due to these delays have resulted in the Board determining to discontinue those trials.

Veyonda has been Noxopharm’s flagship asset – it is a dual acting anti-cancer agent that both directly kills cancer cells and also works with the body’s immune system to destroy tumours.

Noxopharm’s Chroma and Sofra programs meanwhile target pancreatic cancer and viral inflammation respectively.

The Chroma platform has been shown to be effective in killing both pancreatic cancer cells and their barrier cells.

In the studies conducted using a cutting-edge model developed by UNSW Sydney, tumour cells decreased by up to 85% and barrier cells were reduced by up to 87%.

The Sofra platform meanwhile is developing a proprietary mRNA vaccine enhancer technology called SOF-VAC.

This asset has demonstrated strong activity against inflammation and the potential to make mRNA vaccines such as COVID vaccines safer, better tolerated by patients and more cost-effective to manufacture.

The mRNA market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach US$128 billion by 2030, according to Noxopharm.

Rhythym Bio will present ColoSTAT at prestigious event

Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) rose 15% after announcing that both abstracts it submitted on ColoSTAT at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) have been accepted.

The abstracts outline the clinical data and the economics for ColoSTAT’s adoption in the US, which will be available to an expected attendance of more than 40,000 healthcare professionals in the event.

This event showcases the latest innovations in cancer research and education, and is being held in Chicago, Illinois from 2-6 June 2023.

The abstract detailing ColoSTAT clinical data has been chosen out of more than 6,500 submissions.

Immuron’s sales grew significantly

Immuron (ASX:IMC) surged 24% after reporting that its global Q3 YTD sales of Travelan and Protectyn increased by 239% in FY23 to $1.46 million, compared to $430k in the pcp.

In Australia, Travelan and Protectyn Q3 YTD sales were $864k versus $80k in the pcp.

In North America, Travelan Q3 YTD FY23 sales were $595k, up by 70% on the pcp.

Immuron has focused on the development these two commercially available oral immunotherapeutic products for the treatment of gut mediated diseases.

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