Read the last two paragraphs. Generex's cash situation, lack of credibility based on its past failures following through with research when added to the current perception of the company limits its ability to take advantage of such an intriguing current event.
Life science companies make first moves to attack deadly coronavirus
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Paramedics transport a man believed to be Hong Kong’s first Wuhan coronavirus patient to a hospital on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. The authorities are scrambling to control a virus that has sickened more than 470 people, killed nine, and spread around the region and to the United States.
LAM YIK FEI
Companies
In This Article
Cerus Corp.
Concord, CA
See full profile
Gilead Sciences Inc.
Foster City, CA
Biotechnology
$22.1B
Revenue
11,000
Employees
See full profile
Vaxart, Inc.
South San Francisco, CA
See full profile
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Atlanta, GA
See full profile
Moderna Inc.
Cambridge, MA
Biotechnology
$135.1M
Revenue
800
Employees
See full profile
Novavax Inc.
Gaithersburg, MD
Biotechnology
$34.3M
Revenue
379
Employees
See full profile
By Ron Leuty – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Jan 24, 2020, 2:55pm PST Updated Jan 24, 2020, 4:51pm PST
Bay Area biotech companies are among those taking the first steps toward developing treatments or vaccines for the deadly Wuhan coronavirus that has killed at lest 25 of the more than 800 people infected.
Gilead Sciences Inc, indicated Thursday that it is considering restarting work on its drug remdesivir, which the Foster City-based company (NASDAQ: GILD), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases initiated five years ago as a potential Ebola treatment.
The company is "in active discussions" with researchers and doctors in the United States and China regarding the respiratory system infection that is centered around the central China city of Wuhan but has been discovered in a patient in Washington state and another in Chicago, Bloomberg reported.
"Plans for next steps, including engagement with regulatory authorities, are ongoing," the company said in a statement to Bloomberg.
Gilead is far from the only company considering stepping up against the virus. Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) of Rockville, Md., and Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) of Cambridge, Mass., have said they are working on vaccines to protect against the virus, but those could take a year to develop.
San Francisco-based Vir Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: VIR) said it is studying whether monoclonal antibodies in its library bind and neutralize the Wuhan virus. it also is applying its technology to figure out the receptor the virus uses in humans, which could unlock new approaches to defeat the invader.
Vaxart Inc. (NASDAQ: VXRT) of South San Francisco is considering turning its oral vaccine platform toward the Wuhan virus, said CEO CEO Wouter Latour. The decision hinges mostly on whether preclinical work in the coming few weeks shows that Vaxart can move quickly and then partner with other companies and public health officials, he said.
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"This is something you don't want to entirely do by yourself," Latour said. "The initial phase — the proof of principle — we can do that on our own."
Vaxart earlier this week said results of a single-dose study of its tablet for H1 influenza, published in the scientific journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, was well tolerated and protected study participants from that flu strain.
"Our platform is exquisitely suited to generate immunity on the mucosal surface" — the respiratory or gastrointestinal systems — Latour said.
Another Bay Area company, Concord's Cerus Corp. (NASDAQ: CERS) said in a release Thursday that its Intercept blood testing system, which was approved five years ago by the Food and Drug Administration, inactivates the MERS coronavirus in platelets.
The problem companies face in developing a therapeutic or vaccine for outbreaks of Wuhan, SARS or MERS — all of which belong to the coronavirus family — is it can take six to 12 months to develop the treatments, said Dr. Charles Chiu of the University of California, San Francisco. By that time, if public health officials have corralled the virus and controlled its spread, the viral explosions peter out.
Existing heart drugs to control hypertension have shown some activity against SARS, Chiu said, and those types of drugs could accelerate responses to viral outbreaks.
"Although we can learn lessons of public health containment and curb transmission, we don't really have effective cures or vaccines," Chiu said.
In past global viral outbreaks — from Ebola to other coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS — small-cap biotech companies have been criticized for using the urgent need for treatments or vaccines to pump up their stocks. But Latour said companies can explore using their technologies without hyping it.
"You can hype it once, you can hype it twice. At some point, no one's going to pick up the phone," he said.
Life science companies make first moves to attack deadly coronavirus
Share
Share
Tweet
Save
Order Reprints
Unlock Article
Enlarge
Paramedics transport a man believed to be Hong Kong’s first Wuhan coronavirus patient to a hospital on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. The authorities are scrambling to control a virus that has sickened more than 470 people, killed nine, and spread around the region and to the United States.
LAM YIK FEI
Companies
In This Article
Cerus Corp.
Concord, CA
See full profile
Gilead Sciences Inc.
Foster City, CA
Biotechnology
$22.1B
Revenue
11,000
Employees
See full profile
Vaxart, Inc.
South San Francisco, CA
See full profile
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Atlanta, GA
See full profile
Moderna Inc.
Cambridge, MA
Biotechnology
$135.1M
Revenue
800
Employees
See full profile
Novavax Inc.
Gaithersburg, MD
Biotechnology
$34.3M
Revenue
379
Employees
See full profile
By Ron Leuty – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Jan 24, 2020, 2:55pm PST Updated Jan 24, 2020, 4:51pm PST
Bay Area biotech companies are among those taking the first steps toward developing treatments or vaccines for the deadly Wuhan coronavirus that has killed at lest 25 of the more than 800 people infected.
Gilead Sciences Inc, indicated Thursday that it is considering restarting work on its drug remdesivir, which the Foster City-based company (NASDAQ: GILD), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases initiated five years ago as a potential Ebola treatment.
The company is "in active discussions" with researchers and doctors in the United States and China regarding the respiratory system infection that is centered around the central China city of Wuhan but has been discovered in a patient in Washington state and another in Chicago, Bloomberg reported.
"Plans for next steps, including engagement with regulatory authorities, are ongoing," the company said in a statement to Bloomberg.
Gilead is far from the only company considering stepping up against the virus. Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) of Rockville, Md., and Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) of Cambridge, Mass., have said they are working on vaccines to protect against the virus, but those could take a year to develop.
San Francisco-based Vir Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: VIR) said it is studying whether monoclonal antibodies in its library bind and neutralize the Wuhan virus. it also is applying its technology to figure out the receptor the virus uses in humans, which could unlock new approaches to defeat the invader.
Vaxart Inc. (NASDAQ: VXRT) of South San Francisco is considering turning its oral vaccine platform toward the Wuhan virus, said CEO CEO Wouter Latour. The decision hinges mostly on whether preclinical work in the coming few weeks shows that Vaxart can move quickly and then partner with other companies and public health officials, he said.
Trending
Career & Workplace
Modern workplaces: Inside Salesforce's sprawling S.F. campus
Career & Workplace
These are the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area
Hiring in Technology
Manager, Software Engineering, AR/VR Graphics & Runtime
"This is something you don't want to entirely do by yourself," Latour said. "The initial phase — the proof of principle — we can do that on our own."
Vaxart earlier this week said results of a single-dose study of its tablet for H1 influenza, published in the scientific journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, was well tolerated and protected study participants from that flu strain.
"Our platform is exquisitely suited to generate immunity on the mucosal surface" — the respiratory or gastrointestinal systems — Latour said.
Another Bay Area company, Concord's Cerus Corp. (NASDAQ: CERS) said in a release Thursday that its Intercept blood testing system, which was approved five years ago by the Food and Drug Administration, inactivates the MERS coronavirus in platelets.
The problem companies face in developing a therapeutic or vaccine for outbreaks of Wuhan, SARS or MERS — all of which belong to the coronavirus family — is it can take six to 12 months to develop the treatments, said Dr. Charles Chiu of the University of California, San Francisco. By that time, if public health officials have corralled the virus and controlled its spread, the viral explosions peter out.
Existing heart drugs to control hypertension have shown some activity against SARS, Chiu said, and those types of drugs could accelerate responses to viral outbreaks.
"Although we can learn lessons of public health containment and curb transmission, we don't really have effective cures or vaccines," Chiu said.
In past global viral outbreaks — from Ebola to other coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS — small-cap biotech companies have been criticized for using the urgent need for treatments or vaccines to pump up their stocks. But Latour said companies can explore using their technologies without hyping it.
"You can hype it once, you can hype it twice. At some point, no one's going to pick up the phone," he said.
