ASX Health Stocks: Polynovo’s record month; Island Pharma gets much-needed cash for trial

ASX wound tech stock Polynovo has notched its first month of revenue above $10 million. Meanwhile, Island Pharma’s dengue fever trial has been boosted.

A wad of US dollars has come Polynovo's way. Picture: Getty Images

Polynovo (ASX:PNV) has reported a record revenue month, after recording $10.1 million in revenue (unaudited) for April.

Sales of its wound-healing tech in the US were strong, reaching $6.9 million, which is about 75 per cent more than that achieved to the same time last year.

Sales in other parts of the world were $2.4 million, showing an increase of 68.2 per cent compared to the same time last year.

There was especially good growth in the United Kingdom/Ireland, Australia/New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Germany.

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The total revenue for the company in April of $10.1 million was 68.6 per cent more than the pcp.

“Rest of world sales are very pleasing, coming off a low base,” said Polynovo chair David Williams.

“The direction is clear, and with new geographies and new patient applications I couldn’t be happier.

“It’s hard to contain my excitement when I see first time orders into Turkey, Abu Dhabi and Ukraine, as I think of the lives we are saving.”

So how does PolyNovo do that?

The company makes special medical devices to help heal wounds.

Its flagship product is a special material called NovoSorb, which is like a type of plastic that can break down in the body over time.

NovoSorb looks like a scaffold, and helps generate new skin when a person loses a lot of it from surgery, injury, or burns.

NovoSorb is made of special materials that can disappear in the body, and can be used in different forms, such as films, fibres, foam, or coatings.

The company say it’s safe for the body because it breaks down naturally over time.

The market has wlecomed Polynovo’s news, with its share price up about 8.5 per cent for the day at 2pm Wednesday (AEST).

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Island Pharma’s focus on dengue fever

Meanwhile, Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) has received funding of $US625,000 (about $A962,000) for its ISLA-101 Phase 2a human trial on dengue fever.

These funds will directly support the trial, which will test how well ISLA-101 works against dengue fever.

As a background, in July 2023, Island announced that it had received $US1.3 million (about $A2 million) from a US government grant for more lab tests and data analysis for a different study called PEACH.

Even though this extra analysis was deemed scientifically useful, the company believes it was not essential enough to carry out at this point in time, and those funds were not being prioritised to Island’s direct clinical trial costs.

So, Island has just agreed with the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY) to use part of that grant money, $US625,000, to cover the costs of the current dengue fever trial.

This will provide a significant reduction to Island’s overall costs for the ISLA-101 Phase 2a trial.

“We are most appreciative of this meaningful source of new, non-dilutive funding which sees Island’s own capital requirements for the study reduce markedly,” said Island’s CEO, Dr David Foster.

“As cases of dengue fever continue to spike around the globe, finding both preventatives and treatments are paramount.”

At 2pm Wednesday (AEST), Island Pharma’s share price was up 12.5 per cent for the day.

This content first appeared on stockhead.com.au

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