The Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) share price has come under pressure on Monday morning and is dropping lower.
At the time of writing, the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company's shares are down 0.5% to $4.51.
Why is the Telix share price edging lower today?
Investors have been selling Telix shares despite the release of a positive update on its phase 3 Zircon clinical trial.
The Zircon (Zirconium Imaging in Renal Cancer Oncology) trial is an international multi-centre phase 3 study across 36 sites in Europe, Australia, Turkey, Canada, and the United States.
It is a prospective imaging trial in approximately 250 renal cancer patients undergoing kidney surgery, to determine the sensitivity and specificity of TLX250-CDx PET imaging to detect clear cell renal cell cancer (ccRCC). This is in comparison with histologic "ground truth" determined from surgical resection specimens.
Management has previously noted that renal cancer patients are often mis-staged and that TLX250-CDx has a niche US$250 million opportunity with no real competition.
What was today's update?
According to today's update, the first patients from the trial were dosed with TLX250-CDx in the United States on Friday (US time). This was undertaken at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, University of Washington, Seattle (SCCA).
Management advised that the remaining seven U.S. sites and three sites in Canada are expected to commence patient recruitment progressively over the next month.
Telix's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Colin Hayward, commented: "We are pleased to have commenced the Phase III ZIRCON clinical trial in North America and wish to express our gratitude to Prof. Allan Pantuck and Dr. Delphine Chen, principal investigators at UCLA and SCCA, respectively, as well as their clinical research teams and patients, who have made this important milestone possible."
Despite today's softness, the Telix share price is still up more than 200% since this time last year.
