Pharmaxis Ltd (ASX:PXS, OTC:PMXSF) has received a tax refund of A$4,953,337 for the 2022 financial year from the Australian Government’s Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive, adding to the company’s war chest of A$11.6 million as of September 30 last year.
The R&D tax incentive is payable in cash, offered in return for eligible R&D expenditure for companies with total revenue of less than A$20 million in the claimed year.
“The R&D tax incentive is a significant source of non-dilutive funding for the company’s clinical development pipeline including PXS-5505 in myelofibrosis and liver cancer, PXS-6302 in established scars and PXS-4728 in isolated REM sleep behaviours disorder,” Pharmaxis CEO Gary Phillips said.
“The phase 2 trial in myelofibrosis and phase 1c trial in established scars are expected to deliver results in 1H 23.”
Clinical development pipeline
Pharmaxis' research efforts are focused on discovering new drugs to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases including myelofibrosis, stromal (fibrotic) cancers such as pancreatic and liver cancer, Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NASH), pulmonary fibrosis, chronic kidney disease (CKD), liver fibrosis and fibrotic scarring from burns and other trauma.
Pharmaxis’ primary focus is the development of PXS-5505 for myelofibrosis but the drug also has potential in several other cancers, including liver and pancreatic cancers, where it aims to breakdown the fibrotic tissue in the tumour and enhance the effect of existing chemotherapy.