Australian biotech market today 21.04.09

The health indices were down today at 3.30pm, in line with the rest of the All Ordinaries.

Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU) has called a trading halt until Thursday after a massive 77.5 per cent rise – which in reality means the company is up 3c to 7c – and consistently high trading volumes.

Neuren is in negotiations with a potential partner for its pre-clinical cancer program and is sourcing new investment to fund trials of NNZ-2566, a neuroprotectant against traumatic brain injury which it is developing with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the US.

ChemGenex (ASX:CXS) was down a cent to 43c. The Melbourne company, which raised $10 million from existing investors Merck Serono, GBS Ventures and Orbis Investment Management recently, has announced details of its rights issue to the market.

It will offer eligible shareholders the opportunity to buy new shares at 43c each on the basis of one new share for every 14 shares held. It is also offering a top-up facility.

The offer opens on Thursday the 23rd and closes on Friday, May 22.

Novogen (ASX:NRT) is up again after data was released at the American Association of Cancer Research conference on the weekend showing that not only did its new candidate NV-128 block both the mTORC1 and mTORC2 pathways in ovarian cancer, but also inhibited blood vessel formation from ovarian cancer stem cells. It is currently trading at 48c.

On the up side, Biota (ASX:BTA) was up 4c to 76c, Alchemia (ASX:ACL) is up 2c to 43c, Impedimed (ASX:IPD) is up 3c to 77c, and Sirtex (ASX:SRX) was up an impressive 10 per cent.

Cochlear (ASX:COH) and ResMed (ASX:RMD) were up while most others were down.