ASX Health Stocks: Polynovo notches record month, Island Pharma gets much needed cash for Phase 2a trial

Polynovo achieves record revenue month
Island Pharma gets grant redirected to its dengue fever study

Polynovo achieves record revenue month

Polynovo (ASX:PNV) said it achieved its first ever $10m+ revenue month, after recording $10.1 million in revenue (unaudited) for the month of April.

Sales in the United States were strong, reaching $6.9 million, which is about 75% more compared to the same time last year.

Sales in other parts of the world, excluding the US, were $2.4 million, showing an increase of 68.2% compared to the same time last year.

There was especially good growth in the United Kingdom/Ireland, Australia/New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Germany.

The total revenue for the company in April of $10.1 million was 68.6% more compared to the pcp.

“Rest of World sales are very pleasing, coming off a low base,” commented Polynovo’s Chair, David Williams.

“The direction is clear, and with new geographies and new patient applications I couldn’t be happier.

“It’s hard to contain my excitement when I see first time orders into Turkey, Abu Dhabi and Ukraine as I think of the lives we are saving.”

A quick one on what Polynovo does

PolyNovo makes special medical devices to help heal wounds better.

Its flagship product is the special material called NovoSorb, which is like a type of plastic that can break down in the body over time.

NovoSorb looks like a scaffold, and helps generate new skin when a person loses a lot of skin from surgery, injury, or burns.

NovoSorb is made of special materials that can disappear in the body, and can be used in different forms like films, fibres, foam, or coatings.

The company say it’s safe for the body because it can break down naturally over time.

Island Pharma gets grant redirected to dengue fever study

Meanwhile, Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) has received funding of US$625k (about $962K) for its ISLA-101 Phase 2a human trial on dengue fever.

These funds will directly support the trial, where it will test how well ISLA-101 works against dengue fever.

As a background, in July 2023, Island announced that it had received US$1.3m (about $2m) from a US government grant for more lab tests and data analysis for a different study called PEACH.

Even though this extra analysis was deemed scientifically useful, the company believes it was not essential enough to carry out at this point in time, and those funds were not being prioritised to Island’s direct clinical trial costs.

So, Island has just agreed with the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY) to use part of that grant money, US$625k, to cover the costs of the current dengue fever trial.

This will provide a significant reduction to Island’s overall costs for the ISLA-101 Phase 2a trial.

“We are most appreciative of this meaningful source of new, non-dilutive funding which sees Island’s own capital requirements for the study reduce markedly,” said Island’s CEO, Dr David Foster.

“As cases of dengue fever continue to spike around the globe, finding both preventatives and treatments are paramount.”