Two Australian stock exchange listed biotech companies, Neuroscientific Biopharmaceuticals LTD and Mesoblast LTD, have experienced upward spikes in share price as a result of positive news released over the Easter holiday.
Neuroscientific Biopharmaceuticals (ASX:NSB), a preclinical biopharmaceutical company based in Western Australia, announced today that a meeting with the FDA will be held within the next 60 days. On top of this, a new executive director was appointed in Dr Tony Keating, who previously held a non-executive position. As a result, their share price on the ASX rose as much as 32% over the course of the day. The reason for the investor excitement is that the nature of the meeting with the FDA is a clear sign of progress for the company to begin clinical operations for their lead candidate, EmtinB, a drug proposed for fighting glaucoma. Furthermore, the appointment of an experienced entrepreneur in Keating is a clear statement of intent from NSB.
Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) similarly experienced a massive share price raise as high as 70% today. This is solely due to the decision from the FDA to support the resubmission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) for Mesoblast’s lead candidate, remestemcel-L. Previously, the FDA rejected their application to to acquire a BLA twice, but have changed their minds after further consideration of the clinical data provided by Mesoblast in their MSB-GVHD001 phase III clinical trials. The therapeutic in question surrounding this news aims to treat steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease (SR-aGVHD) in paediatric patients, of which there is currently no treatment for.