Top Growth Stock To Watch Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) partner, Mannin Research Inc., set to fast-track potential Coronavirus therapy.

Q BioMed has been the focus of a lot of investor attention in recent weeks following an aptly timed announcement.

The February press release pointed to a project in the works since last September when the German state of Saxony awarded Mannin a $7.7 million grant to advance its novel therapeutics.

Mannin has since been fast at work developing a new class of therapeutics that may lower the severity of infection for vascular pathologies, including coronaviruses like COVID-19 and SARS, as well as the common flu, which claims more than 600,000 lives globally every year.

By reducing endothelial dysfunction and loss of endothelial barrier integrity, Q BioMed and Mannin hope to halt the development of acute lung injury following severe viral or bacterial infections.

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) CEO Denis Corin states,

“We are working closely with our technology research partner Mannin to develop a potential adjunct treatment for various infectious diseases like the coronavirus. These types of outbreaks are not uncommon. H1N1, SARS, Ebola, pneumonia, influenza and others all can cause vascular leakage and respiratory distress in patients, which can be fatal in the most severe cases.”

That isn’t the only news driving heightened interest in Q BioMed.

In an even more recent announcement,Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) declared their intention to enter into a financial restructuring of approximately $7.8 Million. This restructuring of $3.8 Million debt and $4 Million in new capital creates substantial positive shareholder equity, ultimately fulfilling the requirements for a Nasdaq listing anticipated in the not-too-distant future.

This influx of new capital offers Q BioMed enough runway to bring its FDA-approved, non-opioid, Strontium89 Chloride drug into full commercialization, as well as advance other key pipeline assets.

A robust pipeline of developmental drugs

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) follows an unconventional business model in the micro-cap pharma sector. The Company conducts its own research to identify innovative technologies that have been under-served, undervalued, or ignored, but which management believes have inherent potential. Although it does not invent those technologies, it attempts to create greater value through the use of its human capital and economic investments.

By carefully building a portfolio of assets in pre-clinical stage, Phase I trials, one commercial ready asset, and one that has just found entrance to the commercial market, the Company hopes to build value for its patients and shareholders for years to come.

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) treats its first commercial patient with FDA-approved non-opioid drug, Strontium 89.

With Q BioMed’s recent announcement of its contract manufacturing facility’s FDA approval and subsequent commercial launch of Strontium89, Q BioMed is that rare micro-cap issuer with imminent revenue.

The company has a number of potential new drugs in its pipeline. But its commercial ready assets, in particular, are what makes this Company different from its micro-cap peers.

Strontium-89 Chloride USP Injection (Strontium Chloride) is a Non-opioid alternative for the alleviation of cancer-related debilitating bone pain.

The widespread push to reduce the use of opioids means that clinicians are actively seeking effective alternatives. Opioid addiction is at crisis levels.

But addiction isn’t the only problem with opioids. For those with the most severe pain, there are few alternatives. Yet the side effects of opioids can be so bad that many patients prefer the pain.

Brain fog, nausea, vomiting, abdominal distention, and constipation can be excruciating for opioid users. What’s worse, prolonged use can lead to tolerance, which means the drug is no longer able to mask the pain.

For the hundreds of thousands who suffer with cancer that has spread to the bone,
Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) Strontium Chloride offers an alternative to the horrors of opioids.

Strontium Chloride is non-addictive, works in 80% of patients, and continues working for up to six months with a single dose^[1]

Strontium Chloride is specifically designed to target pain caused by cancer that has spread to bone, which is a common occurrence in prostate, breast, and lung cancers, among others.

The active ingredient in Strontium 89 Chloride is a radioactive isotope of the chemical element strontium. When injected into the body strontium acts like calcium, being taken into bone at the sites of growing tumors and lesions.

It then delivers targeted radiation directly to the tumor sites, relieving pain.

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) owns the generic version of the drug and also recently bought the brand name of Strontium Chloride, Metastron,  from GE Healthcare, where it surprisingly never got the marketing resources  necessary to grow sales, even though it’s development was hailed by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as a “major advance” in pain control.^[2]

Strontium Chloride is FDA-approved, and Metaston, the brand, is approved for sale in 22 countries. It is reimbursable by Medicare and most health plans. On November 20, 2019, the FDA approved Q BioMed’s U.S. based contract manufacturing facility and the Company expects a roll-out of Strontium 89 in early 2020.

Next step is to seek approval for an expanded indication, beyond pain therapy, as a cancer treatment, giving Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) entry into the cancer therapeutic market.

Importantly, there is evidence to support this strategy. For example, a Phase II clinical trial published in the medical journal The Lancet, showed that cancer patients lived nine months longer when given Strontium Chloride as a combination therapy, significantly longer than the leading liver cancer drug.^[3]

The Company plans to undertake a Phase IV trial, sometimes called a post-marketing study, to confirm those results.

A positive result would allow Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) to market this drug for both therapeutic and pain indications.

Pain associated with bone cancer is an underserved market

Medications for alleviating the pain occurring from cancer comprise more than 25% of the overall pain management therapeutics market, which is set to reach $83 billion by 2024.^[4]

The market for bone cancer treatment is even larger than for cancer bone pain control. In 2018 that market reached $62.9 billion, and it is projected to grow to $83.8 billion by 2024.^[5]

While there are treatments currently available, their effectiveness is often limited for long term pain management, they are associated with several undesirable side effects, and/or are constrained by factors like chemotherapy and health condition of the patient.

Expected full commercial sales in Q2 2020

It is estimated that over 10,000,000 people are living with painful skeletal metastatic cancer today. In addition, an expected 20-30% of breast and prostate cancer diagnoses will develop metastatic disease, as well as most other primary cancers.

Q BioMed intends to pursue label expansion to include therapy for bone metastasis from several primary cancers, possibly in combination with other therapies, such as external beam radiation therapy, of which there are 500,000 treatments a year in the US for bone pain.

Strontium Chloride is just one of the drugs in Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) pipeline ready for commercialization.

New hope for those with liver cancer, glaucoma, and more

Some of Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) products are preclinical stage therapies for liver cancer, glaucoma, acute kidney injury, pulmonary artery hypertension, and infectious diseases.

The Company is partnering with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, licensing its liver cancer drug candidate, a new type of naturally-derived chemotherapy. 

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) recently announced an important breakthrough in this program. Together with its collaborators, they have successfully synthesized the naturally occurring plant molecule that has shown the potential to be 10 times more potent than the current first line liver cancer drug. Data supporting this conclusion was published in the November 2016 issue of Scientific Reports, a Nature journal.[6]

The potential therapeutic shows remarkable efficacy in HepG2 Cell Lines, the most common form of liver cancer. Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) anticipates filing an Orphan Drug Application followed by an Investigational New Drug Application for a Clinical Program with the expectation of commencement in 2020.

The compound was isolated and characterized from the leaves of Solanum Nigrum Linn, a plant widely used in traditional medicines. Uttroside B as it is known, drastically shrunk tumors in mice bearing human liver cancer xenografts. In addition, in pre-clinical experiments, Uttroside B induced cytotoxicity in all liver cancer cell lines, and researchers were also able to confirm its biological safety, both by in vitro and in vivo studies.

This means that this potential drug may ultimately be a treatment for liver cancers. The first hurdle of making a synthetic version of it has been achieved. Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) will now advance the most promising candidates into preclinical testing and validation in 2020 in anticipation of an orphan drug application and an IND clinical program.

Chemotherapeutic options for liver cancer are limited, and the prognosis of liver cancer patients remains very challenging.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is the second most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide, claiming approximately 750,000 lives each year.

In the US, the American Cancer Society estimates that 42,000 people will be diagnosed with liver cancer in 2019 and that 32,000 will die from the disease this year. Liver cancer incidence has more than tripled since 1980 and deaths in the US have increased 56% since 2003.

 Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) also has a partnership with Mannin Research Inc, with an option to acquire any or all of its pipeline of drugs. Mannin has made some impressive announcements about its glaucoma program recently that set it apart from its peers, and we expect to see this pipeline develop into other therapeutic areas.

All of these drugs are targeted in large markets with millions of potential patients.

What about COVID 19 – How does this affect the company?

The COVID-19 pandemic has not materially affected the company’s Strontium89 supply chain or production schedule, although a slight delay in supply chain is probable and expected.  However, the pandemic may present an opportunity for Strontium89. In an effort to reduce COVID-19 transmission to at-risk populations and lower the burden on healthcare systems, systems and organizations are seeking ways to redirect immunocompromised patients out of hospital settings and hospital care wherever possible. Cancer patients with bone metastases often receive daily radiation treatments at the hospital. Additionally, those with advanced bone metastases often present at the ER for skeletal-related events and breakthrough pain. Strontium89 has been used successfully to treat pain associated with bone metastases for over 30 years. As an injection given only every 90 days with significant efficacy levels and relatively minor side effects, Strontium89 is a solution that fulfills many of the needs uniquely represented by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an evolving situation so keep an eye on developments that may affect the potential for Strontium89. 

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) is working on developing a potential treatment for COVID-19. It is early stage, but could be a very important tool in treating several infectious diseases that result in respiratory complications. The company’s technology partner and licensor, Mannin Research has received requests from, and submitted responses to, governmental organizations worldwide and philanthropic groups for information about the potential use of its biologic treatment for COVID-19. The potential treatment is based on the understanding that vascular leakage is a key driver of organ injury in diseases such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) caused by viruses, including COVID-19. The Angiopoietin-Tie2 signaling pathway for the treatment of vascular permeability associated with pulmonary edema from respiratory infections like COVID -19, but also ARDS, SARS, seasonal Influenzas and others.

There were 45 million symptomatic flu cases, 810,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths – in the US alone during the 2017-2018 flu season, according to the CDC.

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) is in the early stages of investigations and preclinical evaluation of this potential drug and hopes to collaborate with others on a global basis to advance this program as rapidly as possible. Even if it is ultimately too late to treat this season’s COVID-19 outbreak, if effective, it could be utilized for seasonal influenzas and future similar pandemic viral threats.

Now is a good time to follow the company

Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) announced FDA approval of their contract manufacturing facility in November 2019. The Company started producing and selling the drug in limited quantities in Q1 2020 and expects to have full commercialization in Q2 2020.

Ask your broker about Q BioMed (OTCQB: QBIO) and always remember to do your own due diligence.

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