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The ASX looks set to stoop lower for the last session of the week.
Investors are warned to keep an eye open for today’s release of the latest retail sales figures as the rest of Australia prepares for next week’s RBA interest rate decisions.
Despite that, here are some ASX-listed companies with news out today:
Pointerra’s (3DP) US EPC partner, Procure, has been awarded a 10-year, US$15 billion energy utility CAPEX program by an existing customer, Entergy.
Entergy is a Fortune 500 company that provides power to three million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, and has issued grid resilience work packages to EPC contractors.
Pointerra’s AI-driven analytics platform will be used to identify and prioritize grid assets requiring remediation or replacement over the program’s term.
Shares 3DP last traded at 10 cents.
In healthcare, PharmAust (PAA) has wrapped up its third cohort featuring six participants in its phase I/II trial of the lead drug candidate monepantel (MPL) for Motor Neuron Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (MND/ALS).
All participants tolerated MPL at the first and second dosages, and all of them elected to continue with the trial.
Subject to Safety Committee approval, PharmAust will continue with MPL dose escalation in cohort four to determine optimum dose levels.
Shares in PAA last traded at 8 cents.
Meanwhile, Piedmont Lithium (PLL) has inked the final permit required for its proposed Tennessee lithium project in McMinn County, advancing towards construction.
The company plans to produce 30,000 tonnes per year, nearly tripling current domestic production.
PLL is currently arranging financing and customer offtake agreements for the EV market and plans to begin construction works at its Tennessee project in 2024, with first production planned for 2026.
Shares in PLL last traded at 81 cents.
MTM Critical Metals (MTM) has intersected more visible rare earth element (REE) mineralization through a diamond drilling program at its Pomme project in Québec, Canada.
So far, three holes have been completed, and a fourth is currently underway to test for higher-grade REE-niobium mineralization.
“These latest drill holes from the Pomme project are starting to shape our understanding
of the geology within the Pomme carbonatite complex and the distribution of the rare
earth element mineralisation within it,” MTM Managing Director Lachlan Reynolds said.
Shares in MTM last traded at 9 cents.
And Immutep (IMM) has dosed its first patient in its phase two trial using eftilagimod alpha (efti), a soluble LAG-3 protein and MHC Class II agonist, in combination with radiotherapy and the anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA for patients with soft tissue sarcoma.
The chemo-free trial is the first to evaluate efti in a neoadjuvant setting.
“In particular, efti’s sustained activation of antigen-presenting cells, leading to proliferation of activated CD8+ T cells and elevated interferon-gamma levels, may transform the immunosuppressed tumour microenvironment of soft tissue sarcomas into one that enables immune checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab to exert their anti-cancer effect,” Dr Paweł Sobczuk said.
Shares in IMM last traded at 32 cents.
