Clinical stage drug developers Pharmaxis (ASX: PXS) have had a busy quarter with two of their lead drug assets progressing through to the next stage of their clinical studies while sales of their existing products were up 395%.
The Biotech’s cancer drug, PXS-5505 has progressed to a Phase 2a study in myelofibrosis patients following pleasing Phase 1 results. The Phase 2 trial is expected to be completed by the end of 2022 and will give a more complete picture of the drug’s longer term effects. Current standard of care treatment for myelofibrosis is with JAK inhibitors. PXS-5505’s point of difference is its disease modifying mechanism proven in preclinical studies.
A side effect of having a promising drug is the attention it gets from other academics. The Company has collaborations with centres of excellence around the world who are interested in PXS-5505 and its potential in numerous other cancers. The University of Rochester in New York released data during the quarter showing PXS-5505 combined with chemotherapy significantly improved survival and delayed tumour growth in preclinical models of liver cancer. This was just one of the reasons hugely successful biotech fund Karst Peak have increased their stake in Pharmaxis from 8.9% to 12.1%.
Not to be overshadowed by its sibling, Pharmaxis’ topical anti-skin scarring drug, PXS-6302 has also performed well in studies. Led by none other than renowned surgeon and researcher Professor Fiona Wood at the University of Western Australia, the drug delivered positive Phase 1 clinical trial results and will now advance to the next stage.
Unlike other cancer drug development companies, Pharmaxis already has commercialised products in the market bringing in sales revenue to assist in the development of their revolutionary drug candidate.
For the quarter ended 30 September 2021, Pharmaxis generated $3.27m in sales revenue which represented a 395% increase on the $0.61m from the previous corresponding quarter. Sales to Russia of $2.3 million was the major contributor to the increase.
Subsequently, the Company is well funded for their drug development pipeline with $16.1m cash on hand.
Other assets in Pharmaxis’ pipeline include drugs designed to treat neuroinflammation, chronic kidney disease and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
CEO of Pharmaxis, Gary Phillips said: “Since the start of the global Covid‐19 pandemic we have all become accustomed to looking at data; be it results of vaccine studies or the latest infection rates. Our interest is of course motivated by the impact that this data has on our everyday lives.”
“Inside a Biotech company we live and sometimes die based on data – it’s our lifeblood and we seek to generate the right data as quickly as possible to help us understand if our scientific innovations have real value for patients. A lot of time and investment sometimes passes between data points so we have to wait patiently and nervously to see the outcomes of the studies we have performed.
“The last quarter has been one of the best on record for Pharmaxis as we announced positive data for our two lead drugs in clinical studies. Our pipeline is full of opportunity and I look forward to reporting on the progress from these projects in the months ahead.”
Pharmaxis welcomes investors to register for updates on their latest developments and industry research by joining their mailing list here.
Samantha Freidin is a business journalist at Emerald Financial whilst also completing a Masters of Marketing and Digital Communications at Monash University.
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