Biotech company Patrys Limited (ASX:PAB) shares got a bump this morning, after some more positive animal tests for its PAT-DX1 cancer treatment.

A completed study at Yale School of Medicine shows PAT-DX1 has the potential to improve radiation therapy for patients with glioblastoma (GBM), a form of brain cancer.

  • Scroll down for more ASX health news >>>

PAB shares rose as much as 33.3 per cent this morning to an intra-day high of 3.2c. It follows results at the end of May which showed the company’s treatment was proving effective at curing mice of brain cancer — news which sparked a 40 per cent jump to 3c per share.

Removing the side effects

To test the treatment, Yale used a “highly aggressive human GBM tumour explant to generate brain tumours in mice”, Patrys said.

In isolation, the PAT-DX1 treatment was shown to compress tumour growth with no toxicity. And when combined with low-dose radiation treatment the results were “significantly” better than using radiation alone.

Patrys CEO Dr James Campbell said the results added merit to the thesis that PAT-DX1 could be utilised in low-radiation treatment for GBM.

“Radiation therapy often results in significant morbidity and severe side effects, particularly in elderly populations,” he said.

“The ability to improve clinical outcomes by reducing the dose of radiation required, could be an important advancement in the treatment of GBM.”

For Patrys, each medical study is another step on the long road towards clinical trials in humans — a key benchmark for any biotech company.

The company said the results indicated “biologic rationale” for an eventual move towards clinical tests.

For its next step, Patrys will administer tests of the PAX-DX1 treatment using differing levels of radiation.

In other ASX health news today:

Drug delivery company SUDA Pharmaceuticals (ASX:SUD), a developer of oral sprays, got some good patent news out of Europe. The European Patent Office said it planned to approve SUDA’s application for its Anagrelide treatment used to reduce the blood platelets in cancerous cells. Shares in the penny stock ticked higher by more than 30 per cent to 0.4c in morning trade.

And leading ASX pot stock Elixinol Global (ASX:EXL) has acquired the global intellectual property rights over “micro-encapsulated technology” developed by Bionova. The company said Bionova would also be the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of Elixinol products sold in the European union using the technology. Shares in EXL were up 1.5 per cent to $3.89.