DD Support Board and Research Team

[nodummy]

The WMGR suspension - this is kind of interesting.

The stock ended up getting suspended as a result of an Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee Investigation.

https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/economic-and-consumer-policy-subcommittee-investigation-leads-sec-to-suspend

Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee Investigation Leads SEC to Suspend Trading of Wellness Matrix Group Stock
Apr 9, 2020
Press Release

Washington, D.C. (Apr. 9, 2020)—Today, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, and Committee Member Rep. Katie Porter issued the following statement after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suspended trading of Wellness Matrix Group’s stock as a direct result of information provided by the Subcommittee’s investigation into the company’s fraudulent claims:

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/suspensions/2020/34-88582.pdf

“The SEC’s move to suspend trading is a serious sanction. We are pleased that our investigation brought attention to a company seeking to take advantage of American consumers during the coronavirus pandemic. We commend the SEC for quickly taking action on the information and protecting the American people.”

On March 30, 2020, Chairman Krishnamoorthi and Congresswoman Porter sent a letter to Wellness Matrix Group about its sales of unapproved, in-home, coronavirus blood tests and its sales of other suspect coronavirus-related products.

https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2020-03-30%20RK%20and%20KP%20to%20Wellness%20Matrix%20Group%20re%20Rapid%20Tests.pdf

During the course of the investigation, the Subcommittee discovered that Wellness Matrix Group allegedly provided inaccurate information to the SEC in an official filing. The Subcommittee pointed the individual making that allegation to the SEC. Federal securities laws permit suspending trading only when the SEC determines that it is required in the public interest and for the protection of investors.

Since the Subcommittee launched the investigation into unapproved, in-home, coronavirus test kits on March 24, 2020, four companies have committed to no longer selling at-home test kits, refunded all money collected from consumers, and destroyed all consumer samples collected.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/technology/coronavirus-home-test.html

Three companies that rushed to market unauthorized kits for at-home coronavirus testing face new questions from lawmakers in Washington.

On Wednesday, two Democratic House members, Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Katie Porter of California, sent letters to the chief executives of Carbon Health, Everlywell and Nurx, asking them to explain their business and testing practices.

The companies had marketed kits designed to allow consumers to collect their own saliva, throat swabs or deep nasal swabs at home and send the samples to labs to be tested for the virus.

But the lawmakers noted in the letters that the Food and Drug Administration had not authorized any at-home specimen collection kits for coronavirus testing because “their accuracy has yet to be clearly determined.”

The House members also asked the executives, which suspended marketing the kits to the public over the weekend, what their companies intended to do with any money consumers had paid for the kits and testing.

“Do you intend to refund all consumers all amounts they paid for at-home coronavirus test kits, and if so, when and how you will you do so?” they wrote in the letters. They also asked what the companies intended to do with any biological specimens that users had sent in for testing.

The rush to sell at-home kits coincided with a push by the White House to promote rapid innovation in coronavirus testing by relaxing federal health regulations. But the F.D.A. warned last week that it had not authorized any tests for purchase by consumers that involved people collecting their own specimens at home and shipping them to labs for testing.

Mr. Krishnamoorthi chairs the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy within the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Ms. Porter sits on the subcommittee.

In the letters, the lawmakers also asked the start-ups what they intended to do with the specimen collection swabs that they had purchased for their at-home kits. Those products have been in short supply in many hospitals.

How many “swabs does your company possess,” the lawmakers wrote, “and will you donate them for use with FDA-approved coronavirus tests?”

The companies all said this week that they had worked with accredited labs that had received F.D.A. authorization to perform coronavirus testing and had followed federal standards for establishing the accuracy of their coronavirus tests.

Carbon Health, which offers telemedicine consultations and also operates clinics in California and Nevada, said on Sunday that it was contacting the 50 initial patients who bought its kits to schedule in-person testing for the virus in its clinics.

Everlywell said on Sunday that it had decided to prioritize providing its tests to health care workers.

The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawmakers’ letters.

Looks like the other 3 start-ups contacted by the committee were all private companies:

Carbon Health is no longer advertising the COVID-19 test kits (they allegedly refunded the people who had bought them). Now they only seem to be offering testing in person at their clinics.

https://carbonhealth.com/coronavirus

All @CarbonHealth clinics now have Rapid #COVID19 Tests available for eligible patients. Rapid testing is the fastest available molecular point-of-care test for the detection of COVID-19, delivering results in under 15 minutes! Book appointment: https://t.co/aJjcDtJ4Ba pic.twitter.com/QMIUlQ4Uov

— Carbon Health (@CarbonHealth) April 8, 2020

Everlywell does not have its test available yet but claims they will be ready soon and will cost $135

https://www.everlywell.com/products/covid-19-test/

https://twitter.com/everly_well/

Nurx still has images and other info about the COVID-19 test kits on their website, but they did add the following message if you dig a little bit:

"Given new guidance from the FDA on March 21, specific to self-collection laboratory testing, Nurx and our longstanding and trusted laboratory partner Molecular Testing Labs have made the responsible decision to pause on providing any additional self-collection COVID-19 tests."

https://www.nurx.com/coronavirus-testing/

https://www.nurx.com/faq/covid-19-testing-update-march-22

https://twitter.com/nurxapp