The S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX: XJO) has started the week in the red and is currently down 2% to 7,252.6 points.
Whereas the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care index (XHJ) is also around 1% in the red today, one ASX Healthcare share is outpacing the broad indices.
Clinical research company Prescient Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: PTX)'s shares are now changing hands at 30 cents apiece, which is an 11% gain from the market open today.
Let's take a closer look at what's propelling the Prescient share price in today's session.
What's up with the Prescient Therapeutics share price today?
Prescient's shares have been on the move since the company reported its FY21 earnings last month.
In its report, the company saw a 6% decrease in revenue from the previous year and increased its loss after tax by 25%.
It also raised a bunch of capital and grew its net assets by almost $10 million year over year as a result.
However, being a clinical stage biotechnology company, Prescient is less concerned with revenue and profits than it is with clinical trial results. So it's important to hone in on this to get an accurate snapshot of what's behind the company's share price.
The company's lead drug candidates, PTX-100 and PTX-200 have each progressed through initial phase stages of clinical trials and shown positive results.
Both compounds are aimed at the treatment and prevention of cancer, by blocking the growth of tumours in the body.
In its FY21 earnings release, Prescient advised that PTX-100 successfully completed Phase 1b trials in FY21, with the label "yielding encouraging results".
PTX-200 is currently in a Phase 1b trial investigating its safety and efficacy in patients with a complex condition known as relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
More information concerning the next stages of both candidates is expected over the coming periods.
Aside from this, another key takeout from Prescient's year in FY21 was the development of its OmniCAR platform.
OmniCAR was created to overcome some of the challenges and limitations of CAR-T treatments – a new type of intervention used in immunotherapy and the treatment of cancer.
The company made significant developments in this area over the course of FY21, marking another step forward in its clinical and growth narratives.
Investors certainly appear to have bought the Prescient Therapeutics share price on this clinical momentum, pushing it 58% higher in the few weeks since the company released its FY21 performance.
Prescient Therapeutics share price snapshot
The Prescient Therapeutics share price has posted a year to date return of 348%, extending its gain over the past 12 months to 341%.
Over the last month alone, it has climbed a further 54% into the green.
Each of these results has far outpaced the broad index's climb of around 25% over the past year.
