Health and Healthcare

Why Aytu BioScience Stock Remains a Promising Coronavirus Play

Chris Lange

Published: June 10, 2020 1:53 pm

Last Updated: June 10, 2020 3:19 pm

Aytu BioScience Inc. (NASDAQ: AYTU) stock has been a huge beneficiary of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, Aytu BioScience stock is up 52% year to date and up over 100% in the past six months alone.

For those late to the party, Aytu BioScience is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on commercializing novel products in the field of hypogonadism (low testosterone), cough and upper respiratory symptoms, insomnia, and male infertility.

The company only branched out into the COVID-19 testing business back in February. Since then Aytu BioScience has expanded its reach with multiple deals.

Sterling Medical Deal

Back in late April, the company signed an agreement with Sterling Medical Devicese to finalize the development of its Healight platform technology. Basically, this is a novel endotracheal catheter that emits ultraviolet light and is a potential treatment for the coronavirus.

Aytu thinks that the Healight platform technology will affect outcomes for critically ill patients with COVID-19 and other infections. The company, with support from Cedars-Sinai, is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine an expedited regulatory process for Healight. The goal is to enable near-term use of the technology, initially as a coronavirus intervention for critically ill intubated patients.

Other Developments

Separately, Aytu announced an agreement with the Singapore-based firm Biolidics for the exclusive U.S. distribution rights to Biolidics’s COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test. As a result, the Denver-based company purchased 500,000 tests immediately and committed to purchasing at least 1.25 million more in the first three months of the agreement.

Aytu received 100,000 test kits on April 1, prior to the agreement with Biolidics. The Denver Police Department bought the first 2,750 of these to screen the city’s first responders. On April 15, Aytu said that it had sold all 100,000 tests and was awaiting delivery of more.