The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
There always seems to be a problem whenever Astrazeneca release trial data around their Covid vaccine. I would still gladly take it if it was what I was offered as Covid is a much bigger risk, but this company are certainly making it more difficult to trust them than they should.
Graking, it's looking a bit shady isn't it? As you say they messed up the dosage to get the vaunted 90% efficacy figure, but then on review the data was not reliable enough for that dosage regimen to be approved, they also averaged this unreliable data with the 62% to get the 70%+ efficacy.
They also seem to have an aversion to testing older people, these preliminary South African results look shockingly bad, at least the Johnson and Johnson vaccine which is about as effective as Astrazeneca otherwise and 57% effective on the SA variant is a single dose vaccine.
This is very worrying, the Astrazeneca vaccine was supposed to be our great white hope. However, I'd rather have the Johnson and Johnson one: just a single dose, about as effective as the Astrazeneca one on standard Covid, comprehensive data that shows it is just as effective for the over 65s and 57% effective against the South African which is a lot better than these preliminary Astrazeneca numbers. The sample size tested was much bigger as well. Hopefully Synairgen can help but our government seem strangely uninterested.
110, if Boris Johnson had successfully suppressed the virus like New Zealand then lockdowns would either have been for a very limited period time or not have been required at all. It's his dithering and naked self interest, in caring only about his popularity rather than taking tough decisions, that have cost lives.
Buddyhell, it's looking very necessary right now unfortunately. Particularly if this new strain really is spreading much faster. This is why it was so important to suppress the virus like New Zealand did at the start, the more it hangs around the more opportunity there is for it to mutate like this.
Shadowboxer, so why have New Zealand and Australia been so good at effectively eliminating the virus by acting decisively and early if it's a big conspiracy by the government (which you obviously don't support)? They have been able to go back to normality and have for a while in New Zealand's case (no masks or social distancing required, only strict control of their borders and a great test, trace and isolate system). The US and UK are the ones who have taken a more laissez-faire approach and utterly failed.
No, we still need treatments and they are hugely important. There is a lot of blind optimism around the announced vaccines. There is still a long way to go before everyone is vaccinated unfortunately and even then there is a very significant group who are unwilling to take them, which could easily be big enough to prevent herd immunity. Anti-vaxxer sentiment is mainstream and an unfortunate scourge in our modern society.
This was just ridiculous today, I managed to sell some at 137p and 128p and get in again at 110p when it seemed to be recovering but still took a heavy loss. Synairgen still has huge value and I'm hoping for a buy out, also a vaccine that needs to be stored at -80C although very welcome has huge logistical challenges.