ASX Health Stocks: Patrys says brain cancer drug is effective; HitIQ awarded Aussie patent

Patrys says PAT-DX1 increases survival rate in mouse model of brain cancer
Imugene starts dosing first patient in Phase 1 trial of CHECKvacc
HitIQ gets Australian patent

Patrys (ASX:PAB) surged 12% this morning after saying that its lead drug PAT-DX1 when combined with radiation therapy significantly improves survival in an animal model of brain cancer.

The study, conducted at the Telethon Kids Cancer Centre in Perth, showed that PAT-DX1 resulted in significantly prolonged survival compared to radiation alone, with 2 of 10 mice being long-term survivors.

Even below its optimal dose, PAT-DX1 as a single agent increased median survival by 12 days (p<0.0002) compared to radiation treatment alone.

The results provide strong support for the continued development of PAT-DX1 to improve patient outcomes in high grade glioma (HGG), a fast growing and clinically challenging form of brain cancer.

Adult patients with HGG have a five-year survival rate of 10% with standard therapy, while in children it’s a rapid and universally lethal disease.

“This is a very exciting result, showing a robust benefit from combining PAT-DX1 with standard of care radiation therapy in high grade glioma, one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers,” said Patrys CEO, Dr James Campbell.

“Having successfully completed our engineering run for PAT-DX1 recently, we are well positioned to advance towards the clinic, and excited by the potential of this novel and exciting agent.”

Patrys share price today:

Imugene doses first patient in Phase 1 trial

Imugene (ASX:IMU) rose 10% after announcing that it has dosed the first patient in cohort 3 in the Phase I clinical trial of oncolytic virotherapy candidate, CHECKvacc.

The Phase 1 trial is recruiting patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), and will be conducted at LA’s cancer research centre, City of Hope.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intra-tumoural administration of CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 against metastatic TNBC.

CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 is an immune checkpoint inhibitor and armed chimeric vaccinia poxvirus from the lab of CF33 inventor, Professor Yuman Fong of the City of Hope.

These oncolytic viruses were specifically designed to both selectively kill tumour cells, and activate the immune system against cancer cells.

“CHECKvacc has the potential to improve clinical response and survival in this indication where there are currently no meaningful treatments, and we are eager to deliver on that,” said Imugene CEO, Leslie Chong.

Imugene share price today:

HitIQ gets Aussie patent

Meanwhile, concussion focused company HitIQ (ASX:HIQ) has just secured its third Australian Innovation Patent.

The patent was awarded for HitIQ’s Virtual Reality-based concussion diagnostic technology, which can perform VR-based neurological assessments on a human subject.

The technology can also construct and deliver a series of cognitive tests of varied test class, thereby increasing cognitive load on the test subject.

This allows a deeper understanding of relationships between impacts, for example in a sporting environment, and cognitive performance.

The patent presents a significant milestone in HitIQ’s intellectual property development strategy, as it targets the $5 billion global addressable concussion management market.

HitIQ’s patent portfolio currently comprises 14 patent families, with numerous applications pending in various stages of the patent process globally.