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.
According to a report from a bipartisan committee of experts assembled by the Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. should invest a whopping $75B to “fix” its “flawed” system of COVID-19 diagnostic testing.
Recommendations:
Rapid expansion of testing capacity from today’s 4.5M tests per week to 30M tests per week by October.
Massive scale-up of screening tests to identify asymptomatic carriers.
Reduce test processing time from today’s 5-14 days to 48 hours (appears to be a logistics issue).
The Foundation says it will invest an additional $50M toward realizing the emergency requirements outlined in the report. It provides no further details to support the $75B figure.
The $25B the U.S. government committed for COVID-19 testing several months ago was not addressed. Those funds should be more than adequate for scale up.
In an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) EVP and CFO Joseph Wolk stated that the company’s 1,000-subject Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Ad26.COV2-S should start next week.
If all goes well, a Phase 3 will launch in September.
CytoDyn (OTCQB:CYDY +4.5%) has filed a comprehensive listing application package with The Nasdaq Stock Market to request an uplisting of its common stock.
Company believes a listing on Nasdaq will enhance shareholder value by providing shareholders with improved liquidity and by giving CytoDyn greater access to the capital markets, to achieve their objective of bringing leronlimab to market.
A rumor making the rounds says a large activist may be getting involved with Intercept Pharma (NASDAQ:ICPT) to push for sale.
Intercept disappointed in late June when it received a CRL from the FDA for its application for the use of obeticholic acid (OCA) to treat liver fibrosis due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Shares fell about 40% that day, and have slipped a bit further since.
The stock’s higher by 2.15% today.
CVS Health’s (CVS +0.8%) retail pharmacies will require customers to wear face masks effective Monday, July 20, due to the recent spike in COVID-19 infections.
Yesterday, retail behemoth Walmart announced the same, also effective July 20.
