What I like about Starpharma (these are in my words and
I recommend to do you own research.) Disclosure: I hold.
Firstly its a pharmaceutical and as such, these can become massive money earners. Caution: They can also be massive money wasters. Normally huge amounts of time and money is required to get to this position, in Starpharmas case it has 'partnered' with some big pharmaceutical companies to improve cancer drug delivery and drug effectiveness whilst minimising the chronic side effects of some drugs. The drugs are approved and Starpharma is developing a much improved delivery mechanism involving its dendrimer technology and drug combinations. Their product, are dendrimers a polymer technology which I think was originally developed in CSIRO a very well respected Australian scientific research institute. This is what originally attracted me to the company. Fighting cancer. Australian. Nanotech. CSIRO origin (my first job was in CSIRO back in the 70s - fond memories)
These partner pharmaceutical companies are looking for better ways to treat cancer so the market is massive. Starpharma made an announcement just Friday with Merck & Co (probably one of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies worldwide.)
It has also developed some products that are starting to make money, including an effective remedy (VivaGel) for vaginosis and condom coatings that (lab studies only) inactivate things like HIV HSV HPV. The market for both apparently is significant.
Then the discovery and validation last year that SPL7013 a dendrimer compound is virucidal against covid19 and later found to be effective against other deadly caronaviruses (not sure if yet validated for the others). Starpharma is now developing a nasal spray (Viraleze) with the compound to act as a protective measure against Covid-19. It is hoping for release Viraleze this 2021 calendar quarter. I think this is a very exciting time for the company.
As a final note I worry a bit about the vaccine effectiveness and potential side effects, and when you read what the CEO from Merck mentioned last year about vaccines I start to wonder the scope of opportunities that will continue to exist for a product like Viraleze even as the roll out of vaccines begin.
This was posted elsewhere by
@Dona Ferentes on July 23 2020;
Ken Frazier, CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck, was interviewed recently by Professor Tsedal Neeley from Harvard Business School.
Here is a summary of his interview with the following bullet points.
- Developing a vaccine takes time, a lot of time. The fastest vaccine ever brought to market was for the epidemic parotitis (‘mumps’). It took Merck four years to produce this vaccine.
- The most recent vaccine created for a large viral outbreak was for the Ebola virus, which took 5.5 years.
- In the past 25 years there have been only seven truly new vaccines introduced globally. By new, that means that they were effective against a pathogen for which there had previously been no vaccine. Merck has developed four of those seven and the rest of the world three. There has been an enormous amount of work done in the field of prevention. Despite all this work, the world has been trying to develop a vaccine for AIDS since the early 1980s, and so far, without success.
- Developing a vaccine requires vigorous scientific assessment. Vaccines must be safe, effective, and durable. No one knows if any of the 160 programmes will produce a vaccine that is effective. This vaccine must work on billions of people.
- Lots of vaccines in the past have stimulated the immune system (just like the Moderna trial vaccine) but ultimately did not confer protection.
- When politicians suggest there will be a vaccine available by the end of 2020, they are doing the public a “grave disservice”.
- We do not want to rush the vaccine before rigorous science is done. We do not have a good history of introducing a vaccine in the middle of a pandemic. The swine flu vaccine did more harm than good.
- While we are working hard on a vaccine, the best preventative measures to limit the spread and infection of COVID-19 are good hygiene, wearing a mask and social distancing.
- The bigger challenge to developing a vaccine is distributing it to where it is needed most. In a time of ultra-nationalism, countries want to take whatever is available and use it in their own population first rather than offering it to populations globally at greatest risk.
- Developing a vaccine for 7 billion people has never been done before. Delivering it to 7 billion people is an enormous logistical challenge, especially to those communities who cannot afford it.
- This is a global pandemic. Unless all of us are safe then none of us is safe.
- The mobility of the world’s society poses a real problem. The EU has barred Americans travelling to Europe for a reason. Americans are not doing the things required to suppress the epidemic. Americans value liberty. It has been a strong theme through US politics for 200 years, largely because the US has two big oceans protecting it. This virus does not care about liberties. If people exercise liberty at the personal expense of others, then we cannot control this pandemic.
- America is 4% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s infections. That’s scary.
- We need politicians with enough integrity to tell the truth. This time next year we will still be experiencing what we are experiencing now. Be prepared for that.
https://www.firstlinks.com.au/hard-dose-reality-check-vaccines (to acknowledge the source of the above)
OK I will end it there.
Do your own research I would suggest to start here.
Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) is a global biopharmaceutical company and a world leader in the development of new pharmaceutical and medical products based on proprietary polymers