Acrux Ltd (ASX: ACR) shares are avoiding the market weakness and rocketing higher on Wednesday.
In morning trade, the ASX healthcare stock was up as much as 110% to 9.9 cents.
To put that into context, a $10,000 investment yesterday afternoon would have grown to be worth $21,000 in less than a day.
The topical pharmaceuticals products developer's shares have eased back a touch since then but remain up 70% to 8 cents at the time of writing.
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Why is this ASX healthcare stock rocketing?
Investors have been scrambling to buy the company's shares this morning after it announced the launch of a new product in the United States market.
According to the release, Acrux and its partner TruPharma have launched a generic version of Dapsone 5% Gel.
Dapsone 5% Gel is a prescription medicine which is used on skin (topical) to treat acne vulgaris. Annual market sales for Dapsone 5% Gel products for the 12 months ending October 2023 exceeded US$15 million according to data from IQVIA.
The ASX healthcare stock's CEO and managing director, Michael Kotsanis, was pleased with the news. He said:
We are excited to partner with TruPharma to launch this topical prescription product in the United States. This is another product from the Acrux pipeline that is being commercialised. We look forward to announcing additional regulatory approvals and launches in the future.
What else is in the pipeline?
As mentioned above, the company is working towards additional regulatory approvals and launches.
This includes its Nitroglycerin 0.4% Ointment, which was accepted for review by the FDA in July 2023. This product treats moderate to severe pain associated with chronic anal fissure and has an annual addressable market of US$21.6 million according to IQVIA.
Another product in the pipeline is a generic version of cold sore treatment Acyclovir Cream, 5%. The reference listed drug for this treatment is Zovirax Cream, 5%, which is marketed by Bausch Health in the United States. The annual addressable market for the product exceeds US$29 million according to IQVIA data.
In total, it currently has three products under review by the FDA and seven products in development. But management isn't resting on its laurels. A further two topical generic projects have been identified for commencement in 2024 and thereafter two new topical generic projects are intended to be added each year.
Despite today's impressive gain, the ASX healthcare stock is only up 33% since this time last year.
