Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB; Nasdaq:MESO), a biotechnology company in the area of adult stem cell technology, and OZ Minerals Limited (ASX:OSL), an Australian based modern mining company with a focus on copper, are the top gainers in today’s trading at the Australian Securities Exchange, ending the day with 11.76% and 5.27% gains, respectively.
Mesoblast gained 0.170 to end the week at 1.615 a share. A total of 2.69 million shares exchanged hands as investors were bullish on the stock this week after the company announced that the phase 2 trial results of its cell therapy show dose-related improvements in biologic refractory rheumatoid arthritis.
Mesoblast said a single intravenous infusion of its proprietary allogeneic Mesenchymal Precursor Cell (MPC) product candidate, MPC-300-IV, was well tolerated and demonstrated a dose-related improvement in clinical symptoms, physical function, and disease activity relative to placebo through the 12 week primary endpoint in its Phase 2 trial in biologic refractory rheumatoid arthritis.
“The safety and efficacy results of this study are very encouraging and suggest that Mesoblast’s cell therapy has the potential to fill the major unmet medical need of the biologic refractory RA population, where agents that provide consistent durable effects without the risk of opportunistic infections or malignancies are sorely needed,” Dr Allan Gibofsky, Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College and
Attending Rheumatologist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, commented
The report helped Mesoblast’s stock to rebound from 1.1 a share to 1.615 this week.
Meanwhile, OZ Minerals Limited (ASX:OZL)’s stock ended the week at 6.99 a share, gaining 0.350 or 5.271% with 2.81 million shares exchanging hands. The stock has a 52-high of 7.035 share and a low of 3.180 a piece.
OZL Minerals was the second highest gainer on Friday as it announced this week its strong first-half financial performance.
In a disclosure to the ASX, the company said its revenue for the first six months of this year reached $398.3 million, or $8.2 million higher from the same period last year. Its underlying NPAT reached $55 million while underlying EBITDA hit $178.4 million with a margin of 45%.
“Momentum continues to build across OZ Minerals with the Prominent Hill team delivering another strong quarter. The Carrapateena team is progressing studies and decline construction remains on track to deliver first concentrate in the second half of
2019,” said Andrew Cole, OZ Minerals Managing Director and CEO. – BusinessNewsAsia.com