One of the best performers at the small end of the market on Friday has been the Biotron Limited (ASX: BIT) share price.
The drug development company's shares were up as much as 30% to 8.6 cents on Friday.
Why did the Biotron share price surge higher?
Today's gain appears to be in relation to the release of a presentation being presented at the 2019 BIO International Convention held in Philadelphia, United States.
The annual BIO conference provides companies like Biotron a unique opportunity to showcase their product pipeline to the international biopharmaceutical industry and have discussions with potential partners.
The latter is especially important for Biotron as it is currently seeking a collaboration or licensing deal with an international pharmaceutical company for late stage clinical development of its HIV-1 eradication program.
What was in the presentation?
The presentation gives a breakdown on the positive developments the company has made over the last 12 months.
This includes details of the completed Phase 2 HIV-1 clinical trial which revealed that Biotron's lead compound, BIT225, demonstrated significant, potentially beneficial immunological changes, not seen in patients only receiving current antiretroviral treatment.
Management believes these results point to a potential role for BIT225 in improving patient health outcomes, as well as in future HIV-1 eradication strategies.
Finally, the presentation revealed that the company's Hepatitis B virus (HBV) program is progressing well, with compounds reducing levels of HBV cccDNA. This is believed to be critical for eradication of this virus. Current treatments only suppress virus replication and do not offer a cure.
Elsewhere in the pharmaceutical industry on Friday, the CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price is up 1% to $202.84 and the Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX: MYX) share price has rebounded 3% higher after hitting a multi year low on Thursday.
