The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up a healthy 1.0% on Wednesday, but one ASX small-cap stock is leaving those gains wanting.
The company in question is Bio-Gene Technology Ltd (ASX: BGT), which is focused on developing bio-insecticides to combat insecticide resistance and toxicity issues around the world.
Shares in the ASX small-cap stock closed yesterday at 2.8 cents. In earlier trade, they were trading for 7.1 cents, up an eye-watering 153.6%. At the time of writing, shares are changing hands for 6.8 cents apiece, up 142.9%.
Or enough to turn a $5,000 investment yesterday into $12,145 today.
Boom!
Here's what's grabbing investor interest.
ASX small-cap stock rockets on US grants
The Bio-Gene share price is going through the roof after the company reported on two new grant awards.
The grants from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Deployed Warfighter Protection (DWFP) program total $3.0 million. The ASX small-cap stock said it is not required to match these funding commitments.
The DWFP program, administered by the US Armed Forces Pest Management Board, supports research and development of novel technologies to protect US military personnel from threats posed by disease-carrying insect pests.
Bio-Gene said the first grant of $1.6 million will see it develop a wearable product containing Flavocide to control mosquitoes and other insect vectors of disease.
The second grant of $1.4 million will see the ASX small-cap company develop a sprayable formulation of Qcide to provide residual control of flies and bed bug infestations.
Bio-Gene is developing Flavocide and Qcide as new insecticides derived from nature for use in public health, crop protection, grain storage and consumer applications.
"This funding will support the development of innovative products containing Flavocide and Qcide specifically designed for the defence and civilian markets," Bio-Gene CEO Tim Grogan said. "These new product opportunities are directly aligned with our commercial development programs for both Flavocide and Qcide."
Grogan added:
The award of these grants involved a peer-reviewed, highly competitive process and provides substantial validation for the potential for both Flavocide and Qcide to provide new solutions for pest control.
And the ASX small-cap stock could potentially tap into a much larger market.
According to Grogan:
In addition to military use, we see a very large commercial opportunity for these products in the civilian market, where more than 700,000 deaths occur annually from vector-borne diseases, and the market for products to eradicate bed bugs is projected to increase from US$2.3 billion in 2023 to US$4.9 billion by 2032.
