The companies have grabbed investor interest today, with each releasing promising news. And this is sending them racing ahead of the 0.2% gains posted by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) in late morning trade on Thursday.

Here's what we know.

ASX biotech shares rocket on updates

Cancer trial progress

The first ASX biotech share leaping higher today is Race Oncology Ltd (ASX: RAC), which is primarily focused on cancer care.

The Race Oncology share price is up 10.2% at the time of writing, with shares trading for $1.42 apiece. This outperformance comes after the company announced that it had submitted the human ethics application package for its RC220 Phase 1 solid tumour trial.

The company will conduct the trial at Southside Cancer Care Centre in New South Wales. It will study the efficacy of the ASX biotech share's RC220 product in combination with doxorubicin in adult cancer patients.

Race Oncology expects the first patient recruitment to occur in Q1 2025.

The company noted:

Regulatory and institutional packages have been completed for submission to a second Australian site immediately following HREC approval of the trial, with both sites planned to be activated simultaneously.

Race Oncology plans up to 10 additional sites to follow.

"This is a critical milestone for the team; selection and evaluation of an appropriate site and the start of the ethical review for this study," Race chief medical officer Michelle Rashford said.

Breast cancer monitoring

Moving on to the second ASX biotech share lifting off today, Inoviq Ltd (ASX: IIQ), which develops diagnostics and therapeutics for cancer.

The Inoviq share price is up 6.0% at 53 cents a share after the company reported the successful completion of disease specificity testing for breast cancer.

According to the release, the company's neuCA15-3 blood test was analytically and clinically validated to detect breast cancer across all stages (81% sensitivity and 93% specificity), key breast cancer types and subtypes.

Management highlighted that the test was also effective for breast cancer monitoring.

"The next step towards commercialising the neuCA15-3 test is to transfer and optimise the test on a system compatible with high-throughput commercial diagnostic instruments," Inoviq CEO Leearne Hinch said.

Point-of-care test milestone

Which brings us to the third ASX biotech share rocketing higher today, Lumos Diagnostics Holdings Ltd (ASX: LDX).

Shares in the point-of-care diagnostic technologies company are currently trading for 3.9 cents apiece, up 25.8%.

Lumos roused investor enthusiasm after the company announced a new milestone in the commercial rollout of its FebriDx point-of-care test.

The company said it had received approval from the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Panel for FebriDx to be reimbursed at a rate of US$41.38 per test.

FebriDx is able to distinguish between bacterial and non-bacterial infections at the point of care.

Commenting on the progress sending the ASX biotech share soaring today, Lumos CEO Doug Ward said, "This reimbursement pathway is another important step towards removing barriers to access and potentially benefitting millions of Americans."

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At the time of writing, Inoviq shares are up 4.21% to $1.115 apiece. In contrast, the All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO) is up 0.63% to 7,755.9 points.

Inoviq granted new patent protection

Investors are pushing Inoviq shares higher after digesting the company's positive update.

In its release, Inoviq advised that it has been granted a patent to add to its growing portfolio. Approved by the Chinese Patent Office, the latest addition will seek to further protect Inoviq's intellectual property.

Titled, 'Lung Cancer Diagnosis', the new patent explains the methods towards detecting antibodies to BARD1 peptides. This is for diagnosing lung cancer and developing an autoantibody test kit in the world's second biggest health care market.

The new patent is set to expire on 5 February 2035.

Inoviq CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch commented:

This patent enforces intellectual property protection in China for a potential BARD1-Lung cancer test that detects autoantibodies associated with lung cancer. Patent family PCT/EP2014/073834 now has seven granted patents in Australia, China, Israel, Japan, Korea, Singapore and the USA.

Quick take on Inoviq

Formerly known as BARD1 Life Sciences, Inoviq is an Australian-based medical diagnostics company that is focused on developing and commercialising non-invasive diagnostic tests for early detection of cancer.

The company's proprietary technology platform is based on novel tumour markers with potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications across multiple cancers. The pipeline includes two development-stage autoantibody tests for early detection of lung and ovarian cancers.

Inoviq is headquartered in Perth, Australia, and has contract research laboratories at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Inoviq share price summary

In the past 12 months, Inoviq shares have accelerated to more than 60%. However, year-to-date performance has further jumped to post a gain above 66%.

Based on valuation metrics, Inoviq presides a market capitalisation of roughly $102.60 million, with approximately 92.02 million shares outstanding.

The post What's going on with the Inoviq (ASX:IIQ) share price today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

In fact, the BARD1 share price has vanished completely from the ASX boards today.

Where is the BARD1 share price?

The good news is that nothing bad has happened to the BARD1 share price or the company itself.

The reason you can't see it on the ASX boards is because this morning the company's name and ticker change came into effect.

Following the approval of shareholders at its annual general meeting at the end of November, the diagnostic and exosome-based products company has now renamed itself INOVIQ Ltd (ASX: IIQ).

Why did BARD1 become INOVIQ?

The company changed its name to INOVIQ as it feels this better reflects the strategic vision, broader intellectual property assets, and its expanded product portfolio since its acquisition of Sienna Cancer Diagnostics in 2020.

This is because the original name of BARD1 related to its BARD1 technology and doesn't reflect its broader interests across other technologies such as the SubB2M, NETs and hTERT.

INOVIQ's CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch, explained: "The name change to INOVIQ represents the evolution of the Company's expanded focus on developing and commercialising innovative diagnostic and exosome-based products to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases. The new name future-proofs the continued growth and expansion of our business, capabilities, and product portfolio. We thank shareholders for their support of the name change and look forward to unveiling the new brand and website in coming weeks."

Prior to the name change, the BARD1 share price was up approximately 59% in 2021. Investors will no doubt be hoping the INOVIQ share price picks up from where BARD1 left off.

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At one stage, the diagnostics company's shares were up as much as 44% to $1.43.

The BARD1 share price gave back some of these gains but ultimately ended the day 41% higher at $1.40.

Why did the BARD1 share price rocket higher?

Investors were bidding the BARD1 share price higher today following the release of an update on a patent.

According to the release, US Patent No: 11137402 titled "Lung Cancer Diagnosis" has been issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The issued patent covers methods for detecting antibodies to BARD1 peptides, methods for diagnosing lung cancer, and kits for lung cancer diagnosis.

It certainly has been a long time coming. The release explains that patent application was filed in November 2014 and will be active until February 2035. This gives BARD1 plenty of time to seek to monetise the technology in the massive US market.

BARD1's CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch, appeared to be pleased with the news.

She said: "This patent family enforces intellectual property protection in the US for a potential BARD1-Lung cancer test that detects autoantibodies associated with lung cancer."

What is BARD1?

BARD1 describes itself as an Australian diagnostics company with an innovative portfolio of diagnostic technologies and products.

It is focused on developing and commercialising diagnostic solutions for healthcare professionals and patients. The company has commercialised the hTERT test used as an adjunct to urine cytology testing for bladder cancer and the EXO-NET pan-exosome capture tool for research purposes.

In addition, it has a cancer diagnostic pipeline which includes tests in development for ovarian and breast cancers, and research-stage projects for prostate and pancreatic cancers.

The BARD1 share price has now more than doubled in value in 2021.

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At the time of writing, BARD1 shares are shooting 16.16% higher to $1.15 apiece. In context, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 0.94% to 7,751.5 points.

BARD1 furthers patent protection

Investors are pushing BARD1 shares higher after digesting the company's positive update.

In its release, BARD1 advised that it has been granted a patent to add to its growing portfolio. Approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the latest addition will seek to further protect BARD1's intellectual property.

Titled, 'Lung Cancer Diagnosis', the new patent explains the methods towards detecting antibodies to BARD1 peptides. This is for diagnosing lung cancer and developing an autoantibody test kit in the world's biggest health care market.

The new patent is set to expire on 5 February 2035.

BARD1 CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch commented:

This patent family enforces intellectual property protection in the US for a potential BARD1-Lung cancer test that detects autoantibodies associated with lung cancer.

Quick take on BARD1

Founded in 2016, BARD1 is an Australian-based medical diagnostics company that is focused on developing and commercialising non-invasive diagnostic tests for early detection of cancer.

The company's proprietary technology platform is based on novel tumour markers with potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications across multiple cancers. The pipeline includes two development-stage BARD1 autoantibody tests for early detection of lung and ovarian cancers.

BARD1 is headquartered in Perth, Australia, and has contract research laboratories at University of Geneva, Switzerland.

BARD1 share price summary

In the past 12 months, BARD1 shares have accelerated 60%. However, year-to-date performance has further jumped to post a gain of 69%.

Based on valuation metrics, BARD1 presides a market capitalisation of roughly $105.72 million, with approximately 91.93 million shares outstanding.

The post BARD1 Life Sciences (ASX:BD1) share price leaps 16% on US patent news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Before the open, BARD1 updated investors on a significant milestone in the development of its ELISA diagnostics test.

Let's investigate further.

A quick recap on BARD1 Life Sciences

BARD1 is a clinical diagnostics business with a focus on developing detection tests in a range of various cancers.

In addition, BARD1 also has a heavy interest in the research and development of non-invasive diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer.

At the time of writing, BARD1 has a market capitalisation of $128 million.

What did BARD1 announce?

The company announced it had achieved proof of concept for its enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based test for ovarian cancer.

BARD1's research partner at Griffith University showed how an initial ELISA test can detect a key biomarker found in tumour cells "from stages I–IV ovarian cancer".

Moreover, the ELISA test demonstrated it could detect the biomarker with "100% sensitivity and specificity" compared to the control group.

This is important because the test needs to "do what it says on the tin". That's to distinguish the biomarker in cases of ovarian cancer, not in "healthy controls" as BARD1 puts it.

As a result, it seems the outcome is a win for the ELISA regime, described as a "low-cost assay that can be performed in commercial laboratories worldwide", as per the release.

Moving forward, Griffith University and BARD1 will now "advance to the optimisation phase" for the ELISA test.

What did management say?

Referencing the data, BARD1 chief scientific officer, Dr Peter French said:

These data represent a key go decision to progress the optimisation and validation of our SubB2M ELISA-based tests that are expected to improve existing cancer biomarker tests for ovarian, breast, prostate and other cancers.

BARD1 Life Sciences share price snapshot

The BARD1 Life Sciences share price has climbed 114% into the green this year to date, extending the gain over the previous 12 months by 62%.

These results have outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s return of around 25% over the past year.

The post BARD1 Life Sciences (ASX:BD1) share price jumps on cancer test update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

BARD1's quarterly activities report for the 3 months ended 30 June details a seemingly good period for the company.

However, the market isn't responding positively to BARD1's news. Right now, the BARD1 share price is $1.35 – 7.51% lower than its previous closing price.

Let's take a closer look at today's news from BARD1.

The news driving the BARD1 share price today

Financials

The BARD1 share price is slipping on the back of its quarterly performance.

Over the quarter ended 30 June, BARD1 used $964,000 in its operating activities. The company spent $63,000 on patent fees, $288,000 on staffing, and $587,000 on admin and corporate costs.

It also spent $867,000 on research and development. However, BARD1 claims it received a $644,000 research and development tax incentive refund.

It also received $184,000 from sales of its hTERT product.

BARD1 ended the financial year with around $4.99 million in the bank. That's enough to fund its operations for another 5 quarters.

Activities

Over the quarter, BARD1 advanced its sales and commercial activities for its 3 major products. Unfortunately, the productive quarter isn't reflected in the BARD1 share price movements today.

BARD1's product hTERT performed well over the period, with sales increasing by 30% over the 2021 financial year. An Australian patent was granted for hTERT in March.

The company launched its EXO-NET product in May. BARD1 plans to embed the EXO-NET's technology into the discovery, research and development phases for multiple diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

BARD1 is also working on its SubBSM product, with a manuscript having been submitted to a peer reviewed journal in June.  

Additionally, positive results from a study using BARD1's autoantibody test to detect early ovarian cancer were published by a peer reviewed journal in late June.

Finally, in April BARD1 announced an options agreement with the University of Liverpool to licence 2 novel protein markers for development and commercialisation of the novel type 3c diabetes (T3cDM) blood test.

BARD1 share price snapshot

Despite today's dip, the BARD1 share price has been performing well lately. It has gained 108% since the start of 2021. It is also 48% higher than it was this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $131 million, with approximately 80 million shares outstanding.  

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Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are sinking:

BARD1 Life Sciences Ltd (ASX: BD1)

The BARD1 share price is down almost 7% to $1.68. This follows the completion of a placement that raised $15 million at a 14% discount of $1.55 per new share. The proceeds will be used primarily to fund the development and commercialisation of the SubB2M tests for ovarian and breast cancer, and its EXO-NET products.

Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU)

The Imugene share price has fallen 4.5% to 33.5 cents. Investors have been selling the biotech company's shares following the release of its quarterly update. That update revealed an operating cash outflow of $4.6 million for the quarter. This left Imugene with a cash balance of $29.5 million at the end of the period.

Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)

The Northern Star share price is down 6% to $10.13. This is despite a number of brokers responding positively to its quarterly update and asset sale announcement. One of those brokers is Credit Suisse, which has retained its outperform rating and $13.00 price target. The broker notes that its June quarter was the strongest quarter of the year and sees the Kundana sale as a positive for its balance sheet.

Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR)

The Silver Lake share price is down 9% to $1.61. Investors have been selling this gold miner's shares following the release of its quarterly update. That update revealed that Silver Lake achieved quarterly production of 62,126 ounces of gold and 445 tonnes of copper. This appears to have fallen short of expectations.

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At the time of writing, BARD1 shares are down 6.39% to $1.685.

What's happening to the BARD1 share price?

BARD1 shares are falling despite a successful capital raise to accelerate the development and commercialisation of its cancer diagnostics pipeline.

According to its release, the company has raised $15 million (before costs) through a placement. The offer saw sophisticated, institutional and professional investors apply for the shares. The company said this shows strong support for the programs, which are focused on the early detection of cancer to improve patient outcomes.

Around 9.67 million new ordinary shares will be added to its registry at a price of $1.55 cents a pop. This represents a discount of 13.9% to the last closing price of $1.80 per share on 20 July 2021.

In addition, BARD1 noted that for every 2 shares issued under the placement, each investor will be entitled to one free quoted option. This will be exercisable at a price of $2.32 until the expiry date of 24 August 2023.

The shares will be ranked equally and BARD1 will use its existing placement capacity to create the new shares. Under listing rule 7.1 and 7.1A, this allows the allotted shares to be issued without shareholder approval.

The proceeds of the placement will primarily be used to advance SubB2M programs for breast and ovarian cancers. These programs have so far shown high accuracy in proof-of-concept studies. BARD1 is aiming to have a laboratory partner in the United States in 2023.

Settlement of the new shares is expected to occur on 23 August 2021.

Furthermore, the company is seeking to raise another $2 million through a Share Purchase Plan (SPP). The SPP will offer the same terms as the placement.

Post completion of both capital raising components, BARD1 forecasts a proforma net cash balance of around $20.6 million.

Management commentary

BARD1 CEO Dr Leearne Hinch touched on the company's plans, saying:

BARD1 is developing a pipeline of cancer diagnostics for the early detection of breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers. We are advancing our cancer diagnostics pipeline towards commercialisation, with a focus on our lead SubB2M programs for breast and ovarian cancers that have shown high accuracy in proof-of-concept studies. The funds raised will accelerate development, validation and planned commercial launch of these products as laboratory developed tests in the US with a laboratory partner in 2023.

The BARD1 share price has gained 80% in the last 12 months, and is up more than 140% in 2021.

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Trading of its shares will be halted until it either releases an announcement or the ASX opens on Friday morning.

The BARD1 Life Science share price finished yesterday's session trading at $1.80.

The company is focused on creating non-invasive methods to detect early stage cancers.

Let's take a closer look at today's news of BARD1 Life Science.

Trading halt ahead of capital raise

The BARD1 Life Sciences share price is halted as it prepares to announce a $10 million placement and a $2 million share purchase plan. The share purchase plan is open to eligible retail investors.

The placement will see shares in BARD1 going for $1.55 apiece. That's a 13.88% discount on its previous closing price.

The company is currently working on autoantibody tests that have been proven to detect some early-stage cancers.

Its lead pipeline product is its ovarian cancer tests. It is also working to create tests for early stage breast cancer.

Also in BARD1's pipeline are tests for early stage lung cancer.

The BARD1 share price was temporarily boosted late last month by news its ovarian cancer detection technology had been published by international peer-reviewed journal Genes.

Today's news is the first time the market has heard of a capital raise by BARD1 since June 2019.

Back then, the company raised $7.5 million to put towards its growth strategy.

BARD1 Life Sciences share price snapshot

2021 has been a good year so far for the BARD1 Life Sciences share price.

Right now, it's 172% higher than it was at the start of the year. It has also gained 114% since this time last year.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $144 million, with approximately 80 million shares outstanding.

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In early trade, the diagnostics company's shares are up 10% to $2.14.

This means the BARD1 share price is now up over 200% since the start of the year.

Why is the BARD1 share price racing higher?

Investors have been bidding the BARD1 share price higher today following the release of an announcement relating to its BARD1 autoantibody test for the early detection of ovarian cancer.

According to the release, the previously reported study results have been published in the international peer-reviewed journal Genes. This appears to have brought the company onto the radar of a wider group of investors, boosting the BARD1 share price.

The study data published in Genes shows positive results from BARD1's OC-CA125 and OC-R001 studies in ovarian cancer. These studies were performed at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) under a research agreement.

What is the study?

BARD1 is exploring several approaches for developing an accurate and reliable blood test for earlier detection of ovarian cancer utilising its proprietary BARD1 autoantibody (AAb) and SubB2M technologies.

The BARD1 autoantibody approach in the above studies used a research-stage enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) performed on a research use only (Meso Scale Discover) MSD platform to detect autoantibodies to BARD1 variant proteins.

However, whilst this has shown promising data, the company believes it requires considerable further assay development and technical validation on a commercial assay platform before advancement towards clinical development of a potential commercial test.

What else is happening?

In addition to this, the company advised that is developing a SubB2M-based approach that detects a pan-cancer marker called Neu5Gc. Proof of concept results using a research-stage SPR assay showed outstanding accuracy for detection of ovarian cancer, with 100% sensitivity and specificity across all stages compared to healthy controls.

Furthermore, SubB2M-based ELISA blood tests are currently being developed for monitoring treatment response and recurrence in women previously diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And finally, BARD1 is also looking to undertake further studies to expand indications for use of a SubB2M-based ELISA to a screening test for early detection of ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women.

Overall, a lot of promising developments, which goes some way to explaining the rapid rise in the BARD1 share price this year.

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At market close, BARD1 shares finished the day at $2.19, down 9.5%.

SubB2M is an engineered protein that binds to a unique sugar molecule called Neu5Gc. This protein is only present in human cancers. Additionally, it can detect the disease using liquid biopsies, immunoassays, circulating tumour cell assays, and PET imaging.

What did BARD1 announce?

Investors are selling BARD1 shares despite receiving promising results from a preliminary study demonstrating the feasibility of its SubB2M technology.

In its announcement, BARD1 advised that SubB2M has successfully been used to demonstrate staining of cancer in specific tissue sections. The preliminary study compared cancer tissue from an invasive ductal breast cancer tumour biopsy against a non-cancer breast tissue biopsy.

The study also found that the SubB2M IHC test could be performed on automated staining equipment. This equipment is used in pathology laboratories worldwide. BARD1 noted that once the staining has been optimised for breast cancer tissue. It will extend its studies to other cancer applications.

The company noted that its SubB2M-based IHC applications represent a potential fast-to-market product opportunity.

BARD1 CSO, Dr Peter French welcomed the results, saying:

Whilst this data is from a single patient sample, and the assay conditions have not been optimised, we are pleased that we were able to utilise SubB2M to achieve a positive staining outcome in breast cancer FFPE sections. This is the first time SubB2M has been used in a histopathology application, and it demonstrated both initial feasibility in an IHC application for breast cancer and compatibility with an automated staining instrument.

BARD1 CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch added:

This initial feasibility data indicates that our SubB2M technology may be expanded to IHC applications for tissue-based cancer diagnosis. This represents a potential fast- to-market product opportunity for BARD1's expanding cancer diagnostic pipeline. The global immunohistochemical market was valued at US$1.8 billion in 2019 and SubB2M-based IHCs could be developed for cancers such as melanoma where it can be difficult to distinguish malignant from benign tissues.

About the BARD1 share price

In the past 12 months, BARD1 shares have accelerated to more than 180%. However, year-to-date performance has further jumped to post a gain above 220%.

Based on valuation metrics, BARD1 presides a market capitalisation of roughly $175 million, with approximately 80 million shares outstanding.

The post Why the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price plummeted 9% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At the time of writing, the BARD1 share price is trading at $2.62, up 6.5%.

EXO-NET data rallies shares

Investors are buying up BARD1 shares today on the back of the company's presentation of EXO-NET data.

Yesterday, the company announced it will launch its EXO-NET product at the virtual International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) annual meeting. The product is the first to be produced on the company's molecular NET technology.

The conference is a hub for showcasing the best in extracellular vesicle science. BARD1 is presenting the results of its EXO-NET product at the conference. According to the company, EXO-NET is shown to be a novel approach for the rapid, pure, and high-yield capture of exosomes from complex samples. Such samples include body fluids such as plasma, urine, and saliva.

According to the release, BARD1 researchers showed that EXO-NET provides superior exosome-specific nucleic acid and protein yield and purity compared to market-leading products and methods.

An important trait, the new product can capture exosomes in 15 minutes.

Management commentary

Commenting on the opportunity for BARD1's latest product, chief scientific officer Dr Peter French said:

Being able to showcase the superior performance, flexibility and ease of use of EXO-NET on the global stage at ISEV2021 provides the Company with a great opportunity to embed EXO-NET into a range of research projects that are isolating and characterising exosomes for potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Adding to these comments, CEO Dr Leearne Hinch stated:

It is exciting to release the results of our exosome research demonstrating that our next-generation EXO-NET product out-performed competitor products capturing exosomes rapidly, with high purity and yield from complex biofluids. EXO-NET has the potential to become the exosome isolation product of choice for researchers globally.

Unsurprisingly, the optimistic commentary surrounding the product has the BARD1 share price picking up in today's trade.

BARD1 share price recap

Despite a 36% fall from its 52-week high, the BARD1 share price has delivered superior returns over the last 12 months. While the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained around 25% in the past year, BARD1 shares have skyrocketed by more than 235%. 

Accounting for today's move in the BARD1 share price, the company's market capitalisation now stands at $197 million. 

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When news broke out, BARD1 shares soared to an intraday high of $2.69. However, some profit-taking has led its shares to fetch for (at the time of writing) $2.57, up 3.6%.

Anticipated EXO-NET launch

Investors are pushing BARD1 shares into positive territory following the company's latest release.

In a statement to the ASX, BARD1 advised it will launch its EXO-NET product at the virtual International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) Annual Meeting. Notably, EXO-NET is the company's first product based on its molecular NET technology. The ISEV meeting will be held from 18 May to 21 May 2021.

BARD1 stated that EXO-NET is a next-generation exosome isolation and purification tool, available only for research use. The molecular NET product captures exosomes from biological samples such as blood, urine and saliva.

Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles that are released from almost all cell types into surrounding body fluids. These biovesicles contain protein, DNA, and ribonucleic acid (RNA) which shuttle between neighbouring and distant cells, allowing functions like cellular communication. Exosomes have huge clinical and commercial potential in the diagnosis and treatment of numerous diseases.

According to Grand View Research, the global exosome market is expected to reach US$2.3 billion by 2030. This represents a growth rate of 18% per year, highlighting the increasing demand for harnessing exosomes.

The ISEV 2021 virtual meeting will showcase all the latest products in extracellular vesicle science. Industry professionals will gather to collate their thoughts and advance current knowledge for societal and economic benefit.

Management commentary

BARD1 chief scientific officer, Dr Peter French welcomed the upcoming event, saying:

We are very excited to launch EXO-NET to the global exosome research market at the ISEV2021 conference. EXO-NET solves the sample preparation problems encountered using traditional exosome capture methods by providing fast, accurate and scalable capture of exosomes from any liquid sample.

Furthermore, the potential of this technology is largely untapped, as only EXO-NET can be customised for the capture of target exosome sub-populations for a range of commercial diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This is becoming a major focus of exosome research and development.

BARD1 CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch went on to add:

This is a major milestone in BARD1's commercial development of its Molecular NET technology. The exosome field is rapidly growing across research, diagnostic and therapeutic applications for cancer, inflammatory disease and wound healing. BARD1 intends to position itself as a leader in the exosomes field.

About the BARD1 share price

Over the course of the last 12 months, BARD1 shares have accelerated to more than 220%. However, year-to-date performance has jumped higher to post a gain of almost 280%. It's worth noting though, since mid-March, the company's shares have gradually trodden lower.

Based on today's price, BARD1 commands a market capitalisation of roughly $204 million, with approximately 80 million shares on offer.

The post Why the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price is on the rise today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

After touching an intraday high of $3.50 in early trade today, the BARD1 share price has since retreated and is currently trading at $3.17 apiece, up 2.9%.

BARD1 is an Australian life sciences company that focuses on developing and commercialising non-invasive diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer.

Let's see what's driving the BARD1 share price higher today.

BARD1's autoantibody assay

BARD1 is currently trialling the performance of its patented peptides in detecting ovarian cancer and differentiating the cancer cells from healthy control subjects. BARD1's latest study performed by Griffith University showed that it could successfully detect cancer cells.

Griffith University's research found that BARD1's peptides, when used in combination with other testing mechanisms, "substantially improved sensitivity for detection of ovarian cancer" compared to using the other testing processes alone.

BARD1 reports that it increased cancer detection rates from 27% to 91% in subjects.

The peptides were tested on 241 samples, comprising 160 ovarian cancer patient samples and 81 healthy control samples.

This and other research has also indicated that similar results could be achieved with fewer numbers of peptides, simplifying the diagnostic process. BARD1's peptides are strings of amino acids that help identify an immune response to cancerous cells.

What BARD1's management said

BARD1 CSO Dr Peter French said this was an important first step towards validation as a cancer diagnostic tool.

The next step in the development of a reliable BARD1 autoantibody assay for ovarian cancer is to validate the selected peptides and CA125 in the algorithm identified by this combined data set in a larger independent data set to establish the sensitivity and specificity of the test.

For a BARD1 ovarian cancer assay to be successfully commercialised, accurate and reliable assay performance must be established in independent laboratory settings across a broader patient population.

BARD1 share price snapshot

The BARD1 share price is up 6.5% this week against monthly losses of more than 13%. Overall it's risen strongly for the past 12 months and is currently valued 317% higher than a year ago, and 321% higher than the start of 2021.

The post Why is the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price jumping today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The agreement is the first step towards licensing BARD1's blood test, which the company hopes will diagnose novel type 3c diabetes. So far, the test has shown promise in preliminary testing. The ability to diagnose type 3c diabetes and other technology BARD1 currently has in the works may help diagnose pancreatic cancer.

After peaking in early trade at $3.71, the BARD1 share price has since lost ground and is now swapping hands at $3.45, up 2.37% at the time of writing. 

Let's look closer at today's announcement from the medical diagnostic company.

New options agreement

The options agreement between BARD1 and the University of Liverpool will evaluate 2 novel protein biomarkers.  In preliminary testing, the protein biomarkers can accurately distinguish type 3c diabetes from type 2 diabetes.

The agreement will allow the company the option to licence the intellectual property and commercialise the blood test. In return, BARD1 will pay a non-material upfront options fee and cover any patient costs incurred by the University.

BARD1 states type 3c diabetes accounts for up to 10% of new diabetes diagnoses, but it is under-diagnosed and poorly managed.

What does this mean for fighting pancreatic cancer?

Diabetes is often linked to the pancreas, where insulin is produced. Those with diabetes either don't produce enough insulin or don't respond well to insulin, or a combination of both.

In BARD1's release, it stated around 10% of type 3c diabetes cases were caused by underlying pancreatic cancer. Thus, being quickly diagnosed specifically with type 3c diabetes can be of vital importance.

There is no test for pancreatic cancer, and it has a 5-year survival rate of just 10%.

One of the risk factors for pancreatic cancer, chronic pancreatitis, is the main causes of type 3c diabetes. Not to mention, a diagnosis of diabetes is another major risk factor for the cancer.

BARD1 is also investigating 2 novel approaches for screening pancreatic cancer using its technology to create a test for the cancer. 

Commentary from management

BARD1 CEO Dr Leearne Hinch commented on the technology's potential, saying:

Currently no screening test is available for pancreatic cancer and even if there was, it would not be practical or cost-effective to screen the average-risk general population.

BARD1's approach of developing a much-needed blood test for the detection of type 3c diabetes, which also provides a high-risk group for our screening test for pancreatic cancer, provides an ideal and clinically useful solution for both these global health problems.

BARD1 continues to deliver on its mission to develop non-invasive diagnostic tests that make a real difference to patient health outcomes in critical areas of unmet medical need including Type 3c diabetes and pancreatic cancer.

BARD1 Life Sciences share price snapshot

The BARD1 Life Sciences share price has had a ripper year on the ASX so far.

Currently, it's up a whopping 422% year-to-date. It's also up 360% over the last 12 months.

BARD1 has a market capitalisation of around $277 million, with approximately 80 million shares outstanding.  

The post Why the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price shot up 10% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Let's take a closer look at the announcement and what this means for the BARD1 share price. 

What's driving the BARD1 share price higher? 

BARD1 maintains a cancer diagnostics portfolio. This includes the commercialised hTRET test which is used as a supplement to urine cytology tests. Additionally, the portfolio also includes diagnostics tests in development for ovarian, breast, lung, prostate, and pancreatic cancers. The group is working towards commercialising its proprietary Molecular NET technology. In particular, its lead EXO-NET product designed to capture and purify exosomes in a rapid, scalable and cost-effective manner. 

There are currently multiple EXO-NET evaluations underway. These evaluations are being conducted by various academic and industry partners. Notably, the partners include the University of Sydney, University of Queensland, Minomic International and VivaZome Therapeutics. 

On Tuesday, BARD1 announced positive results from a collaborative research study. The intention of the study was to evaluate its EXO-NET exosome capture technology and Minomic's anti-GPC-1 antibody. Primarily, this technology is used for the detection of pancreatic cancer. The study found that EXO-NET was highly effective at isolating exosomes from both pancreatic cancer and healthy control samples. While the anti-GPC-1 antibody appeared to bind specific pancreatic cancer exosomes for pancreatic cancer patients. 

BARD1 CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch was pleased with the results and commented on the next steps for EXO-NET: 

This is a very encouraging result that clearly demonstrates the commercial potential of our soon-to-be launched RUO EXO-NET product for capturing exosomes and the feasibility of using GPC-1+ exosomes for detection of pancreatic cancer. BARD1 and Minomic are extremely pleased by this outcome and will discuss how to advance the project towards development of an exosome-based GPC-1 test for early detection of pancreatic cancer to improve patient outcomes and survival for this important unmet need.

What's in store for 2021? 

BARD1 is making significant progress in the development and commercialisation of its diagnostic solutions. In particular, its BARD1, SubB2M, Molecular NETs, and hTRET platforms for healthcare professionals and patients.

BARD1 will continue to test the EXO-NET in collaboration with other academic and industry partners. The company believes the product is on track for commercial launch in 2021.

More recently, an Australian patent was granted for hTERT. The hTERT patent now has granted patents in Australia, China, Europe, Japan and the United States. Additionally, there are currently pending patents in Israel. Moreover, hTERT revenue is in its early days, with the product generating $148,140 for the half-year ended 31 December 2020. 

SubB2M is a unique cancer probe that is currently being used in in-house research programs for the detection and monitoring of prostate and pancreatic cancers and used in collaboration with Griffith University to develop SubB2M-based tests for the detection of ovarian and breast cancers. 

The company currently has a market capitalisation of approximately $230 million with $7.3 million cash at 31 December 2020. 

The post The BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price eyes record highs after positive research results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Let's take a closer look at what the diagnostics company announced.

What's pushing the BARD1 share price higher?

Investors have been driving up the BARD1 share price after the company provided a positive announcement before market open.

According to its release, BARD1's hTERT test has been granted Class II In-Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) medical device registration from South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).

The pleasing result will now see the company's hTERT product distributed across South Korea through Mirax Corporation (Mirax). Previously in late 2018, BARD1 entered an exclusive distribution agreement with Mirax for the hTERT test.

Under the initial terms of the deal, BARD1 received a purchase order from Mirax within two days of receiving IVD registration. The first lot of hTERT products is expected to generate revenue of $80,000 for BARD1.

Addressable market opportunity

The South Korean medical device market is considered to be a massive opportunity for BARD1. In 2018, the country's medical device market was ranked as the ninth-largest in the world and valued at more than US$6.8 billion.

Urological cancer, including bladder cancer, is seen as an increasingly significant health problem in South Korea. A 2011 published report stated that urological cancer accounted for 8% of all known cancers in the country.

What did management say?

BARD1 CEO Dr Leearne Hinch hailed the company's progress, saying:

Securing Korean registration and our first order from Mirax is the culmination of the BARD1 team's dedication and effort to expanding the geographical footprint for hTERT in Asia. We are excited to be entering the Korean market and are looking forward to working with the Mirax team to build a strong franchise for hTERT in this key Asian healthcare market.

Mirax CEO Sang-Ju Bae continued on to add:

Mirax believes there is a significant opportunity for hTERT to become a key product in the bladder cancer diagnostic market in Korea. We are confident that the Mirax / BARD1 partnership can position hTERT as a valuable tool for cytologists, pathologists and urologists in the fight against bladder cancer.

Foolish takeaway

The BARD1 share price changed little over the course of 2020, however, in 2021, it has gained more than 460% year to date.

The post Why the BARD1 (ASX:BD1) share price is climbing 6% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

1. Province Resources Ltd (ASX: PRL) 

The Province Resources share price surged an eye-watering 460% on 17 February. It's a Cinderella story for a small-cap ASX share to announce the right kind of acquisition at a time where there is significant investor appetite for green projects. 

The company announced its intention to acquire Ozexco Pty Ltd. Ozexco holds 7 exploration licenses in the Gascoyne region in Western Australia, a region that is also one of the hottest and windiest areas with significant solar and wind potential. 

The initial exploration and evaluation will be focused on the salt, potash, mineral sands and renewable hydrogen potential over the tenement area. This would make Province the first listed green hydrogen player on the ASX. 

After surging from 2.6 cents to 14.5 cents in just one day, its shares have cooled down to close at 9 cents today. 

2. BARD1 Life Sciences Ltd (ASX: BD1) 

The BARD1 share price found itself running as high as 650% in just six days after the company announced that it's SubB2M technology could detect all stages of ovarian cancer and disease recurrence.

BARD1 CSO Dr Peter French said:

Whilst this data is preliminary, these excellent results reported by the researchers at Griffith University support the commercial potential of SubB2M for both breast and ovarian cancer monitoring and detection.

This is ground-breaking research since Neu5Gc is a highly specific marker for cancer and BARD1 is using SubB2M alone or in combination with other tissue-specific cancer markers to develop highly-specific tests for breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

BARD1 plans to develop and commercialise SUbB2M-based blood tests initially for monitoring patients already diagnosed with breast cancer for treatment response and recurrence.

The company expects to report the outcomes of its SubB2M test validation studies by the end of Q3 CY21. 

3. Ioupay Ltd (ASX: IOU) 

Ioupay was arguably the dark horse of the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector. While BNPL shares across the board were surging at the beginning of February, Ioupay was quietly waiting to announce a game-changer. 

On 9 February, the company announced that it had entered into a Merchant Referral Agreement with EasyStore Commerce to enable EasyStore's merchants and end-user customers to utilise Ioupay's BNPL payment services. 

EasyStore services more than 7,000 merchants across the South East Asian (SEA) markets, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Some 5,000 of these are in Malaysia, with a growing portfolio of merchants in the US. 

In 2020, EasyStore merchants processed a total transaction volume of approximately $435 million. The two companies have started integrating systems with BNPL payment processing capabilities to begin onboarding merchants and approved customers by early March this year. 

It was almost as if the words 'buy now, pay later' were enough to send its shares into a buying frenzy. By 18 February, the ioupay share price had ripped 280% higher to a high of 85 cents before management decided it was time to announce a $50 million placement to support its growth initiatives further. 

The post These small cap ASX shares surged more than 100% in February appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Consequently, shareholders have been rattled by the news, leading to a selloff in the company's shares. By the market's close, the BARD1 share price was down 14.51% to $2.71.

What drove the BARD1 share price lower?

The BARD1 share price took a major hit today after the company reported that two founding scientists are pursuing legal action against it. The two scientists were founders and major shareholders of BARD1AG SA, which was acquired from the plaintiffs in 2016, and is now a fully owned subsidiary of BARD1.

The founders commencing the proceedings are Tony Walker and Dr Irmgard Irminger-Finger. Mr Walker and Dr Irminger-Finger had pioneered a simple blood test for screening and diagnosing lung cancer in the early stages prior to the reverse takeover by Eurogold Limited.

As part of the reverse acquisition agreement, both founders were allocated performance shares. Dr Irminger-Finger retains a total of 3.6 million performance shares, while Tony Walker holds a total of 2.95 million. These performance shares are convertible on a one-for-one basis to ordinary shares subject to achieving milestones related to the company's lung cancer test before the expiration date of 9 June 2021. Given the recent rise in the BARD1 share price, the matter is much more valuable now.

The statement of claim reportedly alleges the following:

Among other things that the Company was subject to obligations to do all things as were reasonably necessary to seek to have the Test satisfy the milestones by the expiry date and not to deprive the plaintiffs of the opportunity to have each of their Performance Shares convert into one ordinary share in the Company.

In addition to:

In breach of those obligations the plaintiffs have been deprived of that opportunity. The proceedings seek damages, costs, interest and such further or other orders as the Court considers just.

BARD1 has been busy with other things

This month alone, the company has released positive announcements regarding its ovarian cancer test and breast cancer test technology. The company's recent announcements saw the BARD1 share price rocket from 74.5 cents on 10 February to a high of $3.70 on 16 February.

However, there has been no recent news from the company regarding the development of a lung cancer test.

BARD1 noted that it will be reviewing the statement of claim with legal advisors. Furthermore, the company intends to defend the proceedings and will file a comprehensive defence in due course.

Due to the legal nature of this event, BARD1 won't be making any further comments on the matter.

The BARD1 share price has netted shareholders a 190% return over the past year.

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