British High Court Rules Against Johnson Parliament Prorogation
Apparently, proroguing Parliament was not Boris Johnson’s prerogative. The British high court ruled today that the Prime Minister acted unlawfully in suspending Parliament until October 14th, and that he misled the Queen in advising that Parliament should be suspended. Johnson is now facing calls to resign, which he probably will not do because he has widespread popular support in trying to finalize Brexit, deal or no deal, in 37 days. The ruling has buoyed the pound sterling (NYSEARCA:FXB) a bit, interpreted as leading to a lower chance of a no deal Brexit given that Parliament will now continue to pester the Prime Minister in any way it can. The problem for the heavily remain-leaning Parliament is that if they try to depose Johnson and call new elections, he’ll probably win as he’s way ahead in the polls, and therefore Johnson has gone so far as to say he may even suspend Parliament a second time, this time lawfully, somehow.
SEE: Cannabis Stock News Daily Roundup September 24
Gold Jumps as Stocks Fall, Fed Repo Auction Oversubscribed Again
Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) made a U-turn about 15 minutes after market open, and continues to trade inversely to the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY), at least for today. The down move in stocks has intensified as of around midday, though there isn’t much news that would obviously catalyze a decline, except maybe traders didn’t like President Trump’s speech at the United Nations today, or they are getting impeachment rumor jitters. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is continuing its daily repo operations to try to stabilize the overnight lending markets that got disjointed last week, today’s repos combining one overnight of $75 billion and one 14-day term repo of $30 billion. The overnight operation was oversubscribed by $5.2 billion, and the 14-day term repo was oversubscribed by over 100%, with $62 billion in bids submitted.
New Breast Cancer Test Nears Commercial Launch
Israeli biotech Todos Medical (OTCMKTS:TOMDF) has begun enrollment in a pre-commercial launch study for two new breast cancer tests called TM-B1 and TM-B2 in Europe. The study should last about six months. According to the latest data, the TM-B1 test has a sensitivity of 86% and specificity of 98%, with a positive predictive value of 95.1% and negative predictive value of 93.5%. TM-B2 shows a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 99%. If successful, the tests hope to be able to catch breast cancer earlier and more accurately, with the goal of improving survival rates.
NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Gets Australian Approval for AveNova For Dry Eye Sufferers
In other biotech news, NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NYSEAMERICAN:NBY) has announced that it has received approval for the distribution of Avenova from the Austrlaian Government Department of health with a Register of Therapeutic Goods Certificate. Avenova is a hypochlorous acid solution designed as a non-antibiotic anti-infective for those suffering from infections resulting from dry eye.
Progress Reported in Pediatric Kidney Disease
In an underreported segment of the end stage renal disease sector, CHF Solutions (NASDAQ:CHFS) has published the results of a study involving its Aquadex FlexFlow system in pediatric patients. The study, Kidney Support in Children Using an Ultrafiltration Device, included 117 patients suffering from volume overload, acute kidney injury or end-stage kidney disease. Primary outcome was survival to the end of therapy. Patients over 20kgs had a survival rate of 97%. Patients between 10-20kgs showed 100% survival, and patients under 10kgs had a rate of survival of 60%. “For many of the types of patients in the study, available therapies require very high relative extracorporeal blood volumes, which can be challenging. With the use of an ultrafiltration device with a small blood volume, we were able to initiate therapy with excellent hemodynamic stability,” said Dr. David Askenazi, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Alabama Birmingham.
Liquid Biopsy Approach for Cancer Detection Gets Hospital Collaboration
Aethlon Medical (NASDAQ:AEMD) is collaborating with Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in California in a research effort to identify exosomes derived from patients with solid tumors. Exosomes are basically particles shed from tumors that can be found circulating in the blood, and therefore used as a biomarker from cancer from a liquid biopsy. “Liquid biopsies have the potential to facilitate the early detection of cancer and the assessment of the efficacy of potential treatments in real time. This may prove to be a critical tool in our ongoing efforts to help patients with cancer,” said Dr. Michael Demeure, program director of Precision Medicine at Hoag and the principal investigator on the study. The program under which the study is conducted is supported by philanthropic efforts and initiatives.