Biotron Share Price Up as it Responds to ASX Query

The share price of Biotron [ASX:BIT] is up 9.5% and trading at $0.115, at time of writing.

It has been an exciting time for Biotron shareholders who, last month, could have sold their shares for a whopping $0.445.

The stock has since fallen dramatically, but still has a one-year return of 262%:

Source: marketindex.com.au

Biotron is a biotechnology research company working on a range of antiretroviral drugs.

Antiretroviral drugs fight viruses, and Biotron has recently had a positive drug trial result for its HIV medication.

The latest news out of the company driving the price higher today is its response to an ASX aware letter.

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Biotron responds to ASX aware letter

ASX aware letters are a way for the ASX to query companies about the timing of market sensitive announcements:

‘When ASX has concerns about whether an entity has disclosed market sensitive information at the time it should have under Listing Rule 3.1, it will typically issue an ‘’aware letter” to the entity. The purpose of an aware letter is to enable ASX to be satisfied that the entity is in compliance with its continuous disclosure obligations.’

In the aware letter in question, the ASX posed a number of questions to the company, asking for it to expand on its initial press release.

Biotron responded with a significant volume of detail about its trial program, outlining the specifics of its Phase 2 trial.

Biotron withholds some information from ASX

Certain details were not disclosed however, such as:

‘Detailed analyses and graphs from the sCD163 and the flow cytometric analyses have not been released to the market, as they remain trade secrets and subject to strict confidentiality … until presented at upcoming scientific conference(s) in the USA in late 2018/2019. Details of the date, time and location of presentation(s) will be released to the market when they are available.’

In essence, Biotron is withholding more information because of the sensitive commercial environment it operates in.

Biotech is a notoriously cutthroat industry, where patents can generate billions of dollars.

Amgen in the US, for example, built an empire off of the success of a single drug — Epogen.

Given the recent volatility in Biotron’s share price, and the lack of updates until it presents its findings, it could remain volatile for the foreseeable future.

Regards,

Lachlann Tierney

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