Target $10
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Sanara MedTech sees > 100% growth of Q4 top line
Sanara MedTech Inc. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Sanara MedTech Inc. (“Sanara,” the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us”) (NASDAQ: SMTI), a medical technology company focused on developing and commercializing transformative technologies to improve clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare expenditures in the surgical, chronic wound and skin care markets, announced today certain unaudited preliminary results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2022.
Selected Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2022 Preliminary Results (Unaudited)
Net revenue of approximately $15.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2022, compared to net revenue of $7.0 million for the three months ended December 31, 2021, which would result in a record net revenue quarter and represent a 119% increase from the prior year period.
Net revenue of approximately $45.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to net revenue of $24.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, representing a 90% increase from the prior year. The higher net revenues in 2022 were primarily due to increased sales of surgical products as a result of our increased market penetration and expanded product offering, our continuing strategy implementation of expanding our sales force and independent distribution network in both new and existing U.S. markets, as well as additional revenues from the Scendia Biologics, LLC (“Scendia”) acquisition.
Operating loss is expected to be between $2.0 million and $3.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2022, compared to an operating loss of $3.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2021.
Operating loss is expected to be between $11.0 million and $12.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to operating loss of $7.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The higher operating loss in 2022 was primarily due to higher expenses related to research and development, higher non-cash amortization expense related to intangible assets acquired as part of our acquisitions of Precision Healing Inc. and Scendia and higher costs related to sales force expansion and operational support.
Cash and cash equivalents were approximately $9.0 million as of December 31, 2022.
As a result of the dissolution of Sanara Pulsar, LLC (“Sanara Pulsar”), an entity that was majority-owned by a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanara, we recorded a non-cash loss on disposal of investment in the fourth quarter of 2022 totaling approximately $1.0 million. The loss on disposal of investment will be included in “Other expense” in Sanara’s Statement of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2022. At the time of the formation of Sanara Pulsar, Sanara Pulsar and Wound Care Solutions, Limited (“WCS”) entered into a supply agreement whereby Sanara Pulsar became the exclusive distributor in the United States of certain wound care products, including the Sanara Pulsar II AWI Wound Debridement System, that utilized intellectual property developed and owned by WCS (collectively, the “Pulsar Products”). When we formed Sanara Pulsar, we believed the Pulsar Products would provide clinicians with a novel debridement solution. We also believed the Pulsar Products would receive an expanded reimbursement code for use by all clinician types. Ultimately, we did not receive an additional reimbursement code, which limited the adoption of the Pulsar Products.
Heron in Agreement with Rubric Capital and Velan Capital
Heron Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HRTX) ("Heron" or the "Company"), a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on improving the lives of patients by developing and commercializing therapeutic innovations that improve medical care, today announced that it has entered into a cooperation agreement with two of its shareholders, Rubric Capital Management LP ("Rubric") and Velan Capital Investment Management LP ("Velan").
As part of the agreement, Heron has agreed to appoint Craig Collard, former President & Chief Executive Officer at Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, and Adam Morgan, Chief Investment Officer at Velan, to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board").
Additionally, as a result of Heron's ongoing refreshment process, the Company will appoint Kevin Kotler, Founder and Portfolio Manager of Broadfin Capital, to the Board. Current directors Stephen Davis and Kimberly Manhard will be leaving the Board. With these changes, the Heron Board will expand to eight directors, seven of whom are independent, and all of whom will stand for election to the Board at the upcoming 2023 Annual Meeting.
Heron also announced it will separate the roles of Chairman and CEO after the conclusion of its 2023 Annual Meeting.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heron-therapeutics-enters-cooperation-agreement-140000833.html
Why is there a shortage of tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables in the UK?
Sales of some fruit and vegetables have been limited by three of the country's largest supermarkets, Asda, Aldi and Morrisons.
It's largely down to bad weather in Europe and Africa, but there is also the smaller impact high electricity prices are having on produce grown in the UK and the Netherlands.
What types running low?
Discounter Aldi said it was putting limits of three per customer on sales of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.
Asda has capped sales of lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflowers and raspberry punnets to three per customer, along with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
And Morrisons has set limits of two on cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.
Tomatoes and peppers seem to be the worst affected at both retailers but its unclear whether this is because they are popular.
Other major UK supermarkets have also been hit by the shortages but have not yet introduced limits for customers.
Why is there a shortage?
In the winter months the UK imports around 95% of its tomatoes and 90% of its lettuces, most of it from Spain and north Africa, according to trade group the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
But Southern Spain has been suffering unusually cold weather and in Morocco crop yields have been affected by floods, while storms have led to ferries being delayed or cancelled.
It led to Morocco barring exports of tomatoes, onions and potatoes to West African countries earlier this month as it tried to protect exports to Europe.
The UK also gets some produce at this time of year from domestic growers and the Netherlands But farmers in both countries have cut back on their use of greenhouses to grow winter crops due to higher electricity prices.
How long will it last?
The shortages are only expected to last "a few weeks" until the UK growing season begins and supermarkets find alternative sources of supply, according to the BRC.
It added that supermarkets were "adept" at managing supply chain issues and were working with farmers to ensure there was enough fresh produce for customers.
Has Brexit had an impact?
Anecdotal evidence suggests the UK has been bearing the brunt of the shortages, but problems have also been reported in Ireland. Other European countries appear less affected.
Industry sources suggested the UK may be suffering because of lower domestic production and more complex supply chains, as well as a price-sensitive market.
But they said Brexit was unlikely to be a factor.
The main impact of new border procedures for fruit and vegetable imports will not be felt until January 2024 - while imports from Morocco, which is outside the EU, are already subject to border checks.
Aldi joins Asda and Morrisons in fruit and veg limits
Aldi has joined other supermarkets in introducing limits on sales of certain fruit and vegetables due to shortages of fresh produce.
The discounter said it was putting limits of three per customer on peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.
It follows similar moves by Asda and Morrisons, with experts warning the shortages could last several weeks.
However, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer have not announced limits.
Pictures of empty shelves from various supermarkets have been circulating on social media in recent days.
The shortages are largely the result of extreme weather in Spain and north Africa, where floods, snow and hail have affected harvests.
A significant proportion of the fruit and vegetables consumed by the UK at this time of year come from those regions.
The BRC has said the shortages are only expected to last "a few weeks", until the UK growing season gets underway and shops find alternative sources of produce.
A spokesman for Aldi said the limits on fresh produce were being brought in to "ensure that as many customers as possible can buy what they need".
The limits at Asda are greater, with lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflowers and raspberry punnets capped at three each per customer, along with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
Morrisons has put limits of two on sales of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.
'Working longer not realistic cure for retirement insecurity.' Get real about how long you'll really work.
The truth about working longer to ease retirement concerns
Financial advisers and retirement coaches often have two words for people in their 50s and 60s concerned about retirement: Work longer. Doing so, they say, can boost their savings, help them receive larger Social Security benefits by delaying claiming them and provide something to do in unretirement.
The problem is, say the authors of the thought-provoking new book, "Overtime: America's Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer," this advice is unrealistic.
The realities of working longer
"As it currently stands, working longer is not a realistic cure for retirement insecurity for many Americans," write Lisa F. Berkman, director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, and Beth C. Truesdale, a sociologist and research fellow at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and a visiting scientist at Berkman's center.
They came to that conclusion after studying data about everything from older Americans' labor-force participation to their health to their caregiving responsibilities to their wealth and income.
'Steady outs' and 'intermittent' older workers
One huge chunk of people who Berkman and Truesdale say are unlikely to be able to work longer: the group they call "steady outs." These are the 15% of people who never worked during their 50s, according to the biennial Health and Retirement Study of Americans over 50.
The authors found that only 42% of American adults were both continuously employed in their 50s and employed at some point between ages 62 and 66. In other words, if you're not working in your 50s, there's a strong chance you won't be working in your mid-to-late 60s.
"Anybody who has dropped out of the workforce, we haven't got a prayer of helping them to go from 65 to 67," Berkman told me.
Added Truesdale: "You can only delay retirement if you still have a job to delay retiring from. While it's not impossible that somebody who's out of the labor force in their 50s could come back and do work later on, it's extremely rare."
Another 34% of Americans over 50 are what the "Overtime" authors call "intermittents" -- they're in and out of the workforce in their 50s.
"If we made policy changes that made it more plausible for more of those people to have steadier and more remunerative employment during their 50s, I think they would have a better shot at being able to stay in the labor force longer," said Truesdale.
People who aren't working in their 50s are out of the workforce for a variety of reasons: their health or a family member's, caregiving responsibilities, and age discrimination keeping them from getting hired are three big ones.
A fourth is employers' working conditions -- "the fact that work can be precarious or that schedules are really hard to predict and hard to accommodate for families and for workers," Berkman said.
In fact, the authors conclude, improving working conditions could go a long way to helping people work in their 50s and then, if they wanted, to work in their 60s or longer.
"Working conditions are modifiable," said Berkman. "We could easily move to a society in which we could accommodate people who have health conditions and caregiving and work family kind of responsibilities if we wanted to. If we made it easier for people to stay in the workforce, maybe they would stay in the workforce."
Working longer: dreams and realities
U.S. workers are far more likely to expect to work longer than Americans actually do. In the latest Employee Benefit Research Institute Retirement Confidence Survey, 29% of workers said they expect to either retire at 70 or older or never retire at all. But only 7% of retirees actually retired after age 69; 42% retired by 61. The median retirement age these days: 62.
Americans have been working longer in recent years than in the past, on average, as a recent paper by American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Andrew G. Biggs noted.
"For decades, labor-force participation at older ages had been declining, encouraged by the introduction of early Social Security benefits in the late 1950s and early 1960s," Biggs wrote. "But today, Americans aged 62 to 65 are participating in the labor force at the highest rates since data collection began in the early 1960s."
Predicting a reversal in the working longer trend
Berkman and Truesdale don't expect that trend to continue, though.
"Extending healthy life expectancy is not something that seems automatic in our future right now," said Berkman. "The United States has slipped in terms of life expectancy from being in the middle of OECD countries to being at the very bottom."
U.S. life expectancy rates are especially worrisome for Americans with less education and lower incomes, she added. "Inequality, we believe, drives some part of this," said Berkman.
The size of inequalities, especially by levels of education, "really dwarfs the relatively small changes that you see even across the course of two or three decades in terms of changes in the labor force," Truesdale noted. And, she added, the labor-force participation for prime-age men has been falling.
Challenges many may face
The upshot, according to Berkman: "People who have more resources, are better educated, have better health and minimal caregiving responsibilities may well be able to work longer and want to work longer and be in jobs that enable them to work longer."
I count myself among the lucky ones, working part time in retirement at age 66 as a freelance writer and editor.
Others won't be so lucky.
"The majority of people will have some kind of challenge, going forward" to working longer, Berkman said. However, Truesdale noted, "even people who start with all the advantages can't necessarily take the idea that they're going to work longer, and retire with security, for granted."
What could help
Berkman and Truesdale would like to see federal and state governments and employers make changes that could help more people work longer if they'd like.
They're talking about requiring 401(k)-type workplace retirement plans; creating state-run programs for residents without retirement plans; making jobs more age-friendly; reducing age discrimination by employers and raising the minimum wage.
They'd also like to see retirement economists, labor economists and organizational psychologists join forces to address prospects for working longer.
"It has been interesting how siloed these areas are," said Berkman. "Retirement economists think about savings and incentives for Social Security and about pensions; they don't think about the labor force or working conditions. Labor economists and organizational psychologists think about how companies work and what create good jobs and don't think about working longer or retirement. It's like they're two separate worlds; they need to be talking to each other."
For now, if you're expecting to work longer to improve your financial security in retirement, the "Overtime" authors say, you need a Plan B.
"Optimism is good for our health," said Berkman. "We'd all like to be perfectly healthy through the 60s and 70s and 80s. But it doesn't happen like that. So, people have to be prepared to have an alternate path that's sustainable."
Vir: Positive Final Draft Guidance on Sotrovimab for Covid from UK
VIR BIOTECHNOLOGY, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) today announced that the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provided positive final draft guidance recommending the use of sotrovimab, an investigational SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody, in adults who do not need supplemental oxygen for COVID-19 and who have an increased risk for progression to severe COVID-19 where nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) is contraindicated or unsuitable. Due to existing inventory, no meaningful additional sales of sotrovimab in the UK are anticipated in 2023.
This final draft guidance provides recommendations to the UK’s National Health Service on the future routine commissioning of therapeutics for people with COVID-19 while COVID-19 is an endemic disease. NICE expects to publish its final recommendations on medicines to treat COVID-19 in March 2023.
Sotrovimab has obtained emergency authorization, temporary authorization or marketing approval (under the brand name Xevudy®️) for early treatment of COVID-19, supplying more than 40 countries. Sotrovimab is not authorized in the US.
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