Exopharm (ASX:EX1) shares rose this morning on news commercial testing results showed its treatment has the potential to help with erectile dysfunction.

There are no shortage of treatments for erectile dysfunction but a big inhibitor to many working is tissue damage, particularly from prostate and rectal surgery.

But patients have some hope this morning.

“What’s most exciting for us is that Cevaris offers new hope for men who have tissue damage that prevents other medicines from working,” CEO Dr Ian Dixon said.

“Exopharm seeks to provide patients with new treatment alternatives.”

Exopharm’s regenerative medicine products specialise in microscopic proteins called Exosomes, which promote regeneration and healing of damaged cells simply by telling cells they are a healthier, younger version of themselves.

To date it has only formally tested its products in the clinic in a wound-healing context but Exopharm believes this could be an alternative to stem-cell therapy.

Shares climbed 12 per cent at market open.

 

In other ASX health news today:

Immutep (ASX:IMM) has climbed over 25 per cent this morning with strong interim results from a clinical trial.

The company’s drugs aim to fight cancer using a patient’s own immune system and it is conducting a 109-patient clinical trial. It has been testing its lead drug candidate, the Lymphocyte Activation Cene-3 (LAG-3) protein eftilagimod alpha, in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Forty seven per cent of first line patients (people undergoing their first treatment) were responding to the treatment.

For second line patients the overall response rate was 33 per cent, albeit from a smaller patient group. Chief Scientific Officer Frederic Triebel said the results were remarkable because typically only 20 per cent of patients responded to this type of therapy.

Featured Companies

You might be interested in