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missing payments from the Chinese:
"Microcap biotech Onconova is breaking up with Chinese partner HanX Biopharmaceuticals after HanX failed to make required payments. China rights to their lead drug — rigosertib, a treatment for myelodysplastic syndromes once partnered with Baxalta but later abandoned — will now go back to Onconova as they prepare for topline pivotal data to come out later this year. HanX, which has filed an IND for the drug in China, is still on the line for milestones and royalties."
https://endpts.com/british-heart-foundation-unveils-shortlist-for-30m-research-award-onconova-scraps-china-partnership/
This Scientific research from 2017 indicates:
"Although pulmonary fibrotic changes are occasionally observed as sequelae of other respiratory viral infections, they appear to be more common following SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection"
Essentially the NXP002 IPF inhaler could help those more serious cases that have contracted this latest bout of the Cornoavirus that is currently circulating China and Asia.
For the scientific study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5507769/
Hope this excerpt about the CNY cultural traditions holds true for NFX:
"Traditionally, Chinese New Year is the time when companies in China try and settle their books and clean the slate. So, it is the time of year when your business in China should try to clear receivables, and settle debts."
Here's hoping
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinese-new-year-business-etiquette-best-practice-andy-clayton
Mozax,
I saw the article too. Another of the key points from it was the increasing focus by big Pharma on cancer due to the big rise in diagnoses.
Obviously NXP004 was recently announced by Dan which is in this space.
Anyone else wondering if this too may be connected also to Tranilast as this has anti cancer properties and the article in the Times stated "The partnership could enable Kissei to treat other conditions".
Putting 2+2 and getting 5 no doubt!
Very upbeat podcast from Dan and actually giving the (expected) date for the NSB resolution (missing payment/JV) as 25th Jan (Chinese New Year).
I was wondering if this is anything to do with relaxation of Chinese Regulation in respect of Foreign exchange coming in from 1/1/20.
Just a thought
Check out this link:
https://www.china-briefing.com/news/china-releases-new-foreign-exchange-rules-facilitate-cross-border-trade-investment/
Cheers and have good Christmases and New Years all.
Let's hope it's a great Year of the Rat, of all creatures!
Cdub,
Good post and I agree with all you say. I think the frustration has been compounded by the dreaded Chinese deal/non payment and the delay. This has caused the fund raise that they were trying so hard to avoid and a deviation from the plan of a self-funding pipeline. Had this arrived in a timely manner I think the company would be a lot further down the road and I don't think we would be experiencing the regression of the share price that has occurred. Though like you I think the destination will be the same, but we've just had to experience an enforced detour.
At the same time, Corbyn is claiming that a potential Conservative trade deal with America would cost the NHS £500m per week. This is delusional. I see no evidence that the NHS and drug prices would be on the table in a negotiation. Indeed there is far greater risk of increases in medicine prices and availability from his own policy.
The UK’s long tradition of drug development is the envy of the developed world. The life sciences industry employs 250,000 people in one of the most productive sectors of the economy. The NHS is protected from rising drug prices with a limit of 2% growth a year on the total medicines bill.
Pharmaceutical firms make big profits but they are necessary to fund the costs of developing new medicines, improving treatments and saving lives. Labour’s spectacularly ill-judged proposals would put this vital work at risk.
Professor Lord Darzi is a former Labour health minister, a crossbench peer and co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2019-12-01/news/jeremy-corbyns-cure-for-drug-pricing-will-kill-research-vcllxfcrm
I think Corbyn would be a disaster for the Pharmaceutical industry. He is planning to steal patents so as he can get drugs at rock bottom prices. This article in last weeks Sunday Times argues this point. I am hoping that most of NFX patent's are filed away from the UK so he could not get this thieving little hands on them:
Jeremy Corbyn’s cure for drug pricing will kill research
he UK has a proud history of drug innovation, from Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin to the monoclonal antibodies that are transforming the treatment of cancer today. It’s a robust alliance between world-leading scientists in our great universities and a vigorous pharmaceutical industry.
But this collaboration, which has delivered countless life-saving treatments as well as jobs, prosperity and prestige, is under threat from Jeremy Corbyn’s reckless manifesto pledge to curb the market in pharmaceutical drugs.
The Labour leader’s ire has been raised by cases of patients “held to ransom by corporations charging extortionate prices for life-saving drugs”. He cited the example of Luis Walker, 9, who was denied the new cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi, while its manufacturer, Vertex, was locked in a battle with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence over its £100,000-a-year per patient price tag.
Corbyn’s anger was understandable. The dispute showed the profit-driven industry in an unwelcome light. But it has been resolved — by negotiation — and the company has agreed to make the drug available to patients on the NHS.
Nevertheless, Corbyn is set on introducing a blunderbuss remedy to prevent such disputes in the future: a state-owned and state-regulated company able to produce versions of patented drugs if they are too expensive.
Such a move would threaten the entire pharmaceutical industry and Britain’s world-leading role in innovation. Forcing pharmaceutical companies to surrender their intellectual property so that their products could be copied — a process known as compulsory licensing — would discourage companies from launching new medicines and slow the research pipeline, curbing the flow of innovative drugs becoming available.
It could even increase the price of medicines, counter to Labour’s expectations, as companies that were first in the field with a drug would have to factor in the potential additional risk from compulsory licensing.At the same time, Corbyn is claiming that a potential Conservative trade deal with America would cost the NHS £500m per week. This is delusional. I see no evidence that the NHS and drug prices would be on the table in a negotiation. Indeed there is far greater risk of increases in medicine prices and availability from his own policy.
Cont'd..
Pretty good update and having an extra product to the pipeline expands their portfolio and hopefully their long term value. I was expecting the company to announce licensing for NXP001 which would add considerable cash flow Is this also being held up by NSB?
Apologies for filling the BB, just an interesting read.
Great that it's huge growth at the moment but some scientists still skeptical
This one liner stood out for me:
" A breakthrough drug here could be hugely significant in tackling the opioid abuse epidemic."
I think that is the bulls eye for Dan to aim at and he's mentioned this in podcasts
If Moore’s fears are realised, a large number of entrepreneurs and investors might find out the hard way that cannabis is another speculative bubble: the wellness version of Bitcoin.
With so much uncertainty, what does the future hold? One thing is clear: the hype is unlikely to abate. Indeed, the cannabis industry is attracting some powerful new backers. The investment arm of the Church of England recently relaxed a self-imposed ban and is investing in medical marijuana. Edward Mason, head of responsible investment for the Church Commissioners’ fund, which is part of the church’s £12.6bn investment portfolio, says: “We are content with it being used for proper medicinal purposes.” That sounds like approval, of sorts, from on high.
The ABC of CBD
CBD Cannabidiol is one of 100-plus active chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant. By itself it does not cause a “high”. It may help treat conditions such as chronic pain, insomnia and anxiety, although scientists say more evidence is needed. It is found in wellness products, mainly oils and creams, plus some licensed prescription drugs that can help treat epilepsy and multiple sclerosis
THC Delta-9-tetrahydro-cannabinol is the principal psychoactive compound found in cannabis leaves. It creates a high, but if consumed in large quantities can also cause anxiety or more serious mental health problems. Barring some licensed prescription drugs, products containing more than 0.2% are illegal in the UK
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/the-truth-about-cbd-do-cannabis-based-wellness-products-really-work-cj6crf865
Better yet, there were none of the common side effects of mental health treatments, such as weight gain or loss of libido. “That’s a big deal.” He adds that there’s evidence that CBD-based prescription drugs may be useful for treating anxiety. “One of my colleagues, Professor Jose Crippa, did this sadistic experiment where he told people, ‘OK, you have to give a lecture that will be videotaped and then analysed by a psychologist.’ Very stressful. Giving people CBD beforehand reduced their anxiety.” Other studies suggest CBD reduces drug-seeking behaviour. A breakthrough drug here could be hugely significant in tackling the opioid abuse epidemic.
So far, so exciting. But there are many issues to resolve before anyone can be sure that cannabis products deliver what their backers claim. Product standards and consistency in the wellness sector are woeful to non-existent. The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis, a trade body, suggests that more than half of the most popular CBD oils sold at high-street chemists, in health shops and online in Britain do not contain the level of CBD promised on the label. One product sold at a high-street shop was found to contain no CBD at all.
Some scientists worry that consumers may confuse low- or no-dose products with high-dose pharmaceutical ones. “The promise of new drugs could be spoilt by people trying high-street treatments that contain a minuscule amount of CBD and saying, ‘I tried cannabis products. They’re useless. Forget it,’ ” McGuire says.
Other scientists take a tougher line: they argue further research will show that the trumpeted benefits of CBD, outside of government-approved medicines, are merely hot air. Dr Andrew Moore, who has spent 40 years researching pain and pain management at Oxford University, warns that the studies conducted on cannabis wellness products so far are limited, poor quality, unreliable and fail to prove that CBD can do what people claim. “I devoutly want it to be a silver bullet, but I think it is snake oil,” he says. “The science isn’t there and the higher quality the research is, the more it demonstrates that these things do not cure people’s ills. It doesn’t work.”
Moore dismisses conferences such as Cannabis Europa as “more like religious events than medical conventions” that “generate appalling froth”. He goes on to issue a telling warning: “We don’t know what the long-term effects of using these treatments may be. Look how long it took us to work out how bad tobacco is for us — three generations. We could be making the same mistake.” Worryingly, the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, warned recently that CBD could cause liver damage and has ruled that it is illegal to sell any food or drink to which CBD has been added. An Australian study published last month found some positive results for pharmaceutical THC/CBD products, but overall “little evidence” that they were effective for treating mental disorders.
Cannabis is more of a level playing field because the plant occurs naturally, which means almost anyone can get a licence to extract oil from its leaves and create a CBD product without infringing patent law. Finding backers is easy, especially in London, where venture capitalists are always looking to invest in “the new, new thing”. There’s big money to be made. The mark-up on CBD-infused products over “normal” ones — CBD water versus mineral water, for instance — can be tenfold.
The second force the cannabis sector is harnessing is women. They drive three-quarters of health and wellness spending and anecdotal evidence suggests that rises to 80% when it comes to CBD. Women are also behind two-thirds of wellness marijuana retail start-ups. Outside the conference I meet Floriane von der Forst and Marisa Schwab, who set up a CBD retail brand called the Chillery in London last year after getting bored of working for big corporations. “Women find the most uses for cannabis products because they help with problems many think conventional companies have failed to solve,” Schwab says. She lists some of them: stress, sleep issues, chronic pain and skincare. “It also aids relaxation, which can help with sex,” von der Forst adds with a smile.
The third force is the growing consumer desire for “natural” products. Makers and retailers at the conference stress the earthy properties of cannabis, especially in wellness products. They boast of “single origin”, “small batch” treatments. This plays well with younger consumers who increasingly crave “clean”, environmentally friendly wellness and are turning away from the traditional “toxic” products that many older consumers use to take the edge off the stresses and strains of modern life — alcohol, tobacco and sleeping pills. “Plants not pills is the oft-heard mantra,” says George McBride, founder and CEO of Hanway Associates, a consultancy that advises entrepreneurs in the medical and wellness cannabis sectors.
All the hype, the notion that prescription and wellness marijuana products are right for now, raises a tricky question, however. Could all these products — apart from the most rigorously tested cannabis medicines — merely be the latest fad imported from America: the new avocado toast? Do they — can they — really do all the things their proponents claim?
Philip McGuire at King’s College London has some of the answers. The professor of psychiatry and cognitive neuroscience works in the perfect spot for his studies. The nearest Tube station to KCL is Brixton, where the concourse smells like a 1960s student party. He has been conducting clinical trials on the effect of CBD on patients with psychosis, or people who are vulnerable to psychosis, for more than a decade. He describes the results as very encouraging. “We’ve done two phase II trials and in both we found that CBD reduced psychotic symptoms,” he says.
It’s the idea that extracts from a single plant can create both prescription drugs that can treat something as life-threatening as epilepsy and also freely available wellness products for everything from period pain to restless leg syndrome that is getting everyone so excited. “Cannabis is the most broadly therapeutically useful substance, more even than aspirin,” argues Cam Battley, chief corporate officer of Canada-based Aurora Cannabis, the world’s largest medicinal cannabis company, which has 2,800 employees in 24 countries.
Can this be possible? Even cannabis evangelists concede much more research is needed. However, it is beyond doubt that we are biologically primed to respond to cannabis. We have native cannabinoid receptors in our body, forming something doctors call the endocannabinoid system. It’s one of the mechanisms our body uses to regulate how and what we feel — everything from anxiety to physical pain. Get the balance of THC and CBD right in a powerful prescription drug and it can be used to treat serious illness. Get the right amount of CBD in a wellness oil or cream and it can help to create a “full body and mind effect” to help ease everyday aches and pains. Or so the cannabis enthusiasts say.
Mike Abbott, the British chairman of Columbia Care, a big US medical marijuana company
Mike Abbott, the British chairman of Columbia Care, a big US medical marijuana company
PETER DENCH FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE
Anthony Atterbury, 51, is one. He was a senior firefighter in the West Midlands, but had to quit when he contracted multiple sclerosis. “The chronic back and leg pain was unbelievable,” he frowns. “I had to use a wheelchair. I used to go out and save people’s lives!” Doctors prescribed antidepressants and painkillers, “but they left me tired and weak”. Then a friend suggested he try CBD. He started taking one gummy a day infused with 25mg of CBD. Within three days, “the pain reduced by 70%. I could stand unaided for the first time in a year.”
It’s not hard to see why such sufferers, who will try almost anything to relieve chronic pain, might become cannabis converts. It’s less obvious why cannabis-based products should have taken off so rapidly in wider society. The answers emerge when I attend Cannabis Europa, a conference for anyone in the marijuana game — prescription drug or wellness product — that was held in London this summer for the second time. Talking to delegates and attending lectures and business pitches, it soon becomes clear that cannabis combines three of the most powerful forces in consumer society and modern business.The first is disruptive technology. The conference hall on the South Bank was crammed with scrappy young entrepreneurs dreaming of getting rich by creating the perfect “cure all”. That’s the reverse of the norm. The drugs market tends to be the preserve of giants such as GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca because it usually takes years and billions of pounds to develop, test and patent d
There are two main types of cannabis product that can be consumed legally in various countries. At the formal end of the sector are licensed cannabis-based drugs — usually solutions or oils — that can only be prescribed by specialist doctors. These contain strictly controlled amounts of THC as well as cannabidiol (CBD), which is one of more than 100 active chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant.
Two of the most important cannabis-derived drugs, made by GW Pharma, are Epidiolex, for epilepsy, and Sativex, for multiple sclerosis. Epidiolex is licensed for use in America and, since September, in Europe, including the UK. Sativex is also licensed for use here. Before other cannabis-based drugs can be formally approved in Britain, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence say more evidence of their safety and effectiveness is needed. Nevertheless, some families can obtain a special licence to use them. Charlotte Caldwell, the mother of Billy Caldwell, a 13-year-old boy with severe epilepsy, became a test case last year when she tried to bring cannabis oil from Canada through Heathrow airport to treat her son’s seizures. She was prevented from doing so. But when Billy’s seizures worsened and he was hospitalised, Sajid Javid, then home secretary, granted his family an emergency licence to use the drug.
Dire need: Charlotte Caldwell battled UK law to obtain cannabis-based drugs for her severely epileptic son, Billy
Dire need: Charlotte Caldwell battled UK law to obtain cannabis-based drugs for her severely epileptic son, Billy
JEREMY YOUNG FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
At the other end of the scale are cannabis wellness products. They contain CBD but zero or minuscule amounts of THC. That makes it legal to sell them over the counter here, in America and in many other countries. They include vape pens, pills, chocolates, truffles, gummies (chewable sweets), marshmallows, beers, lotions, oils, coffee, cosmetics, blemish creams, juices, bath bombs and spring water. There’s even a cannabis hot dog. These products took off in America after the legalisation of recreational cannabis in some states created a consumer appetite for all manner of new products and the craze soon crossed the Atlantic. If you want to try some, go to Sainsbury’s, Holland & Barrett, Boots and — who knew? — Harrods.
Their manufacturers and retailers claim the products are non-toxic, non-addictive and have few or no side effects. Many retailers — even though the lack of scientific proof of their effectiveness means they are not supposed to — suggest to buyers when they visit CBD shops that these products can treat a large number of ailments including pain, anxiety, depression, diabetic complications, Crohn’s disease, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, skin complaints, menstrual pain, arthritis, post-traumatic stress and migraines.