Vaccine ‘ultimate game changer’ as deaths cross 5,000

The first ‘human trial’ testing a potential coronavirus vaccine is “on track” with public distribution still projected in 12 to 18 months.

That’s according to White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said the vaccine, being developed with Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), will be the “ultimate game changer” in the fight against the pandemic.

Total deaths in the U.S. related to coronavirus have reached 5,138, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, with 216,722 cases reported across the nation.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3557682-vaccine-ultimate-game-changer-deaths-cross-5000

Novartis Scraps Sale of Sandoz Assets to Aurobindo

Novartis AG said Thursday that it has canceled the divestment of the U.S. generic oral solids and dermatology businesses of its subsidiary Sandoz to Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc.
The Swiss drug maker said the decision was taken mutually after they didn’t receive approval for the deal from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission “within anticipated timelines.”
The Sandoz assets will continue to operate as part of Sandoz’s U.S. business, Novartis said.

https://www.marketscreener.com/NOVARTIS-9364983/news/Novartis-Scraps-Sale-of-Sandoz-Assets-to-Aurobindo-30293308/

10 Biotech Winners And Losers In Q1

The quarter was brutal to say the least for most asset classes amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The S&P 500 Index was down about 20% for the quarter.
Amid the market mayhem, some health care stocks defied the downturn, thanks to announcements concerning development of drug/vaccine/diagnostic tests for new coronavirus.
Focusing on biotechs (leaving out diagnostics stocks), here the top five winners and losers for the quarter.

The Winners

Genprex Inc GNPX 9.09%: (+656.25%)
After ending 2019 in penny stock territory, shares of this gene therapy company began to gain ground after the company announced Fast Track Designation for its immunogene therapy in combination with AstraZeneca’s AZN 2.04% Tagrisso for treating lung cancer. The momentum accelerated after it signed an exclusive agreement to license a diabetes gene therapy from the University of Pittsburgh.
After topping $7 in late February, the stock came off the highs amid the COVID-19 sell-off and managed to end the quarter with huge gains.
Vaxart Inc VXRT 2.26%: (+405.71%)
Vaxart is a COVID-19 play and much of the quarter’s gains were achieved on the back of the experimental oral vaccine candidate it’s developing in partnership with Emergent Biosolutions Inc EBS 5.91%.
Ibio Inc IBIO 2.7%: (+324%)
Ibio, which develops human therapeutic proteins using advanced genetic engineering, joined the fray for a COVID-19 vaccine, which explains the surge in the stock.
Novavax, Inc. NVAX 3.31% (+241.2%)
Novavax was the beneficiary of dual catalysts: a COVID-19 vaccine in development and positive late-stage readout for its flu vaccine.
Trillium Therapeutics Inc TRIL 12.62%: (+192.23%)
This immuno-oncology company did not have much developments to justify its gain for the quarter.
Following a jump of about 63% in a single session in late February, the company issued a statement that said “it is not aware of any material, undisclosed information related to the company that would account for the recent increase in the market price and level of trading volume of its common shares.”

The Losers

Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc MIST 2.72%: (-88.51%)
This cardiovascular-diseases-focused biopharma was cruising along fine until COVID-19 sell-off started in March. The real punch came from an adverse clinical readout.
Novan Inc NOVN 1.05%: (-84.97%)
Novan, which leverages on nitric oxide’s naturally occurring anti-microbial and immunomodulatory mechanisms of action to treat various diseases, fell steeply at the start of the year. The trigger was a late-stage readout of its SB206 in molluscum contagiosum, which showed that the pipeline asset did not achieve statistically significant results for the primary endpoint.
The stock did not recover from this onslaught.
Acasti Pharma Inc ACST 13.04%: (-84.49%)
Acasti also succumbed to a negative clinical readout for its lead prescription drug candidate CaPre, which did not achieve statistical significance for the primary endpoint of a late-stage study that evaluated it for treating elevated levels of triglycerides.
The company is now seeking FDA guidance for unblinding data from another Phase 3 study, and therefore expects a delay in reporting of topline results until the third quarter.
Salarius Pharmaceuticals Inc SLRX 4.11%: (-81.98%)
This oncology-focused biotech gradually declined through the quarter, with some steep sell-off materializing amid its presentation at the BIO CEO & Investor conference in mid-February.
Amarin Corporation plc AMRN 24.5%: (-81.34%)
Amarin shares, which ran up ahead and after the late-December FDA verdict on its application seeking label expansion for its fish oil pill, pulled back in January. The weakness intensified through the market meltdown. A negative court ruling sent the stock reeling this week.
https://www.benzinga.com/general/biotech/20/04/15720001/10-biotech-winners-and-losers-in-q1

This company tells you how well your county is doing with staying home

A tech company is monitoring smartphone data and grading American counties on a “Social Distancing Scoreboard” as authorities across the United States urge residents to socially isolate and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Unacast, which describes itself as “an award-winning location data and analytics firm,” said in a post on its website that the data is collected from “tens of millions” of mobile phones. It released the scoreboard last week.
The interactive, color-coded chart is broken down by state and by county. It’s updated daily with a comparison of how much distance people in each location are traveling now and how much they did before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Unacast founder and CEO Thomas Walle said the company chose this metric over several different statistics after some testing.
“The metric correlates well with the number of confirmed cases: the more cases are confirmed, the greater the decrease in the average distance traveled on the county level,” he wrote.
Galveston County in Texas scored a B rating for its residents’ “30 to 40 percent decrease in average distance traveled.”
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s Chester County, south of Charleston, scored an F for a less than 10 percent decrease.
Galveston has seen 70 confirmed cases, while Chester has just two, according to the scoreboard.
The boroughs making up New York City, which have seen a combined number of more than 37,000 cases, received A grades for a decrease in travel over 40 percent.
Unacast says its COVID-19 monitoring tools do not identify individuals, devices or households. It is offering the data “pro bono” to benefit public health experts, lawmakers, businesses and others.
The Sacramento Bee reviewed scoreboard data for California and reported that people in low-income, rural counties there were dramatically less likely to cut down on their travel than people in wealthy urban areas.
But the effects of the virus have spanned the country, with the White House and individual states issuing guidelines and orders aimed at stopping the spread. Many of them ask Americans to self-isolate, avoid unnecessary travel and keep their hands and frequently used surfaces clean.
“If you feel sick, stay home,” the latest Trump administration guidelines urge.
There were at least 184,183 confirmed cases across the US as of Tuesday evening. At least 3,721 have died from the virus in the country.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/this-company-tells-you-how-well-your-county-is-doing-with-staying-home/

Coronavirus poses greatest risk for diabetes, lung and heart disease patients

People with chronic conditions like diabetes and lung and heart disease are at greater risk of being hospitalized due to the coronavirus – but more than one in five patients who end up in intensive care had no such health problems, according to a report.
Higher percentages of patients with such underlying conditions have been admitted to hospitals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Preliminary data from 7,162 patients show that 37.6 percent had one or more underlying medical conditions, according to the CDC report.
Difficulty breathing is a symptom that sends many people to the hospital, but the new data show how the underlying conditions increase the chances of serious complications.
Researchers found that 78 percent of people in intensive care had at least one underlying health problem, including diabetes (seen in 32 percent of patients), cardiovascular disease (29 percent) and chronic lung disease (21 percent), according to a Reuters report on the CDC’s findings.
Twelve percent had long-term kidney disease and 9 percent had a compromised immune system.

Among hospitalized patients who were not sick enough to require intensive care, 71 percent had at least one underlying condition, the CDC found.
Meanwhile, among people with the novel coronavirus who did not need to be hospitalized, only 27 percent had one or more long-term medical issues.
But notably, not having chronic conditions is no guarantee against serious illness as 22 percent of COVID-19 patients who landed in intensive care had no underlying health problems.
“It is not yet known whether the severity or level of control of underlying health conditions affects the risk for severe disease associated with COVID-19,” according to the report.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/coronavirus-poses-greatest-risk-for-diabetes-lung-and-heart-disease-patients/

Coronavirus patients are most contagious during earliest signs of symptoms

Coronavirus patients are most contagious during their first week showing symptoms, new research suggests.
The early, albeit “limited” study of nine patients in Germany found very high levels of the virus in the throat of those patients at their earliest onsets of sickness, according to the scientist behind the research published in Nature journal.
That means those who fall ill could still be going about their daily lives when they’re most contagious.
The findings could offer a glimpse into the rapid spread of the disease and provide guidance for overwhelmed hospitals that are short on beds, the scientists said.
Many patients showing milder symptoms could safely be discharged to self-isolate at home 10 days after they first showed signs of the illness, according to the research.
“In a situation characterized by limited capacity of hospital beds in infectious diseases wards, there is pressure for early discharge following treatment,” reads the study, lead by Christian Drosten and Clemens Wendtner.
“Both criteria predict that there is little residual risk of infectivity, based on cell culture,” it went on.
The viral “shedding” of the disease dropped off significantly after five days of symptoms in seven of the nine patients; the other two developed early signs of pneumonia and had high levels of the virus 10 or 11 days after falling ill, the scientists found.
Comparing the peak contagious points for coronavirus and SARS patients, those infected with coronavirus gave off 1,000 times more virus than those infected with SARS, scientists found. And the SARS peak came later on, around day seven to ten days after patients first became sick.
But the study was limited in that no severe cases were observed, the scientists said. The nine patients were mild, all young- to middle-aged without significant underlying diseases.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/coronavirus-patients-are-most-contagious-early-on/

Cantel Announces Initiatives to Help Fight COVID-19

Cantel Medical Corporation (NYSE: CMD) announced today specific areas of focus and associated actions to combat the COVID-19 virus. In these unprecedented times, the company is concentrating on enhanced production, product innovation and value-add COVID-19 education in support of first-responders and other healthcare professionals. 
“We are doing everything we can to contribute to the global effort focused on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic,” said George Fotiades, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cantel. “Supporting those on the front lines, in addition to our global employee base, is job one, and we are working closely with distribution partners to ensure that our masks, PPE and other infection prevention solutions are going to those who are most in need. Infection prevention is the core of our company’s mission, and we are doing everything possible to deliver key products and services to serve and protect healthcare professionals.”
Cantel is working across divisions to bring critical products it manufactures and sells to various end markets to best serve healthcare providers on the front lines.
Cantel has focused on accelerating surgical earloop mask production by its HuFriedyGroup dental division, increasing manufacturing to 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the organization’s two New York manufacturing sites and expanding manufacturing lines to increase production volume by over 50%. The enhanced hours and expanded production capacity have enabled the production of over 4.4 million masks per week to serve healthcare professionals. Recently, the organization has increased its manufacturing output on protective face shields by 50% and anticipates an increase of output by 100% in two weeks. These products are being deployed to medical and dental customers.
In addition to masks, HuFriedyGroup is focused on increasing sourcing through sub-suppliers to increase product availability on key products lines such as hand sanitizer, hand sanitizing wipes, protective eye wear, and surface disinfectants. These products span a variety of HuFriedyGroup brands including Crosstex, Hu-Friedy, and Palmero.
Cantel is also focused on innovating products that play a major role on the front lines of combatting COVID-19. On the dental side, AdvantaClear™ surface disinfectant is designed to clean and disinfect surfaces while effectively killing a broad spectrum of disease-causing microorganisms in one minute. Importantly, AdvantaClear surface disinfectant has been added to the EPA List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2, and is classified as being effective against SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19.
Cantel’s ACTRIL™ Cold Sterilant surface disinfectant, traditionally sold into the life sciences segment, is another example of unique product innovation. ACTRIL Cold Sterilant is a powerful disinfectant containing a proprietary mixture of 0.08% peracetic acid and 1.0% hydrogen peroxide. It is effective against a broad spectrum of organisms, including bacterial spores, fungal spores, bacteria, mycobacteria, yeast, molds, and viruses. Cantel is actively working with its medical division to offer this powerful disinfectant to hospital customers to help in the fight against infections.
Cantel has made significant investments in the area of COVID-19 education. The COVID-19 Resource Center as well as a series of infection prevention webinars and podcasts, developed by the dental division, have been visited and attended by close to 20,000 people. The GreenLight Dental Compliance Center™, a first-of-its-kind solution, provides a single, convenient online portal that contains everything a dental practice needs to develop and maintain a compliant infection prevention program. Cantel remains focused on providing its customers a “Complete Circle of Protection” that includes workflow management solutions, instrument reprocessing, infection prevention, and compliance. The initial deployment of these programs is to the dental community through the HuFriedyGroup business. In the weeks and months ahead, Cantel will look to expand these key educational resources to the Medivators business serving its medical customers.
https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/cantel-announces-initiatives-to-help-fight-covid-19/