The market may be having a subdued start to the day but that hasn't stopped two ASX healthcare stocks from racing higher.
Let's see why investors are bidding them higher today:
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Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: NEU)
The Neuren share price is up almost 12% to $14.00. This has been driven by a patent announcement from the pharmaceuticals company this morning.
According to the release, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed Neuren's patent application covering the use of NNZ-2591 to treat Pitt Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) for issuance as a patent.
The ASX healthcare stock notes that after issue the expiry date of the patent will be in April 2040.
Neuren highlights that there are currently no approved treatments for PTHS, which has a severely debilitating impact on the lives of patients, as well as their parents and siblings. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug designation and Fast Track designation to Neuren's development program for NNZ-2591 in PTHS.
The good news is that in Neuren's multi-centre Phase 2 clinical trial of treatment with NNZ-2591 for 13 weeks, improvements were seen in clinically important aspects of PTHS. This includes communication, social interaction, cognition and motor abilities. It notes that 9 out of 11 children showed improvement assessed by clinicians and 8 out of 11 children showed improvement assessed by caregivers.
Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: PAR)
The Paradigm share price is up 6% to 33.5 cents. The catalyst for this has been news that the late-stage drug development company has announced the acquisition of Proteobioactive.
It is a company founded by Professor Peter Ghosh and based on his research into pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS).
According to the release, this acquisition means that the ASX healthcare stock obtains exclusive global rights to develop and commercialise a patented oral combination of PPS and a COX-2 inhibitor (Coxib) for the treatment of pain and inflammation.
Paradigm is paying $500,000 up front and up to $16 million in add-ons.
Commenting on the news, the ASX healthcare stock's managing director, Paul Rennie, said:
Our immediate focus remains on the successful execution of our ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial for injectable PPS in knee osteoarthritis. The acquisition of this oral combination IP allows us to broaden our long-term strategy.
We anticipate initial development activities will concentrate on the veterinary field, where there is a clear and timely opportunity. Importantly, through this veterinary development program, we expect to generate valuable preclinical and field data that will ultimately support our transition to human clinical development. This staged approach enables us to responsibly expand our OA portfolio while maintaining strict capital discipline and focus on our core late-stage phase 3 asset.
