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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange rose 6.99 points to 489.60 Tuesday. Ron Schmeichel's halted capital pool shell, Mira VII Acquisition Corp. (MVA), plans to merge with HLS Therapeutics Inc. for its qualifying transaction. This is not the TSX-V's run-of-the-mill new listing. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to stay on the venture exchange for long. To start, Mira VII will squeeze the life out of its existing shareholders by rolling back 1 for 94.7, thereby leaving it with 131,995 postconsolidated shares issued, then issue 23,278,000 postconsolidated shares to the holders of HLS Therapeutics.

The target, originally named Heritage Life Sciences Inc., was formed in June, 2014, to specialize in drug treatments for the central nervous system. Currently, it holds Canadian and U.S. rights to one drug, Clozaril, which treats severe schizophrenia. Specifically, Clozaril reduces the risk of suicide for schizophrenics who have failed to respond to other medicines. Schizophrenia, which is commonly mistaken for multiple personality disorder, is an illness that involves changes in brain chemistry. Symptoms include memory problems, speech problems, decreased movement, hallucinations and delusions. HLS Therapeutics expects to begin selling Clozaril in Canada in the first quarter of 2016. In the United States, HLS currently sells Clozaril through 14 distributors. HLS acquired its Clozaril rights in August, 2015, from Switzerland-based drug maker Novartis AG (NVS: $82.64 (U.S.)). (The financial terms were not released.) In Canada, Clozaril has been available through Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. since the 1990s. In both Canada and the U.S., the drug is available only to registered patients who must take regular blood tests (every week, every two weeks or every four weeks). Patients are checked for an increased risk of seizure or a decreased immunity to infections, and only when cleared of these can a patient receive his next supply of Clozaril. Because of the controlled distribution, recent pricing and sales data for Clozaril are not available. In 1998, a 30-day supply of Clozaril tablets cost about $271 in Canada and $317 (U.S.) in the U.S. In the first nine months of 2002, Novartis AG's Clozaril sales were $234-million (U.S.).

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