The importance of health has not been as clear for a long time as it was in 2020. Detached from the discussion about the specifics of COVID-19 on mortality compared to other viruses, the need for protection is great and helplessness without a medical response is harmful to the common good. For this reason, experts around the globe are working to find active ingredients and reduce dependence on China for care. Investors have the opportunity to profit from this development.
Vaccine for COVID-19 under test
BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) describes itself as a next generation immunotherapy company that
is pioneering the development of therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. Its activities focus on combining a variety of modern therapeutic platforms and bioinformatics tools to rapidly advance the development of novel biopharmaceuticals. Based on its extensive expertise in the development of mRNA vaccines, BioNTech is also working with collaboration partners to develop various mRNA vaccine candidates for a number of infectious diseases.
Together with Pfizer
(NYSE: PFE), BioNTech is working on the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, and the company recently announced that a vaccine candidate can participate in a Phase 2/3 study. The selection of candidates for this study has already been made based on data from the Phase 1/2 study in Germany and the USA. Up to 30,000 people aged between 18 and 85 years will participate in the study in approximately 120 study centers worldwide.
If successful, up to 100 million vaccine doses will be made available by the end of the year and over 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.
Expanding independence from China
The capital market-oriented
US President Donald Trump has announced that Eastman Kodak (NASDAQ: KODK) will receive a state loan of USD 765 million under the Defense Production Act. The company was formerly active in the photographic equipment sector and is known under the Kodak brand name. However, Kodak was not prepared for the success of digital photography and quickly fell into disarray. Management now plans to use the U.S. government's money to produce important ingredients for medicines.
In connection with the Corona Pandemic, it became clear how dependent the world community is on Chinese producers. Restrictions in supply chains led to bottlenecks in the supply of equipment to the population.
In addition to Kodak, 3M (NYSE: MMM) for the production of protective masks and General Motors (NYSE: GM) for the production of respirators were already able to benefit from the 1950 law in connection with the Korean War.
CEO increases stake in company
EXMceuticals (CSE: EXM) is a young life science company
focused on the wellness and medical applications of cannabinoids and terpenes. The subsidiary EXM Portugal has licenses and permits for cannabis research for its existing laboratory and pilot refinery in Lisbon. The company has already completed research projects with Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Universidade Lusofona and has applied for P2020 research grants.
In addition to the scientific mission, EXMceuticals claims that it is planning and building a much larger and additional plant in Portugal, which will be operated as an EU GMP refinery. Once this industrial refinery is completed and licensed, it will be used by the company as a base for the distribution of cannabis ingredients in the EU and North America on a commercial basis. The company's activities focus on the production of high-quality cannabis and hemp ingredients for the pharmaceutical, therapeutic, nutraceutical and cosmetic industries.
The company intends to sell the produced ingredients to international medical markets. As part of a financing, CEO Jonathan Summers converted previous loans to EXMceuticals into shares of the company and now holds more than 16% of the voting rights.
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