IIQ Poster Presentation - New Data Reveal Monday

Commentary: IIQ share price running - price sensitive news coming on Monday. Why are biotech conference “posters” such a big deal?

A few days ago, Inoviq (ASX:IIQ) went into trading after its share price started running up on no news.

The ASX queried “why is the share price running”...?

IIQ attributed the price run to an abstract published online about a poster the company will be presenting at a conference this weekend... (we’ll explain more in a second).

In its response to the ASX, IIQ also said that it would be releasing “NEW DATA” on its ovarian cancer diagnostics product which it considered to be “price sensitive” on Monday.

Meaning IIQ thinks this new data will impact the share price...

The ASX placed IIQ into suspension pending further disclosure...

IIQ said that NEW DATA on their ovarian cancer screening test will be “announced to the ASX before market opens this Monday, 2 June 2025”.

(Source: IIQ response to ASX Price Query)

Biotech company “conference poster” price runs?

We have seen this happen before.

Two years ago, one of our other biotech Investments, Arovella Therapeutics (ASX:ALA), started running off no news.

ALA was eventually put into a halt and had to explain why its share price was up 39% over a couple of trading sessions, with a significant increase in volume...

... without any announcements released to the ASX.

ALA’s share price climbed from a low of 5.6c to 7.8c in two days.

... and like IIQ last week, ALA was also halted for an ASX “price query”.

Turns out that on that upcoming weekend, ALA was scheduled to present new data on a poster at a major cancer conference.

ALA’s share price kept going up after the poster “data unveil” after the price query - rising to a high of over 20c over the following months.

Posters at these major biotech conferences seem to be a big deal.

They are one of the most prominent ways biotech companies can present their new data to a scientifically informed audience.

We have seen two instances now where anticipation of new data in a “conference poster” caused share prices to start running.

...on the mere fact that a company will be at a conference and presenting something new on a poster.

We saw it happen two years ago with ALA.

...and we are seeing it again now with IIQ.

A big weekend for IIQ - lets see what Monday brings...

This weekend, IIQ is presenting its poster with new data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago - it's the largest cancer conference in the world.

IIQ said it will release the new, price sensitive data on the ASX on Monday morning, before the market opens.

But IIQ’s share price actually started running last week.

IIQ’s share price moved up 29% - from a low of $0.36 on Wednesday 21st May to a high of $0.465 on Friday 23rd May - before the ASX paused trading for a price query.

IIQ was suspended for all of this week - but is due to come out of the temporary suspension on Monday at market open.

In IIQ’s response to the ASX price query, as to potential reasons for the share price run, the company suggested that it may have been in relation to the conference it is presenting at this Sunday.

An abstract for IIQ’s poster presentation was published on the internet on 7AM AEST on Thursday 22nd May.

(an abstract is essentially a brief that indicates at a high level what the presentation is about, without going into too much detail)

The information contained in IIQ’s abstract has already been released to the ASX in a number of announcements in recent months, starting from December last year.

In its price query response, IIQ suggested that some shareholders may have missed or misunderstood the significance of the December news, and may believe that the Abstract contains new or better information - but that is not the case in the company’s view.

However IIQ considers that the NEW information to be delivered in the Poster presentation itself (not the high level abstract) at the ASCO Annual Meeting tomorrow in Chicago IS price sensitive.

This NEW data has been strictly embargoed until its release on Sunday, tomorrow, the day of the presentation...

Which means the market will get its first look at IIQ’s new data on Monday morning.

Cool story, but what does IIQ actually do?

Here’s a quick primer on IIQ if you are new to the company.

We Invested in IIQ back in June 2024 at 50c.

IIQ last traded at 44c with a $49M market cap.

It held $8M in cash at the end of the March quarter.

IIQ is a cancer diagnostics and therapeutics company.

(Diagnostics evaluate if someone has a disease, meanwhile therapeutics are treatments for a disease. IIQ is developing both diagnostic and therapeutic products.)

One of IIQ’s lead products in development is a screening test for ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the eighth most prevalent cancer in women and the deadliest gynaecological cancer.

Cancer screening involves testing for cancer before symptoms appear.

There are currently NO screening tests approved for the early detection of ovarian cancer in average-risk women that are showing no symptoms.

(‘average risk women with no symptoms’ means almost all females...)

The early and accurate detection of cancer is important so it can be treated early before it spreads - vital for saving lives.

So, any NEW data that shows IIQ’s product is effective at detecting ovarian cancer in average-risk women will likely be met with a positive reception by both the market and the oncology community.

IIQ has previously published data on its ovarian cancer product in December last year, which we wrote about in detail in this note: IIQ announces extremely accurate cancer screening test - 94%.

That data demonstrated that IIQ’s diagnostic product had SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER accuracy than any other ovarian cancer screening test in the market.

We think that the share price action from last week might be from speculators betting on the significance of a presentation at ASCO, seeing the abstract, and betting on a positive outcome following IIQ’s presentation of NEW DATA at this prestigious conference.

It’s happened before in our portfolio - ALA’s share price moved on conference data

So what happens when the data presented at a conference like the one IIQ is going to be at is extremely positive?

A share price run...

Like it did for another company in our portfolio - Arovella Therapeutics (ASX:ALA).

ALA presented new data at a prestigious cancer conference in April 2023.

In the lead up to the conference, ALA’s share price moved from a low of 3.3 cents to a high of 9 cents which we think was partly attributable to anticipation of the conference data.

Following the conference, ALA’s share re-rated to a high of 20 cents following a positive reception by both the market and the cancer industry:

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

Below is ALA’s “poster”...

(Source)

And here’s the crowd of doctors and scientists queuing up on “conference reveal day” to get a look at it:

While past performance is not an indicator of future performance, we are hoping history repeats itself (and hopefully more?) with IIQ over the coming months.

Why is presenting data at biotech conferences such a big deal?

As mentioned earlier, presenting new data at cancer conferences (like ASCO) is crucial for small cap companies like ALA and now IIQ.

This is particularly to build credibility and visibility within the industry.

Conferences also present an opportunity for companies like IIQ to lay the groundwork for potential licensing/partnership deals.

Aside from the academic angle, conferences are also hubs for deal making, where big pharma will send out their best and brightest to identify promising new technologies to invest in.

Although it is unlikely that a single conference will be the sole reason why IIQ secures a licensing deal, it sets the stage to have these conversations further down the line when IIQ gets more data.

We have seen how big licensing deals can move the share price of biotech companies with another Investment of ours Dimerix (ASX:DXB).

DXB moved from ~5 cents to a 16 cents and then finally a high of 75 cents off the back of multiple licensing deals:

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

IIQ - Monday market open - one to watch...

On Monday, we will find out what this market sensitive data is that IIQ will present, and hopefully it showcases the potential and opportunities of its innovative technology.

Speaking of price runs and ASX price queries...

Another one of our major Investments Mithril Silver and Gold (ASX:MTH) went into a trading halt on Friday.

MTH was up ~15% on some strong volumes by mid-Friday afternoon - before an ASX price query and the trading halt which came in at around ~1:42pm AEST.

(Source - MTH trading halt request)

MTH’s halt is so the company can put out “channel sample results”.

“Channel sampling” involves cutting a linear groove or “channel” across a mineralized zone to collect a representative sample of the rock.

It’s commonly used in exploration to assess the grade and chemical composition of an orebody and help decide on where to drill an exploration hole.

MTH previously put out the following map showing where it is sampling - anything to the east of MTH’s resource (Target Area 1) or at its new discovery (Target Area 2) could be really interesting:

(Source)

MTH should be coming out of halt on Monday or Tuesday and will be another one we are watching early next week...

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Have a great weekend,

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