The BARD1 Life Sciences Ltd (ASX: BD1) share price had a woeful day on the ASX today. This comes despite the company releasing positive results for its novel pan-cancer probe, SubB2M-based immunohistochemistry (IHC) test.
At market close, BARD1 shares finished the day at $2.19, down 9.5%.
SubB2M is an engineered protein that binds to a unique sugar molecule called Neu5Gc. This protein is only present in human cancers. Additionally, it can detect the disease using liquid biopsies, immunoassays, circulating tumour cell assays, and PET imaging.
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What did BARD1 announce?
Investors are selling BARD1 shares despite receiving promising results from a preliminary study demonstrating the feasibility of its SubB2M technology.
In its announcement, BARD1 advised that SubB2M has successfully been used to demonstrate staining of cancer in specific tissue sections. The preliminary study compared cancer tissue from an invasive ductal breast cancer tumour biopsy against a non-cancer breast tissue biopsy.
The study also found that the SubB2M IHC test could be performed on automated staining equipment. This equipment is used in pathology laboratories worldwide. BARD1 noted that once the staining has been optimised for breast cancer tissue. It will extend its studies to other cancer applications.
The company noted that its SubB2M-based IHC applications represent a potential fast-to-market product opportunity.
BARD1 CSO, Dr Peter French welcomed the results, saying:
Whilst this data is from a single patient sample, and the assay conditions have not been optimised, we are pleased that we were able to utilise SubB2M to achieve a positive staining outcome in breast cancer FFPE sections. This is the first time SubB2M has been used in a histopathology application, and it demonstrated both initial feasibility in an IHC application for breast cancer and compatibility with an automated staining instrument.
BARD1 CEO, Dr Leearne Hinch added:
This initial feasibility data indicates that our SubB2M technology may be expanded to IHC applications for tissue-based cancer diagnosis. This represents a potential fast- to-market product opportunity for BARD1's expanding cancer diagnostic pipeline. The global immunohistochemical market was valued at US$1.8 billion in 2019 and SubB2M-based IHCs could be developed for cancers such as melanoma where it can be difficult to distinguish malignant from benign tissues.
About the BARD1 share price
In the past 12 months, BARD1 shares have accelerated to more than 180%. However, year-to-date performance has further jumped to post a gain above 220%.
Based on valuation metrics, BARD1 presides a market capitalisation of roughly $175 million, with approximately 80 million shares outstanding.
