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Health & Biotech
Shares in heart valve innovator Anteris Technologies (ASX:AVR) are trading on the US Nasdaq exchange after the pricing of its initial public offer settled at US$6 ($9.25) each, a 12% discount to the local December 5 closing price before a trading halt was imposed.
In its debut session on Friday night, the stock traded between US$5.14 and US$5.90 apiece, before settling at US$5.85 in after-hours trading.
The company is raising circa US$88 million via the issue of 14.8 million Nasdaq shares, with one local Chess Depositary Instrument equivalent to one US common share.
In addition, the underwriters have the option of purchasing 2.2 million shares at the IPO price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.
The offer is expected to close tonight.
The company will use the proceeds to fund development of its Duravr transcatheter heart valve, notably a pivotal clinical study to treat aortic stenosis. The cash will also be used to redeem a convertible note facility and fund general working capital needs.
Duravr is the first transcatheter aortic to use a single piece of bioengineered tissue that is “uniquely shaped” to mimic the performance of a healthy human aortic valve. It is based on the company’s anti-calcification tissue, called Adapt.
Despite the discount, Anteris’s Nasdaq foray has been more fruitful than that of Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) , which in June pulled an IPO because the pricing was not high enough.
Instead, Telix raised $650 million in a convertible note issue and last month listed on the Nasdaq sans IPO.
Anatara Lifesciences’ (ASX:ANR) experience with its phase II irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) clinical trial shows there are plenty of suffers of the grumbly condition. In fact, 11% of the populace are afflicted at one time or another.
As planned, the company has paused recruitment in its trial for its complementary medicine known as Garp, as in gastrointestinal reprogramming. That’s because “enrolment numbers appear adequate and exceed the anticipated minimum requirement from the trial design” of stage two of the trial.
The company has targeted 60 to 100 participants and as of last week had reached 63, with 10 more being screened for suitability.
Of the 63 takers, 30 have completed the treatment.
More of a dose-ranging study than anything, stage one enrolled 61 patients. Announced earlier this year, the findings showed a 50-56% reduction in symptoms among the treated group, but also a 36% reduction among the placebo cohort.
Garp is based on a natural compound called bromelain, which is extracted from pineapple stems. Suffers certainly would believe they have the rough end of this tropical fruit.
The trial is being carried out at sites in Sydney, Melbourne Adelaide and on the Sunshine Coast – home of the Big Pineapple.
The company expects a readout of the stage two headline results late in the March quarter.
Meanwhile, the company is seeking to raise up to $550,000 in a share purchase plan, which closes on Wednesday. The company raised $660,000 in a placement last month.
Anatara shares this morning were 5% higher at 4.9 cents.
In other trial news, cancer cell therapy specialist Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM) has opened its phase 2b acute myeloid leukemia (AML) trial to up to 20 subjects with the recently diagnosed blood disease.
This follows a phase 1b dose escalation study of six patients with relapsed or refractory (unresponsive) AML, which found no “dose-limiting toxicities or unexpected safety findings”.
The trial is road-testing Chimeric’s Core-NK, a Car-T cell therapy that promises to be a “potentially transformative new paradigm for AML patients”.
The phase 2b stage covers patients who are elderly or otherwise unsuitable for transplantation and have not been previously treated.
Carried out at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the trial combines Core-NK with standard-of-care chemo.
“This novel combination has the potential to transform first-line AML therapy and improve outcomes for cancer patients, as this is the first time cell therapy has been evaluated in a first-line setting in AML,” says Chimeric CEO Dr Rebecca McQualter.
Of course, they gotta do the trials first.
Chimeric shares were steady at 0.6 cents.
The world’s only provider of four-dimensional lung-imaging software, 4D Medical (ASX:4DX) has signed another private client in the US but its efforts are not being reflected in the share price.
The latest compact is with the University of Chicago Medicine, by which the esteemed medical centre’s clinicians can access 4D’s product suite for structural and functional lung imaging, including its flagship LVAS (see below).
The company notes the institution’s pulmonary and critical care medicine department is “internationally recognised for its contributions to advancing the treatment of complex lung diseases”.
4D’s tech enables doctors to understand ‘regional’ airflow in the lungs, thus identifying illnesses with greater efficacy as patients breathe.
4D’s tools supplement – but do not replace – the images produced by conventional x-rays, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging and the relatively crude spirometry (breathing into a handheld device to measure the amount of air expelled).
The company’s XV Lung Ventilation Analysis Software (XV LVAS) quantifies lung ventilation, while CT LVAS is – you guessed it – an adjunct to CT scans.
Last month the company signed up US San Diego Health, a top-10 US provider of respiratory care.
Other deals are with US radiology chain IPOC, also in California and, locally, the Perth Radiological Clinic.
Still, 4D’s broader fortunes would seem to depend on winning deals with the US veterans’ health bureaucracy, to analyse lung damage stemming from the soldiers’ exposure to toxic smoke from burn pits.
As the name suggests, burn pits are bulldozed holes created on deployment, in which all sorts of items and substances are combusted indiscriminately.
4D shares edged up 3.6% to 48 cents.
Health & Biotech
Health & Biotech
Health & Biotech
