Health Check: Let there be light (therapy). Invion up 160pc on skin cancer trial news

Invion enrols its first patient in its Queensland skin cancer study
Inoviq says it has the clinical proof to commercialise its early-stage ovarian cancer detection test
Are we on the cusp of Trump-driven US healthcare M&A fiesta?

Invion (ASX:IVX) shares have gone on a mighty romp on news that the company has enrolled its first patient in its phase I/II non-melanoma skin cancer trial, using its photo dynamic therapy (PTD) technique.

At first blush, the gain of up to 160% might seem an extravagant reaction to what in isolation is modest news. But Invion has been woefully undervalued relative to its peers and it seems that investors have been girding for even a whiff of good news.

Known about for decades but underused, PTD uses non-toxic photosensitisers and light selectively to kill cancer cells and to promote an anti-cancer immune response.

Fittingly, the skin cancer trial is being carried out in sun-drenched Queensland.

A minimum 18 patients have been targeted for the trial, but given this adaptive design this number can rise or fall according to results. As the trial is open label, data can be drip-fed along the way.

Non-melanoma skin cancers account for about 98% of all skin cancers, which in turn are one of the most common tumours.

Preclinical work to date suggests Invion’s candidate INV-043 might have advantages over current treatments, notably better efficacy and less scarring and pain.

Earlier, the company release promising phase II trial results for prostate cancer, with a phase II ano-genital cancer trial in the works.

With the latter, a study at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre showed an 80% “complete pathological control” of anal squamous skin cancers, compared with 12% for immune checkpoint inhibitors.

PDT is also potentially effective against multiple infectious diseases including superbugs, so it’s true that sunlight is the best disinfectant.

As of late morning Invion shares were 94% higher at 35 cents, ascribing a still modest market cap of $17 million.

The company last month consolidated its shares on a one-for-100 basis – and we reckon its the first time the ploy has worked.

Inoviq posts ‘outstanding’ ovarian cancer detection results

Following “outstanding” validation results, Inoviq (ASX:IIQ) reckons it has clinical evidence to commercialise its test for the early detection of ovarian cancer.

The exosome-based assay, Exo-oc, delivered accuracy results of more than 94% in an independent patient validation.

Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles released from all cells in the body, including healthy and diseased ones.

Inoviq’s Exo-net platform compares exosomes from cancer cells with normal ones.

Notably, Exo-oc accurately identified early stages of ovarian cancer – which is notoriously hard to pick up – with a sensitivity of more than 90% and specificity (ruling out false positives) of 96%.

Ovarian cancer is often asymptomatic in its early stages and thus hard to diagnose.

If the disease is detected at late stage, patients have a poor five-year survival rate of around 50%, but earlier detection can boost this to well over 90%.

The exosomes were isolated from more than 500 blood samples, using the company’s high-throughput robotic platform.

The Exo-oc blood test was performed using a more sensitive and specific method than used in routine pathology testing laboratories,” the company says.

The company will now “optimise” the blood test on a commercial platform and perform “additional clinical validation.”

Inoviq currently derives revenue from an Exo-net for research purposes and an adjunct bladder cancer test that uses a different tech. The company also has an exosome-based breast cancer assay in clinical stage development.

Ovarian cancer is the world’s deadliest gynaecological cancer and the eighth most common cancer in women. In 2020 the cancer caused 207,000 deaths, including 1046 in Australia.

Inoviq estimates the ovarian cancer diagnostics market was worth US$1.7 billion ($2.6 bilion) in 2023 and is expected to reach US$2.9 billion by 2032.

Inoviq shares were 12% higher at 52 cents.

Ooh la la! Le Cyclopharm images le first patients in French trial

Lung imager Cyclopharm (ASX:CYC) has imaged the first 15 of 665 patients in a French trial, aimed at expanding usage of its approved radiation-based Technegas agent.

Carried out across 13 French nuclear medicine centres, Pronospect explores the role of residual pulmonary vascular obstruction in predicting venous thromboembolism (VTE) recurrence.

Hopefully, Technegas will be able to identify patients at high risk of recurrent VTE, thereby guiding individualised treatment.

VTE is currently dominated by computed tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) scanning, but Cyclopharm reckons it can do better.

The vaunted Technegas advantages include three-dimensional imaging, the lack of harmful imaging dye and radiation exposure 20 times less than for CTPA .

Technegas already used in more than 65 countries for PE detection. Last year, the FDA approved Technegas after a mere 16-year wait.

Last week, Cyclopharm received its first purchase orders from two US Veterans Health Administration hospitals, the biggest healthcare system in the US.

Cyclopharm shares edged up 0.6% to $1,66.

Hold on tight for a Trump-driven healthcare M&A fiesta

Today’s musings on what Donald Trump might or might not do for the healthcare sector come courtesy of Global Data, which opines that the changing of the guard at the White House could usher in a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

Trump is odds-on to sack the current chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Lina Khan.

“Under Khan’s leadership, the FTC placed increased scrutiny on M&A activity,” Global Data says.

“For example, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Sanofi’s US$750 million licensing agreement with US-based biotech Maze Therapeutics in December 2023.”

As a result, Sanofi terminated the agreement, which pertained to Maze’s proposed treatment for Pompe disease (a rare genetic disorder affecting the heart and skeletal muscle).

On the other hand, foreign acquirers of US assets might face greater hurdles.

Of course, it’s all conjecture. But the implications of a more laissez faire trade policy are at least a variation on the industry chatter about what quixotic incoming health czar Robert F Kennedy Junior might get up to.