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I previously mentioned that 4DS could be a lottery - and you know what a lottery is- chances of winning may be slim but if you do..... Now I think BIT is the next lottery. And hence it is included in Covered stock for that reason- a small exposure out of 34 wouldn't make much difference to overall returns if nothing works out but can contribute significantly if it realises the potential it now has.
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Could HIV fighter Biotron be the next ASX-listed acquisitiontarget?
Biotron — which is up 742 per cent in less than a week— has confirmed to * it’s on the hunt for a funding partner tomove on to the next stage of testing for its HIV treatment.
A week ago Biotron shares were around 2c — more orless where they’ve been for the past year.
On Friday the stock took off following news that itssmall molecule therapy, BIT225, was having a significant impacton patients with HIV-1. HIV-1 is the most common and infectious variety of HIV.
Since then the shares have kept climbing and climbing.
On Wednesday the stock hit 16c — it’s highest point since March 2015and an eight-fold increase since before the grand final weekend.
In early Thursday trade the stock fell back to 11.5c.
It’s a big moment for Biotron, which has for years been developing a therapy to treat viral infections including HIV-1 and hepatitis C.
“We’re delighted to see very strong support from themarket,” Biotron boss Dr Michelle Miller told *.
The test results were “a major step to the ultimategoal of curing HIV-1 infection”, Dr Miller said.
But Biotron will need funding to progress to the nextstage — and that means finding a partner if the biotech wants to avoid goingback to the market for more cash.
Biotron shares (ASX:BIT) rose 742pc in a week.
“The main next step for us is to partner — we’d like apartner to fund the next stage of development,” Dr Miller told *.
“We’ve had some good interactions and discussions sofar, these things take time to eventuate.
“But we’d like a partner to give back to our currentshareholders and so they don’t have keep coughing up.”
Already this year the ASX-listed helath sector hasseen a number of tie-ups including the Sirtex takeover deal announced in June — worth a mouth-watering $1.9 billion — along with the $500 million bid for Viralytics and the acquisition of RHS among others.
The goal of many health and biotech companies is to betaken over by a bigger party, preferably by what’s known as “Big Pharma” — asomewhat pejorative nickname for the pharmaceutical industry.
(Pejorative because of the conspiracy theories thatbig pharmaceutical companies like Merck, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline are operatingagainst the public interest — though experts have putthose fears to bed.)
Beyond HIV
While HIV and BIT225 are the main focus for now,Biotron would also continue developing treatments for hepatitis C, influenza,dengue fever, zika virus, ebola and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
“These other programs have not received a lot of attentionbut we are developing them alongside BIT225,” Dr Miller said.
“The results from the latest BIT225 trial validatesour approach.”
