The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said earlier today that coronavirus testing is now available in 78 state and local laboratories across all 50 states.
The agency has 75K test kits for public lab use with more available soon according to Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s immunization and respiratory diseases unit.
Most of the testing will likely be done in the private sector (all major reference labs are now online). The FDA will allow the use of laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) as long as they are verified by the CDC, while they wait for Emergency Use Authorization.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of U.S. cases is now 560, although the number should spike since testing is now widely available (in other words, the U.S. infection rate has been underreported due to the paucity of COVID-19 tests).
Citing “significant” deterioration in demand in China last month from COVID-19-related commercial disruptions, PerkinElmer (NYSE:PKI) expects Q1 and 2020 revenue to be below guidance of $700M and $3.05B-3.09B, respectively.
It will provide additional updates during its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday, May 5, after the close.
In a tweet, Hindenburg Research calls OPKO Health (OPK +1.7%) an “obvious” coronavirus pump citing the stock fraud troubles of Chairman & CEO Philip Frost.
Last week, shares rallied after the company announced that subsidiary BioReference Laboratories will launch a COVID-19 testing service this week (all major reference labs are doing the same which will favor LabCorp and Quest due to their large footprints).
Shares were down over 11% intraday before recovering.
XOMA (XOMA -7%) will collaborate with Zydus Cadila to develop an immuno-oncology drug candidate the combines the latter’s IL-2 with XOMA’s anti-IL-2 monoclonal antibody.
Zydus will advance the candidate through clinical trials and will have exclusive development and commercialization rights in India, Brazil, Mexico and other emerging markets.
XOMA will retain rights in the rest of the world and will receive single-to-double-digit royalties on Zydus sales in its territories.
Each party has the potential to receive predefined shares of future proceeds from licensing and commercialization activities.
Specific financial terms are not disclosed.
AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) announces that it is working with global health authorities, including the FDA, CDC, BARDA, NIH and Chinese officials, to determine if HIV med Kaletra/Aluvia (lopinavir/ritonavir) is effective in treating COVID-19, the current coronavirus outbreak.
It has donated Aluvia to the Chinese government for experimental use but apparently does not have access to clinical information thus far.
The company is “closely monitoring” manufacturing and supply chain resources worldwide to ensure supply for HIV patients as well as COVID-19 use.
Shares down 6% premarket on light volume as most biotech and biopharma players are in the red before the open.
