How many times have we seen this stock go down, only to bounce again on no news & happening on low volumes frequently, let alone an overall response in markets. We are due for Janssen news soon.
It’s not surprising re COVID-19 & labs getting slammed with COVID-19 testing, plus the issue of lockdowns considering the patients PromarkerD is targeting are vulnerable to severe COVID-19 & mortality.
Big Labs like Labcorp & Quest Diagnostics in the USA totally overwhelmed with test numbers & cases, the FDA approved home test kits that are probably not as accurate as PCR swabs taken by qualified staff, but what do you do in such a crisis with so many infected & millions more negative on testing, but needing done?
We have seen this in Australia as well with much lower numbers of tests & cases; private labs stepping up to assist Govt Health labs without needing a GP referral for testing; people getting turned away or waiting 6 hours to get tested in some cases & that is unacceptable & you wouldn’t blame people for not getting tested & going home, especially with a car full of screaming, sick kids. So you can only imagine what the situation is like in EU/UK/USA with their case numbers.
What Richard was talking about in the Quarterly in regards to post-lockdown needs for PromarkerD is very true & good to see they are moving forward with KOL & regulatory/payer approvals.
There is a lot of literature out there & concerns of the medical community of a crisis in DKD/CKD, especially in light of the problem of new cases that are viral induced post COVID-19 (sufferers may be unaware they have CKD/DKD) ie Long COVID-19.
This is a media article, but it gives the crux of the problem without reading through reams of research studies:
Good to see we have a decent cash position & R&D rebate as a top up. Analytics side revenue is down, but probably good to remember that this also may have been affected by suspension of clinical trials as PIQ also providing analytical services for this as well.
Hopefully we will see some relief soon with COVID-19 vaccination and a reduction in cases, and recovered cases having some form of immunity, but with newer, more virulent strains, who knows? There will always be cases & tweaking to tests & vaccines & treatment.
The FDA have recently advised labs that they need to ensure newer strains are detected on testing:
I don’t see a problem with this quarterly considering the current global situation with COVID-19. Looking forward to trial results from Ph2 trial in collaboration with Janssen, and increased need for predictive testing, including risk factor for decline in staging of DKD/CKD & ESRD.
In the clinical space of kidney disease, COVID-19 related research has been phenomenal & while this virus has been a curse, for biotechs doing the hard yards in research for testing & diagnosis, treatments for acute COVID-19 & the after effects in recovered COVID-19 patients (Long COVID-19) during a difficult time, could potentially be very well rewarded on breakthroughs.
GLTAH
PIQ Price at posting:
68.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)