One of the best performers on the Australian share market on Wednesday has been the Invion Ltd (ASX: IVX) share price.
The clinical-stage drug development company's shares rocketed an incredible 225% higher at one stage today. They have since given back a good portion of these gains but are still up 125% at the time of writing.
Why is the Invion share price rocketing higher?
Investors have been fighting to get hold of the company's shares on Wednesday following the release of results from a pre-clinical study undertaken by Hudson Institute of Medical Research.
This study relates to the first batch of its Australian-made Photosoft compound on mice with ovarian cancer.
Photosoft technology is an improved next generation Photodynamic Therapy (PDT). PDT uses non-toxic photosensitisers and visible light in combination with oxygen to produce cytotoxic-reactive oxygen that kills malignant cells, shuts down tumours, and stimulates the immune system.
It is a potential alternative to surgery and, in contrast to radiotherapy and chemotherapy which are mostly immunosuppressive, PDT causes acute inflammation, expression of heat-shock proteins, and invasion and infiltration of a tumour by leukocytes.
The results.
According to today's update, researchers at Hudson Institute analysed both immediate and medium-term effects on tumours and made positive observations.
This includes Photosoft causing the immediate and specific death of tumour tissue, with no apparent adverse effects in the surrounding healthy tissues. Furthermore, researchers found the size of the tumours in animals treated with Photosoft reduced to less than half of their original size over a three-week period.
Another important finding was that researchers observed that tumour destruction was accompanied by an influx of immune cells. This indicates an anti-tumour immune response. This is important because current cancer treatments can kill healthy cells and suppress the body's natural ability to fight infections.
Dr Andrew Stephens, head of the Ovarian Cancer Research at Hudson Institute, spoke very positively about the results.
He said: "These results suggest that Photosoft Technology may be an effective method to achieve targeted tumour destruction. Over the coming months we will be working with the Photosoft Technology to characterise how tumour destruction and immune response are linked, paving the way for clinical trials using Photosoft Technology as a cancer therapy."
Given how badly new treatment options are needed, I can't say I'm surprised that investors are getting excited over the results. But it is worth remembering that there is still a lot of work to be done before Photosoft potentially gets to that stage.
