this isn't helping either - before result came out from Australian y'day
OncoSil takes on rival Sirtex in liver cancer market
THE AUSTRALIAN MARCH 16, 2015 12:00AM
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Tim Boreham
Criterion Columnist
Melbourne
https://plus.google.com/116956110402704936193
RUNAWAY liver cancer treatment house Sirtex Medical faces competition from biotech junior OncoSil Medical, which today will reveal it is widening its focus from pancreatic cancer to the $1.4 billion liver cancer market.
Both Sirtex and OncoSil focus on the targeted radiation of diseased cells, using microparticles coated with radioactive material implanted in the affected organ.
OncoSil will announce it plans to file for European (CE mark) approval to use its device for both pancreatic cancer and the liver cancer hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
HCC is the world’s sixth most common cancer, with a poor survival rate. Globally, 780,000 cases emerged in 2012, with only 20 per cent suitable for surgery at the time of diagnosis.
OncoSil is basing its pitch on two previous early-stage clinical studies, showing “significant reductions in tumour volume in the targeted tumours”.
OncoSil estimates the market for liver cancer treatments will be worth $1.4bn by 2019, compared with $1.2bn for pancreatic cancer.
For some time, investors have viewed OncoSil as a cheaper proxy to Sirtex, which has a market capitalisation of $2.2bn.
Sirtex, however, has full approval for its device and sells it in 30 countries, generating annual revenue of about $200 million.
Sirtex stock has soared almost 50 per cent since the start of the year, as investors punt that imminent results from its late-stage Sirflox clinical trial will be positive.
The trial, which compares the use of Sirtex’s SIR-spheres with traditional chemotherapy, aims to expand Sirtex’s addressable market from “salvage” treatment — when all other treatments have failed — to initial frontline therapy.
OncoSil is valued at a mere $32m but is backed by prominent fund manager Geoff Wilson and Australian Ethical Investments.
OncoSil also plans to secure investigational device exemption (IDE) from the US Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year.
IDE is a marketing short cut in the notoriously long FDA approval process.
OncoSil shares closed unchanged at 9c on Friday, while Sirtex shares retreated 13c to $39.
