Daily Brief Health Care: Immix Biopharma Inc, Intuitive Surgical, Respiri Ltd and more

Immix Biopharma continues to share encouraging data from the Phase Ib/II open-label NEXICART-1 trial. This study is investigating NXC-201, a CAR-T therapy, for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) and light chain amyloidosis (ALA). At the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation 49th Annual Meeting in Paris, Immix announced positive results for the 58 patients enrolled so far. An overall response rate (ORR) of 92% was reported for patients with MM, and an ORR of 100% for patients with ALA. The therapy has also continued to show a favorable safety profile, building on a comprehensive data package to support NXC-201 as the first potential outpatient CAR-T therapy, offering significant market differentiation, in our view. Management plans to submit a biologics license application (BLA) for FDA approval in MM once 100 patients have been treated, and in ALA once 30–40 patients have been treated.

• Intuitive Surgical managed an all-around beat in the last quarter with decent revenue and products growth.
• The new capital installs were quite strong, with customers building their Ion and da Vinci system capabilities.
• A capable product portfolio and strong growth in procedures have supported quite a healthy capital placement quarter.

Respiri released its Q323 activity report, updating investors on key highlights during the quarter. The period was marked by continued expansion of the company’s commercial footprint in the US, which included the signing of three additional contracts (taking the total client count to nine) and the appointment of a US-domiciled chief commercial officer to spearhead its growth strategy for the country. In addition, Respiri disclosed that it is in ongoing negotiations with two large insurers and four to six healthcare organisations, indicating a strong sales funnel. With the company recognising its first Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement claims during the quarter and an increasing number of patients onboarded (including at Michigan Children’s Hospital and an undisclosed North Carolina-based healthcare organisation in Q123), we see initial validation for the company’s wheezo remote patient monitoring (RPM) model with subsequent traction likely with early patient responses. The period-end cash balance stood at A$0.9m, highlighting the need to raise capital in the near term, pending any material sales-related inflows.