The Imagion Biosystems Ltd (ASX: IBX) share price has rocketed 1,166% over the past 12 months due to a series of promising projects around cancer detection.
The company's bio is truly a mouthful: its principal business activities consist of nanotechnology, biotechnology, cancer diagnostics, and – the clincher — superparamagnetic relaxometry.
What investors should know is that it develops medical devices focused around cancer screening technology.
Imagion's Magsense cancer screening technology
One of these tech projects, called Magsense, is a diagnostic imaging tool that can potentially increase the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIs) and PMSA-PET scans. For the record, PMSA-PET scans are prostate cancer scans, which work by using radioactive dye to light up areas of the body.
What's more, the company's long term goal is to fully develop a cancer screening technology that's not only more accurate, but entirely radiation free. Scientific Advisory Board member Professor Lisa Horvarth explained Imagion's technology in slightly more detail.
MRI and PSMA-PET have limits of detection, so small cancer foci in lymph nodes may not be detected," she said. "Imagion's new imaging technology would allow precision mapping of the lymph nodes, identifying smaller foci of cancer that current imaging modalities are unable to identify. This would guide the treatment of the lymph nodes either by surgery or radiotherapy.
What's happening to Imagion's share price?
The Imagion share price has surged 1,166.67% over the past 12 months, from 0.012 cents per share to over 15 cents today. However, it's down 15% this month and 5% this week.
It's down nearly 2% today, despite a positive report to its shareholders regarding its expansion into breast cancer screening trials. The effects of COVID-19 on the healthcare sector are still hard to shake off: cancer diagnostic procedures dropped by 30% throughout the pandemic and still haven't recovered.
It revealed this month that the CSIRO have granted it $50,000 for a prostate cancer screening project related to its Magsense technology.
While the executive chair of Imagion Biosystems, Bob Proulx, was thankful for the government support.
"This collaboration with Monash, assisted by funding from CSIRO, helps jump start our prostate cancer project by leveraging the expertise at Monash University and provides a key opportunity to advance our MagSense technology for another important cancer indication," Proulx said.
"We're grateful for the support from the Australian Government through the Entrepreneurs' Programme and their recognition of the medical need for improved methods of prostate cancer detection."
Imagion "excited for what lies ahead"
It's worth noting that Imagion is still small cap and Magsense is still in its relative infancy. Its current market capitalisation is $157 million, ranking it 66th in the healthcare sector and 790th on the ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO)
But its team clearly believe they're making progress.
"After much diligence and hard work, we are delighted to have finished the year with our first inhuman study established and open for enrolment," Proulx said in Imagion's 2020 Annual Report, released last month.
"We are excited for what lies ahead in 2021, particularly as the MagSense HER2 breast cancer phase one study progresses and we explore further development areas including manufacturing scale-up and preparing for a larger pivotal study."
