Amid the ongoing public health crisis, Wall Street is eagerly awaiting any piece of good news. Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) just came through.On Monday, the vaccine maker, which is up 150% year-to-date, announced that the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, INO-4800, had been accepted by the FDA. Additionally, management revealed that the first patient in the Phase 1 trial had been dosed with the DNA vaccine candidate.Commenting on the development, H.C. Wainwright analyst Raghuram Selvaraju said, “We note that this constitutes a validating milestone for Inovio’s DNA medicine platform—i.e., to rapidly develop and advance a vaccine into a Phase 1 trial in just ten weeks.” With initial immune responses and safety data expected to be published by late summer 2020, the analyst sees significant potential based on the immune response results witnessed across several animal models.Not to mention a DNA-based approach offers several advantages. The company’s DNA...
Canadian truck driver Petko Ganachev has created a 3D printing group that is making face shields and mask straps to help ease shortages across the country in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. ...
With the war against COVID-19 waging on, Wall Street focus has locked in on the names at the frontline. Battling a formidable opponent capable of spreading without a trace, innovative technologies will be required to arm the world’s population. As such, market watchers are standing at the ready, hoping to identify the healthcare companies that can deliver effective weapons against the deadly virus.Pluristem Therapeutics (PSTI) has a fighting chance. On April 7, the company reported its treatment for acute respiratory failure and inflammatory complications caused by COVID-19 had demonstrated robust preliminary results from the compassionate use program, sending shares 21% higher in response. Back in March, its PLX cell treatment, which uses allogeneic mesenchymal-like cells with immunomodulatory properties, got the go ahead from the Israeli Ministry of Health for use in treating severe COVID-19 patients on a per-patient basis. The therapy was designed to prevent or even reverse the harmful over-activation...
