CoronaCrap

Quick Take: Who’s Not Participating in Cytodyn’s Ridiculous Loserlimab Trial? (CYDY)

One thing that The NaDDir* didn’t address on last week’s bizarre conference call by everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), was the recruiting status of the much vaunted “CD12” study of loserlimab in severe-to-critical Covid-19 patients.

Recall that prestigious Ivy League university in Connecticut that was participating in the study (but never actually recruited a single patient?). Sure you do. Here’s the Clinicaltrials.gov record of study locations as of mid-August:

On August 31st, the company quietly deleted Yale from the trial location list (and it looks like Eisenhower Health in California dumped CYDY too).

And speaking of trial sites, remember that press release back on August 20th, where Cytodyn claimed that they received authorization to enroll UK patients, commencing immediately, into its ongoing Covid-19 trial?

Go back and review the list of trial sites as of August 31st, available here. Interesting that there are no UK sites listed. Not one. On the conference call last week, The NaDDir* did make some curious comments about UK trial enrollment:

“We received great news today. UK ethical committee approved CD12 study to be conducted in the UK. Now, the study can officially be initiated. Please also see our MHRA comments below”. They have recommended, CytoDyn to resubmit the CytoDyn CD12 COVID-19 study to the urgent public health, UPH scheme.”

Was the company lying about being approved to begin recruiting UK patients in the August 20th press release? It seems so. And exactly why did the company need to resubmit the study? Was it really because wink wink nudge nudge the UK health authorities love it so much? Or is it (much more likely given Cytodyn’s history), because the original filing was deficient in some way? Or maybe the MHRA (like the FDA with Cytodyn’s pathetic HIV BLA) just wanted a Double Dose of The NaDDir’s* sweet sweet regulatory filings?

THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

Very Quick Take: Guess Who Won’t Be Funding Cytodyn Again? (CYDY)

Remember the much hyped “institutional investor” that had been repeatedly financing everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY)? John M. Fife and his Iliad Research and Trading outift. Fife is the gentleman who invested $25mm for a $28.5mm face value 10% convertible note (with full ratchet) just a month ago. Catch up on that here.

Sadly, we don’t think he will be funding Cytodyn or any other crapco in the future. The case is US District Court N. IL.1:20-cv-05227.

THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

But Teh Science Be So Gud: Part 1 – A Brief History of Loserlimab (CYDY)

There is one talking point that almost every bioscam on the verge of collapse eventually reaches for, known at BuyersStrike! HQ as “but teh science be so gud.” We have reached that moment in the saga of everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), when criminal stock promoters, various shills, and the retail shareholder base of complete morons suddenly become “experts” in “teh science”.

So, while we wait for the next delusional ranting from The NaDDir*, and while we wait for the company to fess up that their quest for a Nasdaq listing is clearly doomed, in this series we’ll explore “teh science” behind leronlimab (hereafter known as loserlimab), and explain how it is basically completely useless.

Useless against HIV.

Useless against Cancer

And yes, even utterly useless against Covid-19.

First, we’ll look at the history of loserlimab and what it does, and doesn’t do, with regards to HIV. 

Far from being a new drug, loserlimab can trace its roots back to the late 1990s. Scientists discovered that people carrying a particular genetic mutation, known as “Delta 32” were immune to infection by one strain of HIV (known as “CCR5-Tropic” HIV). People carrying this mutation did not express the CCR5 receptor on the outside of their cells. This gave the CCR5-tropic HIV particles nowhere to latch onto in order to enter the cell. 

After this discovery scientists rushed to create treatments that would mimic this genetic mutation. In 2007 the first of them, Selzentry (also known generically as maraviroc) was approved for sale in the USA. Selzentry blocks the CCR5 receptor on the outside of cells, stopping CCR5-Tropic HIV from entering and doing their nasty business.

Selzentry is a daily pill that is taken in combination with other daily medications. Why in combination? Because as explained above blocking CCR5 only stops one form of HIV. CCR5 blocking monotherapy is a mono-mentally (sic) stupid idea in practice because it would fail to protect from the other form of HIV, known as CXCR4-Tropic. Any company, any tout, any deluded investor who believes that monotherapy to block only CCR5 would be a real breakthrough, and have any commercial potential, is either a con artist, or a mark. 

Although it happens to be the only one to successfully make it onto the market, maraviroc was not the only therapy developed back in the late 90s. There were many other attempts. One scientist who was working on such therapies was William Olson. Along with Paul Maddon and others at Progenics Pharmaceuticals (PGNX) he developed a series of murine (mouse) antibodies to block CCR5. One of them was originally known as PA14

Progenics then hired another firm, Protein Design Labs, to “humanize” the antibody. This process makes antibodies developed in other species, like mice, more tolerable (technically less “immunogenic”) in human patients. The resulting humanized antibody was christened PRO-140

PRO-140 had some interesting attributes. For one, it did not completely block CCR5 receptors. It only bound to a very small part of the CCR5 receptor, just the part necessary for one particular strain of HIV to enter the cell. PRO-140 also does not interfere with normal CCR5 receptor functions. According to Olson:

“Moreover, unlike other candidate CCR5 inhibitors, PRO 140 does not block CCR5’s natural activity

And, because this is a very important point that bears repeating, in another paper by Olson and Maddon, from 2001: 

Because PRO 140 does not induce signaling or downregulation of CCR5, its antiviral effect is probably exerted through a mechanism involving receptor blockade.

Eventually, after playing around with both IV and subcutaneous administration, and seeing the approval of more convenient oral Selzentry (remember that CCR5 blocking therapy MUST be given in combination with other medications in order to treat and block both forms of HIV), Progenics gave up on PRO-140. After putting it on the shelf, a small desperate reverse merger abomination known as Cytodyn came calling, bought it for a small sum, and renamed it leronlimab.

Hopefully, dear reader, you can now see that loserlimab is actually fairly useless against HIV, because it does not protect against both strains. At best one could say that it might protect against only one (the jury is still out, as the drug has not been approved anywhere, for this purpose). 

But, but, but, cry the Cytodummies, what about the plan to “cure” AIDS patients getting bone marrow transplants by adding loserlimab, announced two weeks ago?

StemCellCYDY

Yeah, that won’t work either. Why not? Because it will not protect from the other form of HIV. And this has been known for years

As for cancer, Covid, and the rest? Stay tuned…

THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

*UpgrayeddMeme

What Exchange Won’t Cytodyn be Listed on this Week? (CYDY)

Remember back in July when everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY) told investors that they expected to meet with the FDA within weeks? Well, get ready for rejection because the company revealed this morning that the FDA has basically told them to go pound sand.

Of course The NaDDir* is spinning this as a way to save time. Which in some ways it is. The FDA should not be wasting its time talking to these clowns. And speaking of rejections, which readers remember when Cytodyn (CYDY) told investors that they expected to be listed on the NASDAQ within 5 to 6 weeks?

Naturally that timetable wasn’t aggressive enough for The NaDDir*, he needed to rally the faithful. He and his trusty CFO continued:

That’s right, The NaDDir* was winding up the Cytodummies to expect a listing within three weeks. Poor Mike Mulholland tried to temper expectations just a little bit, to three to four weeks. Well here we are, the full six weeks later, and it’s time for a BuyersStrike! prediction. Are you ready? The prediction from the head curmudgeon here at HQ:

Cytodyn (CYDY) will not get “uplisted” to the NASDAQ. Not to the Nasdaq Capital Market, not to the Nasdaq Global Market, and certainly not to the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Why not?

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Quick Take – How To Tell Cytodyn is Nothing More Than A Stock Promotion? (CYDY)

Just as we were digging into the recently filed late Friday afternoon Form 10K from everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), the company issued not one, but two, ridiculous press releases on Monday morning the 17th of August. Here is one, which will be the subject of this quick post.

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Quick Take – What Stupidity Is Cytodyn Finishing Up The Week With? (CYDY)

Just when we thought we could end the week without any more insanity, everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), issued a brand new, utterly ridiculous, press release (here). No doubt desperate to maintain a $4 bid price for that ever-elusive “uplisting” (Pro Tip: any company that talks about UPlisting is a scam, plain and simple. Cytodyn is currently UNlisted, it is applying for an INITIAL listing). Let’s take a look at what BS The NaDDir* is slinging this morning:

SeeksUKApproval

Interesting, seeing as though the company couldn’t even get its BLA accepted for review in the USA. Exactly what does “seeking approval” entail? Read past the headine:

VANCOUVER, Washington, Aug. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  CytoDyn Inc. (OTC.QB: CYDY), (“CytoDyn” or the “Company”), a late-stage biotechnology company, announced today it will submit requests for pre-submission meetings (equivalent to pre-BLA meeting in U.S.) in the U.K. for leronlimab as an HIV treatment in combination with HAART for highly treatment experienced HIV patients (350 mg dose, self-injectable, subcutaneous ), as well as for emergency approval of leronlimab for COVID-19 patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms (Phase 2 – CD10).

In The NaDDir*’s world (*spelled thusly for a double dose of that sweet sweet stock pimpin’) seeking approval actually means merely submitting a request for a meeting!

And the subject of that meeting is quite interesting, the 350mg dose of leronlimab for HIV combination therapy. The company submitted the now infamous botched BLA for that same indication in the USA, but for the 700mg dose. After a series of miscues by Cytodyn, the FDA, as you may recall, sent the company a humiliating RTF (Refuse To File) letter, telling them to go back to the drawing board.

Any why even bother with the 350mg dose? By the company’s own admission it doesn’t work very well, with only a 70% response rate.

CYDY-Dosage

Notice anything else about that chart? When the middle dose outperforms the low and the high dose, what should that tell you?

One last tidbit, one dose is actually 2 injections. Good luck with that.

THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

Quick Take – Who is Funding Cytodyn Yet Again? (CYDY)

Late yesterday, the 29th of July, everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), issued a press release (here) eerily reminiscent of one from the end of March (here).

Here is the one from yesterday:

CYDY-July29Sounds pretty good right? Especially with the shares trading under $5.00. But this is Cytodyn, so nothing is as it seems. Instead this press release, like the March press release before it, appears to be quite misleading as to the amount raised, the effective interest rate, the true dilutive nature of the financing, and the true effective conversion price. We won’t know for sure, of course, until the company issues an 8k with the actual details.

We can use what happened in March as our guide. Remember this press release?

CYDY-march30

Talk about deja vu. This press release was also woefully short on real details. For that, we needed to wait for the 8k, filed on the 6th of April (here).

MarchNotecydy-1

The first thing that should call out to any reader is that the press release doesn’t name the investor, but in the 8k it is revealed to be Iliad Research & Trading. This is one of many John M. Fife entities (Iliad, St. George, Chicago Venture Partners, among others). Who is he? A one-time variable annuity trader (see here) who moved into toxic financing of shady penny stocks.

The next red flag is that although the press release claimed it was a $15mm note convertible at $4.50, but the 8k reveals it was a $17.1mm note, bearing interest at 10%, but for which the company only received $15mm, a discount of 12.25%.This means that Fife invested $15mm but will receive at maturity the face value ($17.1mm) in addition to annual 10% interest on the face value. The effective interest rate is actually 11.4%.

Continuing onwards:

MarchNotecydy-2

The note is convertibe into 3.8mm shares at $4.50 per share. But as Iliad only paid $15mm for the note, the effective conversion price is actually $15/3.8 = $3.94 per share.

Finally, for all the claims about this being a non-dilutive financing, the 8k is clear that in addition to “standard anti-dilution” the note also features a “full-ratchet.” A full-ratchet means that if the company raises money in the future at a lower price than given to Iliad, the conversion price is reset to the new, lower, amount. We suppose one could argue that Cytodyn isn’t lying, that the deal is certainly non-dilutive, but only to Iliad!

One can see that the headline on the July press release changed a bit, they now reveal up front that the face value of the note is $28.5mm but the company only received $25mm. The discount is the same as the March deal, 12.25%. This means the effective interest rate is also the same as the March deal, at 11.4% and the effective conversion price will not really be $10 per share, but actually $8.77 per share. ‘

As for what we don’t know, and likely will not know, until the 8k is finally filed, here are our BuyersStrike! HQ predictions for the truth about this new CYDY deal:

The investor will be Iliad, or another Fife entity.

The “non-dilutive” deal will, in fact, be highly dilutive, just like the March deal.

THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

 

 

 

Very Quick Take – The Cytoshills Make A Mistake (CYDY)

While we all anxiously await tomorrow’s CONference call from everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), the shills posting glowing comments about the company and its fearless leader The NaDDir* over at Seeking Alpha seem to have made a mistake.

On today’s ridiculous Cytodyn piece on Seeking Alpha, (here), insanely prolific Cytodyn pumper, who goes by saf1148 (bio here) made a comment at 9am, and then three minutes later replies to his or her own comment, calling out him- or herself.

CYDY-ShillTalkingToSelf

Oops! Looks like someone forgot to logout and log back in under their other screen name. Hope someone at Seeking Alpha is tracking IPs of the Cytosockpuppets.

 

*Spelled thusly, for a Double Dose of that sweet sweet stock pimpin’
THE CONTENT CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG REPRESENTS ONLY THE OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR MAY HOLD EITHER LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES OF VARIOUS COMPANIES DISCUSSED IN THE BLOG. THIS COMMENTARY IN NO WAY CONSTITUTES INVESTMENT ADVICE, AND SHOULD NEVER BE RELIED ON IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION, EVER. THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS: ALL INQUIRIES WILL BE IGNORED. THE CONTENT HEREIN IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE READER, AND THE AUTHOR.

Quick Take – The Unbearable INsignificance of Leronlimab – CYDY

(Did you miss the Cytondyn lawsuit update detailing Scott Kelly’s shenanigans and the trouble with the NASDAQ listing? Check that out here.)

For a brief press release that was almost entirely free of data, yesterday’s nonsense from everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), has created quite a lot of misleading spin, sheer fabrications, and highly wishful thinking in the scores of message board posts (Hi there, InvestorsHub. Guten Tag meine Lieblinge an Wallstreet-Online.de) and accompanying paid promotional stock pumping videos and puff pieces.

Most of the delusions center around two key misunderstandings.

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Update: Who’s Suing Cytodyn Now and What has Dr. Scott Kelly Been Doing About It? (CYDY)

Readers may recall that back at the end of April 2020, we discussed a number of lawsuits filed by former insiders against everyone’s favorite reverse-merger pink sheet Coronacrapper, Cytodyn (CYDY), and its klown krew of kreme de la kreme managers including The NaDDir* and Dr. Scott Kelly. Missed it? Catch up here.

You will find no mention in yesterday’s bizarre Cytodyn press release touting the utterly INsignificant “safety” results from the Phase 2 trial of wonder drug leronlimab in mild-to-moderate Covid patients, of any developments in the Delware case Alpha Venture Capital Partners LP v. Nader Z. Pourhassan (2020-0307-PAF). Nor will you find any mention of legal developments in The NaDDir’s bizarre rant on a paid stock pumping video put out on Youtube yesterday. Nor will you find any 8k filings from the company about developments in that case.

But there have been developments in the case, bad developments. Developments that Cytodyn likely does not want their retail shareholder base to learn about before the vote on authorizing 100mm more shares today, the 22nd of July.

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