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.
CVS (NYSE:CVS) is ramping up its hiring once again. It’s looking for another 15,000 employees to prepare for an expected rise in COVID-19 and flu cases this fall and winter.
More than 10,000 of those will be full-time and part-time licensed pharmacy technicians who can help dispense medications and administer COVID-19 tests (as well as administering a COVID vaccine if federal officials allow it).
Back in March,CVS announced plans to fill 50,000 jobs for roles from delivery drivers to store associates to keep up with growing demand for over-the-counter medications and early refills of prescriptions. Since then, the company has hired about 76,000 full-time, part-time and temporary workers, and has a total of about 300,000 employees.
CVS has also established more than 4,000 COVID-19 drive-thru testing sites and has done nearly 5M tests.
COVID-19 vaccine developers Pfizer (PFE +0.6%)/BioNTech SE (BNTX +0.5%) and Moderna (MRNA -2.9%) are closing in on their respective enrollment objectives in their large-scale pivotal studies.
As of today, Pfizer/BioNTech’s 44K-subject Phase 2/3 study evaluating BNT162b2 has enrolled 39,862 participants, 34,601 of which have received the second shot.
As of Friday, October 16, Moderna has enrolled 29,521 participants in its 30K-subject Phase 3 study of mRNA-1273, 24,496 of which have received the second jab.
Studies testing AstraZeneca (AZN -0.4%) and Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ -1.1%) candidates, AZD1222 and Ad26.COV2-S, respectively, remain paused while safety signals are investigated.
Last week, Pfizer chief Albert Bourla said that the company may file its U.S. application for emergency use by late November. It initiated a rolling marketing application in Europe on October 6 and in Canada three days later.
Moderna launched a rolling marketing application in Canada on October 13.
Other players: Sanofi (SNY +0.2%), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK -0.3%), Dynavax (DVAX -2.5%), Novavax (NVAX -2.1%), Merck (MRK -0.5%)
AbbVie (ABBV -1.5%) has submitted marketing applications in the U.S. and Europe seeking approval of Rinvoq (upadacitinib) to treat adults and adolescents with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis.
Rinvoq was approved in the U.S. in August 2019 for rheumatoid arthritis followed by the nod in Europe four months later.
Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS -2.4%) has completed the enrollment of 32 healthy adult volunteers in an Australia-based Phase 1 study evaluating the safety and tolerability of a nasal spray formulation of AT-301, in development for the potential treatment of non-hospitalized people with COVID-19.
A Phase 2 study should launch in H1 2021.
The FDA grants full approval of Roche’s (OTCQX:RHHBY) Venclexta (venetoclax), combined with chemo, for the treatment of newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
The agency signed off on accelerated approval in November 2018.
The company is developing and commercializing the BCL-2 inhibitor with AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV).
