This could be big for Bioasis!! Last week I put up a piece here on Stockhouse in which I discussed the trastuzumab (Herceptin, TZM) biosimilar situation and
how Bioasis could capture that whole market. Well, that market could be way bigger than thought.
Scripps Research chemist, Matthew D. Disney, and and his team have published a paper in which they announce proof-of-concept that a small-molecule drug they have developed can shift three different cancer cell lines from HER2-negative status to HER2-positive status. A great article about Disney's work can be found
here on the Scripps Research website. The paper's abstract can be found
here. I'll get a copy of the paper and will report on it here on Stockhouse.
Only about 20% of breast cancers are HER2 positive. If a substantial number of the remaining 80% of HER2- breast cancer cells could be switched from HER2- to HER2+ then the commercial market for trastuzumab (Herceptin) could eventually grow to several times what it currently is.
If xB3-001 can be become the standard of care for HER2+ breast cancer, as we hope, then the commercial market for xB3-001 could eventually be several times the annual $7 billion market that currently exists. In the end, any commercial value for Bioasis depends on the continued success of xB3-001. But the potential value of the overall Herceptin market suggested by this newly announced approach of switching HER2- cells into HER2+ cells will cause pharmas to look at that market as an immense potential commercial opportunity.
And here we are, Bioasis, stuck right in the middle of it all. xB3-001 may have just become one of the most valuable preclinical drugs of all time.
jdstox