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Balerno,

I don't know why Germany's death rate is lower than the UK's. Nor do I know why France, Belgium and the Netherlands rate is more than double that of the UK or why Switzerland and Luxembourg have higher rates than the UK. I won't even mention Italy or Spain. The very best brains in the world haven't yet worked it out yet and I suspect it will be down to a combination of many factors. However, I wouldn't dream of claiming this as evidence that the UK are handling the crisis better than those countries.

By the way, you really don't need to tell me about serious consequences.

Balerno,

Seriously?

Before you start accusing NERVTAG of sanitising the minutes of their meetings, please just take 5 minutes to read the bios of the members of the group and then take another 5 to double check with timelines of announcements by the World Health Organisation. To make it easy, I have added links below to the group membership and the bio of Peter Horby, the Chair.

This debate has nothing whatsoever to do with politics or defending the Government. It's about trying to stem the tide of folks trying to rewrite history and the constant undermining of some of the very best scientists this country and indeed the world has to offer.

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/new-and-emerging-respiratory-virus-threats-advisory-group#membership

https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/principal-investigators/researcher/peter-horby

Nom

I think you may have missed the point I was trying to make.

Nom,

You're going to have to explain that one to me, not sure how it fits in with my previous post

Nom,

Would strongly recommend that anyone forming judgements on the UK's response to Coronavirus spend just half an hour of their time reading back through the minutes of the meetings held by The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). The group is made up of the UKs very best scientific experts and its role is to advise government on new virus threats.

You can check for yourself what information was available from China and the World Health Organisation and when it became available.

https://app.box.com/s/3lkcbxepqixkg4mv640dpvvg978ixjtf/folder/103551854721

Balerno,

It's not just the size of the population, it's the density. England has a population density of 430 people per km sq. versus just 70 for Scotland and England has more large cities. Making comparisons is comparing apples and oranges.

TF

Have you ever heard of false balance?

The population density of England is 6 times that of Scotland - makes a tremendous difference to both the spread of disease and ability to continue testing and tracing.

You can only hope to goodness that it isn't needed but it seems likely it will be. Suddenly becoming all too real.

The BMJ

@bmj_latest
·
3h

- New clinical trials are being suspended to prioritise covid-19 studies and enable the redeployment of clinical staff to frontline care, the National Institute for Health Research

- New sites of ongoing studies to be paused

- Trials in the recruitment stage may also be halted

https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m1172?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=hootsuite&utm_content=sme&utm_campaign=usage

Crumbs,

Yes in a way, it would be reassuring to know that LD and her team were protecting themselves by working remotely. Also of course, we have no idea of the impact on any of their collaborators or Ichor.

It was a genuine question. Are you saying that Scancell must issue an RNS if the labs close and as we haven't had one they must be open? Or is it just possible that the team are working remotely?

Inanaco, how do you know the labs are still working? Has anyone had this confirmed directly by Scancell?

Excellent update today.

- revenue up to $154m
- $65m unrestricted cash
- Sep 2024 before any debt facilities mature
- smooth transition to remote working has already taken place due to COVID
- a stockpile of over 12 months of finished products

Although it's likley there will be some impact on trials, Amryt appear to have been proactive with contingency planning and in a strong position to weather the COVID crisis but perhaps most importantly, patients will continue to receive the drugs they depend on.

Back in October 2018 Scancell filed a patent application with the title 'Epitopes'. The application has now been published (link below) and relates to Moditope and specifically homocitrullinated epitopes.

'The present invention relates to epitopes containing homocitrulline (Hcit) that can be used as targets for cancer immunotherapy. The homocitrullinated T cell epitope has (i) a predicted binding score to MHC class II or class I of < 30 using the online IEDB prediction program (http://www.iedb.org/) and (ii) at least 5 consecutive amino acids that form a spiral conformational structure. These modified peptides can be used as vaccines or as targets for T cell receptor (TCR) and adoptive T cell transfer therapies.'

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2020053304&_cid=P12-K7YZ8A-72366-1

Inanaco,

Possibly, you'll know more about this than me but from what I've read, the Government pay interest on the loan for 6 months but thereafter it's down to the borrower and of course it would have to be paid back at some stage. So guess the usefulness to pre-revenue companies like Scancell depends very much on their ability to raise funds when we come out the other side of this.

Back to Scancell .

We are starting to see updates from companies outlining the impact of COVID-19 on their business. It would be good to get an update from Scancell , in particular:-

1) First and foremost that provisions have been made wherever necessary for the safety and wellbeing of all staff
2) Confirmation of the impact on SCIB1 clinical trials in both the US and UK. Assume all is on hold at the moment but would be good to know what stage they had reached - ie. had they agreed trial centres, applied for and received ethics approval?
3) The state of play re. Ichor machines - have they ordered or received the machines needed for trials?
4) What stage they had got to with Modi1 manufacture?
5) Are the Nottingham labs now closed and are Scancell staff working remotely ?
6) Cash runway

BioNTech are already working with Pfizer to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and have today announced a deal with Chinese Fosun Pharma, again to develop an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19.

Worth having a read of the 2nd link which explains why mRNA vaccines are leading the way in the race to find an effective vaccine for this virus.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/03/16/2000704/0/en/BioNTech-and-Fosun-Pharma-form-COVID-19-vaccine-strategic-alliance-in-China.html

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/rna-vaccines-are-coronavirus-frontrunners/4011326.article

Wild,

In answer to your questions:-

1) yes

2) NO NO NO and NO

Inanaco,

A quick response to your 12.02

Why have you randomly decided to post such provocative comments? What on earth are you hoping to achieve?

You're absolutely correct, I did not respond to your previous demands to supply a solution to the global problem of how to deal with coronavirus. This was a deliberate decision. The very best brains on the planet haven't come up with a solution so I'm pretty sure the problem won't be solved via google on this bulletin board. Claiming to have found a solution is straying into dangerous territory.

I'll leave it there but as Ivy has mentioned, this is a highly sensitive area and best left to the experts.