Microba soars on 'transformational' deal

November 29, 2022 03:53 PM AEDT | By AAPNEWS

Google News:

Image source: AAPNEWS

Recent News

Celebrating 50 Years of Traditional Medicinals by Honoring Our Co-Foun...

Analysts start with bullish ratings on Hinge Health on growth potentia...

UBS starts coverage on packaged food stocks with cautious tone, Sell o...

Wall Street analysts start with bullish ratings on Hinge Health on gro...

Shares in a small-cap gut-health diagnostic and treatment company have soared after a global lab testing and pathology company took a one-fifth stake.

Sonic Healthcare is paying $17.8 million for a 19.99 per cent stake in Microba Life Sciences and is seeking an option for an additional five per cent stake in the Brisbane-based company.

"We see microbiome testing as becoming a key part of pathology over coming years and are excited about the potential of this partnership and the opportunities that Microba's technology will provide for Sonic's global operations, our referring clinicians and our patients," Sonic Healthcare chief executive Colin Goldschmidt said in Tuesday's announcement.

The partnership will let Microba distribute more of its microbiome testing services in more countries and deepen its access to primary care settings.

"Fundamentally it's a transformational new deal with one of the world's most trusted medical diagnostic companies," Microba CEO Luke Reid told AAP of its partnership with Sonic, a $16 billion health-care giant with 41,000 employees around the world.

Microba sees human gut microbiome treatments as one of the biggest untapped opportunities to improve human health, and via its testing services has been building a global databank of microbiome samples.

"We've been able to pinpoint specific organisms and biology that we believe represents therapeutic opportunity," Dr Reid said.

"And now we've been able to study them in a laboratory and develop drugs which we are looking to bring into clinical development next year."

That early-stage human clinical trial is for a potential treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, with Microba also awaiting the results of animal studies into its microbiome-based treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases in humans.

The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to soon approve the first microbiome therapy, a faecal transplant-based treatment designed to reduce the recurrence of a bacterial infection.

"That will be a major milestone for the sector, and we're anticipating that will occur early next year," Dr Reid said.

At 2.45pm AEDT, Microba shares were up 59 per cent to a six-month high of 35c. They had traded as high as 42c, up 90 per cent from Friday.

Disclaimer

The content, including but not limited to any articles, news, quotes, information, data, text, reports, ratings, opinions, images, photos, graphics, graphs, charts, animations and video (Content) is a service of Kalkine Media Pty Ltd (“Kalkine Media, we or us”), ACN 629 651 672 and is available for personal and non-commercial use only. The principal purpose of the Content is to educate and inform. The Content does not contain or imply any recommendation or opinion intended to influence your financial decisions and must not be relied upon by you as such. Some of the Content on this website may be sponsored/non-sponsored, as applicable, but is NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold the stocks of the company(s) or engage in any investment activity under discussion. Kalkine Media is neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice through this platform. Users should make their own enquiries about any investments and Kalkine Media strongly suggests the users to seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice), as necessary.
The content published on Kalkine Media also includes feeds sourced from third-party providers. Kalkine does not assert any ownership rights over the content provided by these third-party sources. The inclusion of such feeds on the Website is for informational purposes only. Kalkine does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content obtained from third-party feeds. Furthermore, Kalkine Media shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the content obtained from third-party feeds, nor for any damages or losses arising from the use of such content.
Kalkine Media hereby disclaims any and all the liabilities to any user for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising from any use of the Content on this website, which is provided without warranties. The views expressed in the Content by the guests, if any, are their own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kalkine Media. Some of the images/music that may be used on this website are copyrighted to their respective owner(s). Kalkine Media does not claim ownership of any of the pictures displayed/music used on this website unless stated otherwise. The images/music that may be used on this website are taken from various sources on the internet, including paid subscriptions or are believed to be in public domain. We have made reasonable efforts to accredit the source wherever it was indicated as or found to be necessary.
This disclaimer is subject to change without notice. Users are advised to review this disclaimer periodically for any updates or modifications.