PharmAust shares soar following promising COVID-19 treatment results
Published 04-JUN-2020 11:01 A.M.
|
2 minute read
Hey! Looks like you have stumbled on the section of our website where we have archived articles from our old business model.
In 2019 the original founding team returned to run Next Investors, we changed our business model to only write about stocks we carefully research and are invested in for the long term.
The below articles were written under our previous business model. We have kept these articles online here for your reference.
Our new mission is to build a high performing ASX micro cap investment portfolio and share our research, analysis and investment strategy with our readers.
Click Here to View Latest Articles
The results of promising preliminary experiments by PharmAust Limited (ASX:PAA), indicating the suppression of a significant proportion of COVID-19 particle cell cultures resulted in the company’s shares trading 50% higher as the market opened on Thursday.
PharmAust is a clinical-stage oncology company with expertise across a broad range of areas, and it has been conducting preliminary work investigating the effects of the group’s lead drug candidate monepantel (MPL) and monepantel sulfone (MPLS) on cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 in tissue culture.
These experiments have been undertaken for PharmAust by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research virologists in accredited and controlled safety facilities at the Institute in Melbourne and have demonstrated that both infectivity and replication of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles can be suppressed by between 50%-95% in cell cultures.
The lowest inhibition value from the TCID50 assay was approximately 50% and the highest inhibition value was approximately 95%.
Virologists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute demonstrated that in preliminary experiments both monepantel and monepantel sulfone reduced the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 to replicate as well as the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 to mature into infectious virus particles.
Importantly, relatively low concentrations of monepantel blocked the infectious capacity of SARS-CoV-2 in tissue culture.
Experimental repeats were conducted for each experiment in quadruplicate.
Further validation of results imminent and patent application lodged
PharmAust plans further validation of these preliminary results as soon as possible.
Based on the above findings, PharmAust has moved to broaden and extend its Intellectual Property in the area of anti-viral activity through the filing of a patent application specifically covering MPL in the treatment of COVID-19.
In response to these developments, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher Professor Marc Pellegrini (MBBS BSc FRACP PhD FAHMS), joint head of the Institute’s Infectious Diseases and Immune Defence division and an infectious disease clinician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital said, “These early signs demonstrating that monepantel can block SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in vitro are encouraging.”
PharmAust’s Chief Scientific Officer Dr Richard Mollard outlined some of the processes involved in furthering research in saying, “PharmAust is excited by this early data set and is looking forward to continuing the project with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.
‘’Continuation will involve repetition of these experiments for validation and comparisons with other mTOR inhibitors and treatments currently in the clinic”.
General Information Only
S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (S3, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’) (CAR No. 433913) is a corporate authorised representative of LeMessurier Securities Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 296877). The information contained in this article is general information and is for informational purposes only. Any advice is general advice only. Any advice contained in this article does not constitute personal advice and S3 has not taken into consideration your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Please seek your own independent professional advice before making any financial investment decision. Those persons acting upon information contained in this article do so entirely at their own risk.
Conflicts of Interest Notice
S3 and its associated entities may hold investments in companies featured in its articles, including through being paid in the securities of the companies we provide commentary on. We disclose the securities held in relation to a particular company that we provide commentary on. Refer to our Disclosure Policy for information on our self-imposed trading blackouts, hold conditions and de-risking (sell conditions) which seek to mitigate against any potential conflicts of interest.
Publication Notice and Disclaimer
The information contained in this article is current as at the publication date. At the time of publishing, the information contained in this article is based on sources which are available in the public domain that we consider to be reliable, and our own analysis of those sources. The views of the author may not reflect the views of the AFSL holder. Any decision by you to purchase securities in the companies featured in this article should be done so after you have sought your own independent professional advice regarding this information and made your own inquiries as to the validity of any information in this article.
Any forward-looking statements contained in this article are not guarantees or predictions of future performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, and which may cause actual results or performance of companies featured to differ materially from those expressed in the statements contained in this article. S3 cannot and does not give any assurance that the results or performance expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this article will actually occur and readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
This article may include references to our past investing performance. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of our future investing performance.
