Is Pharmadrug Trying To Get Into The COVID-19 Therapy Race?
Last summer, I wrote an article on Revive Therapeutics Ltd. (OTCQB:RVVTF) (RVV.CN) as it became a serious player in developing a COVID-19 vaccine. Revive has become somewhat of a "one stop shop" for new age medicine as it's also in the Psilocybin and CBD game. The market has rewarded shareholders with a strong share price over the last several months. It looks like Pharmadrug Inc. (OTCQB:LMLLF) (BUZZ.CN) might be going for a similar strategy.
PharmaDrug announced an LOI to acquire Sairiyo Therapeutics. There's not a thing online about this company. Not even a website, nor a name of the CEO or an executive of the company. Needless to say there's not much to go on. However, there is quite a bit on Cepharanthine, the drug candidate from which Sairiyo obtained an exclusive license from a research and development organization. While researching it, an article in a scientific journal called "Cepharanthine: a review of the antiviral potential of a Japanese-approved alopecia drug in COVID-19" caught my eye:
There's about a million COVID vaccines and therapies out there right now so BUZZ might be a bit late to the game if this is actually the plan going forward. Though the claim of it being the most potent coronavirus inhibitor among 2406 clinically approved drug repurposing candidates in a preclinical model might garner some attention.
The conflict of interest section caught my eye. "Moshe Rogosnitzky is a named inventor on patents utilizing cepharanthine for treatment of androgenic alopecia." He has a couple dozen published medical articles, including one called "Therapeutic potential of the biscoclaurine alkaloid, cepharanthine, for a range of clinical conditions". Looking up this man is not hard due to his name. Of particular interest is his website, where he displays his passion and knowledge for combating COVID-19, cancers and eye diseases. But the clincher is his LinkedIn profile:
He's the founder and CEO of a "Non-Profit Research & Educational Organization", sounding kind of similar to the exclusive license from a research and development organization that Sairiyo holds. Based on his conflict of interest statement, we know that he owns some IP related to Cepharanthine. In addition, he's a serial entrepreneur being listed as Founder and CEO of four companies on his LinkedIn profile. Is Sairiyo his unnamed fifth? This is just a guess on my part, and I could be wrong. But there is strong evidence suggesting that Mr. Rogosnitzky will be involved in this deal going forward. He may or may not be the main person behind it, but based on what I can gather from public data, he looks like he'll be a strong advocate and ally for Cepharanthine.
This deal may be a precursor for something much bigger.
Analyst's Disclosure: I am/we are long LMLLF.
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