Investor guide to coronavirus plays – diagnostic tests

Aimed at making it a bit easier to track the ever-increasing list of coronavirus plays, here is a representative list of diagnostic companies that have either experienced recent volatility or may announce plans to develop tests for COVID-19. Some companies, of course, are more credible players than others.

Diagnostic test makers: Co-Diagnostics (CODX -11.8%), Abbott (ABT -3.4%), Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY N/A), Qiagen (QGEN +14.8%), Chembio Diagnostics (CEMI -16%), Luminex (LMNX +2.4%)

Testing services: OpGen (OPGN -11.7%), Guardant Health (GH -5.1%), Biocept (BIOC -4.7%), LabCorp (LH -2.5%), Quest Diagnostics (DGX -2.8%), GenMark Diagnostics (GNMK +30.3%)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3548182-investor-guide-to-coronavirus-plays-diagnostic-tests

Coronavirus plays – vaccines, drugs & infection control products

Below are companies that have announced plans to develop either vaccines or therapies for COVID-19 or are suppliers of infection control products. Again, some are more credible than others.

Vaccines: Sanofi (SNY -1.5%), iBio (IBIO -10.2%), Vaxart (VXRT -10.7%), Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO +17.1%), Novavax (NVAX -14.4%), Moderna (MRNA -4.9%), Dynavax Technologies (DVAX -4.3%), Tonix Pharmaceuticals (TNXP -12.1%), Heat Biologics (HTBX -21.7%), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK -2.8%)
Therapeutics: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN -1.7%), Gilead Sciences (GILD -3.6%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -3.5%), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX -6%), Cocrystal Pharma (COCP -15%), NanoViricides (NNVC -8.2%), Cleveland BioLabs (CBLI -10.9%), Vir Biotechnology (VIR -12.2%)
Infection control products: Lakeland Industries (LAKE +4.7%), Allied Healthcare Products (AHPI +41.2%), Alpha Pro Tech (APT +24.9%), 3M Company (MMM -4.4%), Ocean Bio-Chem (OBCI -2.3%), China Pharma Holdings (CPHI -30.7%)
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3548189-coronavirus-plays-vaccines-drugs-infection-control-products

China doctors seek tougher discharge criteria after positive coronavirus tests

Worrying cases of recovered coronavirus patients in China testing positive again for the infection have raised questions among doctors about the criteria being used for discharging people from hospital.
China has seen 80,000 cases of the coronavirus since it was believed to have emerged in a market illegally trading wildlife in the central city of Wuhan late last year.
While nearly 3,000 people have died, more than 47,000 have recovered and been discharged from hospital. But weeks later, doctors in different parts of the country are reporting some people have tested positive for the pathogen again.
This has raised disturbing questions about the true state of people’s recovery and their potential to spread the virus without showing symptoms and has led to calls for more stringent scrutiny of people being discharged.
At the moment, patients in China are discharged after two negative nucleic acid tests, taken at least 24 hours apart, and indications of clinical recovery, including resolution of symptoms, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
That is in line with World Health Organization recommendations published in January.
But Zhang Zhan, a doctor at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University’s Department of Respiratory and Critical Care, said the requirement should be raised to three tests.
Zhang said she and some fellow doctors recently decided to delay the discharge of 18 patients even though they had met the two-test requirement. Thirteen of them came up positive for the coronavirus when tested again, she said.
“It’s more reliable to discharge patients after having three negative test results in a row,” Zhang said in a social media post.
Qi Xiaolong, professor of medicine and assistant dean of the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, told Reuters one more additional test might still not be enough.
“As far as I know, some hospitals in China have adopted three negative results as a discharge standard for a long time, but even so, there are currently cases of some of them testing positive,” Qi told Reuters.

DORMANT OR DISCREPANCY?

Experts say there are several ways discharged patients could fall ill with the virus again. Convalescing patients might not build up enough antibodies to develop immunity to the virus and are being infected again.
The virus also could be “biphasic”, meaning it lies dormant before creating new symptoms. Some cases of “reinfection” have also been attributed to testing discrepancies.
Guo Yanhong, an official at the China’s NHC, said on Friday recovered coronavirus patients who later tested positive again have been found not to be infectious.
Nevertheless, he said there was a need to improve health tracking and management of recovered patients, and to deepen understanding of the virus.
There are no precise figures for the number of people discharged from hospital who later test positive.
A vice director of a disease control center in Guangdong province told media last week that up to 14% of discharged patients in the province had tested positive again and had returned to hospital for observation.
China is not alone in cases of re-infection.
Last week, authorities in Japan said a tour-bus guide had tested positive for a second time.
Following the reports of re-infection, Taiwan became the first region outside mainland China to raise the bar on when to release patients. It now requires three negative tests, rather than two, the island’s health minister said.

In contrast, Singapore, one of the first countries outside China to have successfully controlled the spread of the virus within its borders, has not toughened its criteria for hospital discharge.
Whether or not a patient is discharged is a decision solely taken at the discretion of doctors on a hospital-by-hospital basis, the Singapore health ministry told Reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-reinfection/china-doctors-seek-tougher-discharge-criteria-after-positive-coronavirus-tests-idUSKBN20Q1BK

Italy considers creating new coronavirus red-zone as cases rise

Italy is considering setting up a new quarantine red-zone near the northern city of Bergamo given the high number of coronavirus cases in the area, the head of the national health institute said on Tuesday.
The Italian government set up two red-zones on Feb. 22 — one centered on 10 towns in the region of Lombardy, southeast of the country’s financial capital Milan, and another, smaller one in the neighboring region of Veneto.
Since then, a growing number of cases have emerged near Bergamo, northeast of Milan. “We are considering the possibility of adopting a measure like this one,” health chief Silvio Brusaferro said after being asked if a new red-zone might be created.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy-redzone/italy-considers-creating-new-coronavirus-red-zone-as-cases-rise-official-idUSKBN20Q2HZ

Pennsylvania now has the ability to test for coronavirus

The Pennsylvania Department of Health now has the ability to test for COVID-19 coronavirus at its lab in Exton, instead of having to send any potential specimens to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine made the announcement during a Tuesday afternoon briefing with reporters, saying that the capability will radically decrease the amount of time that it will take for specimens to be processed and determinations made.

There are no cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, but the state’s ability, along with the potential for hospitals and commercial labs to also receive test kits, will mean that more people who show symptoms of the upper respiratory virus could be tested.

“This is a very important step for us,” Levine said.

It will take less than a day to get responses, Levine said. But the same process, which would be a health care provider checking with the Department of Health before a test is done, will still be followed.

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2020/03/03/pennsylvania-now-has-the-ability-to-test-for.html

New York’s Second Coronavirus Case—What You Need To Know

The Topline: The Tuesday morning announcement of New York State’s second confirmed case of coronavirus may be the first known example of community transmission on the East Coast, suggesting the virus is spreading to people with no direct connection to hot spots for the disease.

• The patient is a man in his fifties who lives in New Rochelle, New York—a suburb about 20 miles from midtown Manhattan—but commutes into Manhattan to work as an attorney, according to NBC New York.
• He had no direct link to any places identified as a hot spot for the coronavirus, such as China, but had recently traveled to Miami; he also has an underlying respiratory illness, according to the report.
• At least two Jewish schools in the New York City area have closed down as of Tuesday: the SAR Academy and SAR High School in the Bronx, where one of the children of the man diagnosed with coronavirus goes to school, and Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck, New York.
• While a child of the man diagnosed with coronavirus does not attend Westchester Day School, a rep told The New York Times that the school decided to play it safe and close their doors when they discovered a member of their feeder school community may have contracted the disease.
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have both tried to reassure the public that they are handling the outbreak: de Blasio said 1.5 million masks have been distributed to healthcare workers—though he said 300,000 more are needed—and 1,200 hospital beds are available, while Cuomo said the state would take extra measures to clean and disinfect subways and buses.
• Cuomo also announced Monday that New York health insurers would not be allowed to charge patients any fees for coronavirus testing, and Medicaid patients would not have to pay a co-pay for testing.

Key background: It’s the second confirmed case of corona virus in the New York City Area; the first case was a Manhattan woman who had recently traveled to Iran, a hotspot for the virus.

On Monday, New York’s legislature approved $40 million in emergency funding to hire additional staff and procure equipment and other resources.
In the U.S., more than 100 patients in 15 states are reportedly being treated for coronavirus. Six people have died.

What to watch for: Additional cleaning protocols will be enacted at New York City schools and subways, Cuomo said Monday. “When you get on a bus or when a child goes to school, it’s not bad cologne or perfume [you smell],” Cuomo said. “It is bleach.”
Cuomo also wants the city to run 1,000 coronavirus tests a day in a bid to isolate patients and keep the virus under control.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/03/03/new-yorks-second-coronavirus-case-is-manhattan-attorney-heres-what-you-need-to-know/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#3194390a717d

Global supplier India curbs drug exports as coronavirus fears grow

India, the world’s main supplier of generic drugs, has restricted the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and the medicines made from them, including Paracetamol, a common pain reliever also sold as acetaminophen, as the coronavirus outbreak plays havoc with supply chains.

The Indian government urged calm and said there were enough stocks to manufacture formulations for two-to-three months.
The government’s list of 26 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and medicines accounts for 10% of all Indian pharmaceutical exports and includes several antibiotics, such as tinidazole and erythromycin, the hormone progesterone and Vitamin B12.
It was unclear how the restriction would impact the availability of these medicines in the countries that import from India and also depend on China. In the United States, for instance, Indian imports accounted for 24 percent of medicines and 31 percent of medicine ingredients in 2018, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn told U.S. senators on Tuesday that the agency is working to determine how the restrictions will affect the U.S. medical supply and the effect on essential medicines.
The FDA last week announced the first coronavirus-related drug shortage in the United States but declined to name the drug in question. Hahn said on Tuesday that drug was in shortage because of a lack of materials needed to make the API.
Indian drugmakers rely on China, the source of the virus outbreak, for almost 70% of the APIs for their medicines. Industry experts say they are likely to face shortages if the epidemic drags on.
“Export of specified APIs and formulations made from these APIs… is hereby ‘restricted’ with immediate effect and till further orders,” the Director General of Foreign Trade said in a statement here on Tuesday, without explaining the extent of the restrictions.
“Irrespective of the ban, some of these molecules may face shortages for the next couple of months,” Dinesh Dua, chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India, told Reuters. The council falls under the federal commerce ministry.
“If coronavirus is not contained, then in that case there could be acute shortages,” Dua said.
In a statement, the Indian federal government said state authorities had been asked to monitor the production and availability of APIs and formulations to prevent black marketing and hoarding.
U.S. drugmakers have said they are monitoring their supply chains and Mylan NV (MYL.O) warned last week that there could be drug shortages. Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) said on Tuesday it does not expect the coronavirus outbreak to result in shortages for any of its therapies, including insulin products.

INDIA MONITORING PATIENTS

Separately, the Indian government said on Tuesday it had detected “high viral load” in six people who had been in contact with a patient who contracted the virus in New Delhi, the capital.
The patient in New Delhi was being monitored and was stable, the government said.
The six people have been kept in isolation and their samples are being sent to India’s National Institute of Virology for confirmation, the government said in a statement here

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to quell public fears. “There is no need to panic,” he said in a tweet.
“Had an extensive review regarding preparedness on the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus. Different ministries & states are working together, from screening people arriving in India to providing prompt medical attention,” he added.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india/global-supplier-india-curbs-drug-exports-as-coronavirus-fears-grow-idUSKBN20Q0ZZ