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.
Echoing comments from some other public health officials, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) CEO Stephane Bancel said COVID-19 is likely to become an endemic disease, meaning it’ll always be present in the population, but circulating at lower rates. “SARS-CoV-2 is not going away,” he told a panel discussion at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference. “We are going to live with this virus, we think, forever.”
Infectious disease experts will always have to be on the lookout for new variants of COVID-19 so that vaccines can be produced to combat these, he added. While several new variants of the contagion have already been detected in the U.K., South Africa, Brazil and Japan, Bancel believes Moderna’s current jab will prove effective against the mutations. He also claimed that the shot, which recently received emergency use approval in the U.S. and elsewhere, is likely to provide immunity for at least one year.
Quote: “I’m not worried for the short term but we are watching that very closely because I think that we might be moving into a world where we need new strains of vaccine down the road – but not in the short term.”
Vaccine talk: On the corporate side of things, some companies are entertaining the idea of paying workers to get inoculated. Dollar General (NYSE:DG) has become the first retailer to give its workers a one-time payment equivalent to four hours of pay after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination, as well as “additional store labor hours to accommodate their time away from the store.”
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 jab could receive emergency approval by next month, according to Operation Warp Speed’s Moncef Slaoui.
Gilead Sciences’ (GILD +1.9%) hosted an investor event outlining drivers of mid-to-long term growth. Expects top and bottom line growth in 2021, citing higher than expected sales of Veklury (remdesivir), despite declining HIV med Truvada’s sales after launch of generic version of the med by Teva in October last year.
Recently, updated FY2020 product sales outlook to $24.3B-$24.35B vs. prior outlook of $23B-$23.5B and consensus of $23.73B.
Though Veklury (remdesivir) sales were higher than expected given the most recent COVID-19 surge, company’s mid-long term growth assumptions exclude Veklury.
Gilead sees oncology assets, Trodelvy, magrolimab and Yescarta to drive growth mid-term with contribution from HIV therapies based on lenacapavir and assets arising from the inflammation pact with Galapagos.
Gilead’s oncology programs banks on Trodelvy, which is being studied in 10 different tumor types.
Ongoing Trodelvy TROPICS-02 HR+ve breast cancer trial was modified to add ~100 patients in order to include overall survival (OS) as a co-primary endpoint. Wells Fargo report notes that the study has 90% power to achieve a HRs of 0.73 (16.5 vs 12 months) for OS and 0.7 (5.3 vs 3.7 months) for PFS and forgoes the original interim overall response rate analysis. Initial data is expected by YE2021 and regulatory filing submission expected in early 22.
The cannabis stocks are rallying as Aphria (NASDAQ:APHA) beat revenue and earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 ahead of its merger with Tilray (TLRY +23.5%) scheduled for the second quarter of 2021.
For the seventh quarter in succession, Aphria’s gross revenue for adult-use cannabis has surged, recording 149% YoY growth, while net cannabis revenue has nearly doubled to ~C$67.9M from the prior-year quarter. Revenue and non-GAAP beat stand at C$6.8M and C$0.04, respectively.
The announcement by Canopy Growth (CGC +7.6%) of an option related to the ownership of TerrAscend Corp. (OTCQX:TRSSF) appears to have helped too. Filing an early warning letter, the company has disclosed that the option, if exercised, will raise its TerrAscend stake to more than ~26%. Canopy has added ~7.5% so far today.
Meanwhile, WeedMD (OTCPK:WDDMF +5.7%) is up ~5.7% after the company disclosed an agreement with Quebec-based cultivator ROSE LifeScience to expand its geographical reach. A similar agreement was signed by Aurora Cannabis (ACB +9.4%) with Great North Distributors of Canada for legalized adult-use cannabis, whereby Great North assumes Aurora’s sales execution from the end of January.
