Rhythm Biosciences completes major cloning step ahead of schedule
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
Medical diagnostics innovator, Rhythm Biosciences Limited (ASX:RHY), has successfully completed the cloning step of key reagent development ahead of schedule. This enables the company to now move on to the next stage of characterisation and expansion.
Producing the reagents has been a major technical achievement for RHY because it involved isolating four cell lines, each producing monoclonal antibodies which target the third biomarker on the lead diagnostic panel.
This successful cloning is another critical step towards ensuring RHY has a reliable, long-term source of key reagents for its simple and effective ColoSTAT (TM) blood test for colorectal cancer.
RHY is now entering a phase that entails detailed characterisation of the monoclonal antibodies produced by the cell lines. It expects this work to be completed by mid-August.
RHY will characterise the growth and antibody production properties of the selected cell lines and will then commence expansion and biobanking of master (and working) cell banks of these critical cell lines, ensuring it has a long-term, well-characterised, sustainable source of these important reagents.
RHY is on track to have delivery of the key reagents and cell lines completed by late November.
RHY CEO, Dr Trevor Lockett, said: “The CSIRO and the Rhythm teams have worked hard and done an excellent job of screening and cloning these antibody-producing cell lines, putting Rhythm in a strong position to develop quality assay kits for this the third biomarker of its lead ColoSTAT (TM) biomarker panel.”
As always, it should be noted that RHY is an early stage play and anything can happen, so seek professional financial advice if considering this stock for your portfolio.
Lockett said that the team is focused on seeing its hard work translated into robust laboratory tests that can be clinically evaluated in Study 6, currently on track to start in late calendar 2018.
“We are confident of the science behind this test and we are moving as fast as we can to progress it through the clinical testing phase,’’ Lockett added.
This development follows on from several announcements earlier in the month, revealing that biotech investor, Merchant Group’s Merchant Opportunities Fund, has become a substantial shareholder in Rhythm — initially with a stake of 5.02 per cent, and a later 7.01 per cent.
“Colorectal cancer is the third highest cause of cancer death world-wide, yet it is quite treatable if diagnosed in the early stages so we really want to enable doctors to order a simple blood test as soon as we practically can,’’ Lockett said. “In Europe, Australia and the US combined, there are 250 million people between ages 50 and 75 years who should be screening for colorectal cancer but 130 million of these don’t.”
According to Lockett, once clinically proven and approved, RHY’s goal will be to make ColoSTAT (TM) a vital tool in the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer, augmenting existing devices such as the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) and colonoscopy.
“It’s all about getting more people screening and saving lives,” Lockett added.
ColoSTAT (TM) uses antibodies to measure the levels of several particular proteins in the blood, which have been shown to vary in the presence of absence of colorectal cancer. The concentration values are then combined using a proprietary algorithm, and this process provides an indication of cancer risk. A returned result above a certain threshold will be an indicator that a patient should progress to a colonoscopy for further investigation.
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.
