Merck (MRK) filed a petition to institute an inter partes review of claims 1-10, 16-19, and 38-45 of U.S. Patent No. 9,492,559 held by Pfizer (PFE) and the USPTO has determined following arguments at an oral hearing that Merck has “shown by a preponderance of the evidence that claims 1-10, 16-19, and 38-45 of the ‘559 patent are unpatentable,” according to a final decision posted to the USPTO website. The ‘559 patent involves vaccines for “vaccination of human subjects, in particular infants and elderly, against pneumoccocal infections.”
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Facebook, Messenger, AND Instagram are down in simultaneous global outage
A slew of Facebook-owned sites are experiencing a worldwide outage, leaving thousands of users unable to connect.
Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram have all been having issues since around noon (ET), in some cases resulting in a ‘total blackout.’
The three apps crashed primarily in major urban areas across the United States and Europe, along with parts of South America.
WhatsApp – also owned by Facebook – has been hit by spotty service issues as well, though it does not appear to have been hit as hard as the other apps.
Facebook has confirmed the platform-wide issue, but has not yet released a fix as of about two hours after the outage first struck.
A slew of Facebook -owned social media sites are experiencing a worldwide outage, leaving thousands of users unable to connect. Outage hotspots for Facebook are shown in the map above
Social media users flocked to Twitter to complain about the outage after finding that not only is Facebook down, but Instagram is too.
More than a third of Facebook users affected by the outage reported that they were experiencing a ‘total blackout.’
Others said they could not refresh the News Feed or log into their accounts. Similar problems cropped up on Instagram and Messenger at roughly the same time.
Instagram users have reported being unable to refresh the feed, log in, or access the desktop site.
On Messenger, many users have not been able to connect to the server at all and have reported that they’re not receiving messages.
Many were quick to point out that they are frequently turning to Twitter to check if other websites are down, noting that the platform somehow is always ‘standing strong’ despite service issues elsewhere.
Others took the opportunity to joke about Facebook’s recent privacy scandals.
‘Pages won’t load. I’m sure they’re busy loading new algorithms to sell your data & spy on you better and more efficiently,’ one users tweeted.
Wells says generic risk, not Purdue news, bringing down Emergent shares
Wells Fargo analyst David Maris “completely” disagrees with the view that shares of Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) are weak today on news of Purdue Pharma’s nalmefene injection receiving fast track designation from the FDA. Maris notes that none of his clients have raised this as a potential issue and that, as an injection, Purdue’s pproduct is not comparable to Emergent’s nasal naloxone. An injection is not practical for the emergency medical technician and at home market, where most of Narcan is used, Maris tells investors in a research note. For example, Amphastar (AMPH) is a leader in the injectable market, and the vast majority of its use is in the hospital setting, the analyst points out. Rather, Maris attributes the recent selloff in Emergent BioSolutions to worries about the potential introduction of a generic version of Narcan. Teva (TEVA) has had a tentative approval for generic Narcan for some time, and its 30 month stay is over today, meaning that Teva could launch at risk from this point forward, Maris writes. As of now, there is no clear indication whether Teva will launch or not, he adds. While the analyst is not expecting an at-risk Narcan launch, he believes the risk of such an event is largely reflected in the shares given today’s decline. Nonetheless, Maris keeps a Market Perform rating on Emergent with a $68 price target. The stock in afternoon trading is down 9%, or $4.98, to $52.00.
Health Insurance, eHealth fall on report of short-term health insurance probe
Shares of Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ) and eHealth (EHTH) droped after Politico’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reported Via Twitter, “SCOOP: House Dems led by @FrankPallone are launching an investigation into some of the biggest companies that sell short-term health insurance plans (which they say are misleading consumers and drawing them away from the more comprehensive but more expensive ACA market).
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2878743
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2878743
UnitedHealth questioned by House committee on short-term health plan sales
Representatives of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent a letter to UnitedHealth (UNH) questioning the company about its sale of short-term limited duration health insurance plans, or STLDI, stating in the letter that the “Committee’s examination of these plans has yielded disturbing information about STLDI.” Shares of Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ) and eHealth (EHTH) dropped after Politico’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reported via Twitter that House Democrats are launching an investigation into “some of the biggest companies” that sell short-term health insurance plans. In afternoon trading, shares of eHealth are down 4% while Health Insurance Innovations is down 16%
Boeing ‘supports action’ to temporarily ground 737 MAX operations in U.S.
Boeing stated that it “continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX.” However, after consultation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, and aviation authorities and its customers around the world, Boeing “has determined — out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety — to recommend to the FAA the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 MAX aircraft.” Dennis Muilenburg, president, CEO, Chairman of The Boeing Company, said: “On behalf of the entire Boeing team, we extend our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in these two tragic accidents We are supporting this proactive step out of an abundance of caution. Safety is a core value at Boeing for as long as we have been building airplanes; and it always will be. There is no greater priority for our company and our industry. We are doing everything we can to understand the cause of the accidents in partnership with the investigators, deploy safety enhancements and help ensure this does not happen again.”
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2878763
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2878763
Sientra price target lowered to $16 after quarterly results at Stifel
Stifel analyst Jonathan Block lowered his price target lowered to $16 from $19 saying that while Q4 results were largely known, the company provided a tempered first half of 2019 outlook. The analyst notes that Sientra had already preannounced Q4 results in January, but points out that there were a couple of incremental data points on the conference call that may exert some near-term pressure on the stock, including recent headlines surrounding ALCL and textured implants that have pressured the number of Plastic Surgeon breast augmentation consultations in Q1, which may continue into Q2. Nonetheless, Block reiterates a Buy rating on the shares.
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