Biotech: Invex hopes to blow minds with hypertension drug results

Invex Therapeutics (ASX:IXC) hopes to impress shareholders with March or April results from a clinical trial of its rejigged hypertension drug Exenatide.

The company is trying out the reformulated orphan drug as a treatment for the neurological condition idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH).

IIH is also known as pseudotumor cerebri and benign intracranial hypertension and is a condition where the source of pressure on the brain is unknown.

The latest study — a phase II clinical trial — has just finished up a dosing phase ahead of schedule, with all the patients in the trial being treated over 12-week time frames.

Chairman Dr Jason Loveridge noted the milestone and its implications for people experiencing hypertension.

“The completion of the phase II clinical trial for Exenatide represents an important milestone for Invex, its shareholders and patients living with the burden of IIH,” Dr Loveridge said.

“We eagerly await the independent analysis of our study findings and the reporting of our clinical results to the market.”

The results are now expected late in the March quarter or early in the June quarter of this year.

Exenatide has orphan drug designation in the US and Europe.

If the latest trial can be moved into a late-stage study, the reformulated hypertension treatment could also be approved in both jurisdictions.

Exenatide also has possibilities as future treatment for traumatic brain injury and acute stroke.

In other ASX biotech news today:

Advertising and media and communications specialist Andreas Empl has joined the board of medical diagnostics and digital medicines company Lifespot Health (ASX:LSH) as a non-executive.

The experienced European and German markets senior executive and investor relations manager is the CEO and sole executive director of listed investment holdings companies Mic and Lifespot Capital. Medical device development consultant and non-executive director Greg Plunkett has resigned from the board and is expected to continue as a consultant to Lifespot.