ASX Health Stocks: Pharmaxis progresses to Phase 2 study on bone marrow cancer

The ASX 200 health stocks index (XHJ) is falling by 0.55% at the time of writing, compared to the broader ASX 200 index which fell by 0.50%.

Fibrotic and inflammatory diseases-focused biotech, Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS), has just announced further positive results from the Phase 1c clinical trial of its drug lead, PXS‐5505.

The trial studied patients with bone marrow cancer myelofibrosis for 28 days at three dosage levels.

The results showed inhibition of the target enzymes, LOX and LOXL2, at greater than 90% over a 24‐hour period at day 7 and day 28.

The trial safety committee has reviewed the results, and has now cleared the study to progress to the Phase 2 dose expansion phase, where 24 patients will be treated at the highest dose twice a day for 6 months.

PXS says the trial infrastructure and funding is in place, and it’s on track to complete the study by the end of 2022.

Pharmaxis share price today:

Other ASX healthcare small caps with notable announcements

Volpara Health Tech (ASX:VHT)-2.5%

The breast imaging specialist has won a major contract with a leading US outpatient diagnostic imaging provider, its largest ever contract signed to date.

Without naming the customer, Volpara will install its Patient Hub software across the customer’s extensive network of imaging centres located in 11 US states.

The contract is worth US$2.15m over five years, representing an annual recurring revenue of US$430k.

“Our platform provides both Volpara and our customers with a significant advantage, and is enabling us to seek out opportunities that did not exist even a couple of years ago,” commented Volpara CEO, Dr Ralph Highnam.

Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) -0.42%

Another diagnostics tech company, Rhythm, has just received a research and development (R&D) tax refund totaling $2.4m from the Australian Tax Office.

The $2.4m tax rebate is a 118% increase against the R&D tax refund received last year, and reflects RHY’s scaled-up R&D, manufacturing and particularly clinical trial activities for ColoSTAT .

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

Opthea (ASX:OPT) -2.4%

The eye disease biotech company announced that enrollment for its Phase 3 clinical trial of OPT-302 for treating wet (neovascular) age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is now open in Europe.

This study complements and is concurrent to the global Phase 3 clinical trials – the ShORe and COAST registrational studies – already underway.

Enrolment for those two studies has already been ongoing in the US and Canada, and is being expanded into Europe and the rest of the world.

“Europe represents another key market, given the large population of patients that reside there, and establishing a presence will help support the development of OPT-302, as well as future regulatory submissions and commercialization plans,” says Opthea CEO, Dr Megan Baldwin.

Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) +1.9%

The medicinal cannabis company is making further traction in Canada following a purchase order secured by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Mernova.

The order was for a combination of Mernova’s top-quality indoor grown, hand trimmed, hang dried, cured, artisanal, and craft cannabis products.

The total value is C$742,572 (or around A$808k), and includes a bulk order for the Lemon Haze and Mimosa strains, valued at C$185,742 (around A$202k).