Indian healthcare company Max India will sell a majority stake in its hospital-operating joint venture to KKR-backed Radiant Life Care, resulting in a listed company worth 72.42B rupees, or $1.03B, Reuters reports. As part of the reverse merger, Radiant will buy out the other JV partner, South Africa-based hospital operator Life Healthcare, and combine its assets into Max Healthcare and promoter Abhay Soi will own 23.2% of the entity, while KKR will hold 51.9%.
Monday, December 24, 2018
Varian wins US tariff exclusion for Chinese-produced radiotherapy systems
Varian Medical (NYSE:VAR) said today that the U.S. Trade Representative granted it a tariff exemption for its Halcyon radiotherapy system, which would normally be subject to Section 301 tariffs due to it being manufactured in China.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said that the exception will have a less than $1 million impact on its financial results for its 2019 fiscal year, and that it will provide more details on the exception during its first quarter call next month.
“On behalf of the more than three million patients Varian technologies touch each year, we thank USTR and the U.S. government for recognizing the impact of Varian’s cancer treatment technology by excluding our Halcyon product from the current trade dispute, and we are hopeful that China will do the same. Varian remains dedicated to ensuring that our customers, and the patients they treat, are able to achieve new victories against cancer without any global disruption in access to our leading-edge technologies,” prez & CEO Dow Wilson said in a press release.
Varian said that until further notice, China tariffs announced in August will remain in place, and that its exclusion application from U.S. Tariffs for components sourced from China for its linear accelerators, which it produces in the US, are still pending with the USTR.
Last month, Varian said that it won approval from China’s National Medical Product Administrationfor its Halcyon system.
Eli Lilly price target raised to $132 from $124 at BMO Capital
BMO Capital analyst Alex Arfaei raised his price target on Eli Lilly to $132 from $124 and kept his Outperform rating, saying that unlike its peers, the company offers “multiple growth drivers and several pipeline assets that could provide meaningful upside.” The analyst anticipates Eli Lilly’s annualized revenue and earnings growth of 5% and 16% with “significant upside potential” coming from Tanezumab and Alzheimer’s program. Araeil further believes that the company’s growth, strong R&D and commercial execution prospects “support its premium valuation.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2841025
Lupin, AbbVie in Deal for Blood Cancer Drug
Pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) and global biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc., today announced that AbbVie has licensed Lupin’s MALT1 (Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma Translocation Protein 1) inhibitor program. Through this partnership, AbbVie gains exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize Lupin’s MALT1 inhibitors. MALT-1 is a protein involved in T-cell and B-cell lymphocyte activation and AbbVie intends to pursue development across a range of hematological cancers, many with limited current treatment options.
Commenting on the development, Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin Limited said, “Delivering on new drugs was a key element of Dr. Deshbandhu Gupta’s vision. We are extremely proud of being able to realize his vision to bring new treatments to patients in need. We are very pleased to partner with AbbVie who share a commitment to deliver high quality medicines in areas that lack approved treatment and have a dire medical need. Their proven success in rapidly commercializing new targeted oncology treatments made them our partner of choice for this program.”
Commenting on the partnership announcement, Dr. Raj Kamboj, President of Lupin’s Novel Drug Discovery and Development (NDDD) stated, “We are delighted with the success of our NDDD program to bring India’s first pharmaceutical innovation in this space. This is a first-in-class drug discovery program delivered exclusively by Lupin right from concept generation through the various stages of drug discovery and development. We are proud of the conceptualization, strategic direction and impeccable execution done by the team at Lupin that meets the global standard of pharmaceutical research.”
Tom Hudson, M.D., Vice President, Discovery, AbbVie commented, “Lupin’s MALT1 program is exploring a new and innovative approach in difficult-to-treat cancers. AbbVie is committed to pursuing advanced treatment options for patients and we look forward to partnering our expertise in hematological oncology with Lupin’s discovery program to offer new hope to patients.”
Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will pay Lupin an upfront payment of US$ 30 million for an exclusive license to the program. Upon successful completion of regulatory, development and commercial milestones, Lupin is eligible to receive total milestone payments of up to US$ 947 million. Additionally, Lupin will be entitled to receive a double-digit royalty on the sales of the product and will retain commercial rights to the program in India.
LA Doubled Homeless Budget, Doubled Homeless Crime
It wasn’t all that long ago that the nation watched transfixed in horror as fires tore apart California, destroying homes and claiming lives. In all the debates about global warming and forestry management, one singular cause of the fire was left unaddressed.
Global warming wasn’t starting the fires. People were.
Last December, the 422-acre Skirball Fire that forced the evacuation of 700 homes and took 10 days to put out was started by illegal cooking in a homeless encampment. The Leo Baeck Temple in Bel-Air, which celebrates “social justice”, even sued Los Angeles (both city and county) over fire damage for ignoring multiple complaints about the homeless encampment and the fire hazard that it posed.
This November, the Los Angeles Zoo had to evacuate its animals over a fire in yet another homeless encampment. That fire not only endangered lives, but diverted resources from fighting the much more serious fires in Ventura County.
But instead of shutting down the encampments, Mayor Garcetti, who has done more to legalize and subsidize homelessness in Los Angeles than any of his predecessors, sent “outreach workers” from the expanding behemoth of the LA Homeless Services Agency to ask them to please move.
That worked about as well as expected.
Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer blasted Garcetti for condoning campfires and refusing to arrest “homeless firebugs” and “vagrants” because there weren’t enough “No Trespassing” signs. “It’s unclear to me how many signs Mayor Eric Garcetti thinks he would need to cover the Santa Monica Mountains behind Bel Air and the Getty Museum,” he angrily wrote.
Brush fires are just one of the wages of the legalization and subsidization of the homeless. And while these fires are spectacular, they are not the most dangerous consequence.
Los Angeles had doubled its homeless budget to $450 million. Despite that its homeless population had only dropped to 39,826, a reduction of only 256 people. The only surprise in those statistics is that the population dropped at all. Homeless spending has the notorious effect of increasing homeless populations rather than diminishing them as vagrants swarm in and agencies inflate their numbers.
But while doubling its homeless budget didn’t significantly diminish the homeless population in Los Angeles, it did have another spectacular statistical effect on the wellbeing of city residents.
LAPD statistics showed that homeless crime actually increased by nearly 50%, jumping from 5,976 crime reports of homeless perpetrators in most of 2017 to 8,906 crime reports in most of 2018.
Los Angeles had doubled its homeless budget and doubled the amount of homeless crime.
Homeless advocates like to claim that the police wrongly arrest the homeless for quality of life offenses that other people get a pass on. If ordinary people aren’t arrested for public urination or campfires, why should the homeless?
That argument fueled the legalization of homelessness which allowed vagrants to urinate and defecate in public, resulting in businesses fleeing the affected areas, and Hepatitis outbreaks among homeless populations in Los Angeles and other major California cities, and it also allowed them to start fires.
Several epidemics and fires later, not to mention an outbreak of shoplifting and tents being set up in residential areas and outside small businesses, the full scale of homeless legalization looks even worse.
It’s not just the “quality of life” offenses or broken windows policing whose accomplishments helped bring back American cities in the 90s, but which the pro-Crime progressives have been reversing.
LAPD statistics showed that while the homeless were suspects in 4.3% of all crime in Los Angeles, they were the suspects in 12.6% of aggravated assaults. The footprint of homeless crime was three times as high when it came to aggravated assaults compared to the whole general geography of crime.
And that’s not surprising.
Despite the echo chamber of public officials and media talking heads claiming that the homeless are just “ordinary folks” who are down on their luck, the most visible homeless population is the one that stays outside the shelter system, that aggressively camps in public areas and that is mentally ill.
Drive around Los Angeles for a few hours and you will quickly encounter Third World street scenes. Ragged men and women stomp down deserted streets, threatening, cursing and violently gesticulating in the air. Legions of schizophrenics hang out in even the most expensive areas having angry debates with unseen antagonists. And sometimes they take a break from fighting ghosts to punch passerby.
Talk to enough people and the anecdotal stories of being threatened, punched or otherwise assaulted by the homeless population pile up. Most of these assaults aren’t serious and aren’t reported to the police. But they have frightened residents and made them more willing to shovel money into a homeless services system that only encourages and enables the very problem they are hoping to end.
The real story of the homeless crisis is not about economics, it’s about mental illness. And the way it has played out is another demonstration of how leftist activism can manage to wreak havoc on a city, a state or a country on behalf of an incrementally tiny and dysfunctional population.
LAPD statistics show 8,906 crime reports among a homeless population which has been measured at 39,826 people.The crime rate per population in Los Angeles is a little over 3%. Among the homeless, it’s 22%.
Out of 4 million people, 39,826 homeless are responsible for 12.6% or one eight of aggravated assaults.
Less than 1% of the population commits one eight of the aggravated assaults in a city of four million. Meanwhile 4.5% of a budget meant to serve those 4 million is going to 1% of the population.
As it turns out, there is a 1% that is responsible for many of the problems. It’s just the other 1%.
It’s not the people who work harder, who achieve more and who produce more that are the problem. Nor is it the people who have fallen on hard times, but are still looking to get back on their feet.
It’s the people who are wrecking everything.
The greatest lie that leftists have ever told is that they seek to help the less fortunate. They don’t. If they are accidentally helped, that’s collateral assistance. Instead they elevate the most disruptive elements, economically, politically, socially and culturally, in order to wreck cities, states and countries.
Lefty activism insists that everything stop to help that 1% which can’t stop dealing drugs, complaining about microaggressions or urinating in doorways. It inflates their numbers, their suffering and their significance to prop up a narrative of an uncaring society that must be taken over and reformed.
By the Left.
The opposite is true.
It’s not that we care too little. We care too much. The Left took over by playing on that empathy.
Our empathy often overpowers our common sense. We do what feels good, rather than what is good. But our good deeds don’t lead to good outcomes. We legalize homelessness and Hepatitis outbreaks follow among the very people we tried to help. The more money we spend on the homeless, the more homeless there are. And then violence, crime and brush fires break out because we listened to the Left.
The Left wants us to enable criminals and the mentally ill. But when we do that, it not only harms us, it harms them. Mental illness and crime are not social problems. They are individual problems. They only become social problems to the extent that we lose the ability to meaningfully address them. And that not only means that we can’t help ourselves, it also means that we can no longer help them.
California’s homeless crisis is a tragic demonstration of a society losing its values and its sense. The Hepatitis outbreaks, violent assaults and brush fires are just symptoms of what happens when the 99% allow the 1% and its progressive protectors to get away with anything in the name of social justice.
Can China biotech R&D shake its reputational issues in 2019?
While 2018 was a big year for Chinese R&D on the whole, the sector hit the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Most notoriously, researcher Jiankui He caused a furor in November after revealing he had edited the genes of human embryos to provide protection against HIV infection, apparently without proper disclosure or regulatory oversight, prompting an international backlash.
There’s little doubt that revelation has damaged China’s scientific reputation, but this was also tarnished during the year by revelations of intellectual property thefts involving GlaxoSmithKline and Genentech, and has done little for the country’s standing as a location for biotech R&D that has been tainted in the past by faulty research, falsification of data and ethical breaches.
“This is a reputational issue which will probably blight the Chinese industry for years to come, whether the actual situation improves or not,” said Helen Chen of LEK Consulting, who told FierceBiotech that it is particularly disappointing given that “many companies are now actively considering China as part of their global clinical programs, as they have difficulty enrolling patients in sufficient numbers at sufficient speed in their home markets.”
It shouldn’t however be overlooked that there has also been plenty for China’s biotech to shout about this year, including a lot of cash flowing into Chinese and Chinese-U.S. biotechs as well as plenty of news flow from clinical pipelines.
A big factor was the emergence of Hong Kong’s HKEX as a hot spot for biotech IPOs, thanks to new rules that allowed prerevenue companies to list for the first time. Ascletis, BeiGene, Hua Medicine and Innovent were among the first biotechs to take that route, and it has been estimated that around 100 others are lining up to follow.
HKEX move has “certainly increased the visibility of Chinese biopharmas to the outside world, and also to financial investors,” said Chen, who thinks this has also caused some western firms to consider their China strategy, both for fundraising and commercialization. There is a counterweight, however, in the form of the U.S.’s Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) initiative that is scrutinizing Chinese investment in U.S. biotechs.
“This has already impacted Chinese investment in US biotechs,” noted Chen. “For example, Momenta’s biosimilar spin out was reported to have a lot of Chinese buyer interest, but all pulled out due to potential CFIUS considerations.”
One area in which China is making big gains is in the regulatory environment, which will help China consolidate on this in 2019 and beyond, suggested a recent report from McKinsey.
National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) reforms have been happening at a rapid pace, with escalating numbers of drug applications with priority review in the face of increased public engagement on medicines access. The latter was triggered in part by a hugely successful movie called Dying to Survive—a comedy about illegally importing leukemia drugs—which raised $200 million in its opening weekend and brought the issue of access to a wide audience.
Faster review of applications for clinical trials is also helping: With the latest amendment to the NMPA’s review process, applications are approved if the agency does not respond within 60 working days of filing.
McKinsey also noted that while China investments have poured into U.S. biotechs, trade tensions might create headwinds going forward.
Talent tug of war
Another sign of China’s development can be seen in the migration of talent, particularly multinational pharma companies bleeding top China-based executives to the country’s emerging biotech leaders, said McKinsey.
Prominent examples are the defections of China R&D heads at Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Janssen respectively to Innovent, C-Stone and I-Mab Biopharma. However, a poll of company of senior executives from multinationals in China also found they feel China still lacks high-quality talent to support “sustainable” biopharma innovation. The industry is experiencing a significant talent shortage that is expected to persist for the next 2-3 years, said McKinsey.
The survey suggested that accelerated review and approval, an improved reimbursement for innovative therapies, rising healthcare investment and stronger R&D capabilities are all helping to build the sector, but there are still gaps—sometimes significant—compared to the U.S. The novelty of innovative assets is also still lagging, for example, but with the local innovative pipeline growing overall and more Chinese companies in in-licensing programs, there are clear signs that the “innovation ecosystem” is improving.
The changing environment stems in part from “the decade-plus investments and encouragement of biotech by the Chinese government, companies and investors finally bearing some fruit,” according to Chen.
There are some areas where China is threatening to overtake the west in biotech R&D and lose its reputation as a “fast-follower.” The first human trials of CRISPR gene-editing took place there, for example, and some observers believe the country is becoming a powerhouse when it comes to applying artificial intelligence to healthcare.
Chen thinks the fast-follower approach will still be around for a long time to come. “Being a fast-follower is a viable and, some would suggest, better strategy,” she points out. “This is the ‘first-in-class’ versus the ‘best-in-class’ debate that Western pharmas have had for decades.”
Sunday, December 23, 2018
AIK: The Swedish club selling ex-captain Nils-Eric Johansson’s DNA
What’s your favourite piece of football memorabilia?
An autograph? Maybe a shirt worn by your favourite player?
How about the DNA of your club captain?
That is exactly what Swedish champions AIK are offering this Christmas.
For 3,499 Swedish krona (£307) fans can buy the crystallised DNA of club legend Nils-Eric Johansson, who was forced to retire in February because of a heart defect.
The 38-year-old’s genetic make-up comes in a test tube and lasts for 500 years.
“It’s like Jurassic Park!” Johansson tells BBC Sport. “In 500 years, you might see a lot of Johanssons running around, who knows?”
Johansson says technically he could be cloned, but a section of the DNA is removed to prevent “illicit or illegal behaviour”.
“It is not 100% me; it is 99%. That 1% is very important for my own sake and protects my copyright to the DNA,” says the former Bayern Munich, Blackburn and Leicester defender.
“You would not be able to put my DNA on a crime scene for instance, as it would not match perfectly, so you could tell it wasn’t me.”
He jokes: “[If you cloned me] it would probably be right-footed instead of left-footed.”
How? Why? And other pertinent questions…
Johansson was introduced to the company DNAMQ, which “integrates identity into products” and was founded by former AIK, Chelsea and Coventry goalkeeper Magnus Hedman and Dr Robert Grass.
Former Sweden international Johansson went to the Swiss laboratory of Dr Grass, who took a swab from his mouth to be able to mass produce the DNA, which he says looks like “snow or ice”.
Former Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee has undergone the process, although it is thought that Johansson is the first sportsman to sell his DNA.
“You can get a worn match shirt that will have DNA in it, but it will be washed out,” Johansson says. “This is a way to keep you crystallised for 500 years.
“You can bring your favourite player home with you, keep him and have them for a very long time. A lot of fans love to collect things – this could be one of those things.
“When I first got asked to do this, I was taken aback, I thought it was quite scary – has technology gone too far?
“But it is fun to push the boundaries, see if the fans like it, and the reaction has mostly been positive.
“My wife is OK with it. We have the ultimate DNA of our three kids running around at home.”
AIK have produced 371 boxes, one for each game Johansson played for the club, containing a test tube of DNA, a captain’s armband with his face printed on it and a certificate of authenticity.
Some of the proceeds will go to a charity in Sweden, and Johansson said it was “hard to put a price tag on DNA and myself”.
“Each box represents one game I have played in. There a lot of stories in one box,” he adds.
‘I could have died on the pitch’
Johansson won the Bundesliga with Bayern in 2001 and the League Cup with Blackburn in 2002, having joined for £2.7m the previous year.
After two seasons at Leicester, he joined AIK in 2007, but in February this year was told by doctors that he could not play again because of a long-standing heart issue.
Johansson was born with the heart problem and has known about it since he was 20. However, aged 38, he was advised to retire two weeks before the season.
AIK paid tribute to Johansson by adding a picture of his face and the words “#4 – Our Captain” to the sleeves of their shirts for the season.
The team won the Allsvenskan in November and Johansson was invited to lift the trophy alongside captain Henok Goitom.
“It was a risk I was not willing to take. I am 38 and have got three kids. My career was almost done anyway,” he said.
“But it was a lot to take. I had done pre-season and worked so hard to get in shape and compete with the youngsters, when the doctors said ‘no more’.
“From then on I had to watch from the stands.”
He added: “I am very lucky and happy they saw it. Had I continued, something might have happened and I could have died on the pitch.
“At the same time, I felt fit and thought ‘why can’t I play and do what I love?’ It comes back to my family and making sure I am there for them.
“Sometimes I wake up and think I am going training. There is something strong inside me that’s hard to change.”
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