The BARD1 Life Sciences Ltd (ASX: BD1) share price is in the green during late morning trade. This comes after the life sciences company announced the launch of its EXO-NET product.
When news broke out, BARD1 shares soared to an intraday high of $2.69. However, some profit-taking has led its shares to fetch for (at the time of writing) $2.57, up 3.6%.
Anticipated EXO-NET launch
Investors are pushing BARD1 shares into positive territory following the company's latest release.
In a statement to the ASX, BARD1 advised it will launch its EXO-NET product at the virtual International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) Annual Meeting. Notably, EXO-NET is the company's first product based on its molecular NET technology. The ISEV meeting will be held from 18 May to 21 May 2021.
BARD1 stated that EXO-NET is a next-generation exosome isolation and purification tool, available only for research use. The molecular NET product captures exosomes from biological samples such as blood, urine and saliva.
Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles that are released from almost all cell types into surrounding body fluids. These biovesicles contain protein, DNA, and ribonucleic acid (RNA) which shuttle between neighbouring and distant cells, allowing functions like cellular communication. Exosomes have huge clinical and commercial potential in the diagnosis and treatment of numerous diseases.
According to Grand View Research, the global exosome market is expected to reach US$2.3 billion by 2030. This represents a growth rate of 18% per year, highlighting the increasing demand for harnessing exosomes.
The ISEV 2021 virtual meeting will showcase all the latest products in extracellular vesicle science. Industry professionals will gather to collate their thoughts and advance current knowledge for societal and economic benefit.
Management commentary
BARD1 chief scientific officer, Dr Peter French welcomed the upcoming event, saying:
We are very excited to launch EXO-NET to the global exosome research market at the ISEV2021 conference. EXO-NET solves the sample preparation problems encountered using traditional exosome capture methods by providing fast, accurate and scalable capture of exosomes from any liquid sample.
Furthermore, the potential of this technology is largely untapped, as only EXO-NET can be customised for the capture of target exosome sub-populations for a range of commercial diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This is becoming a major focus of exosome research and development.
BARD1 CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch went on to add:
This is a major milestone in BARD1's commercial development of its Molecular NET technology. The exosome field is rapidly growing across research, diagnostic and therapeutic applications for cancer, inflammatory disease and wound healing. BARD1 intends to position itself as a leader in the exosomes field.
About the BARD1 share price
Over the course of the last 12 months, BARD1 shares have accelerated to more than 220%. However, year-to-date performance has jumped higher to post a gain of almost 280%. It's worth noting though, since mid-March, the company's shares have gradually trodden lower.
Based on today's price, BARD1 commands a market capitalisation of roughly $204 million, with approximately 80 million shares on offer.
