The ASX health heroes on quest to cancel cancer
Cancer is global health enemy No.1. And a new generation of ASX stocks is continuing Australia’s proud history of taking on the killer.
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Cancer is global health enemy No.1.
And a new generation of ASX stocks is continuing Australia’s proud history of taking on the killer.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cancer is the leading cause of death globally.
WHO defines cancer as a generic term for a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body with malignant tumours and neoplasms.
WHO says the one defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries.
The abnormal cells can then invade adjoining parts of the body and spread to other organs – a process known as metastasis, which is the primary cause of death from the disease.
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However, many cancers can be cured if detected early and treated effectively.
Australia has a proud history of cancer research.
In the 1990s Professor Ian Frazer made a significant discovery that contributed to development of a vaccine to protect against the human papilloma virus (HPV), the most common cause of cervical cancer.
Morgans Healthcare analyst Scott Power says that given the broad range of cancers, there are numerous ASX listed companies targeting screening, diagnosis and treatment.
“There are new cancer therapies coming through which are improving patient outcomes, such as cell therapy which continue to attract funding, from large pharmaceutical companies to small biotech companies,” he says.
“The discovery and clinical process is and will always have risks which need to be managed by companies and investors.”
Power says the success of Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) in getting its diagnostic prostate cancer imaging agent Illuccix to market is attracting greater investor attention, with the company generating sales greater than $100 million a quarter.
Improving treatment for better outcomes
Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) has a core focus to impact cancer outcomes and address challenges of chemotherapeutic cardiotoxicity (heart damage from cancer treatment) with its focus therapy bisantrene.
In the 1970s and 1980s, bisantrene was developed as a safer alternative to anthracycline chemotherapy, demonstrating anti-cancer benefits with reduced cardiotoxicity.
It has a proven track record of effectiveness and safety, with more than 46 clinical trials and 70 peer-reviewed publications involving approximately 1800 treated patients.
Originally created by a French pharmaceutical company called Lederle Laboratories, bisantrene was approved in France for relapsed or refractory AML (acute myeloid leukaemia) but was later withdrawn due to ownership changes.
RAC is now exploring key focus areas for bisantrene, including clinical development in metastatic breast cancer (mBC) and AML and exploration of fat-mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO).
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Commercial stage biotech Telix (ASX:TLX) is focused on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products using targeted radiation.
TLX boasts a robust pipeline encompassing prostate, kidney, brain (glioblastoma), hematologic cancers, and rare diseases.
The company says many therapies for cancer kill healthy tissue and have an impact on vital organs at the same time as treating disease. However, molecularly targeted radiation (MTR) is intended to seek out cancerous or diseased cells with precision.
As mentioned above, TLX has secured regulatory approvals from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Health Canada, for its prostate cancer imaging agent Illuccix.
TLX is conducting more than 20 clinical trials worldwide.
Drug development company Kazia Therapeutics (ASX:KZA) is focused on treating brain, liver and renal cancers, which it says are poorly served by existing therapies.
KZA’s lead program is Paxalisib, a brain-penetrant inhibitor of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, which is being developed to treat multiple forms of brain cancer.
Positive data from several clinical trials has been released in 2023 with some clinical trials expanded and new trials started to further advance the potential therapeutic application of the drug.
The FDA has granted paxalisb Fast Track Designation (FTD) for the treatment of solid tumour brain metastases harbouring PI3K pathway mutations, in combination with radiation therapy.
The Paul Hopper effect
Australian biotech veteran Paul Hopper has founded and is involved in several ASX stocks focused on cutting-edge cancer treatment.
Hopper was in the private hospital industry before he turned his attention to biotech start-ups and has found success in listing and growing several on the ASX.
Hopper is the founder and executive chairman of clinical stage immuno-oncology company Imugene (ASX:IMU), which is developing new treatments that seek to activate the immune system of cancer patients to identify and eradicate tumours.
IMU’s product pipeline includes an off-the-shelf (allogeneic) cell therapy CAR T drug Azer-Cel (azercabtagene zapreleucel) which targets glycoprotein CD19 to attack blood cancer.
It also includes oncolytic virus and B-cell immunotherapies aimed at treating a variety of cancers in combination with standard of care drugs and immunotherapies.
Hopper is also the founder and executive chairman of Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM), a clinical stage cell therapy company with bold ambitions. According to its website, CHM believes “cellular therapies have the promise to cure cancer, not just delay disease progression”.
CHM is focused on the discovery, development, and commercialisation of the most innovative and promising cell therapies. The company has a diversified portfolio that includes first-in-class autologous CAR T cell therapies and best-in-class allogeneic NK cell therapies.
The company has several current clinical programs under way.
Hopper was also behind clinical stage oncology company Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX), which has a diversified pipeline of personalised medicine approaches to cancer, including targeted and cellular therapies.
Managing director and CEO Steven Yatomi-Clarke says the company’s lead asset is PTX-100, targeting a rare form of T-cell lymphomas.
PTX-100 is a first-in-class compound with the ability to block an important cancer growth enzyme known as geranylgeranyl transferase-1 (GGT-1).
Speaking technically, it disrupts oncogenic Ras pathways by inhibiting the activation of Rho, Rac and Ral circuits in cancer cells, leading to apoptosis (death) of cancer cells.
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PTX-100 is believed to be the only GGT-1 inhibitor in the world in clinical development.
“It’s a targeted therapy that turns off on problematic growth switches inside cancer cells,” Yatomi-Clarke said, by way of helpful explanation.
Hopper is also the founder and executive chairman of clinical stage radiotherapeutics company Radiopharm Theranostics (ASX:RAD), which has a pipeline of six distinct and highly differentiated platform technologies spanning peptides, small molecules and monoclonal antibodies for use in cancer treatment.
RAD says the technologies are in pre-clinical and clinical stages of development from some of the world’s leading universities and institutes.
Furthermore, Hopper was founder and chairman of oncolytic immunotherapy company Viralytics, which was sold to global pharmaceutical giant Merck for $US394 million (about $500 million) in 2018.
Detecting cancer early
When it comes to effective cancer treatment, early detection is critical to improving patient outcomes. There are several ASX biotechs focused on early detection of the disease.
Diagnostics company Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) is looking to replace invasive cancer diagnostic tests with a simple blood test.
ColoSTAT is a simple, minimally invasive blood test for those currently unwilling or unable to use traditional screening methods for the detection of colorectal cancer.
The blood test has been approved for sale in a number of jurisdictions.
NZ-based medical imaging stock Volpara Health Technologies (ASX:VHT) specialises in the early detection of breast cancer.
VHT’s AI-powered image analysis enables radiologists to quantify breast tissue with precision and helps technologists produce mammograms with optimal image quality, positioning, compression, and dose.
The company’s platform can be deployed stand-alone or fully integrated with electronic health record systems, mammography reporting systems, imaging hardware, and genetic laboratories.
VHT is continuing to build its global footprint, targeting larger value customer contracts particularly in the US.
Ovarian cancer is a nasty disease, with non-specific symptoms which can be mistaken for other less-lethal illnesses, making it hard to diagnose, but Cleo Diagnostics (ASX:COV) is working to reduce the fatality rate of ovarian cancer via a simple blood test for early detection.
COV’s cancer diagnostics technology platform is underpinned by a patented novel biomarker, CXCL10, which is produced early and at high levels by ovarian cancers, but not in non-malignant disease.
The platform is backed by more than 10 years of scientific R&D at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne.
The blood test COV is developing for ovarian cancer will be combined in a panel with several other biomarkers.
An accurate and early detection blood test could shift survivability for ovarian cancer significantly, as seen with other cancers.
INOVIQ (ASX:IIQ) was formed following the mid 2020 merger of the ASX-listed BARD1 Life Sciences and Sienna Cancer Diagnostics. In late 2021 the company was renamed INOVIQ, meaning ‘intelligent innovation’.
IIQ is bringing to market advanced exosome solutions and precise diagnostic tools to enhance detection and management of cancer and various other illnesses.
The company has commercialised the EXO-NET pan-exosome capture tool for research applications, as well as the hTERT test to complement urine cytology testing for bladder cancer.
IIQ is also developing blood-based tests for the early identification and monitoring of ovarian, breast, and other types of cancer.
This content first appeared on stockhead.com.au
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Prescient Therapeutics and Race Oncology are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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Originally published as The ASX health heroes on quest to cancel cancer
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