Aside from his plan to make Australia a world leader in lithium batteries — which is causing the Liberal party to claim the ALP wants to tax hard-working Australians’ cars — Bill Shorten also promised to provide $2.3 billion to fight cancer if elected.
In his budget reply speech, the would-be — and likely next, if polls and betting markets are to be believed — prime minister of Australia announced “the most important investment in Medicare since Bob Hawke created it”.
“We will invest $600 million towards eliminating all of the out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic imaging,” he said. “We’ll invest $433 million to immediately cover specialist consultations.
<<< Scroll down for a list of small cap ASX stocks fighting cancer >>>
“Every drug recommended by the independent experts will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). We will continue to support our scientists in their work, we’ll invest in the research and the clinical trials.
“And until the day we find a cure I promise the men and women of Australia this. You focus on getting well without worrying about going broke. I can promise you that if you’re in the fight of your life, the Labor government will be with you every step of the way.”
ASX cancer small caps grinning from ear to ear
There are about 140 health, biotech and medtech companies listed on the ASX, with a bit over 30 dedicated to fighting cancer in some way or another.
Dr Steven Fang, CEO, chairman and co-founder of diagnostic biotech Invitrocue (ASX:IVQ), said the funding “could not have come at a better time”.
“In most developed economies healthcare costs are skyrocketing and the cost of managing chronic diseases like cancer are astronomical,” he told Stockhead.
“Any support from the government is hugely welcomed by us, it will help us roll out our services in Australia as well as give us the room to develop in new indications.”
Invitrocue’s flagship product is Onco-PDO, as in oncology patient-derived organoid.
Onco-PDO uses 3D culture to grow a patient’s own cancer cells on scaffolds and then test them in view of the best medicine to use.
The technology is based on the notion that every tumour is slightly different, which means individual patients may react differently to a particular drug or drug combination.
It is currently being made available in Asia and Europe and Dr Fang hopes to bring it to Australia soon.
Dr James Garner, Kazia Therapeutics (ASX:KZA) chief, says he is excited to see how the funding will be used, hoping that it will tackle the disease from all sides.
“Somewhere between a third and half of the Western world ends up dying from cancer, so at a high level anything that helps in that fight is terrific,” he told Stockhead.
“The challenging thing is how do we best invest that as a society. Is it focused on drug discovery and new medicines, new treatment plans, better infrastructure or preventative measures?
“One hopes that it will be all put together, cancer requires thinking about the whole package and I am keen to see from both sides more thinking about integrating all these different ways of approaching cancer.”
Here is a list of small cap ASX stocks with exposure to cancer treatment:
ASX code | Company name | What they do |
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AJJ | Asian American Medical Group | Oncology division focuses on treatment plans and a liver cancer clinic |
BD1 | BARD1 Life Sciences | Lung and ovarian cancer detection tests, vaccine |
BIT | Biotron | Treatments for Hep B, which can lead to cancers |
BLT | Benitec Pharma | Head and neck cancer treatment |
CDY | Cellmid | Oncology drug development and biomarker detection |
CGS | Cogstate | Clinical trial design |
CYC | Cyclopharm | Cancer imaging tech |
CYP | Cynata Therapeutics | Stem cell therapies |
GBI | Genera Biosystems | HPV test - cervical cancer prevention |
GTG | Genetic Technologies | Breast cancer risk tes |
IDT | IDT Australia | Brain tumour drug |
IMC | Immuron | Cancer drugs development and reducing tumour size and side effects of chemotherapy. |
IMM | Immutep | Immunotherapy treatments fro cancer |
IMU | Imugene | Vaccine development for gastric and breast cancer |
ITD | ITL Health Group | Diagnostic testing |
IVQ | Invotrocue Ltd | Screening tests development |
IVX | Invion | "Photosoft" laser cancer treatment |
KZA | Kazia Therapeutics | Developing Cantrixil drug candidate - ovarian cancer |
LSH | Lifespot Health | Self-diagnosis skin cancer app |
MDC | Medlab Clinical | Medical cannabis cancer treatment |
NOX | Noxopharm | Developing cancer-fighting drug Idronoxil |
OSL | Oncosil Medical | Device for use in pancreatic cancer treatments |
PAA | Pharmaust | Cancer treatment for animals with a view to expand into human cancer treatment |
PAB | Patrys | Antibody treatments |
PTX | Prescient Therapeutics | Drug candidates for destroying tumours |
PXS | Pharmaxis | Cancers with fibrotic components |
RAC | Race Oncology | Developing the Bisantrene cancer drug |
RGS | Regeneus | Cellular therapies |
RHY | Rhythm Biosciences | Colorectal cancer test |
SDX | Sienna Cancer diagnostics | Biomarker diagnostics / cancer testing |
SPL | Starpharma Holdings | Dendrimer tech and cancer drug development |
SRX | Sirtex Medical | Liver cancer treatment |
TBL | TBG Diagnostics | In vitro disgnostic testing |
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