When the stock was subjected to a selloff again, following the Coronavirus outbreak news, it strongly rebounded during rare, positive, market trading days.  

Yesterday, one of these positive market days, REGN added $50 to its stock price bringing it back to $500; the price of the stock before the selloff that occurred long before the COVID-19 tragedy.

Today, in a crazy, panicking, tumbling market, REGN has given back only $3.80 out of the $50 added during yesterday’s trading.

Other firms claiming readiness to bring a coronavirus vaccine to human clinical trials include: Novavax (NVAX), Vir Biotechnology (VIR), Inovio (INO),  and the private German company CureVac.   

Other, Different, Possible, Successful Approaches to the Nasty Coronavirus, COVID-19

University research centers, and a couple of small companies, believe that their products, which are not vaccines, might be successful in defeating this Coronavirus. With regard to academia Cleveland University published a peer review research article. Prohost will post a summary of the article in the near future.

Possible Successful Approaches to Coronavirus, COVID-19, Other Than Vaccines

The Firm is Mesoblast 

The Product is Remestemcel-L 

Mesoblast Limited

Mesoblast Limited (MESO) proprietary mesenchymal lineage cell technology platform is being used to develop allogeneic cellular medicines for complex inflammatory diseases that are resistant to the conventional standard of care.

Mesoblast said it plans to evaluate its allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) product candidate remestemcel-L in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is caused, among other disorders, by a coronavirus in the United States, Australia, China, and Europe.

Mesoblast stated that it is in active discussions with governments, regulatory authorities of several countries, medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies to implement these activities. 

Mortality in COVID-19 patients with the inflammatory lung condition, ARDS, is reported to approach 50% and is associated with older age and co-morbidities such as diabetes, higher disease severity and elevated markers of inflammatory conditions. Important to note is current treatments do not seem to improve in-hospital survival.

Remestemcel-L

Remestemcel-L is being developed for rare pediatric and adult inflammatory conditions. It is an investigational therapy comprising culture-expanded mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from the bone marrow of an unrelated donor and is administered in a series of intravenous infusions. Remestemcel-L is believed to have immunomodulatory properties to counteract the inflammatory processes that are implicated in several diseases by down-regulating the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, increasing production of anti-inflammatory cytokines, and enabling recruitment of naturally occurring anti-inflammatory cells to involved tissues.

Remestemcel-L has potential for use in the treatment of ARDS; the principal cause of death in COVID-19 patients. This information is supported by recently published results from an investigator-initiated clinical study conducted in China which reported that allogeneic MSCs cured or significantly improved functional outcomes in all seven treated patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

Additionally, in post-hoc analyses of a 60-patient randomized controlled study in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), remestemcel-L infusions were well tolerated, significantly reduced inflammatory biomarkers, and significantly improved pulmonary function in those patients with elevated inflammatory biomarkers.

Also important is recognizing that the same inflammatory biomarkers are elevated in COVID-19, these data suggest that remestemcel-L could be useful in the treatment of patients with ARDS caused by COVID-19. The COPD study results have been submitted for presentation at an international conference with full results to be submitted for publication shortly.

Remestemcel-L is being studied in numerous clinical trials across several inflammatory conditions, including in elderly patients with lung disease and adults and children with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD). This product candidate is currently being reviewed by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for potential approval in the treatment of children with steroid-refractory aGVHD.

Late-stage product candidates:

• RYONCIL™ (remestemcel-L) for steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease (acute GVHD) in children. 

In January 2020 Mesoblast filed a Biologics License Application (BLA) with the United States Food and Drug Administration to seek approval of RYONCIL™ in pediatric acute GVHD. Mesoblast is developing remestemcel-L for rare diseases in adults and children and has a promising emerging pipeline of Phase 2 product candidates and next-generation technologies.

• REVASCOR® for advanced chronic heart failure
• MPC-06-ID for chronic low back pain due to degenerative disc disease 

Mesoblast Innovative Technology Platform

Mesoblast’s novel allogeneic product candidates are based on rare (approximately 1:100,000 in bone marrow) mesenchymal lineage cells that respond to tissue damage, secreting mediators that promote tissue repair and modulate immune responses.

Mesenchymal lineage cells are collected from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors and proprietary processes are utilized to expand them to a uniform, well-characterized, and highly reproducible cell population. This enables manufacturing at an industrial scale for commercial purposes. Another key feature of Mesoblast’s cells is they can be administered to patients without the need for donor-recipient matching or recipient immune suppression.

Mesoblast’s Intellectual Property

Mesoblast’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio encompasses over 1,000 patents or patent applications in all major markets and includes the use of MSCs obtained from any source for patients with ARDS, and for inflammatory lung disease due to coronavirus (COVID-19), influenza and other viruses. Additionally, these patents cover Mesoblast’s manufacturing processes that yield industrial-scale cellular medicines. This IP position is expected to provide Mesoblast with substantial commercial advantages as it develops its product candidates for these conditions.

Mesoblast’s Stock

The stock closed at $4.42, UP $0.38, that’s over a 9% gain for the stock in one of the worst market trading days.

It IS all about Coronavirus.

Once defeated the rebounded strength of the devastated stocks will be unprecedented.

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