Clinical-stage oncology company, PharmAust has pocketed $755,594 after the ATO accepted its application for a Research and Development, or “R&D” rebate in recognition of the innovations under development by the company’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Epichem and Pitney Pharmaceuticals. PharmAust said it plans to plough the cash straight back into ongoing clinical trials of its therapeutics on humans and animals.
Australia’s R&D tax incentive scheme is jointly administered by AusIndustry and the ATO, with companies able to receive up to a 43.5 per cent refundable tax offset on eligible research and development expenses.
PharmAust specialises in repurposing marketed drugs in order to reduce its own development risk and costs. The company’s wholly subsidiary, Epichem is a contract medicinal chemistry company which generated $3.5m in revenue in the last financial year.
The dual ASX-listed and Frankfurt-listed pharmaceutical company’s lead drug candidate, monepantel, or “MPL” is being successfully developed as an effective therapeutic for both cancer growth and other neurodegenerative diseases. MPL’s influence as an anti-cancer treatment is being tested in Phase I clinical trials on humans and Phase II trials on dogs.
PharmAust recently unveiled some encouraging initial results from its continuing phase IIb clinical trials of its anti-cancer drug, MPL on pet dogs suffering from B-cell lymphoma. Whilst studies are ongoing, all five dogs undergoing treatment with MPL showed “minimal side effects”.
Lymphoma is a relatively common cancer diagnosed in dogs, with symptoms including enlarged lymph nodes, lethargy, weight loss and loss of appetite.
Importantly, PharmAust is also kicking goals in its endeavours to develop an antiviral treatment and prevention therapeutic for COVID-19. The company said it was able to show its lead drug candidates MPL and monepantel sulfone, or “MPLS” offer protection against cell death in non-human primate systems.
With human clinical trials now on the cards, PharmAust said it was already into production of a form of the drug suitable for human consumption.
The COVID-busting breakthrough comes on the back of a collaboration between PharmAust and the Leiden University Medical Centre in Holland which has been performing extensive testing to examine the effects of MPL and MPLS.
Whilst PharmAust demonstrated that its MPL drug showed signs of antiviral activity at low concentrations, test results using MPLS point to protection against cell death, reaching levels greater than 95 per cent effectiveness at higher concentrations of the MPLS drug.
With pandemic-impacted economies chasing prevention and treatment solutions for the virus every day, Perth-based PharmAust is paddling hard downstream in its quest to deliver a treatment.
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