Thought these were worth a flutter today upon the news. Bought 25,000 @ 15.5c Biotron's been around for ages and I think was once associated as a business partner with Curtin University? As an indication of how much this announcement excited the asx, today's volume was 34 million. Prior to today the highest monthly volume in Biotron's 13 year listed history was only 25 million. This announcement refers to trial effectiveness against a form of Hepatitis C virus (HCV), not HIV which is also being tested 6 March 2014 BIT225 HIV/HCV TRIAL PATIENTS VIRUS FREE AT SIX MONTHS Study evaluated BIT225 in patients co-infected with HIV and HCV All HCV genotype 3 patients completing treatment are virus-free at 24 weeks Preliminary data from subset of patients shows benefit extends out to 48 weeks MONTHLY CHART BIOTRON (BIT) (does not show today's volume)
Holy smoke - I might make a few dollars! Spiked 55% from depressed level BIT225 TRIAL RESULTS SHOW EFFECTIVE CURE OF HEPATITIS C [imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/1893_bit.gif][/imgz]
Note only small number of phase 2 trial participants and statistically a few of those would have recovered anyway without the Biotron drug Hep C pioneers Biotron seeking billions in backing The Australian Oct 11, 2014 A SYDNEY biotech company is eyeing a multi-billion-dollar deal with a drug that could slash treatment costs for people facing a lingering death from a looming Australian health crisis. Biotron is looking for a major partner to conduct large-scale tests of the drug BIT225 after a trial in Bangkok cleared participants of the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C kills up to half a million people a year, including about 600 Australians a figure expected to mount rapidly, as a backlog of tens of thousands of sufferers reaches terminal stage. Antiviral medicines help about half, but courses last months and side-effects are severe. A "wonder drug" approved late last year, sofosbuvir, works against the dominant genotype 1 strain but is less effective against the emerging genotype 3. Courses last months and cost $US84,000 ($96,000). Biotron managing director Michelle Miller said BIT225 worked against all six major geno-types and could be manufactured relatively cheaply. Combined with drugs like sofosbuvir, it could make treatment quicker, more effective and far cheaper. All five participants who completed the Bangkok trial were virus-free after 12 weeks of treatment and showed no change a year later. In a statement released yesterday, the company acknowledged the trial was small but said the 100 per cent success rate was "encouraging evidence of efficacy". The company's shares rose by more than 70 per cent on the news, but Dr Miller is hoping for a far greater windfall. She said Biotron had no intention of conducting a phase-three "registration" trial on its own. "You really need a partner," she said.
ok so n=5, yet BITwonderful works against all 6 major genotypes? n=5 is still encouraging. n=100 for statistical power would be much better. This will definitely get a phase 3 run, which can cost billions and in this case that means dilution is likely.
The big hope seems to be that a major will pick up the tab for a piece o' the pie. I'll just bide and hope for a bigger spike and trade out for the free carry of a few left over shares. Can't be bothered researching as past experience tells me it won't be of benefit anyway; just a waste of time. I was hoping for another day of action to trade out on this particular news but the opportunistic cap raising interfered with the second wind you commonly get in this sort of situation.
Bump... anyone got any thoughts on this one? I'm carrying a pretty big paper loss since some so-so research results came out late last year, but it seems to be on the move again after a couple of bits of (potentially) good news. Have made some profits in the past trading the predictable yo-yo-ing around announcements, shorting the inevitable pull-back after every spike.. but it looks like buying BITO (12c options, Sep 16) was a bad move
Another red faces one for me. Still holding also. Probably have a decent run some year or other. Seems too early to call this a significant turn? I'm sure not counting on it anyway.
Finicky I agree this is not a major upswing but with a high of 7.3c against a recent low of 4.3c it is at least encouraging. I'm still hoping to see a serious (>10x) upside if things ever really move. Willrocks I accept your advice is probably good but it's hard to make a graceful exit with a stock that is so illiquid. If I dumped my options tomorrow I would drag the price down to 0.2c So my punt there remains in the hope I can retrieve all (or most) of my investment. I have held and traded BIT over a few years, so was never looking at it as a short-term thing as such. But in future I will be more inclined to trust my gut and a) take some profits when I think the time is right (~15c in this case) and b) buy when a stock seems cheap (~4c in this case). I don't really want to sell now b/c I still think it is cheap. The recent 'bad' news wasn't much really, I think it just spooked the market. There are more clinical results due this quarter and the company is sitting on a few million in cash, which are both positives..
At least you're in with a chance. 7 months to expiry @ 12c strike Share price has been above 12c heaps of times It's in the management's interest to generate something significantly newsworthy before expiry. 50m BITO @12c, so that's $6m in the coffers if they can get the sp significantly above 12c
Yes of course - the options are worthless to the company if they expire. OK then, they can do the pumping and I'll do the dumping Only invested money I *thought* I could afford to lose.. but it's still not the nicest feeling!
