Immuron's Stock Surges 300% On US Navy Contract

Shares of Australian biopharma IMMURON LTD/S ADR IMRN are on a roll Tuesday on the back of financing deal for one of its pipeline assets.

What Happened: Immuron, which focuses on developing and commercializing oral immunotherapeutics for the prevention and treatment of gut mediated pathogens, said it has reached a funding agreement with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center, or NMRC, to develop a combined Campylobacter and enterotoxigenic E. coli-specific anti-microbial preventative for clinical evaluation.

The Department of Defense has approved a $3.7 million funding for the purpose.

The agreement provides for Immuron and NMRC collaborating on manufacturing and evaluating the new product that offers protection against travelers' diarrhea caused by Campylobacter and ETEC pathogens.

What Next: Immuron said the collaboration will evaluate protective efficacy of the new product using two controlled human infection-model clinical trials, with one focusing on campylobacteriosis, and the second trial on ETEC infections.

"Campylobacter jejuni and ETEC are leading causes of travelers' diarrhea and represent a major burden for deployed U.S. troops. And despite robust research efforts to develop vaccines against major enteric pathogens, there are currently no licensed vaccines available," said a Dr. Frédéric Poly, a researcher at NMRC.

"This program also further enhances our efforts to raise the profile of our flagship product Travelan and our in-house clinical program to develop IMM-124E as an FDA approved drug to prevent Travelers' Diarrhea," said Dr. Gary Jacob, CEO of Immuron.

At last check, Immuron shares were up 303% to $8.49.

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