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https://st ock head. com.au/health/scopos-actually-wilkies-powerplays-blinklab-soars-32-5-in-first-healthcare-ipo-of-2024/

• BlinkLab becomes first healthcare sector IPO for 2024 with chair Brian Leedman hoping to replicate ResApp success
• Percheron Therapeutics still to finalise recruitment of Phase 2B trial but remains confident of results in CY24
• Clarity Pharmaceuticals inks new supply agreement with Northstar for production of its therapeutic product

Morgans healthcare and life sciences expert Iain Wilkie is filling in for his colleague Scott Power to explain what the movers and shakers have been doing in health and gives his ASX Powerplay.

Are you a physically active person? Researchers have discovered that people who engage in more physical activity during their leisure time were less likely to experience various types of chronic pain several years later.

Even a slight increase in activity level, such as transitioning from light to moderate exercise, was linked to a 5% decrease in the likelihood of reporting chronic pain later on, according to research published in PAIN – Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain and Science Daily.

For severe chronic pain occurring in multiple areas of the body, higher levels of activity were associated with a 16% reduction in risk.

In 2023, researchers from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, the University Hospital of North Norway (UNN), and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health discovered that physically active adults exhibited greater pain tolerance compared to those who were sedentary. Pain tolerance increased alongside activity levels.

The findings prompted further study into the relationship between physical activity and development of chronic pain over time, along with its connection to pain tolerance.

Encompassing nearly 7,000 people recruited from the long-standing Tromsø survey, the researchers assessed participants’ exercise habits and their response to cold pain in a laboratory setting.

The researchers later checked if the participants had pain that lasted for three months or more, including pain in several parts of the body or pain that was experienced as more severe.

While 60% reported some form of chronic pain, only 5% had severe pain in multiple parts of the body, suggesting being active may reduce the risk of severe chronic pain.

To markets….

And ASX health stocks are feeling a little pain this week. At around 12.20pm (AEDT) on Friday the S&P/ASX 200 healthcare index (ASX:XHJ) was down 2.88% for the past four days, while the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) was down 1.16% for the same period.

“We’ve had a pretty good market for the past couple of weeks but there’s been some weaker data coming through from the US with traders now weighing when interest rates could come down,” Wilkie says.

BlinkLab up 32.5% in first day onASX

After raising $7 million at 20 cents/share Blinklab (ASX:BB1) was the first healthcare IPO so far of 2024, listing on Thursday with an impressive 32.5% gain on its first day to close at 26.5 cents.

BB1 chair Brian Leedman is hoping to replicate his success as a founder of ResApp, a smartphone application able to identify a Covid-19 infection from a person’s cough, which was sold to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for $179m in 2021.

The company is based on research from Princeton neuroscientists and aims to streamline the early diagnosis of conditions like autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD in children.

“BlinkLab, a company started by neuroscientists at Princeton University, over the past several years have fully developed a smartphone based diagnostic platform and we are seeking investment to finalise an FDA Class II medical device registration study in partnership with leading US university hospitals,” Leedman says in the company’s prospectus.

“This approval will pave the way for broad use of our technology in diagnosing and treating conditions like ASD and ADHD.”

Wilkie says BB1 has an experienced management team and directors with a track record in building companies and knowledge in digital healthcare, computer vision, AI and machine learning.

“It’s good to see a successful IPO in the healthcare space after what’s been a tough market for the past couple of years,” he says.