One of the best performers on the Australian share market on Tuesday has been the Invion Ltd (ASX: IVX) share price.
In morning trade the clinical-stage drug development company's shares zoomed an incredible 86% higher to 2.6 cents.
Its shares have since given back a good portion of these gains, but are still trading 36% higher in early afternoon trade.
Why did the Invion share price rocket higher?
This morning the company announced that its research partner, the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, has completed the initial in vivo experiments in animal models to examine the uptake, localisation, and clearance from tumour tissue of Invion's photosensitiser, IVX-P02.
According to the release, a highlight of the in vivo testing was the demonstrated uptake of IVX-P02 in circulating tumour cells (CTCs). CTCs are cells that have shed from a primary tumour and are carried around the body in the blood.
This finding could be significant as it suggests that IVX-P02 may have an application in the treatment of metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread from the primary site of origin to different areas of the body).
Dr Andrew Stephens, the group head of the Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers Research Group at the Hudson Institute, appeared to be encouraged by the findings.
He said: "This is the first time that photosensitiser accumulation in CTCs has been demonstrated in vivo. The data suggests the potential application of IVX-P02 for haematological cancers in addition to solid tumours, as well as in therapies designed to prevent recurrence."
Before adding: "This new development is in its early stages, but it could lead to the development of a less harsh treatment for patients with metastatic cancer. The important thing is that IVX-P02 is taken up selectively by cancer cells and is not retained in any of the other organs, and in the blood it is taken up selectively by circulating cancer cells and not by red blood cells."
Another bonus was that the in vivo data also showed that injected IVX-P02 cleared rapidly from circulation, with around 90% of it gone within 30 minutes and then largely undetectable after two hours. Increasing doses up to 10mg/kg had no influence on the clearance rate.
Furthermore, there was no toxicity noted for any dose of IVX-P02 tested, nor was there any evidence of retention in any other organs, including the liver, kidney, spleen, ovaries, fallopian tube, lung, heart, brain or intestine.
Invion expects to start human trials of IVX-P02 for the treatment of skin cancer in the next quarter.
Elsewhere in the industry today, the Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) share price has edged higher after providing an update on its prostate imaging program and the Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: PAR) share price has given back its early gains and dropped lower after releasing an iPPS update.
