The Capital Brief | PEB, RHY, CC5 & ACR

The period ended June 2026 reporting season has now well and truly arrived, with the number of results announcements coming through on the increase.

With economic and geopolitical uncertainties failing to dissipate, investors’ major focus in these announcements has, and will continue to be, the outlook sections. These look ahead pieces have to date been decidedly cautious.

A key talking point in the major banks’ earnings updates has been the drop off in their home mortgage applications, especially in the investment housing segment. Changed tax rules around negative gearing and multiple RBA rate increases are clearly starting to bite.

At least the RBA held fire at its 10-11 August 2026 Monetary Policy Board Meeting, leaving its benchmark rate at 4.35% - a level it has been at since early May 2026. However, the accompanying rates decision commentary definitely left the door ajar to further increases if underlaying inflation fails to drop back towards the Bank’s target band.

This edition of the TCN Newsletter focuses on small cap health care sector stocks Pacific Edge (NZX/ASX:PEB), Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY), Clever Culture Systems (ASX:CC5) and Acrux (ASX:ACR).

Some of these stocks presented at the 20^th Bioshares Biotech Summit, held in Queenstown New Zealand over 6-7 August. It was my first time in this magical place and the scenery was breathtaking. 

This conference, which I attended, yet again demonstrated that the small cap ends of both the ASX and NZX healthcare sectors are continuing to punch above their weight. These companies have a bevy of pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech offerings in the pipeline or in the process of being commercialised.

In other news, great Antipodean businesses Michael Hill International, KGL Resources, Noxopharm and Metals Australia have joined the team and I look forward to sharing their stories with you in the coming weeks.

Pacific Edge (NZX/ASX:PEB)

Pacific Edge (NZX/ASX:PEB) is a cancer diagnostics company that has developed and is now commercialising non-invasive genomic biomarker tests.

The Cxbladder suite has multiple products, but Pacific Edge is seeking to standardize on its next generation products, namely:

• Triage Plus, a frontline test for microhematuria patients to safely reduce invasive work-ups

• Surveillance Plus, a test for patients previously diagnosed with bladder cancer to lower the frequency of repeated cystoscopies for recurrent disease.

The company’s stated global commercialisation strategy, which is still in the process of being implemented, is starting to get real traction.

Just last month, Pacific Edge informed investors that its Asia Pacific (APC) business was advancing towards profitability on a direct-cost basis, on the back of growth in commercial test volumes and increased adoption of its next gen Cxbladder Triage Plus test product.

The company’s APAC commercial tests numbered 1,158 tests in the first quarter of its FY27, up 12.9% on the previous quarter figure.

In another positive development, increased adoption of the better performing and higher priced Cxbladder Triage Plus test is not just improving revenue – it has also boosted the margin and margin percentage per test – key metrics of success for Pacific Edge’s business.

In the US market, the company recently received a draft LCD from Novitas for its Triage and Triage Plus tests, while no competitors were granted coverage from this foundational LCD. When finalized Pacific Edge will have a moat around its hematuria evaluation business and is making selective investments now to prepare for the positive impact of final effective coverage later this year.

Pacific Edge plans to provide a further performance update at its upcoming Annual Shareholder Meeting on Thursday 20 August 2026.

Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY)

Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) sits at the intersection of precision medicine, preventative healthcare and scalable diagnostics.

It is transforming cancer diagnostics through innovative technologies that predict, detect, characterise, and support early intervention.

The company’s flagship blood-based technology, ColoSTAT^®, is Australia’s first blood-based test for the detection of bowel cancer in symptomatic patients.

Rhythm Biosciences has also developed a geneType™ platform that is a world-leading personalised predictive test portfolio that covers six cancers. It uses a unique combination of genomic and clinical information to predict the risk of chronic disease development.

The company continued to strengthen the commercial foundations of both its ColoSTAT^® and geneType™ platforms in the June 2026 quarter.

Subsequent to the release of its June 2026 quarter activities report the company presented at the recently held 20^th Bioshares Biotech Summit.

This presentation highlighted how the company was now Scaling ColoSTAT^® through established Australian clinical channels.

The addressable domestic market for the latter product is large. Over 800,000 colonoscopies are performed annually in Australia, with ColoSTAT^®’s target market being patients who may not require an immediate colonoscopy or who otherwise fall outside existing pathways.

The presentation also detailed how Rhythm Biosciences expects the geneType^™ offering to reach its market via a mix of enterprise accounts & strategic partners (B2B2C). Health, insurance and other enterprise partners (all up, 75% of the total) and Clinics (25% of the total).

Rhythm Biosciences expects to further progress its commercialisation and broader development strategy over the coming year. This work is set to deliver multiple milestones, including further scaling of ColoSTAT^® commercial footprint, and the establishment geneType^™ strategic partnerships with key international and domestic commercial partners.

Clever Culture Systems (ASX:CC5)

Clever Culture Systems (ASX:CC5) is a medical technology company. It is a leader in microbiology technology driven by artificial intelligence, delivering modular automation solutions that maximise laboratory efficiency.

The company has developed the Automated Plate Assessment System (APAS® Independence), using artificial intelligence and machine learning software to automate the imaging, analysis and interpretation of microbiology culture plates.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc, a global supplier of scientific instruments, laboratory equipment, software, chemicals, consumables, and clinical services, is the exclusive distributor of the APAS® Independence to clinical customers in the US and selected countries in Europe.

The year ended June 2026 financial years saw the company successfully expand its global customer base.

Its APAS® Independence system is now in place with eight large global pharmaceutical companies, double the figure as end of its 2025 financial year. On top of this achievement, APAS® Independence also onboarded other new pharmaceutical and established clinical laboratory customers over the past 12 months.

All this means the company has entered its 2027 financial year with a materially broader base from which to pursue increased instrument sales, recurring software revenue and validation-services revenue.

The company anticipates that existing customers will gain momentum and underpin sales, and that additional qualified customer sales opportunities will materialise.

The pipeline for Clever Culture Systems’ instrument sale opportunities over the coming 12 months is already material. The company expects that the eight large global pharmaceutical customers onboarded in the 2026 financial year will provide it with an estimated medium-term opportunity of up to 100 instrument sales.

On top of this anticipated uplift, the company also sees an opportunity to land another 80 instrument opportunities across the new qualified pharmaceutical customer pipeline now in place.

Acrux (ASX:ACR)

Acrux (ASX:ACR) is a specialty pharma company with a successful track record of developing and commercialising a pipeline of topically applied pharmaceutical products.

The company is now focusing on delivering improvements to women’s health through hormone replacement therapies.

Acrux hosted an investor webinar on Monday 17 August 2026 at 11.00AM AEST, which hosted by TCN.

The webinar was presented by Acrux’s CEO & Managing Director, John Warmbrunn.

Key focus areas in Mr Warmbrunn’s presentation were:

• Progress in delivering the clinical and commercial milestones for Acrux’s Female Testosterone MDTS treatment

• The significance of the recently received FDA Post end-of-Phase-II response for the Female Testosterone treatment ahead of its pending Phase III trial

• A progress update on the Australian licensing agreement with Gedeon Richter Plc for Menopause Hormone Therapy (MHT) product Lenzetto^®.

Watch the presentation here.