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.
People using drive-through sample collection sites at U.S. retail pharmacies are having to wait 10 days or longer to receive the results from their COVID-19 nasal swab tests, negating most of the benefits of the testing due to the delay in isolation and contact tracing.
CVS (CVS +0.5%), the chain with the most sites, has instructed employees to tell customers to expect 5 – 7 days before receiving results, although the website for MinuteClinic recently changed the time frame to 6 – 10 days due to high demand. The company also instructed workers to convey to customers that turnaround times have been negatively impacted by backlogs at its testing partners.
Reference lab Quest Diagnostics (DGX +1.7%) says its average turnaround time is seven or more days due to supply chain constraints.
Each CVS drive-through location can process ~50 samples each day or ~70K per day company-wide.
Yesterday, a Rockefeller Foundation-backed committee issued a report stating the need for $75B to fix America’s “flawed” testing system for the respiratory illness.
Reuters reports that the European Union (EU) is negotiating with Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and CureVac for advance purchases of their respective COVID-19 vaccines. The EU shared the information yesterday in Berlin with EU health ministers.
Talks with JNJ and SNY appear to be the most advanced since discussions are currently focused on the number of doses needed, 200M from JNJ and 300M from SNY.
Four EU states inked a deal with AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) last month for 400M doses of AZD1222.
Premarket: JNJ (+1%), MRNA (+3%), BNTX (+3%)
Malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has come up empty in another COVID-19 study. Results from a 491-subject trial conducted by University of Minnesota researchers that administered the med to patients within the first four days of exhibiting symptoms showed no difference from placebo in either hospitalizations or deaths, although the number that experienced symptoms for over two weeks was 6% lower in the treatment group.
On the safety front, 43% of patients receiving hydroxychloroquine experienced side effects, compared to 22% in the control group.
A study in Brazil was terminated after 11 deaths, while a trial in China showed no effect on recovery.
Earlier this month, WHO stopped trials of the malaria med and HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir after observing no effect on mortality.
Last month, the FDA revoked emergency use authorization for both chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19.
Also last month, an Oxford University-led study failed to show a benefit from hydroxychloroquine compared to standard-of-care treatment.
“What we really need are drugs that, when given early, can prevent a symptomatic person from requiring hospitalization or very dramatically diminish the time that they’re symptomatic,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told Mark Zuckerberg during a Facebook Live interview.
He expects results for a clinical trial on monoclonal antibodies by late summer or early fall.
The laboratory-produced proteins – described as “precise bullets” that can be developed from antibodies from other people who’ve been infected by COVID-19 – are hoped to be used to treat sick coronavirus patients as well as for prophylaxis.
Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) has raised ~$200M (£159M) in an oversubscribed private placement and subscription with new and existing institutional investors (the “Financing”).
The Financing comprises of 39,090,009 American Depositary Shares (ADSs), each representing eight ordinary shares, at a price of $4.50/ADS, and 43,111,112 Ordinary Shares at price of £0.45 or $0.5625 per share.
The anticipated net proceeds of of ~$183M, almost 3x the company’s current market cap of $64M, will be used to fund clinical programs and for general corporate purposes.
In connection with the Financing, certain Directors and an Officer of the Company intend to subscribe for new ordinary shares or ADSs for gross proceeds of ~$955,000.
Closing date is July 22.
