The Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) share price is pushing higher in morning trade.
At the time of writing the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company's shares are up almost 2.5% to $1.54.
Today's gain means that Telix's shares are now up an impressive 137% since the start of the year.
Why is the Telix Pharmaceuticals share price pushing higher?
Investors have been buying the company's shares on Tuesday after it released an update on its ZIRCON study.
According to the release, Telix Pharmaceuticals has submitted a Phase 3 Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for TLX250-CDx. This is part of the international Phase 3 ZIRCON study.
The ZIRCON study is expected to commence enrolling US patients in the first quarter of 2020. It is recruiting approximately 250 patients globally and will compare Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging with histology findings from the surgically resected tumour.
Telix's CEO, Dr. Christian Behrenbruch, advised: "Nineteen sites in Europe and Australia are currently enrolling patients into the ZIRCON study. The planned addition of 6 US cancer centres to recruit at least 50 US patients will enable the study to be fully recruited 1H-2020."
What is TLX250-CDx?
Telix's TLX250-CDx product is an antibody-based imaging agent for use with PET.
It targets a cell surface antigen called Carbonic Anhydrase IX (CAIX) which is expressed on the vast majority of clear cell renal cell cancers.
Clear cell renal cell cancers are the most common form of kidney cancer. CAIX is also highly expressed in many other cancers with poor prognosis, such as pancreatic, bladder, colorectal, and lung cancers.
In addition to developing TLX250-CDx to image CAIX-expressing cancers, the company is also developing TLX250 for the treatment of CAIX-expressing cancers.
