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Smalls & MicroCaps Chunk Lower As Large Caps & Inflation Worries Swell On Wednesday! – $AAPL $ATOS $VRPX $WFC Move Higher

By John F. Heerdink, Jr.


“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam, Poet,
Born: May 18, 1048

Happy Wednesday!

I hope that all went well enough for your portfolios today. However, the best part of the day for most of us was when the markets opened & quickly moved to the high of the day before it proceeded to go downhill for the balance of the day. The Fed’s Chairman Jerome Powell did his part to be market supportive today when he delivered the semiannual testimony on monetary policy to congress and stated that “reaching the standard of ‘substantial further progress’ is still a ways off”, therefore sticking to his ‘transitory’ inflation position and that the Fed would not be raising interest rates anytime soon. Seemingly countering his supportive statement the macroeconomic schedule delivered the Producer Price Index report for final demand that confirmed a rise by 1% m/m, which placed the y/y growth rate at 7.3% for total PPI.  The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book for July also painted the overall economic growth as “moderate to robust.” Interestingly, the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index report also showed a sizable 16% leap. Don’t forget that we are still supposed to be worried about global growth as the COVID-19 Delta variant continues to cause rapid growth in cases and a shutting down of sorts in many parts of the world. 

As for the indices, the S&P 500 managed to eke out a win closing at 4,374.30 (+.12%) as did the Dow 30, which closed at 34,933.23 (+.13%). Apple (AAPL), significant component in both indices helped the drive in the green closing at $149.15, +2.4% as it reportedly is increasing production of its next iPhone by 20%, but it failed to lift the Nasdaq which closed lower at 14,644.95 (-.22%). Other sources of strength today came from defensive sectors as growth oriole sectors were again out of favor. The real estate & consumer staples sectors both rose .9%, the utilities moved up .8%) & the information technology sector  added .7%, again primarily on the strength of Apple. ON the downside, the energy sector dropped 2.9% oil prices fell 2,9% to close at $73.07/bbl & it was reported that OPEC+ has come to an agreement to increase production in concert with the EIA’s weekly inventory withdrawal. The financials also dropped .5%, but shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) closed at $44.98, +4.1% today

With growth stocks generally out of favor today, the smalls on the Russell 200o also closed significantly lower at 2,202.26 (-1.63%) & is now down 5.32% over the last month.  The microchips also took a hit again as the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) closed at $144.33, -1.63% and is off 6.59% over the last month. 

The yield curve moved lower today as the 10-yr treasury yield fell 6 basis points to close at 1.36% after rising 6 points yesterday & the 2-yr yield also dropped 3 basis points after rising 3 points yesterday & closed at .22. The U.S. Dollar Index moved lower by .4% to end at 92.37.


BIOTECH MOVES LOWER AGAIN

The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) closed chunked down lower again today to close at $125.95, -2.84%. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) closed at $158.89, -1.27% & the NYSE ARCA Biotech Index (^BTK) closed at 5,710.50, -1,27%. 

Shares of VP Watchlist firm, 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 $6.35, +.16% after hitting $7.15 in intraday trading on 28.22M shares in trading volume.

Shares of Virpax Pharmaceuticals (VRPX) shot up +30.62% to close at $7.38 and are now up another +~25% in the $9 range in the after hours markets. On July 7th, VRPX provided a progress update on its pipeline of product candidates following the Company’s initial public offering in mid-February of 2021. Chairman and CEO Anthony P. Mack commented, “Our goal following our IPO was to become a clinical stage company as quickly as possible while preserving our cash and utilizing grants to fund product development efforts where appropriate. To date, I believe we have made solid progress towards these goals. We are making refinements to some formulations which we believe will improve manufacturability, and possibly extend patent life. We are also evaluating additional indications for our unique delivery technologies. Finally, we plan to begin initial Investigational New Drug Application (“IND”) enabling studies shortly on several of our existing programs and recently submitted a pre-IND briefing document to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for MMS019, our intranasal molecular masking spray.”

MEMES REPORT

AMC Entertainment (AMC) continued move lower again to close at $33.43, -15.04%.

GameStop (GME) also closed at $167.62, down 6.91%.

Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE) fell another 12.42% to close at $33.07.  Founder Richard Branson and VSS Unity successfully made it to space yesterday, which was SPCE’s 4th rocket-powered spaceflight! Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic, said: “Today is a landmark achievement for the Company and a historic moment for the new commercial space industry. With each successful mission we are paving the way for the next generation of astronauts. I want to thank our talented team, including our pilots and crew, whose dedication and commitment made today possible. They are helping open the door for greater access to space – so it can be for the many and not just for the few.” SPCE also filed this week to sell up to $500M of its commons stock and is working with Credit Suisse Securities (CS), Morgan Stanley (MS), & Goldman Sachs (GS), which could be adding to the downward pressure after its recent run up. 

TESLA

Tesla (TSLA) closed at $653.38, -2.27%. On July 2nd, Tesla reported that they produced and delivered over 200,000 vehicles. Tesla will post its financial results for the second quarter of 2021 after market close on Monday, July 26, 2021. At that time, Tesla will issue a brief advisory containing a link to the Q2 2021 update, which will be available on Tesla’s Investor Relations website. Tesla management will hold a live question and answer webcast that day at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time (5:30 p.m. Eastern Time) to discuss the Company’s financial and business results and outlook. The Q2 update will be at: http://ir.tesla.com  & the Webcast: http://ir.tesla.com.

NVDA 

Shares of NVIDIA (NVDA) closed at $793.66 -12,02,% today after recently hitting an all-time high of $835 up from the 52-week low of $391.08. This stock had continued to move higher overall as the global chip supply issues persist. 

VP WATCHLIST HIGHLIGHTS

Our complete VP Watchlist is a list that we believe deserves consideration for short term and long term portfolio adds that include Apple, Tesla, & seven other names current. The dedicated pages for each of these companies 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:


  • Shares of VP Watchlist stock, INmune Bio (NASDAQ: INMB), a clinical-stage immunology company focused on developing treatments that harness the patient’s innate immune system to fight disease, closed at $22.96, -13.94% after recently hitting a new recent high of $29 in intraday trading. It’s 52-week and all-time high is $29.99. INMB shares are up 3x since we added them in the $9 range in the May timeframe and could be on the verge of breakout.
  • Today, July 14th, INmune Bio announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with one healthcare focused institutional investor and one family office for the purchase and sale of 1,818,182 shares of its common stock at a price of $22 per share for gross proceeds of approximately $40 million in a registered direct offering. The closing of the offering is expected to occur on or about July 16, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners is acting as the sole placement agent for the offering. INmune Bio intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes and to advance the development of its product candidates and expand its pipeline. This includes the completion and data readout from the Company’s planned Phase 2 clinical trial of its lead clinical candidate, XPro1595, in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, which is expected to commence by the end of 2021. “With this investment, we expect the Company’s Phase II program in Alzheimer’s disease is completely funded” said RJ Tesi MD, CEO of Inmune Bio.

    • On June 12th,  INmune Bio, Inc. announced that the first patient has been treated in the company’s Phase 1 clinical trial of its Natural Killer (NK) cell priming platform, INKmune, as a potential treatment for high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). This Phase 1 open label study will enroll nine patients with a confirmed diagnosis of MDS with excess blasts in a 3×3 dose escalation protocol. The primary endpoint is the safety and tolerability of INKmune when administered intravenously. Most secondary endpoints are biomarkers and include the change in percentage of blasts in peripheral blood and bone marrow, the change in autologous NK cell activity and functional maturity into tumor-induced memory-like NK cells in vivo. The overall response rate using WHO criteria, and duration of response will also be reported. READ MORE.
    • On July 7th, The Maxim Group raised their price target from $32 to $42. 
    • Shares of INMB have an approximately 20% short position and with only 15,125,171 shares outstanding currently & relatively high insider ownership coupled with the fact that the company is well funded (closed Q1/2021 with cash of $45.3M) this biotech represents an interesting opportunity for a short squeeze with multiple milestones across its platform including its XPro1595,  a PEGylated protein that selectively neutralizes human soluble TNF (sTNF), an inflammatory cytokine found to be elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain (post-mortem) of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
    • On June 14th, INMB announced that it had entered into a new $15M credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and an affiliate of SVB Financial Group. INmune intends to use the proceeds from the facility to partially fund the buyout of an option held by Xencor, Inc.(XNCR), resulting from INmune’s in-licensing of XPro1595 (now known by its generic name, pegipanermin) in October 2017. XPro1595 is a next-generation inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) that uses a dominant-negativeTNF technology that is very different from approved TNF inhibitors that block the effects of both soluble and trans-membrane TNF. Pegipanermin neutralizes soluble TNF, without affecting trans-membrane TNF or TNF receptors. XPro1595 could have substantial beneficial effects in patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases by decreasing neuroinflammation. Total consideration to be paid to Xencor by INmune is $18.3 million, comprised of $15 million of cash and $3.3 million of INMB shares at a price of $17.14 resulting in the issuance of 192,533 shares. Pursuant to the original 2017 in-licensing agreement, INmune granted Xencor an option to purchase an additional number of shares of common stock equal to 10% of INmune’s fully diluted company shares for a period of seven years. The retirement of the Xencor option eliminates an estimated 2.1 million shares of potential future common stock dilution upon exercise of the option.

    • With the June 7th FDA approval of Biogen’s (BIIB) controversial and much debated Alzheimer’s Drug, the focus on the AD space has been turned up and it is likely that INMB’s program and others in the space will be found to a greater degree. 
    • 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 created a short 5-minute video that they 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 $77.16/share, -5.22%. The 52-wk high is $121.16. 
    • On June 15th, FATE announced that Mark Plavsic, DVM, PhD, RAC has been appointed Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Plavsic brings over 20 years of broad technical excellence in global biopharmaceutical operations, having led teams in the commercial-scale cGMP manufacture and distribution, as well as the clinical-stage process, assay, and formulation development, of complex biologics. As Chief Technical Officer, Mark will oversee the Company’s manufacturing, technical, and supply chain operations.
    • On June 4th, FATE highlighted positive interim Phase 1 data from the Company’s FT516 program for patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell lymphoma at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting being held virtually June 4-8, 2021. FT516 is the Company’s universal, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell product candidate derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line engineered with a novel high-affinity, non-cleavable CD16 (hnCD16) Fc receptor, which is designed to maximize antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), a potent anti-tumor mechanism by which NK cells recognize, bind and kill antibody-coated cancer cells. The ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study of FT516 is currently enrolling patients in the fourth dose cohort of 900 million cells per dose.IN summary they highlighted that 8 of 11 Patients in Dose Escalation Cohorts 2 and 3 Achieved Objective Response, 6 of 11 Patients Achieved Complete Response, including 2 Patients Previously Treated with Autologous CD19 CAR T-cell Therapy, & Favorable FT516 Safety Profile Was Observed; No FT516-related Serious Adverse Events or FT516-related Grade 3 or Greater Adverse Events.
    • On May 13th, 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 Jan. 8th, 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 $4.25, -4.28%.
  • Today, on July 14th, INVO announced the appointment of Barbara Levy, M.D., FACOG, FACS as the Company’s Senior VP, Global Clinical Integration. Dr. Levy is considered one of the most influential clinical executives in the world, recently serving as Vice President, Health Policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and chair of the American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee. She joins INVO Bioscience to help further develop and accelerate the Company’s global OB/GYN channel strategy. Steve Shum, CEO of INVO Bioscience, said, “We are excited to have Dr. Levy join the INVO team to support our mission to bring care to the vast underserved patient population around the world experiencing infertility challenges. She has a clear understanding of the role that OB/GYNs can play in helping to democratize fertility care on a global basis by providing accessibility to affordable and effective treatments, the key hallmarks of the INVOcell technology. We look forward to leveraging her experience, relationships, and influence to accelerate our OB/GYN clinical implementation strategy in the years to come.”
    • On June 30th, INVO announced the signing of a joint venture agreement in partnership with reproductive specialist Dr. Sue Ellen Carpenter, M.D. through its wholly-owned subsidiary, INVO Centers, LLC, to open an INVO clinic in Atlanta. The clinic, Bloom Fertility, is scheduled to open in the second half of 2021. The Company signed clinic partnerships in Birmingham, Alabama and the San Francisco Bay area earlier this year, along with its Mexico partnership in late 2020, which is scheduled to open later this year. These clinics, through the utilization of the INVOcell technology, in addition to the multiple clinic and distribution partnerships throughout the world are bringing advanced fertility care and much needed expanded access to the millions of underserved people.
    • On June 15th, INVO Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVO), announced further foundational progress as they appointed of Andrea Goren as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer. In a career approaching 27 years, Mr. Goren has extensive experience in numerous financial functions, including service as a public company CFO, company director, capital raising activities as well as mergers and acquisition experience. Mr. Goren has served as managing director and CFO of Phoenix Group, a New York City-based private equity firm specializing in micro-cap and nano-cap public companies. He served as vice president of Shamrock Group, the Roy Disney family private investment firm in London; and was a director at New York City-based Madison Capital Group, a corporate advisory firm focused on U.S. / European Union cross border transactions. Mr. Goren holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, and an MBA from the Columbia Business School in New York City.
    • 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,  INVO’s CEO Steve Shum delivered his presentation is titled “Democratizing Infertility – A Severely Underserved Global Market.” You may view the video of the event now at this 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 $14.17, -3.67%. KDNY touched a 52-wk high of $21.68 in the Dec. 2020 timeframe 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 June 8th, KDNY announced the presentation of data from the ongoing phase 1/2 study of BION-1301 in patients with IgAN. The findings were presented in an oral presentation at the 58th European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Virtual Congress. here are the highlights: 1) BION-1301 has been well-tolerated to date in patients with IgAN, with no serious adverse events (SAEs) or treatment discontinuations due to adverse events, 2) Pharmacokinetics (PK) of BION-1301 observed in patients with IgAN are consistent with those previously reported in healthy volunteers and are sufficient to drive rapid and sustained reductions in free APRIL levels, 3) BION-1301 has durably reduced Gd-IgA1, IgA, IgM, and to a lesser extent, IgG levels in patients with IgAN, & 4) BION-1301 has demonstrated a clinically meaningful mean reduction in 24-hour proteinuria (UPCR) in the first several patients enrolled in the study, providing initial proof-of-concept for BION-1301 in IgAN.
    • 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.”


  • Shares of VP Watchlist firm, 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 $6.35, +16% after hitting $7.15 in intraday trading on 28.22M shares in trading volume.
  • On July 7th, Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS), announced that it has received regulatory approval from HREC (Human Research Ethics Committee) to open a clinical study of AT-H201 in Australia. The nebulized formulation, AT-H201, is being developed as an inhalation therapy for moderately to severely-ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients and for “long-haul” patients with post-infection pulmonary disease. AT-H201 is a proprietary combination of two drugs previously approved by the FDA to treat other diseases and by other administration routes. AT-H201 is intended to be inhaled via a nebulizer to improve compromised lung function for moderate to severely ill, hospitalized COVID-19 patients and for “long-haul” patients with post-infection pulmonary disease. In May 2020, we completed in vitro testing of AT-H201 which showed that the components of AT-H201 inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infectivity of VERO cells, which is a standard cell type being used to study infectivity of the coronavirus. The AT-H201 components were found to be at least four times more potent than Remdesivir and at least 20 times more potent than Hydroxychloroquine. Potency was measured by microscopic examination of the cytopathic effect caused by SARS-CoV-2 in VERO cells.
  • Atossa was also recently added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes.
    • On June 9th, Atossa’s CEO Dr. Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., CFO Kyle Guse, & B. Heather Fraser, Ph.D. VP Clinical, Regulatory & CMC presented at 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.” The event took place after the company announced, announced the final data from its Phase 2 clinical study of oral Endoxifen administered in the “window of opportunity” between diagnosis of breast cancer and surgery. You may view the event video at the Tribe Public YouTube Channel by clicking this link now. 
    • On Friday, June 11th, Atossa announced that it has received approval from the Swedish Medical Product Agency (MPA) to initiate a Phase 2 clinical study of its oral Endoxifen for the reduction of mammographic breast density (MBD). Studies conducted by others have shown that MBD reduces the ability of mammograms to detect cancer (sensitivity) and increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Additional studies show a correlation between reducing MBD and a reduction in the incidence of breast cancer. The primary objective of the MBD study is to determine the dose-response relationship of daily oral Endoxifen on mammographic breast density reduction, with secondary endpoints assessing safety and tolerability. The Phase 2 study will be randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled. It will be conducted in Stockholm and will include approximately 240 pre-menopausal women with measurable MBD who will receive daily doses of oral Endoxifen or placebo for six months. South General Hospital in Stockholm will be conducting the study. The study is being led by principal investigator Per Hall, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet. The study is also subject to approval by the institutional ethics committees and enrollment will not begin unless and until all approvals are obtained and COVID restrictions are lifted in Sweden.
    • 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.


  • InMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INM) is leading clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing cannabinoid-based drug candidates for high unmet medical needs and IntegraSyn, a proprietary and cost effective manufacturing approach for synthesized rare cannabinoids.
  • Shares of InMed closed trading at $2.77, -1.77%. The 52-wk range is $2.55 -$8.94. 
    • On July 2nd, InMed announced that it had closed the previously announced private placement and after deducting the placement agent fees and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, the Company received net proceeds of approximately US$11 million. H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as the exclusive placement agent for the private placement. Under the terms of the private placement, an aggregate of 4,036,327 common shares (or common share equivalents in lieu thereof) and warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 4,036,327 common shares were purchased, at an effective purchase price of US$2.973 per common share (or common stock equivalent in lieu thereof) and associated warrant. The warrants have an exercise price of US$2.848 per share, are exercisable immediately and have a term of five years. InMed intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to continue pipeline development, advance business development activities and for general working capital purposes.
    • On June 29th, INM announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent (the “LOI”) to acquire BayMedica Inc. (“BayMedica”), a private company based in Nevada and California that specializes in the manufacture and commercialization of rare cannabinoids. BayMedica is a revenue-stage biotechnology company leveraging its significant expertise in synthetic biology and pharmaceutical chemistry to develop efficient, scalable, and proprietary manufacturing approaches to produce high quality, regulatory-compliant rare cannabinoids for consumer applications. BayMedica is currently commercializing the rare cannabinoid CBC (cannabichromene) as a B2B supplier to distributors and manufacturers marketing products in the health and wellness sector. BayMedica is currently planning additional rare cannabinoid launches for the coming year. In addition to their manufacturing and commercial activities in the health and wellness arena, BayMedica is researching cannabinoid analogs as potential drug candidates for pharmaceutical purposes. Those BayMedica proprietary compounds are based upon the structures of naturally-occurring cannabinoids and are designed to either augment the potential therapeutic effect against specific diseases or enhance product safety, or both.
    • On Thursday, June 17th, InMed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INM) announced that its continued optimization of IntegraSyn™ has increased the cannabinoid yield to a level of 5 g/L, further improving the economics of this proprietary manufacturing approach in advance of large-scale production. InMed’s cannabinoid yield of 5 g/L significantly exceeds currently reported industry yields. The Company has continued to make important steps to further optimize the IntegraSyn™ manufacturing process, resulting in the improved yield of 5 g/L, surpassing InMed’s previously reported yield levels of 2 g/L, an already commercially viable yield. The impact of improved yield is a significant reduction in the overall cost of manufacturing due to greater amount of cannabinoid produced per batch. InMed is now focused on manufacturing scale-up to larger batch sizes in the second half of calendar year 2021. “We are very excited by these impressive yield levels that further validates the IntegraSyn™ manufacturing approach as a commercially viable solution for large-scale, pharmaceutical-grade GMP production of rare cannabinoids. While we continue to refine the process, we are now focused on advancing the program towards the next key milestones, including the manufacture of our first large-scale batch through a GMP-ready process in the coming months. We continue to believe InMed’s proprietary IntegraSyn™ approach will be one of the most important manufacturing processes for pharma-grade cannabinoids,” stated Eric A. Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer of InMed.

Economic Reports

  • On Monday, the macroeconomic schedule did not produce anything reports of significance. 
  • On Tuesday, the Total CPI report showed a .9% m/m rise, while on a y/y basis, it is up at 5.4%. The concern is that we are seeing sustained inflation, but I still do not believe that the Fed will waiver on its ‘transitory’ position. The Fed’s Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver the semiannual testimony on monetary policy tomorrow, so maybe we will learn something, but again I still do not believe that he we alter his position on interest rates and inflation. The Treasury Budget report for June also confirmed a $174.2B deficit. Note that the fiscal YTD budget deficit is $2.24T. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index report for June rose to 102.5.
  • On Wednesday, the macroeconomic schedule delivered the Producer Price Index report for final demand that confirmed a rise by 1% m/m, which placed the year-over-year growth rate at 7.3% for total PPI total growth rate at 7.3% y.y.  The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book for July also painted the overall economic growth as “moderate to robust.” Interestingly, the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index report also showed a sizable 16% leap. 

Investing & Inspiration

  1. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll

  2. “Don’t worry about being a star, worry about doing good work, and all that will come to you.” – Ice Cube

  3. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare

  4. Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” – Niels Bohr (Danish Physicist)
  5. “It is indeed true that the stock market can forecast the business cycle.” -Paul Samuelson

  6. “The wisest rule in investment is: when others are selling, buy. When others are buying, sell. Usually, of course, we do the opposite. When everyone else is buying, we assume they know something we don’t, so we buy. Then people start selling, panic sets in, and we sell too.” – Jonathan Sacks

  7. “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
  8. “Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.” – Thomas Sowell
  9. “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
  10. “The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.” – Eminem
  11. “View health as an investment, not an expense.” – John Quelch

  12. “Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.” – Kyle Chandler

  13. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll
  14. “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson
  15. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
  16. “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” – Marie Curie
  17. “A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”–  Duke Ellington
  18. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” -Peter Drucker
  19. “I’m involved in the stock market, which is fun and, sometimes, very painful.” – Regis Philbin
  20. “Who owns the future? This is the question at the heart of every stock market.” – John Landgraf
  21. “One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute.” – William Feather
  22. While I’m sure some millennials are concerned with the ethical issues involved in mining for diamonds, the main reason they steer clear of the gems is because, well, they’re a dumb investment.” – Ana Kasparian
  23. “The wisest rule in investment is: when others are selling, buy. When others are buying, sell. Usually, of course, we do the opposite. When everyone else is buying, we assume they know something we don’t, so we buy. Then people start selling, panic sets in, and we sell too.” – Jonathan Sack
  24. “We must shift our thinking away from short-term gain toward long-term investment and sustainability, and always have the next generations in mind with every decision we make.” –  Deb Haaland
  25. “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” –  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  26. “If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.” – Bear Bryant
  27. “Investing in women’s lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations – and consequently in our own long-term national interests.” -Liya Kebede

  28. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”– Winston Churchill
  29. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius

  30. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes
  31. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell
  32. “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
  33. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
  34. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
  35. “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
  36. “When you have no one to answer to, vendetta as investment strategy is as legitimate as anything.” – Carl Icahn

  37. “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
  38. “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
  39. “Modern medical advances have helped millions of people live longer, healthier lives.

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

  41. “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

  42. “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
  43. “Inflation destroys savings, impedes planning, and discourages investment. That means less productivity and a lower standard of living.” – Kevin Brady
  44. “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
  45. “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
  46. “Historically, there has been a bull market in the commodities every 20 or 30 years.” – Jim Rogers
  47. “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
  48. “Stop trying to predict the direction of the stock market, the economy or the elections.” – Warren Buffett
  49. “An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets.” – Peter Lynch
  50. “Learn everyday, but especially from the experiences of others. It’s cheaper!” – John Bogle
  51. “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
  52. “No stock price is too low for bears or too high for bulls.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr.
  53. “Investment is most successful when it is most businesslike.” – Ben Graham

  54. “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

  55. “Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable willpower to keep from following the crowd.” – Benjamin Graham
  56. “Individual who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process.” – Benjamin Graham
  57. “I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life until then.” – Warren Buffet
  58. “I don’t look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over.” — Warren Buffett
  59. “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
  60. “Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble” ― Warren Buffett
  61. “If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.” – Warren Buffet
  62. “How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” — Robert G. Allen
  63. “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price.” – Warren Buffett
  64. “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
  65. “Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away.” — Jim Cramer
  66. “The person who starts simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition.” — John D. Rockefeller
  67. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
  68. “Although it’s easy to forget sometimes, a share is not a lottery ticket… it’s part ownership of a business.” – Peter Lynch
  69. “Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” – Rhonda Katz
  70. “Invest for the long haul. Don’t get too greedy and don’t get too scared.” – Shelby M.C. Davis

  71. “Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.”
    -Jeremy Siegel
  72. “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
  73. “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
  74. “The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” — Peter Thiel

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

  76. Games are won by players who focus on the playing field –- not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.”
    ― Warren Buffett
  77. “The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.” – Peter Lynch
  78. “Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets … any sound investment will eventually pay off.” — Carlos Slim Helu
  79. “Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
  80. “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
  81. “Given a 10% chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time.” — Jeff Bezos
  82. “Money is always eager and ready to work for anyone who is ready to employ it.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
  83. The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something – and then pay a lot less.” – Joel Greenblatt
  84. “We don’t have an analytical advantage, we just look in the right place.” – Seth Klarman
  85. “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
  86. “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
  87. “No Price is too low for a bear or too high for a bull.” — Anonymous
  88. “Investment is an asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future.” Anonymous
  89. “Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.” — Peter Lynch
  90. “Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” –Rhonda Katz
  91. “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
  92. “A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends.” — Barton Biggs
  93. “The investor’s chief problem — even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.” — Benjamin Graham
  94. “No profession requires more hard work, intelligence, patience, and mental discipline than successful speculation.” – Robert Rhea
  95. “Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham
  96. “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein
  97. “Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results” — Warren Buffett
  98. “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett
  99. “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
  100. “Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
  101. “You cannot save time for your future use however you can invest time for your future.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr. 
  102. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
  103. “Liquidity is only there when you don’t need it.” -Old Proverb
  104. “If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.” – Richard Branson
  105. “Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel
  106. “In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott
  107. “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.” – Charlie Munger
  108. “The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.” – Edward Lampert
  109. “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
  110. “It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.” – John Templeton
  111. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin.
  112. 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
  113. “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
  114. “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
  115. “If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion. -George Bernard Shaw
  116. “There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.”-Ed Seykota
  117. “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.”
  118. “As long as you enjoy investing, you’ll be willing to do the homework and stay in the game.” -Jim Cramer
  119. “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
  120. 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
  121. “The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru
  122. “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
  123. “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
  124. “The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.” -Sir John Templeton
  125. “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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