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YOUR GUIDE TO STAYING INFORMED IN THE MARKETS

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A Green Sweep For The Markets Today!- $AMC $ATOS $BBBY $BB $SKLZ Blast Off!

By John F. Heerdink, Jr.
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes


Happy Wednesday All!

I hope that you successfully continued on the process towards generational wealth today. Overall, the markets pushed forward to see the markets end in the green powered by six positive sectors during this holiday-shortened trading week.  The Dow 30 closed at 34,600.38 (+.07%) with Dow 30 component & credit card giant Visa (V) moving higher to close at  $229.66, +1.3%, the S&P 500 closed at 4,208.12 (+.14%), the Nasdaq closed at 13,756.33 (+.14%), & the Russell 2000 closed at 2,297.83 (+.13%). The riskier side of the market also continued to climb as the MicroCaps found bids across the board once again, which was evidenced by the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) that closed at $152.31, +.3% & edging nearer to its 52-week high of $159.56.   

The yield curve edged lower today as the 10-yr treasury yield closed down 3 basis points to end at 1.59% & the 2-yr yield ticked slightly lower at .149%. The U.S. Dollar Index closed basically level at at 89.90. The macroeconomic schedule produced the weekly MBA Mortgage Index report which confirmed a drop by 4% while  the Purchase Index report showed a drop by 3.1% & the Refinance Index report confirmed a 4.6% drop as well. The Fed’s June Beige Book confirmed that that the US economy expanded moderately between April and late May, but also sited appearance of shortages & moderate employment & wage growth. 

Tomorrow’s schedule will be busy and produce the May ADP Employment Change report, the Q1 Productivity report, the revised Q1 Labor Costs report, the weekly Initial Claims report, the Continuing Claims report, the final May IHS Markit Services PMI report, & the May ISM Non-Manufacturing Index report.

ENERGY & EV

Oil prices continued to rise moving up another 1.5% closing at $68.79/bbl . The energy sector led all sectors again today with a 1.7% push. Dow 30 component Chevron (CV) closed at $108.08, +1.34%. The situation is making all electric vehicles and manufactures even more attractive. However, EV manufacturing giant Tesla (TSLA) moved lower again closing at $605.13, -3.01% as Elon Musk has been continuing to cause an uproar in cyrtocurrency world as he continued to attack bitcoin on his favorite medium Twitter (TWTR, $57.16, -.49%). Shares of Ford Motor Co (F) continued to move higher again today closing at $14.91, +.68% after recently establishing a new 52-wk high of $15.05 and nearly reaching it again today. Last week, Ford revealed their customer-focused strategic ambitions and actions in a virtual meeting with financial analysts and other stakeholders during an event themed “Delivering Ford+”. Ford CEO Jim Farley stated, “We will deliver lower costs, stronger loyalty and greater returns across all our customers. This is our biggest opportunity for growth and value creation since Henry Ford started to scale the Model T, and we’re grabbing it with both hands.”  Ford expects 40% of Ford global vehicle volume to be all-electric by 2030 & raised planned electrification spending to $30+ billion by 2025, including development of IonBoost batteries. Could I be actually considering a Ford the next time I go to purchase? 

TECH

The technology sector rose .6% today as chip maker NVIDIA (NVDA) closed at $671.13, +3.2%. The FAANG stocks ended today as follows: Apple (AAPL) closed at $125.06, +.63%, Amazon (AMZN, $3,233.99, +.48%), Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $2,421.28, -.35%, Facebook (FB) closed at $329.15, +.01% & Netflix (NFLX) closed at $499.24/share, +.03%. The MicroSectors FANG+ Index 3X Leveraged ETN (FNGU), which offers 3x leveraged exposure to an index of “FANG” companies, and other companies that exhibit similar characteristics, closed at $29.54, +.14%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) closed down at $138.67, +.69%.

Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) closed at $247.30, -.04%. Famous tech and biotech investor Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) closed at 111.30, +.04% & off substantially from its 52-wk high of $159.70. ARKK is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that will invest under normal circumstances primarily (at least 65% of its assets) in domestic and foreign equity securities of companies that are relevant to the fund’s investment theme of disruptive innovation. Its investments in foreign equity securities will be in both developed and emerging markets. It may invest in foreign securities (including investments in American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) and Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”)) and securities listed on local foreign exchanges. The fund is non-diversified.

ADT (ADT), the “most trusted brand in smart home and small business security” and Google partner ticked lower today closing at $10.36, -.86% after touching $10.47 in intraday trading. On August 3, 2020, ADT and Google announced a partnership to create ‘Leading Smart Home Security Offering’. The partnership has allowed Google’s award-winning Nest hardware to be combined with ADT’s trusted security, professional installation and monitoring service to create a fully integrated set of devices, software and services for the secure smart home & pairs ADT’s more than 20,000 professionals together with Google’s suite of helpful home hardware, manufacturing technology and vertical technology stack. Google also invested $450 million to acquire 6.6% ownership in ADT, cementing mutual, long-term commitment to partnership. Each company is to commit $150 million for co-marketing, product development, technology and employee training. This partnership is believed to provide customers with integrated smart home technology to be offered in both DIY and professionally installed security offerings.

BIOTECH

The biotech sector moved higher today as the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) closed at $127.24, +.62% after hitting a intraday high of $127.95, but well off from its 52-week high $174.79 & still above the 52-week low of $97.15. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) also closed at $151.08, +.12% & the NYSE ARCA Biotech Index (^BTK) closed at 5,531.18, -.34%.

Shares of Seattle-based Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company seeking to discover and develop innovative medicines in areas of significant unmet medical need with a current focus on breast cancer and COVID-19, surged again to an intraday high of $4.24, prior to closing at $3.94, +1.81% after yesterday’s +20% move. On June 9th, I will be hosting Atossa’s CEO Dr. Steven Quay, MD, PhD, CEO & Founder, Kyle Guse, CFO, & B. Heather Fraser, Ph.D. VP Clinical, Regulatory & CMC of Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ATOS) for a Tribe Public Presentation & Q&A Event titled “Discussion of Atossa’s Final Data from its Phase 2 Study of Endoxifen Administered to Breast Cancer Patients Prior to Surgery.” Tribe events are approximately 30 minutes in duration and afford you to learn more about the companies you care about and ask the questions that are on your mind. Pleaser register for this FREE event at ATOS.TribePublic.com.

Shares of BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. (Nasdaq: BCTX) flew to close at $6.18, +94.34% today. BCTX is a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in targeted immunotherapies for advanced breast cancer which provided an update on the overall survival (OS) data on its previously disclosed advanced breast cancer patients. These women were treated with BriaCell’s lead candidate Bria-IMT™ as monotherapy and also in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, including pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA®; manufactured by Merck & Co., Inc.) and Incyte’s retifanlimab (manufactured and provided under a corporate collaboration with Incyte Corporation). They highlighted the following: 12.0 months average overall survival benefit, including 13.4 months in patients with 2+ HLA matches and 12.5 months in patients with Grade I/II tumors, Top Responder: 21.4 months survival plus 100% resolution of ‘eye-bulging’ orbital tumor, Compares to 7.2-9.8 months survival in historical comparison treatment trials. 

INmune Bio, Inc. ( INMB), a clinical-stage immunology company focused on developing treatments that harness the patient’s innate immune system to fight disease, announced today that the United States Adopted Name Council (USAN) has adopted the name “Pegipanermin” for its lead clinical candidate, XPro1595. RJ Tesi, MD, Chief Executive Officer of INmune Bio stated, “We are pleased that USAN has approved pegipanermin as the generic name for XPro1595. Applying for and receiving a generic drug name is a necessary step in the drug development process that reflects that a program has matured beyond the experimental stage to the development stage with a potential path to market. In the near term, we will be evaluating pegipanermin as a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and treatment resistant depression. We look forward to advancing this novel compound into Phase 2 studies in two CNS indications later this year.” (INmune reported positive Phase 1b Alzheimer’s data in January 2021 demonstrating that XPro1595 decreased neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration biomarkers in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s. The company is planning to initiate two Phase 2 clinical trials of XPro1595, in Alzheimer’s and Treatment Resistant Depression, in 2021.)

SILVER & GOLD

As for precious metals, silver closed at $28.27/oz, +$.32 & gold closed at $1912, +$9. The iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) closed at $26.15, +1.2% & the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) closed at $178.77, +.49%. North American silver and gold producer Hecla Mining (HL) closed at $9.31, +1.64% after recently establishing a new 52-week high of $9.44. Recently, Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) released its Q1 2021 exploration results. Phillips S. Baker, Jr., President and CEO stated, “Our early exploration results, just two miles from the mine portal, validates our thesis that despite its long high-grade production history, there remains significant untouched potential at Midas. The recent high-grade intercept grading 5.52 oz/ton gold and 8.9 oz/ton silver over 20.3 feet drilled (13.1 feet estimated true width) is one of the best exploration drill holes in North America in the past year. But maybe more important than the grade and width of the discovery are the two additional mineralized structures in the footwall of the main structure and that significant mineralization continues over a strike of 1,000 feet and a dip length of 1,250 feet. All structures are open along strike and at depth.”

MEMECredibles

MemeStock, AMC Entertainment (AMC), continued its ridiculous trading pace closing at $62.55, +95.22% now enjoying a $28.17B market cap,  after announcing yesterday that it had entered into an agreement to raise $230.5 million of cash from the sale of equity to Mudrick Capital Management, L.P. in exchange for 8.5 million shares of AMC’s Class A Common stock. The equity was raised at a price of approximately $27.12 per share.  

GameStop (GME) also continued and closed at $282.24, +13.34%.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) closed at $44.19, up its own whopping 62.1% on a surge in volume after recently announcing that it will launch three new Owned Brands this quarter, continuing the Company’s execution of its biggest product assortment change in a generation to rebuild its authority in the $180 billion home market. With the launch of the new Owned Brands in the coming weeks, the Company will have launched six Owned Brands in five months – which is ahead of its previously announced 6-month timetable and in advance of the important Back to College shopping season.

BlackBerry Limited (BB) jumped to closed at $15.25, +31.92% after recently announcing that BlackBerry® Optics 3.0, its next-generation cloud-based endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution and BlackBerry® Gateway, the company’s first AI-empowered Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) product. Rooted in a prevention-first and AI-driven approach, BlackBerry’s new endpoint and network security capabilities will help differentiate BlackBerry’s extended detection and response (XDR) strategy.

Shares of Skillz (SKLZ) also ran today closing at $21.55, +26.84%. SKLZ is the leading mobile games platform bringing fair and fun competition to players worldwide. Today SKLZ announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Aarki, a leading technology-driven marketing platform. The acquisition is believed to broaden Skillz’s footprint across the rapidly expanding mobile gaming industry by combining its competitive platform with Aarki’s advanced advertising capabilities.

VP WATCHLIST HIGHLIGHTS


You can review our complete VP Watchlist that we believe deserve consideration for short term and long term portfolio adds that include Apple, Tesla, & seven other names. The pages will enable you to stay informed and learn more about these companies daily.

Please review few of the updates on a few of the VP Watchlist companies below: 


  • INmune Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: INMB) closed at $13.62, -.47% after touching $14.30 in intraday trading and up significantly since we added them recently in the $9 range.
  • INMB is a clinical-stage immunology company focused on developing treatments that harness the patient’s innate immune system to fight disease. INMB is further focused on modulating components of the innate immune system to activate an immune response against cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
    • On June 2nd, the United States Adopted Name Council (USAN) has adopted the name “Pegipanermin” for INMB’s lead clinical candidate, XPro1595.
    • On May 18th, I hosted Immune Bio’s CEO RJ Tesi at the Tribe Public Presentation & Q&A Event for a fascinating discussion and his presentation titled “Advancing Treatment To Repair Our Aging Innate Immune System to Fight Alzheimer’s.” Please view the event video here. 
    • INmune Bio’s DN-TNF product platform utilizes dominant-negative technology to selectively neutralize soluble TNF, a key driver of innate immune dysfunction and mechanistic target of many diseases. DN-TNF is in clinical trial to determine if it can treat for COVID-19 complications (Quellor™), cancer (INB03™), Alzheimer’s and treatment resistant depression (XPro595), and NASH (LIVNate™). The Natural Killer Cell Priming Platform includes INKmune™ aimed at priming the patient’s NK cells to eliminate minimal residual disease in patients with cancer. INmune Bio’s product platforms utilize a precision medicine approach for the treatment of a wide variety of hematologic malignancies, solid tumors and chronic inflammation.
    • INMB reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 and provided a business update on Wednesday, May 5th. RJ Tesi, M.D., chief executive officer of INmune Bio stated, “We continued to treat patients in the Phase I XPro1595 Alzheimer’s disease trial and expand the extensive biomarker data. The interim data that we reported in January confirms that XPro1595 decreases neuroinflammation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and supports transitioning to a blinded randomized placebo-controlled Phase II trial later this year. We regard these results as extremely promising and look forward to further confirmation of XPro1595’s potential benefit to these patients in a rigorously designed Phase 2 study. We will report the additional biomarker data later this Summer. We have started screening patients in the Phase I INKmune NK cell priming platform trial in patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). MDS is a serious hematopoietic stem cell disorder in which patients have functionally defective NK cells, and approximately one-third of cases progress to AML. We created a short 5-minute video that we believe does a wonderful job explaining why NK cells fail to clear cancer and how the cellular and molecular interactions by INKmune activate NK cells to kill resistant tumors. The video can be found by clicking here.
 

  • Natural-Killer cell (NKcell) focused biopharmaceutical firm Fate Therapeutics (FATE) closed at $68.94/share, -4.86%.

    • On May 13, FATE announced encouraging interim Phase 1 data from the Company’s off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived natural killer (NK) cell programs in relapsed / refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study of FT516 as monotherapy is currently enrolling patients in the third dose cohort (900 million cells per dose), with three patients treated in the first dose cohort (90 million cells per dose) and six patients treated in the second dose cohort (300 million cells per dose). The Phase 1 dose-escalation study of FT538 as monotherapy is currently ongoing, with three patients treated in the first dose cohort (100 million cells per dose). As of the data cutoff date of April 16, 2021, five of 12 patients had achieved an objective response with complete leukemic blast clearance in the bone marrow (FT516 [n=9]: 3 complete remission with incomplete hematologic recovery [CRi], 1 morphologic leukemia-free state [MLFS]; FT538 [n=3]: 1 CRi). Of the four patients achieving a CRi, one patient successfully proceeded to allogeneic stem cell transplant and the other three patients remained on-study and in remission without further therapeutic intervention, two of whom remained in remission having been on-study for more than six months. Clinical assessments were based on the 2017 European LeukemiaNet (ELN) response criteria (Blood (2017) 129 (4): 424–447). Importantly, no dose-limiting toxicities, and no cases of any grade of cytokine release syndrome, immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, or graft-versus-host disease, were observed.

    • On May 5th, Fate reported business highlights and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics stated, “During the first quarter of 2021, we strengthened our balance sheet by raising $460 million and successfully positioned our off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived NK cell pipeline to achieve significant clinical milestones across our disease franchises throughout the remainder of the year. We look forward to sharing Phase 1 clinical data from our FT516 and FT538 programs in relapsed / refractory AML at an investor event to be held alongside the ASGCT conference. We are also pleased with the clinical expansion of our FT538 program into solid tumors, where we plan to combine with FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies targeting EGFR, HER2, and PDL1. While we are disappointed that the PROTECT study of ProTmune did not meet its primary endpoint for prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic stem cell transplant, we will now turn our full attention and resources to our deep pipeline of off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived cancer immunotherapies. We would like to sincerely thank the patients, caregivers and investigators who participated in the clinical investigation of ProTmune, and we intend to share our clinical findings with that community.”

    • On April, 27th the company announced that two oral and two digital presentations of the Company’s induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform were accepted for presentation at the 24th American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Annual Meeting (ASGCT) being held virtually from May 11-14, 2021. In addition to the Company’s presentations at ASGCT, its iPSC-derived natural killer (NK) cell product pipeline is expected to be featured in a meeting symposium on May 11 by Jeffrey S. Miller, M.D., Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota and Deputy Director of the Masonic Cancer Center and scientific advisor and collaborator of the Company, and its iPSC-derived CAR T-cell product platform is expected to be highlighted during the meeting’s plenary session on May 12 by Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D., Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair and Director, Center for Cell Engineering, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and collaborator of the Company. The Company also plans to host a virtual investor event on May 13 to highlight interim Phase 1 clinical data from its FT516 and FT538 programs for the treatment of relapsed / refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The Phase 1 clinical trial of FT516 has enrolled the first and second dose cohorts (90 million and 300 million cells per dose, respectively), and dose escalation is ongoing in the third dose cohort (900 million cells per dose). The Phase 1 clinical trial of FT538 is ongoing in the first dose cohort (100 million cells per dose).
    • On March 25, FATE announced that Daniel D. Shoemaker, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, has advised the Company that he is retiring as of June 30, 2021 after more than 12 years with the Company. Dr. Shoemaker has been with Fate Therapeutics since February 2009, having served as the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer since May 2015. Bob Valamehr, Ph.D., Chief Research and Development Officer of Fate Therapeutics and scientific leader of its iPSC Product Platform since January 2010, will continue to lead all research and development activities.
    • On Jan. 8, FATE announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of ~$432 million at $85.50/share. Jefferies, BofA Securities, SVB Leerink and Barclays acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.


  • INVO Bioscience (NASDAQ: INVO) is a medical device company focused on creating alternative treatments for patients diagnosed with infertility and developers of INVOcell®, the world’s only in vivo Intravaginal Culture System. Shares of INVO closed at $4.18/share, -1.65%. 
  • Could we be setting up for another March 9, 2021 type of run for INVO shares where +96M shares traded for this low-float stock (~10.4M shares are issued and outstanding). The stock shot up to a new 52-week high of $12.30 that day/ The stock has now continued to trend overall positively since May 11th.  See INVO’s chart here. 
    • On May 17, INVO announced financial results for the first quarter of 2021 ended March 31, 2021 and provides a business update. Steve Shum, Chief Executive Officer of INVO Bioscience stated, “This was an exciting start to the year 2021 for INVO Bioscience as we advanced our INVO Clinic strategy with the signing of our first U.S.-based INVOcell exclusive facility in Birmingham, Alabama, the signing of a partnership agreement to establish and operate a center in Northern California, and the completion of our product registration in Mexico. We expect these initial centers to become operational in the second half of the year. Throughout this year, we have expanded our real-world experience data and positive results with INVOcell, enhanced our online training tools, materials, and capabilities and have experienced a substantial increase in active training sessions for our international partners and distributors. We believe the combination of strong commercialization partnerships and company-owned clinics, both in the U.S. and around the world, is key to expanding INVOcell’s adoption within the fertility industry. In addition to the progress made executing new commercialization agreements, we have strengthened our marketing capabilities to support the INVOcell-only centers and our growing number of distribution partners. Meryle Lynn Chamberlain, a tenured women’s health and fertility solution marketing professional, joined us as Director of Marketing in March 2021, while Rebecca Messina, current Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Co. and former Global Chief Marketing Officer at both Uber and Beam Suntory joined our board of directors in April 2021. As we look to increase access to care and expand fertility treatment across the globe, our market positioning and overall strategies are more important than ever. The addition of Meryle Lynn and Rebecca will enhance our ability to successfully accomplish these goals. As we look to the remainder of 2021, we have set a number of key objectives, including the opening of our first company-owned clinics in Mexico and the United States. Additionally, we will seek to build our international revenues this year through our growing list of international distribution partners as they finish training, and we complete local product registration requirements. Of note, we are extremely pleased to see the initial INVO procedures performed recently in Spain and Malaysia, which reflects the groundwork done by our team in these specific markets, which we believe will help in further expanding the overall awareness of the potential outside of the U.S. Finally, we are continuing to advance our 5-day label expansion efforts with the FDA in the U.S. market with a goal of completing this effort in 2021. It remains our belief that there is strong global demand for fertility services and INVOcell is well-positioned through our growing, global footprint to play a key role in helping to turn the dream of creating a family for millions of people around the world into a reality through our accessible, efficient, and affordable fertility treatment.”
    • On May 11, a 13G was filed that confirms that David Sable’s (a former #IVF doc turned portfolio manager) Special Situations Fund of AWM Investment Company increased their ownership to 11.1% or 1,154,153 share ownership of INVO Bioscience (INVO). They held 625k/6.5% as of the 13G filing 2-12-2021. If you are not familiar with them, I believe if you do a relatively small amount sleuthing you will find out that they are one of the most successful multi-billion funds over the last 20-years, especially in finding small undiscovered microchips. I believe that they led the round of $13M at $3.20 a share in November 12, 2020 that pushed INVO uplist to the NASDAQ. Here’s the 13G filing.
    • On April 13,  I hosted INVO’s CEO Steve Shum at the Tribe Public CEO Presentation – Q&A Webinar Event where he delivered his presentation is titled “Democratizing Infertility – A Severely Underserved Global Market.” You may view the video of the event now at his link: https://youtu.be/w4yQIc7eO5k.
    • Industry forecasts suggest that only 1% to 2% of the estimated 150 million infertile couples worldwide are currently being treated. INVO’s mission is to increase access to care and expand infertility treatment across the globe with a goal of improving patient affordability and industry capacity.


  • Shares of Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision medicines for kidney diseases, closed today at $16.54, -1.49%. KDNY has touched a 52-wk high of $21.68 in Dec. 2020 and has been roughly trading in the $14 and change range up to this level after uplisting to the NASDAQ in fall of 2020. It will be interesting to see if can break though the this level as it moves forward with several milestones in the back half of 2021. 
    • On May 12, Chinook provided a business update and reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 today. Eric Dobmeier, president and chief executive officer of Chinook Therapeutics stated, “During the first quarter of 2021, Chinook made strong progress with its pipeline of programs for kidney diseases, including initiating the phase 3 ALIGN and phase 2 AFFINITY trials of atrasentan, presenting encouraging clinical data from the BION-1301 program and entering into a strategic collaboration with Evotec. We are well-capitalized and resourced to execute across our programs to generate additional data catalysts and continue building Chinook into a leading kidney disease company.”
    • On April 15, Chinook announced six poster presentations at the ISN World Congress of Nephrology 2021 (WCN ’21). Eric Dobmeier, president and chief executive officer of Chinook stated, “The depth and breadth of our presence at this year’s WCN ’21 is a testament to Chinook’s role as a leading kidney disease company. Our data demonstrating BION-1301’s ability to significantly reduce Gd-IgA1 levels in healthy volunteers, as well as the favorable pharmacodynamics of subcutaneous administration of BION-1301, position the program well to move forward in demonstrating its disease-modifying potential for IgA nephropathy patients. In addition, our preclinical poster presentations on atrasentan provide broader insights into its anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties that are additive and complementary to its proteinuria-lowering mechanism of action.”
    • On April 15, Chinook’s CEO Eric Dobmeier  & CBO Tom Frohlich delivered a presentation titled “Revolutionizing The Treatment of Kidney Disease” followed by a Q&A session at the Tribe Public Network. You can view the video of the event here. 
    • On April 7, KDNY provided a business update and reported financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2020. Eric Dobmeier, President and chief executive officer of Chinook Therapeutics stated, “We are executing well on our goal of building Chinook into a leading kidney disease company. 2020 was a very busy and productive year, as we in-licensed atrasentan from AbbVie, closed a $115 million financing, brought BION-1301 into our pipeline through the merger with Aduro, unveiled CHK-336, our first internally-developed program, and bolstered our precision medicine discovery and research efforts. We are excited to have recently initiated our atrasentan phase 3 ALIGN and phase 2 AFFINITY trials and announced our collaboration with Evotec. We look forward to multiple data announcements from our BION-1301 program this year, as well as continuing to move CHK-336 towards the clinic. Our team has grown over 300 percent since the beginning of 2020, and we’re continuing to execute on our hiring plans to ensure we have strong resourcing in place to advance our pipeline. Our solid cash position, which we expect to fund our operations to the middle of 2023, enables us to achieve key milestones across our programs.”
    • On Monday, April 5th, KDNY announced a transaction with Van Herk Investments, a leading European life science investor, to create and fund a new company called Sairopa, with a pipeline focused on research and development of non-renal monoclonal antibodies generated through Aduro Biotech’s B-Select platform. Chinook will own approximately 40 percent of Sairopa after the first tranche of financing from Van Herk and have one seat on Sairopa’s Board of Directors.
    • On March 16, Chinook announced that the first patient with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) has been enrolled in the ALIGN Study, a pivotal phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of atrasentan, a potent and selective inhibitor of the endothelin A receptor. “The initiation of the phase 3 ALIGN Study is an important milestone for Chinook as we advance our pipeline of programs for rare, severe chronic kidney diseases,” said Alan Glicklich, M.D., chief medical officer of Chinook. “Atrasentan has been studied in over 5,300 diabetic kidney disease patients in the phase 2 RADAR and phase 3 SONAR studies, demonstrating rapid, sustained proteinuria reductions of approximately 30 to 35 percent as well as improved eGFR. Importantly, treatment with atrasentan also resulted in a reduction in clinical outcomes of development of end-stage kidney disease and doubling of serum creatinine. We look forward to exploring the proteinuria-lowering, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects of atrasentan in patients with IgA nephropathy, a serious progressive disease for which there are no approved therapies.”

    • On March 1, Chinook and Evotec SE announced a strategic collaboration focused on the discovery and development of novel precision medicine therapies for patients with chronic kidney diseases. Based on Evotec’s proprietary comprehensive molecular datasets from thousands of patients across chronic kidney diseases of multiple underlying etiologies, Chinook and Evotec will jointly identify, characterize and validate novel mechanisms and discover precision medicines for PKD, lupus nephritis, IgA nephropathy and other primary glomerular diseases. The collaboration will also involve further characterization of pathways and patient stratification strategies for programs currently in Chinook’s clinical and preclinical pipeline. “We are excited to embark on this strategic collaboration with Evotec, the leading drug discovery alliance and development partner in nephrology,” said Andrew King, D.V.M., Ph.D., Head of Renal Discovery and Translational Medicine at Chinook. “Gaining access to the NURTuRE cohort study and other proprietary patient biobanks, along with Evotec’s multi-omics integration platform, will enable us to define the molecular drivers of kidney diseases, identify novel targets for drug development in selected patient sub-populations and continue to build the foundation for our precision medicine approach. With a focus on comprehensive molecular disease classification, combined with prospective clinical outcomes, Chinook has the opportunity to potentially deliver targeted therapies to the right patient populations.”
    • On Feb. 2nd, Chinook announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted rare pediatric disease designation for CHK-336, an investigational oral small molecule inhibitor of lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) for primary hyperoxaluria (PH). PH is a group (PH1, PH2 and PH3) of ultra-rare genetic diseases caused by enzyme mutations that result in excess oxalate production in the liver, and in its most severe forms, can lead to end-stage kidney disease at a young age. Inhibition of LDHA with CHK-336 allows for the potential to treat all forms of PH and other disorders arising from excess oxalate, while its liver-targeted tissue distribution profile enables maximal inhibition of liver oxalate production with minimal systemic exposure. Please read the story here.


  • Shares of Seattle-based Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company seeking to discover and develop innovative medicines in areas of significant unmet medical need with a current focus on breast cancer and COVID-19, closed at $4.24, prior to closing at $3.94, +1.81% after yesterday’s +20% move.
    • This week, Physician-Scientist Dr. Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ATOS) was asked to brief the elected members and staff of the United States Congress on his work on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual meeting was scheduled for Monday, May 24, 2021. Dr. Quay was too speak about his research on the origin of the pandemic, which he published in January 2021 and which is available here. In this analysis he concludes that it is beyond a reasonable doubt the virus came from a laboratory accident, a so called “laboratory-acquired infection”, in Wuhan, China. The briefing was also to include a discussion by David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, about his work at the U.S. State Department looking into the origins of COVID-19 and the role of the Chinese government. Dr. Quay recently stated, “While it would be a positive step for China to be open and transparent with records from the Wuhan Institute of Virology that were not shared with the WHO Committee during their field work in China earlier this year, there already exists more than enough data and evidence to conclude with high certainty that the COVID pandemic did not arise from a natural zoonosis. The purpose of this briefing is to supply relevant congressional staff and members with the facts that are not in dispute with respect to the pandemic, to show how these facts are different from any prior zoonosis, to show these facts are completely consistent with a lab-leak, and finally, to document the genetic signatures that are consistent with ‘gain-of-function’ laboratory manipulation. For over a year there has been a reticence to consider a lab-leak as the source of this pandemic despite the fact that most of the evidence I will present has been in the public domain all this time. It is clear to me that only a grass roots effort directed to the federal government will bring the urgency to help uncover the cause of the pandemic and set the stage to put in place the safeguards to prevent the next. You can help in this fight by inviting your Representative and Senators to this briefing on the leading COVID origin hypothesis, the possibility of a laboratory acquired infection at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We owe it to the three million people who have died to get to the bottom of this.”

    • On April 8, Atossa announced that an ovarian cancer patient has begun treatment with Atossa’s proprietary oral Endoxifen. The FDA previously issued a “Safe to Proceed” letter under their expanded access pathway, permitting the use of Atossa’s oral Endoxifen in this patient. The patient is being treated at the University of Washington Medical Center by Dr. Barbara Goff, Surgeon-in-Chief. “The patient has recurrent ovarian cancer and did not tolerate tamoxifen, which is sometimes prescribed for ovarian cancer as well as breast cancer,” commented Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D., Atossa’s President and CEO. “The patient recently underwent functional molecular genomic testing using 3D tumor organoid cultures grown in the laboratory from the patient’s tumor to help determine potential therapies. This testing revealed that the combination of Endoxifen and alpelisib produced an exceptional tumor response. We will follow the progress of this patient and consider additional clinical studies in patients with ovarian cancer.” Under the FDA expanded access program, the use of Atossa’s proprietary oral Endoxifen is restricted solely to this patient.
    • On March 11, Atossa announced the FDA has issued a “Safe to Proceed” letter under their Expanded Access Pathway, permitting the use of Atossa’s oral Endoxifen as a treatment in an ovarian cancer patient. The patient is being treated at the University of Washington Medical Center by Dr. Barbara Goff, Surgeon-in-Chief. Under the FDA expanded access program, the use of Atossa’s proprietary oral Endoxifen is restricted solely to this patient. Approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) must be obtained prior to providing oral Endoxifen to this patient. Read the complete story.
    • On Feb. 25, Atossa announced final results from its Phase 1 double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study using Atossa’s proprietary drug candidate AT-301 administered by nasal spray. AT-301 was considered to be safe and well tolerated in healthy male and female participants in this study at two different dose levels over 14 days. AT-301 is being developed for at home use for patients recently diagnosed with COVID-19. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies to treat COVID-19 at home. Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D., Atossa’s President and CEO stated, “The results from this study are very encouraging and we look forward to quickly commencing the next study of AT-301. We recently received input from the FDA on this program and based in part on that input, we are now preparing to conduct an additional pre-clinical study, which we expect to start this quarter. Following that, we expect to apply to the FDA to commence a Phase 2 study here in the United States.”
  •  


Economic Reports

  • On Monday, the macroeconomic schedule did not produce any reports as it was a holiday. 
  • On Tuesday, The ISM Manufacturing Index report for May confirmed a move up to 61.2% & has now finished well above the Mendoza line (50) for a year confirming continued expansion and that manufacturing is trying to get back on line to meet current demand. The total construction spending  report also edged higher .2% month/month in April, while total private construction moved up .4% month/month. The total public construction spending report showed a drop by .6%. The final IHS Market Manufacturing PMI report for April came in at 62.1%.
  • On Wednesday, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index report confirmed a drop by 4% while  the Purchase Index report showed a drop by 3.1% & the Refinance Index report confirmed a 4.6% drop as well. The Fed’s June Beige Book confirmed that that the US economy expanded moderately between April and late May, but also sited appearance of shortages & moderate employment & wage growth. 

Investing & Inspiration

  1. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes
  2. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell
  3. “If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.” – Elon Musk
  4. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
  5. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
  6. “Netflix, Amazon, iTunes – whatever platforms emerge – we are looking at as having the same potential that home video had for the movie business. Which means there are entirely new opportunities to monetize our capital investment in content and do so in ways that work for distributors, for consumers and for creators.” – Bob Iger
  7. “When you have no one to answer to, vendetta as investment strategy is as legitimate as anything.” – Carl Icahn

  8. “No other investment yields as great a return as the investment in education. An educated workforce is the foundation of every community and the future of every economy.” – Brad Henry
  9. “In my view, the biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital. Not only is the mere drop in stock prices not risk, but it is an opportunity. Where else do you look for cheap stocks?” – Li Lu
  10. “Modern medical advances have helped millions of people live longer, healthier lives.

  11. We owe these improvements to decades of investment in medical research.”– Ike Skelton

  12. “Stock market goes up or down, and you can’t adjust your portfolio based on the whims of the market, so you have to have a strategy in a position and stay true to that strategy and not pay attention to noise that could surround any particular investment.” – John Paulson

  13. “Your mindset matters. It affects everything – from the business and investment decisions you make, to the way you raise your children, to your stress levels and overall well-being.” – Peter Diamandis
  14. “Inflation destroys savings, impedes planning, and discourages investment. That means less productivity and a lower standard of living.” – Kevin Brady
  15. “Bitcoin, in the short or even long term, may turn out be a good investment in the same way that anything that is rare can be considered valuable. Like baseball cards. Or a Picasso.” – Andrew Ross Sorkin
  16. “I think you have to learn that there’s a company behind every stock and there’s only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.” – Peter Lynch
  17. “Historically, there has been a bull market in the commodities every 20 or 30 years.” – Jim Rogers
  18. “The markets generally are unpredictable, so that one has to have different scenarios. The idea that you can actually predict what’s going to happen contradicts my way of looking at the market.” – George Soros
  19. “Stop trying to predict the direction of the stock market, the economy or the elections.” – Warren Buffett
  20. “An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets.” – Peter Lynch
  21. “Learn everyday, but especially from the experiences of others. It’s cheaper!” – John Bogle
  22. “When purchasing depressed stock in troubled companies, seek out the ones with the superior financial positions and avoid the ones with loads of bank debt.” – Peter Lynch
  23. “No stock price is too low for bears or too high for bulls.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr.
  24. “Investment is most successful when it is most businesslike.” – Ben Graham

  25. “Value stocks are about as exciting as watching grass grow, but have you ever noticed just how much your grass grows in a week?” – Christopher Browne

  26. “Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable willpower to keep from following the crowd.” – Benjamin Graham
  27. “Individual who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process.” – Benjamin Graham
  28. “I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life until then.” – Warren Buffet
  29. “I don’t look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over.” — Warren Buffett
  30. “There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.” – Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
  31. “Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble” ― Warren Buffett
  32. “If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.” – Warren Buffet
  33. “How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” — Robert G. Allen
  34. “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price.” – Warren Buffett
  35. “A market downturn doesn’t bother us. It is an opportunity to increase our ownership of great companies with great management at good prices.” — Warren Buffett
  36. “Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away.” — Jim Cramer
  37. “The person who starts simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition.” — John D. Rockefeller
  38. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
  39. “Although it’s easy to forget sometimes, a share is not a lottery ticket… it’s part ownership of a business.” – Peter Lynch
  40. “Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” – Rhonda Katz
  41. “Invest for the long haul. Don’t get too greedy and don’t get too scared.” – Shelby M.C. Davis

  42. “Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.”
    -Jeremy Siegel
  43. “With a good perspective on history, we can have a better understanding of the past and present, and thus a clear vision of the future.” — Carlos Slim Helu
  44. “If we like a business, we’re going to buy as much of it as we can and keep it as long as we can. And when we change our mind, we don’t take half measures.” – Warren Buffett
  45. “The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” — Peter Thiel

  46. “Never depend on a single income, make an investment to create a second source.” Warren Buffet

  47. Games are won by players who focus on the playing field –- not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.”
    ― Warren Buffett
  48. “The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.” – Peter Lynch
  49. “Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets … any sound investment will eventually pay off.” — Carlos Slim Helu
  50. “Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
  51. “As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method of investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes.” — John Maynard Keynes
  52. “Given a 10% chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time.” — Jeff Bezos
  53. “Money is always eager and ready to work for anyone who is ready to employ it.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
  54. The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something – and then pay a lot less.” – Joel Greenblatt
  55. “We don’t have an analytical advantage, we just look in the right place.” – Seth Klarman
  56. “Men, it has been well said, think in herds. It will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” – Charles Mackay
  57. “It’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.” – George Soros
  58. “No Price is too low for a bear or too high for a bull.” — Anonymous
  59. “Investment is an asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future.” Anonymous
  60. “Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.” — Peter Lynch
  61. “Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” –Rhonda Katz
  62. “It amazes me how people are often more willing to act based on little or no data than to use data that is a challenge to assemble.” ― Robert Shiller
  63. “A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends.” — Barton Biggs
  64. “The investor’s chief problem — even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.” — Benjamin Graham
  65. “No profession requires more hard work, intelligence, patience, and mental discipline than successful speculation.” – Robert Rhea
  66. “Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham
  67. “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein
  68. “Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results” — Warren Buffett
  69. “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett
  70. “Thousands of experts study overbought indicators, head-and-shoulder patterns, put-call ratios, the Fed’s policy on money supply…and they can’t predict markets with any useful consistency, any more than the gizzard squeezers could tell the Roman emperors when the Huns would attack.” – Peter Lynch
  71. “Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
  72. “You cannot save time for your future use however you can invest time for your future.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr. 
  73. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
  74. “Liquidity is only there when you don’t need it.” -Old Proverb
  75. “If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.” – Richard Branson
  76. “Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel
  77. “In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott
  78. “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.” – Charlie Munger
  79. “The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.” – Edward Lampert
  80. “The rivers don’t drink their own water; Trees don’t eat their own fruits. The sun does not shine for itself, And flowers do not spread their fragrance For themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature” – Pope Francis
  81. “It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.” – John Templeton
  82. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin.
  83. I believe the returns on investment in the poor are just as exciting as successes achieved in the business arena, and they are even more meaningful!” -Bill Gates
  84. “Every portfolio benefits from bonds; they provide a cushion when the stock market hits a rough patch. But avoiding stocks completely could mean your investment won’t grow any faster than the rate of inflation.” – Suze Orman
  85. “The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility, and flow of risk capital… the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy.” – John F. Kennedy
  86. “If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion. -George Bernard Shaw
  87. “There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.”-Ed Seykota
  88. “Let this scenario play out on its own, in its own fashion. As you watch it unfold, you will soon be grateful that you choose the peaceful path. Remember — those who live by the sword, die by the sword.”
  89. “As long as you enjoy investing, you’ll be willing to do the homework and stay in the game.” -Jim Cramer
  90. “I rarely think the market is right. I believe non-dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it.” -Mark Cuban
  91. Michael Marcus taught me one other thing that is absolutely critical: You have to be willing to make mistakes regularly; there is nothing wrong with it. Michael taught me about making your best judgment, being wrong, making your next best judgment, being wrong, making your third best judgment, and then doubling your money.” -Bruce Kovner
  92. “The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru
  93. “The only true test of whether a stock is “cheap” or “high” is not its current price in relation to some former price, no matter how accustomed we may have become to that former price, but whether the company’s fundamentals are significantly more or less favorable than the current financial-community appraisal of that stock.” -Philip Fisher
  94. “I learned to avoid trying to catch up or double up to recoup losses. I also learned that a certain amount of loss will affect your judgment, so you have to put some time between that loss and the next trade.” -Richard Dennis
  95. “The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.” -Sir John Templeton
  96. “Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

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