RepliCel Life Sciences Inc (TSXV:RP)
RepliCel is a regenerative medicine company developing autologous cell therapies that address diseases caused by a deficit of healthy cells required for normal healing and function.
The Trump administration is considering using the National Disaster Medical System to reimburse hospitals and doctors for caring for uninsured patients stricken with COVID-19. The program, which reimburses at 110% of Medicare rates, is typically used to help pay the costs of caring for people evacuated from areas affected by hurricanes, floods, fires or other natural disasters.
About 27M Americans lack health insurance.
In a statement, Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) says COVID-19 will not impact the supply of any of its drugs, including all forms of insulin. All medicines are available as normal with delivery from wholesalers to pharmacies in 1-2 days.
Shares up 1% premarket on light volume.
Below are companies that have announced plans to develop either vaccines or therapies for COVID-19 or are suppliers of infection control products. Again, some are more credible than others.
Vaccines: Sanofi (SNY -1.5%), iBio (IBIO -10.2%), Vaxart (VXRT -10.7%), Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO +17.1%), Novavax (NVAX -14.4%), Moderna (MRNA -4.9%), Dynavax Technologies (DVAX -4.3%), Tonix Pharmaceuticals (TNXP -12.1%), Heat Biologics (HTBX -21.7%), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK -2.8%)
Therapeutics: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN -1.7%), Gilead Sciences (GILD -3.6%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -3.5%), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX -6%), Cocrystal Pharma (COCP -15%), NanoViricides (NNVC -8.2%), Cleveland BioLabs (CBLI -10.9%), Vir Biotechnology (VIR -12.2%)
Infection control products: Lakeland Industries (LAKE +4.7%), Allied Healthcare Products (AHPI +41.2%), Alpha Pro Tech (APT +24.9%), 3M Company (MMM -4.4%), Ocean Bio-Chem (OBCI -2.3%), China Pharma Holdings (CPHI -30.7%)
Heat Biologics (NASDAQ:HTBX) is the latest company to jump on the coronavirus bandwagon with its announcement that subsidiary Zolovax has formally launched a program to develop a vaccine for treating or preventing infection from SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing the current outbreak (COVID-19).
It has also filed a provisional patent application covering the use of its gp96 vaccine platform for the potential indication.
Shares up 10% premarket on robust volume.
The FDA has granted a request from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for an emergency use authorization to allow healthcare personnel to use certain industrial respirator face masks, including N95s, as an extra preventative measure against COVID-19.
The industrial face masks achieve a closer facial fit than surgical masks and are more efficient filterers of airborne particles. Since they are used in construction and other industrial environments, they are not required to meet FDA standards for testing.
