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- Telix (ASX:TLX) shareholders are likely today putting their phones down and walking away from the table as the company’s share price tumbles more than 15 per cent in early afternoon trade
- The stock dove below the line in tandem with the entire market, as the ASX swims in an ocean of red
- While the company reported “positive” results this morning, clearly, the market isn’t so sure
- Telix shares are down 16.7 per cent to $8.52 at 12:30 pm AEDT
Telix (ASX:TLX) shareholders are likely today putting their phones down and walking away from the table as the company’s share price has tumbled more than 15 per cent in early afternoon trade.
The stock dove below the line in tandem with the entire market, as the ASX swims in an ocean of red.
Without a doubt, part of the effect is likely due to blood plasma giant CSL (ASX:CSL) dropping more than one per cent; its market cap is so large that it drags the healthcare index with it, wherever it goes.
CSL doesn’t explain the whole decline
But that alone does not explain the entire sell-off – why exactly that occurred appears to be related to the efficacy of its anti-prostate cancer drug TLX591.
While the company reported “positive” results this morning, clearly, the market isn’t so sure.
And if you actually read between the lines, some of the language in Telix’s announcement isn’t so reassuring.
To be fair, the company’s ProstACT Select study trialling TLX591 was always destined to prove that the drug is safe and tolerable by patients, more than about its overall efficacy.
To this end, the company achieved what it set out to do – TLX591 appears to interact well with the human body and doesn’t induce any strange side effects.
Results not world-changing
Overall, however, anti-tumour activity appears to be less dramatic than maybe was expected.
Of the 28 patients the study is based on, 64 per cent of them “had a … reduction.”
Twenty-seven per cent of patients saw tumours reduce in size by 30 per cent; 18 per cent of patients saw a reduction of greater than 50 per cent.
However, this implies the vast majority of patients saw tumours reduce by a factor of less than thirty per cent – this study is focused on castration-resistant prostate cancer that continues to grow even when testicles are surgically removed.
Management comment
“TLX591 is being designed to integrate with current standard of care, demonstrative of Telix’s continued innovation in prostate cancer treatment,” TLX Chief Medical Officer Colin Hayward said.
“The SELECT study provides further validation of the potential of TLX591, a first-in-class rADC therapy and the use of PSMA imaging with small molecules to select patients for antibody-based PSMA therapy.”
Telix shares were down 16.7 per cent to $8.52 at 12:30 pm AEDT.
