
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.
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.
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.
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 (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 (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.