How Small Pharma is Taking Down a Pandemic

Written By Alex Koyfman

Posted July 24, 2015

The word “hepatitis” is enough to make most people cringe — even without knowing the specifics of what it does and how it affects the lives of those who have it.

It’s a communicable disease that’s very similar to the HIV virus in the way it spreads, with the vast majority of infections occurring through sexual contact, IV drug use, or from mother to infant during childbirth.

It is estimated that up to a quarter-billion people globally live with this disease as a chronic condition, and as much as one-third of the world’s total population is infected.

Untreated, between 15% and 25% of chronic sufferers will eventually die of the disease, as it corrodes and destroys the liver, turning it into fibrous scar tissue through cirrhosis.

hepb

The effects are similar to those of long-term alcohol abuse — and the lives it cuts short every year number over the million mark across the world, with close to half succumbing to liver cancer brought on by hepatitis.

Any way you look at it, the problem is big, widespread, tragic and very costly in terms of resources and manpower.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however, because there has actually been an effective vaccine for this strain of hepatitis since 1982.

The Vaccine is Here, and it Works… Most of the Time

In most developed nations, newborns are vaccinated against hepatitis B, with a 90% efficacy rate (immunity to hep B) after treatment.

For adults, the efficacy rate is only 75%, leaving a quarter exposed to infection and complications.

However, this still leaves billions worldwide for whom this vaccine simply does not work.

It is not clear what exactly causes resistance to the vaccine in the remaining 10%, but immunologists suspect that minor mutations in the hepatitis strain overwhelm the vaccine’s single antigen, allowing the virus to take hold within the system and begin to spread.

For this reason, along with the costs associated with vaccination (prohibitive in poorer nations), hepatitis B qualifies as a bona fide pandemic.

It moves slowly, its signs appear gradually and without much drama, but in the next century, if things remain unchanged, as many as a quarter-billion people will succumb to hepatitis B and the list of related disorders to which it gives rise.

In Another Generation, the Hepatitis B Population Could Shrink By 99%

Today, there is a light at the end of the tunnel — and it may prove to be one of the biggest innovations in medical science to come along in the last three decades.

A new hepatitis B vaccine is currently entering FDA clinical trials in the States.

Called Sci-B-Vac, it’s a third-generation (3G) treatment for the virus and boasts an efficacy rate up to 25 times higher than that of the current standard vaccines — depending on the age of the recipient.

For adults, that means instead of a 1 in 4 chance of resistance to the existing vaccine, that number will shrink to just about 1 in 100.

For infants, the effectiveness of this third-generation vaccine will approach 100%.

Globally, this equates to hundreds of millions who will now safely live without the disease. It will cut the fatality rate by orders of magnitude, and it will cut costs associated with treatment by tens if not hundreds of billions.

Its main benefit stems from its use of three antigens, not just one, to combat that evolving virus.

The results from this new vaccine are an order of magnitude better than today’s standard treatment.

In short, we’re looking at a game changer… a new drug that will make all that came before it obsolete overnight.

FDA clinical trials in the U.S. are slated to take about 18 months, but once they’re done, the pharmaceutical company behind this historic innovation will be free to commercialize its product in the world’s biggest health care market.

In the Game of Innovation, Sometimes it’s Better to be David Than Goliath

So what is this company that holds such an important 21st century marvel of molecular engineering?

Well, it’s not one of the usual suspects. It’s not a household name or anything close to a billion-dollar multi-national corporation.

It’s not Merck (NYSE: MRK) or Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

Instead, it’s a tiny biotech company that started trading on the public markets just last week.

scivac2The company’s name is SciVac Therapeutics, Inc., in honor of its flagship product, and it trades on the Toronto Exchange under the symbol VAC.TO, as well as on the OTC market under the symbol SVACF.

Based in Israel, the company is licensed to distribute its 3G hepatitis B vaccine there, as well as in India, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Today, most Israeli newborns already receive the vaccination, and more than half a million doses in total have been administered since 2009.

When the SciVac vaccine becomes available to the global population (which FDA approval should push along next year), it will have the potential to fundamentally alter hepatitis B’s overall footprint — and hopefully contribute to its ultimate eradication.

Shares are currently trading on the Toronto and U.S. OTC exchanges for around C$0.34 and US$0.25, respectively, with a market cap of just $57 million (USD).

Like I said, this stock is as fresh as they come, with just a week’s worth of exposure to the retail investment market.

Once the story starts to filter out to the financial media, we could easily see the stock doubling or even approaching the dollar mark.

The vaccine, however, is only half the story…

Meet the World’s Most Accomplished Scientist Investor

The other half is the main shareholder of the company and the founder of SciVac’s parent company — the most successful physician investor to ever live.

phillipfrostWorth $5 billion, Dr. Phillip Frost is a legend in both the medical and financial industries.

Since the 1970s, he’s founded, developed, and either sold or managed a string of highly successful biotech companies… companies that have gone on to control tens of billions of dollars in market share for a wide range of biotech subsectors.

When it comes to biotech venture capitalism and management, there simply is no name better known or more highly respected than Dr. Frost’s.

With his reputation, expertise, and money behind this project — and the product already in its current stage of development — the probability of success is bordering on guaranteed.

SciVac is Frost’s latest venture and likely the one with the highest upside… but it’s not his only one.

To those who lack the intestinal fortitude to handle a microcap like SciVac, there is a more well-established alternative.

Qualifying as a mid-cap with a market cap of around $8 billion, Dr. Frost’s larger venture is currently developing a system that doesn’t so much cure disease as it does detect it.

It’s a groundbreaking new approach to blood lab work, and it allows for the results of a number of ailments to become available within a single visit to the doctor’s office… in between 10 and 15 minutes.

No more waiting in line at the blood lab and then waiting additional days or weeks to get the call from your physician with the news.

It’s been called the “doctor on a chip” because it takes one of the most stressful aspects of health management and consolidates the experience into a single, quick, definitive analysis.

My colleague Jason Stutman has been researching this time and cost-saving (not to mention stress-reducing) solution to a problem that’s as old as the doctor’s office itself.

He’s convinced that it could change the way health is managed on a macro level, and I think he’s right.

Nothing spells innovation today like increases in speed, accuracy, and delivery of data — and this kind of data is about as important as it comes.

Jason completed a detailed report on this other company of Dr. Frost’s just a few weeks ago and released it to a limited number of readers.

Get free, instant access to it right here, and beat the smart money to the punch.

Fortune favors the bold,

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Alex Koyfman

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His flagship service, Microcap Insider, provides market-beating insights into some of the fastest moving, highest profit-potential companies available for public trading on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges. With more than 5 years of track record to back it up, Microcap Insider is the choice for the growth-minded investor. Alex contributes his thoughts and insights regularly to Wealth Daily. To learn more about Alex, click here.

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