Member Info for Hedgehog100

27th Jul 2020 7:00 am RNS Update on Phase 2b clinical study of XF-73

Update on Phase 2b clinical study of lead asset XF-73 in the prevention of post-surgical bacterial infections

Protocol amendment agreed with FDA to reduce Phase 2b study size without compromising its statistical power or clinical value

Study two thirds enrolled. Recruitment now expected to complete by year end

Planned study interim safety review to be announced in August 2020

Brighton, United Kingdom - 27 July 2020 - Destiny Pharma plc (AIM: DEST), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel treatments for hospital infections that address the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), is pleased to announce a clinical protocol amendment has been agreed with FDA for its ongoing phase 2b study of lead asset XF-73.

The study is evaluating XF-73, as a nasal gel, for the prevention of post-surgical hospital infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, such as MRSA. The agreed amendment recognizes the impact COVID-19 has had in slowing patient recruitment in clinical studies since March and the FDA's willingness to support certain protocol amendments that help to accelerate the completion of ongoing clinical trials but do not compromise a study's integrity and clinical objectives.

The amendment to the protocol incorporates a change to the primary patient population where the primary endpoint for the study will be measured. The primary microbiological endpoint post-surgery will now be measured in those patients who had a positive load of nasal Staphylococcus aureus before receiving the study treatment. This contrasts to the original primary population, which included all randomised patients regardless of their baseline nasal load of Staphylococcus aureus. Very importantly, this change enables a reduction in the prospectively defined study size from 200 patients to 125 while maintaining the statistical power of the study and its clinical value. This preserves the potential of the trial results to be a key step towards the Phase 3 clinical trial programme of XF-73. Destiny Pharma has informed all appropriate regulatory bodies and ethics committees involved. Other protocol modifications agreed with the FDA regarding study procedures will also make it easier for hospitals to recruit and retain hospital patients. ...

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/DEST/update-on-phase-2b-clinical-study-of-xf-73-tvxbk7bjr1fdtu6.html

From the AMR Action Fund website:

"The growing threat of AMR

The world is losing its most powerful tool in healthcare: antibiotics.

The reason: rapidly rising antibiotic-resistant infections – also called antimicrobial resistance, or AMR.

These infections can affect anyone, of any age, in any country. AMR is a universal issue that impacts us all – we are all at risk.

Antibiotic resistance undermines every aspect of medicine today. We rely on the availability of effective antibiotics to be able to do everything from wisdom tooth extractions to organ transplantation to cancer chemotherapy.

The fragile antibiotic pipeline is close to collapse

Despite the huge societal costs of AMR, there is no viable market for new antibiotics and therefore little funding available to support clinical research.

As a result, important antibiotics in the early stages of development may never get over the “valley of death” to reach patients.

The ground-breaking AMR Action Fund expects to invest more than US$1 billion to bridge the funding gap and respond to the AMR threat.

The Fund aims to bring 2-4 new antibiotics to market this decade that will save patient lives.

The concept of the AMR Action Fund has been developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the European Investment Bank, and the Wellcome Trust. It aims to overcome key technical and funding barriers of late-stage antibiotic development and will work with governments to ensure there is a sustainable pipeline of new antibiotics to fight superbugs.

Together, we must act now to safeguard our future from this global threat."

https://amractionfund.com/

Daytradenovice,

I'm always happy to debate civilly, but I will flag up a serial poster of inaccuracies when I see that.

The airline industry was hit hard by COVID-19 months ago, but unlike the price of oil which immediately collapsed, the price of tantalum has been rising. If it was going to be hit by falling aviation demand that would have happened months ago.

Other tantulum uses, which are growing strongly, account for the vast majority of tantulum demand, and supply is tight for this quite scarce metal.

Aviation demand will still be adding to the overall demand, and the need to improve aviation engine efficiency will be greater than ever.

COVID-19 vaccines will be widely rolled out across the world next year and will nail the pandemic, and massive state spending will fuel economic recovery.

Check out Mila Resources (MILA), which is currently arranging a RTO for a rare earth project in Namibia.

It's chosen this out of all the projects in the world that it could have selected.

27th Feb 2020 7:00 am RNS Proposed Acquisition & Suspension of Trading
" ... Mila Executive Director, Mark Stephenson, said "The critical and strategic metals industry represents an area of significant growth in the coming decades as international policy makers and manufacturers turn increasingly to electric vehicles and efficient energy storage. The Eureka Project would provide Mila with a highly attractive entry point into this market as this asset not only combines high grade neodymium and praseodymium mineralisation, two of the most prized and high value elements in the Rare Earth group of metals, but also offers the potential for near-term, low-capex and low-opex production." ..."
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/MILA/proposed-acquisition-and-suspension-of-trading-kecqls13kb1lih1.html

"DIAMOND AND HEAVY MINERAL SANDS PROJECT

Kazera owns a 64% interest in in Deep Blue Minerals which has a diamond mining subcontract in the established diamond mining fields on the West Coast area of South Africa. It is expected to be producing profits from diamonds before the end of 2020. It is also in the process of acquiring a 64% interest in Whale Head Minerals which is in the process of applying for a Mining Permit over a potential Heavy Mineral Sands resource.

The Company, with its joint venture partners have identified a clear pathway to restarting production via a $600,000 work program. Once in production, diamond gravels will be identified by multi mesh separation before being directed to the Alexkor recovery plant for refining. The Company anticipates that through this method, it will produce around 300-500 ct/month creating revenue for the Company which can be injected into developing the Heavy Mineral Sands potential.

The Heavy Mineral Sands work programme will aim to produce over 6,000 tpm, achieving an estimated gross revenue of US$600,000/month."

https://kazeraglobal.com/investments/diamond-and-heavy-mineral-sands-project/

The tantalum price has been performing strongly recently, which should continue, fuelled by growth of the electronics industry, and its use in aviation and gas turbines.

KZG's tantalum mine should be huge money-spinner for the company, and two international groups (who approached KZG rather than vice versa) are competing for a piece of the action.

" ... Kazera Global currently holds a 100% stake in Aftan, which in turn holds two wholly owned subsidiaries, Namibia Tantalite Investments (NTI) (holds operating assets and plant) and Tameka Shelf Company (holds title and licences to Tantalite Valley).
Kazera Global has been invested in NTI since 2015 and is focused on production of tantalum and exploration of lithium. The Company manages and operates the Tantalite Valley Mine (TVM) in Southern Namibia, near Warmbad in the Karas District. The mine has one of the highest grades of tantalum ore in the industry. ..."
https://kazeraglobal.com/investments/namibia-tantalite-investment-mine/

"KAZERA GLOBAL – TAKES FULL CONTROL OF THE TANTALITE VALLEY MINE. BUY
June 26, 2020 | Posted by admin
... this tantalum mine could make several million dollars a year as it stands without upgrading the plant. ... "
http://www.alignresearch.co.uk/kazera-global/kazera-global-takes-full-control-of-the-tantalite-valley-mine/

27th Mar 2020 7:00 am RNS Interim Results for six months ended 31 Dec 2019
" ... Negotiations continue with two international groups who have approached the Company with indicative offers for the funding of construction of the Orange River Pipeline as well as offtake proposals ..."
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/KZG/interim-results-for-six-months-ended-31-dec-2019-qzlz4b4claf7k25.html

23rd Jul 2020 7:00 am RNS AGM Statement

" ... COVID-19 Testing Range

As announced on 30 June, we released our automated SARS-Cov2-IgG test in countries that accept the CE mark. Interest from our direct and distribution customers has been strong and initial feedback from their validation processes positive. The first sales of this test were made during July. We are hoping to launch a complimentary SARS-Cov2-IgM automated test in the coming months. Furthermore, we are also providing contract manufacturing services to a developer of an ELISA based test, and produced the first prototype batches in June and July.

These products have great potential, though it is too early to estimate the revenue levels which they will generate. We are confident IDS have enough capacity for analyser instruments and assay manufacturing to meet likely demand. ..."

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/IDH/agm-statement-tfwz3df1tkdvv99.html

Steven,

We should certainly be careful about yourself, because:
1. You are inaccurate.
2. You are illiterate.
3. You are bearish at the bottom of the mining cycle, when that is the time to turn bullish.

That's what I've done with KZG recently.

Regarding Giles Clarke, well done and thank you to Fortitude for flagging up GC's BARK on this board last year: it subsequently multibagged handsomely, making some investors a fortune.

And certainly not for the first time:

"Clarke began his career as an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston. In 1981 he bought from receivership the assets of what was to become Majestic Wine,[4] where, as chairman, he built it into a UK national chain. From August 1987 to May 1988, Clarke was chairman of Majestic Wine Corporation Inc, a United States company which owned a chain of 104 stores trading as Liquor Barn in California and Arizona.[5] Following disposal of the US based businesses, he sold the UK plc business of Majestic Wines for £15 million in 1989.
In 1990, Clarke founded Pet City, where, as CEO, he built it into a chain of 94 stores (also dressing up at Xmas in the Swindon Store). After making the business public in 1995, he sold the business for £150 million in 1996 to US based PetsMart.[6] In 1998, Clarke founded Safestore, building it into the UK's third largest self storage company, selling it to Bridgepoint Capital for £44million in August 2003.[7] In 1999 Mr Clarke became CEO of Stepstone,[8] an online career portal. Since he came on board, the company has raised NKr1.8bn ($197m) from the IPO in 2000 and grew from four countries and 200 employees to a staff of 1,385 in 18 countries."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Clarke

Thanks to Tole on ADVFN for this useful info.:

Tole 13 May '20 - 12:45 - 96 of 110 0 2 0
"Surprised by the retrace here. Believe these have plenty potential going forward especially with the covid19 element.
Finncap highlighted these opportunities in their most recent note.
“On a more positive note, Destiny is looking at several new grant-funded projects or government-funded initiatives that could test the utility of XF-73 as a new COVID-19- related treatment. As evidenced by retrospective studies of COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China, it is becoming established that secondary bacterial respiratory infections take advantage of immune-compromised COVID-19 intensive care patients and are a significant cause of mortality in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Destiny believes that XF-73 has the potential to be part of new treatment regimens that could help reduce the incidence of such bacterial infections by reducing the bacterial carriage quickly in COVID- 19-infected patients in the ICU.
Equally relevant is an increased interest in the anti-infective sector, driven by the coronavirus but also with a crossover into treatment of bacterial infections and issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Lessons learned or to be learned from nations’ pandemic preparedness, or in some cases lack thereof, will hopefully drive governments to ensure that the pharmaceutical industry and innovators are sufficiently incentivised to develop new anti-bacterials that address the superbugs and AMR. If large pharma is unwilling to invest in this area, it will ultimately fall to governments to do so. The panic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic will pale into insignificance if there are microbes that became resistant to all current antibiotics!
Destiny offers the possibility with its XF platform of generating novel antibiotics that have an alternative mechanism of action to existing antibiotics and where there is no evidence to date of resistance developing against the XF platform.” "

https://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=41637092

"finnCap Research Company Notes - 3 March 2020"
"Destiny Pharma (DEST) : Corp"
"Share price (p) 35.5
Target price (p) 250.0
Market cap (£m) 15.5
Enterprise value (£m) 6.4"

https://www.finncap.com/news-events/finncap-research-company-notes-3-march-2020

15th Jul 2020 7:00 am RNS Destiny Pharma notes launch of AMR Action Fund

Destiny Pharma notes launch of $1 billion pharma-backed fund to develop new anti-infectives

Fund underlines the market urgency for the development of novel safe and effective antimicrobials such as Destiny Pharma's lead asset, XF-73

XF-73 is currently in a phase 2b clinical study investigating its use in the prevention of post-surgical bacterial infections

Brighton, United Kingdom - 15 July 2020 - Destiny Pharma plc (AIM: DEST), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel, hospital infection prevention treatments that address the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), notes the launch of the AMR Action Fund to provide financial resources and technical support to help biotechnology companies bring novel anti-infective drugs to patients. These are needed urgently to fight the worldwide rise in antimicrobial-resistant superbugs.

Over 20 leading pharmaceutical companies have pledged to invest a total of $1 billion in a fund to help bridge innovative candidates in the pipeline through the later stages of drug development and to work with governments to ensure there is a sustainable pipeline of new antibiotics that address AMR. The pharmaceutical industry, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the European Investment Bank, and the Wellcome Trust, have joined forces to design the fund, which aims to bring between two and four new antibiotics to market by 2030. For more information visit https://amractionfund.com.

This new pharma-backed fund underlines the urgency for the development of novel safe and effective antimicrobials such as Destiny Pharma's lead asset, XF-73. XF-73 is currently in a phase 2b clinical study investigating its use in the prevention of post-surgical bacterial infections, including the superbug MRSA.

Neil Clark, Chief Executive Officer of Destiny Pharma, commented:

"We welcome this significant new fund supporting novel drug development addressing AMR. The world needs new anti-infective drugs and Destiny Pharma is one of the leading biotechnology companies dedicated to addressing this global clinical need. The new pharma backed fund is the latest in a series of new initiatives from regulators, governments and healthcare investors to support innovation that addresses AMR."

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/DEST/destiny-pharma-notes-launch-of-amr-action-fund-dz8gcdvu49svl3h.html

James,

There hasn't even really been a delay to what was indicated in the 1st. July RNS, which indicated that the next update on the project would be to give a timetable, not a decision on the choice of finance provider:

1st Jul 2020 7:00 am RNS Blyvoor Gold Production JV - Project Update
" ... The Company expects to provide a further update to the market in respect of project level financing and associated timelines shortly after completion of the site visit referred to above. ..."
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/KAT/blyvoor-gold-production-jv-project-update-qx8zhusqz1y5549.html

And yesterday's RNS did exactly that.
I.e. provide a timetable, and a short term one at that:

21st Jul 2020 12:45 pm RNS Blyvoor Gold Tailings Project: Funding Update
" ... Katoro will look to complete the Project Financing on or before 30 September 2020. ..."
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/KAT/blyvoor-gold-tailings-project-funding-update-s32ew6pg45siw8s.html

If some retail investors cannot understand plain English, then that is their problem, not LC's.

Excellent potential as a COVID-19 play - and look how well some of those shares has done recently.

And IQAI rose over 1,000% last summer under Trevor Brown, from barely a penny at the start of June 2019 to over 13p at the end of September.

This looks to have similar potential.

DEST is looking very oversold now at just 31p, and due a bounce from its support level.

The most recent episode of drought in Namibia was in 2018/19, and was recorded as the worst in the last 35 years.
Fortunately the situation has now improved.

And the country has invested greatly in water supply for its the mining industry, which is so important to Namibia:

"Namibia is an arid country that is regularly afflicted by droughts. Large rivers flow only along its Northern and Southern border, but they are far from the population centers. They are also far from the country's mines, which are large water users. In order to confront this challenge the country has built dams to capture the flow from ephemeral rivers, constructed pipelines to transport water over large distances, pioneered potable water reuse in its capital Windhoek located in the central part of Namibia, and built Sub-Saharan Africa's first large seawater desalination plant to supply a uranium mine and the city of Swakopmund with water. "

"Total water use in Namibia was estimated at 300 million m3 in 2000. The municipal sector including tourism and industry used 73 million m3 (24 percent), while the bulk of water use is for agriculture and livestock. Only 13 million m3 (4 percent) was used in mining at the time,[22] although this amount has increased due to the development of mining – in particular uranium mining – after 2000. Mining in Namibia makes extensive use of water, which is used for a broad range of activities including in particular mineral processing, but also dust control, slurry transport and the water use of employees. Uranium mining uses large quantities of water for processing using alkali heap leaching. For example, the Trekkopje mine in the Namib desert uses 14 million m3/year of high-quality water that must be free of any salt. Saline water extracted through local wells is used for dust suppression, thus reducing the need for freshwater. Furthermore, some of the wastewater is treated and reused, thus further reducing water demand. Freshwater demand is met from the Erongo desalination plant that also supplies neighboring communities. Since the lifetime of the plant (30 years) is longer than the expected lifetime of the mine (12 years), already when the plant was planned it was expected that it would be taken over by NamWater at the closure of the mine.[23]"

"The UN evaluated in 2011 that Namibia has improved its water access network significantly since independence in 1990."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Namibia

"Best 10 Countries for Doing Business in Africa"

"Using the 2019 World Bank Ease of Doing Business report, major political events to come in 2019 and macroeconomic factors in each country, we have identified ten countries that executives and investors should consider in their Africa strategy for 2019."

"South Africa"
"Africa’s second largest economy is one of the easiest places to do business on the continent with advanced legal and financial structures."

https://africa.com/best-countries-for-doing-business-in-africa/

Thanks for that Potter25.

A soaring gold price could help KATapult KAT to much higher levels.

A gold price of $3,000/ounce could increase the margin of KAT's Blyvoor gold tailings project to $2,500/ounce.

At 17,500 oz p.a. that could give a gross profit of around $43.75M. p.a.

Animal,

The lockdown in Namibia has been relaxed gradually over the last few months to reopen the economy, and is currently in stage 4 of the 5 lockdown stages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Namibia#Return_to_normal

Since last month KZG has been able to send its recovered drilling cores to ALS in South Africa for assaying, so initial results at least could be imminent. I.e. The company could release the results in stages.

4th Jun 2020 7:00 am RNS Acquisition of Diamond and HMS interest
"... Drilling Update
Following the highly encouraging results of the first phase of Kazera's planned drilling programme at TVM, and the recent success of the Company's contractors, Adamas Drilling, in operating the man-carry rig on the steep terrain, Kazera continues to embark upon the second exploration drill phase to further delineate the extent of Resources in the license in which phase the Company expects to identify further Mineral Resources.
So far, the Company has completed drilling at Homestead, Purple Haze and Snake and has now moved into position at Signaalberg, drilling the last hole, then moving to the final White City site. Initial results are positive and the Company anticipates completing the core drilling by the end of H1 2020.
So far the COVID-19 pandemic has had minimal impact on the Company's capability to operate at the Mine but has, however, impeded sending recovered cores to ALS for assaying. It is anticipated that this issue will be resolved shortly once the government re-open borders. ... "
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/KZG/acquisition-of-diamond-and-hms-interest-rp7lv75f6f2dcy1.html

KIBO's market cap at 0.215p is £2.783M. (1,294,490,188 shares in issue).

KIBO's stake in KAT ( 96,138,738 shares) is worth £1.922M. at KAT's current s.p. of 2.0p.

That means that the value being attributed to KIBO's non-KAT assets is just £0.861M.

Not bad value for projects with a combined net present value (NPV) of about £1.5 billion.

Bcl42,

Multi-billion pound projects take a long time to develop, but that doesn't man that they never happen.
And enough time has now elapsed that KIBO's projects may well be nearing that point.

The COVID-19 pandemic could be the catalyst, as governments around the world are looking for 'shovel ready' large infrastructure projects to help revitalise their economies.

And people focusing on the rear view mirror my be blinded to the opportunities going forward.

"Technical Analysis for AGY - Allergy Therapeutics Plc"

"Grade Last Price % Change Price Change
grade B 15.0 7.14% 1.00"

"ADX Long Term Intermediate Term Short Term
Strong Up Up Up"

https://lse.swingtradebot.com/equities/AGY:LSE

"AGY Technical Analysis"

"Summary: STRONG BUY
Moving Averages: STRONG BUY Buy (11) Sell (1)
Technical Indicators: STRONG BUY Buy (11) Sell (0)"

https://uk.investing.com/equities/allergy-therapeutics-plc-technical