An estimated 17,700 new spinal cord injuries (SCI)occur each year in the United States alone, most of which are the result of vehicle, work and sporting accidents and falls. Calculating the impact of spinal cord injuries on people worldwide requires a broader sample, but the World Health Organization (WHO) states that SCI affects between 250,000 and 500,000 people every year.
The cost of traumatic spinal cord injuries exceed the combined medical and caregiving costs of patients with dementia, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy. Moreover, it is reported that fewer than 1% of patients with SCI leave the hospital experiencing complete neurological recovery. The following data is for the costs of spinal cord injury by category and uses samples collected since 2010 to show the percentage of each SCI injury as well as the costs to continuously treat the patient. These totals do not include indirect costs from lost wages, lost productivity, and fringe benefits, which average an additional $72,000 per year.
Data collected from NSCISC
The treatments and rehabilitation processes of SCI, that are currently commercialized, require long-term, expensive care that involves a multidisciplinary approach and which, unfortunately, do not result in restoration of lost function. Research on cutting-edge biotechnology to create alternative, more effective SCI treatments are emerging and securing powerful positions in the $752.9 Billion global biotech market.
The leader in this industry is an Israeli biotechnology company called Nurexone Biologic.
About Nurexone (TSXV:NRX)
The company is developing an off-the-shelf, minimally-invasive, breakthrough treatment for the reversal or reduction of the harmful results of acute SCI. Nurexone’s treatment uses a proprietary exosome-based technology that has been proven in animal studies to recover function in SCI and has enormous potential to treat people suffering from all categories of acute spinal cord injury. In the animal study, Nurexone’s technology showed spinal cord nerve regeneration in a model of complete spinal cord transection. Thirty-forty percent of the study rats, with induced SCI, were able to walk again after receiving the exosome treatment.
On June 15, 2022, NurExone announced the completion of its listing on the TSX.V under the symbol NRX.V. This was accomplished through a mutually agreed reverse takeover with EnerSpar (now NurExoneBiologic Inc.). Under the terms, all pre-consolidation Common Shares are to be exchanged for post-consolidation Common Shares at a rate of 10:1, resulting in a total of 64,660,744 fully diluted shares.
Following the transaction, Yoram Drucker was appointed Chairman of the Board and Vice President Strategic Operations and Dr. Lior Shaltiel was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Director. Mr. Drucker is an Israeli entrepreneur and was previously involved in the development of two successful cell therapy technology firms, Brainstorm (NASDAQ:BCLI) and Pluristem (NASDAQ:PSTI). Dr. Shaltiel is an entrepreneur and award-winning scientist with extensive multidisciplinary international experience, specializing in chemical engineering, molecular biology, electrophysiology, pharmacology, and drug delivery systems. Before joining NurExone, he was a VP and Partner at a boutique Chinese investment bank operating in Israel mapping the investment landscape and opportunities in the Israeli pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Shaltiel is also the initiator and the Academic head of the BioMed-MBA program at the Hebrew University. He released the following statement regarding the company’s IPO:
“By becoming a publicly-traded company, we gain access to the capital markets and investors can benefit from new opportunities with an innovative Israeli start-up biopharmaceutical company. I am thrilled with the opportunity to fulfill our vision to be a leading company in the development of a novel, biological and minimally invasive treatment for Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury and one of the first to become a listed public company.”
Investment Opportunity
There remains a major unmet need for developing new approaches to treating spinal cord injuries (SCI), traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and damage to the central nervous system (CNS). Nurexone is developing a treatment with potential to provide safe, efficient and convenient care using the company’s revolutionary biological extracellular vesicles (exosome)-based technology drug platform to deliver proprietary therapeutics.
Bottom Line
The costs of spinal cord injuries to patients, insurance companies, and governing agencies and the limited ability of current therapies to recover lost function create an ongoing need for treatments that deliver better results for the patient and are more cost-effective. The recent RTO announced by Nurexone to be publicly traded on the TSX.V creates an excellent opportunity for growth-focused investors interested in purchasing early shares that will likely deliver significant upside.
Disclosure: The opinions expressed in this article are provided by a third party who was compensated to write an analysis of the company. This content represents his self-research, and it shall not be construed as investing advice. The author doesn’t have any positions in any of the stocks mentioned in the article. Insider Monkey received compensation in exchange for publishing this article. Insider Monkey doesn’t recommend purchase/sale of any securities, cryptocurrencies, or ICOs. Please get in touch with a financial professional before making any financial decisions. You understand that Insider Monkey doesn’t accept any responsibility and you will be using the information presented here at your own risk. You acknowledge that this disclaimer is a simplified version of our Terms of Use, and by accessing or using our site, you agree to be bound by all of its terms and conditions. If at any time you find these terms and conditions unacceptable, you must immediately leave the Site and cease all use of the Site.
