The Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) share price has been a very strong performer on Wednesday.
The molecularly targeted radiation (MTR) focused biopharmaceutical company's shares have jumped 7% to $6.53 today.
This means the Telix share price is now trading close to its record high of $6.65.
Why is the Telix share price storming higher?
The Telix share price is being bid higher by investors today following the release of a promising announcement this morning.
According to the release, the company has entered into a pan-cancer clinical collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Merck. This builds on the success of a strategic research collaboration agreement between the two companies in 2019.
The release explains that the agreement will see the two parties conduct combination studies with one of Merck's investigational proprietary DNA Damage Response Inhibitor (DDRi) molecules in combination with each of Telix's TLX591 and TLX250 MTR therapeutic programs.
TLX591 and TLX250 are late-stage products in development for prostate and renal cancer therapy, respectively. The collaboration will investigate the synergy of these investigational assets with Merck's DDRi compound across a wide variety of oncology indications.
"The vanguard of nuclear medicine and oncology"
Telix's CEO, Dr. Christian Behrenbruch, appeared to be very pleased with the agreement.
He said: "This collaboration represents the vanguard of nuclear medicine and oncology, and we are excited by the level of new data and intellectual property already generated, which is highly supportive of clinical translation."
"Pre-clinical studies provide evidence that the combined effect of Merck's DDRi compound with Telix's MTR candidates has potential to significantly impact cancer by improving efficacy and reducing the required radiation dose for tumour reduction and remission, compared to MTR only," Dr Behrenbruch added.
Today's gain means the Telix share price is smashing the market in 2021 and now up over 60% year to date.
