One of the biggest movers on the market on Friday was the Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX: SPL).
Its shares finished the day higher by over 15% to $1.21.
Why did its shares rocket higher?
This morning the dendrimer products developer announced that its phase 1 trial for DEP docetaxel has achieved the key objective of determining a Recommended Phase 2 Dose with no reports of protocol-defined dose limiting toxicities.
Essentially, what this means is that usage of the company's DEP docetaxel product did not result in any life-threatening toxicity seen in virtually all patients treated with conventional docetaxel formulations. Docetaxel is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer.
According to the release, encouraging signs of anti-cancer efficacy were observed in approximately half of the DEP docetaxel-treated patients for a range of tumour types. These also included cancers that do not typically respond to docetaxel.
In light of this success, phase 2 trials of DEP docetaxel will commence immediately.
Should you invest?
Should DEP docetaxel become the standard of care then it certainly would be a lucrative drug to have in the company's portfolio.
After all, docetaxel is one of the most widely used cancer drugs for treatment of a wide range of solid tumours including breast, lung, and prostate. It is marketed by Sanofi Aventis as Taxotere and has generated peak global sales in excess of US$3 billion.
But while this is undoubtedly promising news for all involved and could mean Starpharma has a bright future ahead of it, it is worth remembering that there is still a long road ahead before the company comes close to generating revenue from DEP docetaxel.
In light of this, I would suggest investors keep Starpharma on their watchlist and consider an investment in industry behemoth CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) for now instead.
