A potential 'cure for cancer' will do that I suppose! (see ASX announcement here)
Hyperbole aside, this does look like big news.
I went back to our recent interview with the Chair, David Williams (also of PolyNovo fame) to see what he said specifically about Inoviq. My AI buddy Claude said this:
1. Inoviq is working on developing more accurate cancer diagnostic tests, especially for breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. The focus is on finding biomarkers that can predict cancers much earlier than current methods.
2. Inoviq's technology uses exosomes, which is a relatively new area of research looking at cells. The hope is that their exosome-based tests could be disruptive and replace current standard tests like mammograms for breast cancer or PSA tests for prostate cancer.
3. Inoviq currently has a research product - exosome testing kits that they are selling to researchers around the world. An American distributor is expected to ramp up sales of these kits to researchers fairly quickly.
4. Over the next couple years, Inoviq plans to progress to having a commercial diagnostic test product. Williams believes researcher use of their kits will add to Inoviq's knowledge and patents and help accelerate commercialization.
5. Key focuses for commercializing a test will be maximizing distribution to doctors and figuring out pricing and reimbursement models. The goal is for it to become a routine test bundled with other standard blood tests.
6. Inoviq's own clinical trial program for their tests is expected to take around two years.
7. Williams sees potential for Inoviq to merge with other complementary cell therapy companies to enhance their capabilities and chances of success.
In summary, Inoviq is at an earlier stage than Williams' other company Polynovo, but he is optimistic about the potential for their exosome-based technology to provide earlier and more accurate cancer diagnosis compared to current methods. Key near-term milestones are expanding research use of their kits and progressing clinical trials of their diagnostic tests.
I then uploaded today's announcement, and asked Claude.ai if this was hinted at in any way:
Based on the interview with David Williams, there were a few key points that hinted at or suggested the potential for the developments announced in the Inoviq press release:
1. Williams mentioned that Inoviq's exosome technology could potentially be a platform that is applicable not just to diagnostics but also therapeutics. This aligns with the announcement about Inoviq's progress in developing engineered exosomes (EEVs) as a potential cancer therapy.
2. He noted that Inoviq's technology is focused on exosomes derived from cells, which fits with the announcement's mention of immune cell-derived exosomes being used in their therapeutic program.
3. Williams discussed the potential for exosomes to be engineered to target specific cells or deliver therapeutic cargo, which is what Inoviq has demonstrated in their proof-of-concept study with CAR-exosomes targeting breast cancer cells and the potential for drug-loaded exosomes.
4. The announcement highlights Inoviq's EXO-ACE technology for isolating and purifying exosomes at scale. While not mentioned by name, Williams did discuss Inoviq's proprietary technology in the interview.
However, the specific details of the proof-of-concept study, the focus on breast and ovarian cancer, and the in vitro efficacy data were not directly mentioned in the interview. The announcement represents a significant development and progression of Inoviq's exosome therapeutic program that builds upon the platform capabilities and potential that Williams alluded to in the discussion.
And, finally, to help cut through the techno-talk, I asked Claude to explain the announcement to me like i was 12:
Imagine our body is like a big city with lots of different buildings. These buildings are like the cells in our body. Now, these cells send out tiny little packages called exosomes, which are like tiny mail trucks that deliver messages and other important things between the cells.
Inoviq is a company that has figured out a way to make these exosome mail trucks deliver a special message that tells certain cells, specifically cancer cells in the breast, to stop working and disappear. They call these special exosomes "engineered exosomes" or EEVs for short.
In their experiments, they made the exosomes from special cells in our body called immune cells. These immune cells are like the police of our body, always on the lookout for any trouble. Inoviq gave these exosome mail trucks from the immune cells a special "address label" called a CAR that makes sure they only deliver their message to the breast cancer cells.
When they tested these special exosomes in the lab, they found that they were really good at finding and stopping the breast cancer cells. In fact, after just 3 days, 75% of the breast cancer cells that were treated with these exosomes had disappeared.
Inoviq is really excited about this because it means that they might have found a new way to treat breast cancer and possibly other types of cancer too. They are now going to do more experiments to make sure it works well and is safe before they can start testing it in people.
So, in short, Inoviq has developed a clever way to use the body's own little mail trucks (exosomes) to deliver a message that tells cancer cells to stop working, and they're excited to keep working on this new way to treat cancer.
Anyway -- while this is an interesting development, there's a long way to go before any commercial outcomes are seen. Still, something to keep an eye on!