The Neuroscientific Biopharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: NSB) share price jumped higher this morning before becoming subject to a trading halt at lunchtime.
Before the pause in trading, the Australian biotech company's shares were exchanging hands at 31.5 cents apiece, an 8.6% leap from the open. The share price gain came after an update was released to the market prior to the opening bell.
What did Neuroscientific announce today?
Neuroscientific shares jumped on Thursday as the company provided an update on its EmtinB label.
According to Neuroscientific, "EmtinB is currently being developed as a treatment for neurodegenerative dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and degenerative conditions of the optic nerve".
The announcement said EmtinB was shown to be effective in reducing "important biomarkers" associated with severe COVID-19. The study demonstrated Neuroscientific's label was effective in reducing these biomarkers by "more than 50%", versus controls.
As such, this indicates a "strong therapeutic potential" for EmtinB, "in preventing severe immune responses" from COVID-19.
Neuroscientific's hypothesis in examining EmtinB in COVID-19 was to address the "cytokine storm" that occurs with an aggressive inflammatory response in COVID-19 infection.
For example, this "storm" results in a cascade of uncontrolled inflammation in the body, which decreases a person's lung function. A rise in the incidence of these events has been purported with COVID-19, thereby leading Neuroscientific to conduct its trial.
The results obtained suggest EmtinB "is safe to administer in future work", and are an important milestone for the company.
Why are Neuroscientific shares in a trading halt?
Shares paused trading just after midday on Thursday, with the company stating it was working to "finalise an announcement detailing further information in regard to the results from pulmonary studies as announced today".
The halt will remain in place until Monday 23 August, or until the announcement is released to the market.
Neuroscientific share price snapshot
The Neuroscientific Biopharmaceuticals share price has posted a year-to-date return of 26%, extending the previous 12 months' climb of 31%.
These returns have both outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s gain of around 25% over the last year.
