Healthcare Roundup – Co-Diagnostics Q2 revenues down, Johnson & Johnson closing in on COVID-19 vaccine supply deal

医疗保健精选——Co-Diagnostics第二财季收入下降,强生达成COVID-19疫苗供应交易
Published on: Aug 14, 2020
Author: Amy Liu

Co-Diagnostics Q2 revenues down 61%; shares down 16% after hours

Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CODX) Q2 results:

Revenue: $24.0M (-61.0%). Revenue largely comprised on COVID-19 test sales. 2019 sales of $61.6M were driven by the sale of two MDx devices to mosquito abatement districts and service revenue related to the design of custom tests for a large agricultural company.

Net income: $12.6M (+999%); EPS: $0.43 (+637.5%).

Cash consumption (6 mo.): ($0.3M) (+88.9%).

Final stages of principal design work and verification of multiplex panel for influenza A&B and COVID-19. Deployment planned this quarter.

Shares down 16% after hours.

Johnson & Johnson closing in on COVID-19 vaccine supply deal in Europe

The European Commission (EC) has finished exploratory talks with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -0.8%) about a potential contract to supply up to 200M doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, if approved, to member states. The agreement, if consummated, may include an option to buy up to 200M additional doses.

The EU has allocated €2B ($2.3B) to procure vaccines from up to six producers.

The EC concluded exploratory discussions with representatives of Sanofi (SNY -0.7%) and adjuvant supplier GlaxoSmithKline (GSK -1.1%) in late July.

Convalescent plasma players rally on positive results from COVID-19 study

Results from a large-scale study involving more than 35K severely ill COVID-19 patients demonstrated that the early administration of convalescent plasma, containing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from patients who recovered from the infection, lowered the mortality rate.

Data from the Mayo Clinic-run study showed a seven-day death rate of 8.7% in patients who received convalescent plasma within three days of diagnosis compared to 11.9% in those treated after four or more days, a statistically significant difference.

One large caveat, however, was the absence of a placebo group so it cannot be determined how efficacious the treatment was or can be.

Nevertheless, the FDA is on board with continuing the expanded access program before the expected nod for emergency use.

Selected tickers: Kamada (KMDA +11.8%), Grifols (GRFS +0.5%), XBiotech (XBIT +2.7%), Cerus (CERS +1.5%), ADMA Biologics (ADMA +4.0%)

Mallinckrodt up 11% on merger rumors

Mallinckrodt (MNK +11.1%) perks up on modestly higher volume in apparent response to social media chatter that it is in merger talks with an unnamed company.

The company has been under a bankruptcy cloud due to its potential exposure to opioid crisis-related liabilities and a reimbursement cut to top seller Acthar Gel.

Biocept to provide COVID-19 testing to multi-state locations

Biocept (NASDAQ:BIOC) has entered into an agreement with a healthcare group operating multiple states to provide COVID-19 testing to skilled nursing facilities.

“We began by providing COVID-19 testing services to a few facilities within this group, and they have been impressed by our quick turnaround times, with the vast majority of our COVID-19 testing results reported within 48 hours,” said Michael Nall, President and CEO of Biocept.

The company’s initial service is now expanded into a formal agreement for Biocept to be one of only two labs contracted to provide COVID-19 testing to employees and residents/patients in this system.

Shares are up 8% premarket.

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