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.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA) announces the immediate donation of 6M doses of malaria med hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets through wholesalers to U.S. hospitals to meet the demand related to COVID-19.
It expects to ship all 6M tablets by the end of March and more than 10M tablets within a month.
The company says it is actively looking across its portfolio of products to determine if it can provide any others that may help the medical community during the outbreak.
Officials in Italy are scrambling to contain the COVID-19 outbreak there as cases jump to more than 41K with 3,405 deaths, greater than China’s total of 3,249. There were 427 reported fatalities today and 475 yesterday.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that the government’s measures to limit citizens’ movements will be extended beyond the current April 3 deadline.
Mylan N.V. (MYL +6%) has restarted production of hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets at its West Virginia facility in order to meet COVID-19-related demand, although it is not formerly approved for this use (currently authorized to treat malaria, lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis).
It is also taking steps to initiate production ex-U.S. in the coming weeks, adding that it expects to begin supplying product by mid-April and has an inventory of the active ingredient to potentially treat more than 1.5M patients.
Related tickers: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA +8.6%), Amneal Pharmaceuticals (AMRX +18.4%), Novartis (NVS +1.3%), Bayer (OTCPK:BAYRY +2%)
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) inks a consent decree agreement with General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Danaher (NYSE:DHR) in connection with the former’s planned sale of its BioPharma business to the latter for ~$20B in net proceeds, clearing the last major antitrust hurdle of the deal. The transaction should close by month-end.
GE chief H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. says, “Today’s update represents a critical milestone on our journey to transform GE. The value from this transaction will fortify our considerable sources to de-risk our balance sheet and continue to solidify our financial position. As we navigate this challenging external environment, we are focused on protecting the safety of our people, serving our customers in this critical time of need, and continuing to strengthen our businesses.”
The FDA approves the use of Gilead Sciences’ (GILD +0.1%) Epclusa (sofosbuvir 400mg/velpatasvir 100mg; sofosbuvir 200mg/velpatasvir 50 mg) for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV) as young as 6 years of age or weighing at least 17 kg, regardless of HCV genotype or liver disease severity.
Its application in Europe is under EMA review.
The agency approved the combo pill in June 2016 for HCV-positive adults with or without cirrhosis and in combination with ribavirin for patients with decompensated cirrhosis.
