France’s Pasteur Institute Foundation is looking into developing a
vaccine to treat the coronavirus, an official at the institute said on
Friday.
Christophe D’Enfert also told reporters the vaccine could be made available in 20 months’ time.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-france-vaccine/frances-pasteur-institute-foundation-hoping-to-develop-coronavirus-vaccine-idUSKBN1ZU1RJ
Friday, January 31, 2020
India bans export of protective masks, clothing amid coronavirus outbreak
India on Friday banned the export of personal protection equipment
such as masks and clothing amid a global coronavirus outbreak.
It did not give a reason for the ban but it reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a woman in the southern state of Kerala who was a student of Wuhan University in China.
The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicenter of the outbreak, and the virus has since spread to more than 9,800 people globally and killed 213 people in China.
Several Indian citizens living in Wuhan will arrive in India by plane on Saturday and be taken to a quarantine center on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.
India, the world’s second most heavily populated country after China, has taken measures to ensure that all people arriving from China report to health authorities.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-india/india-bans-export-of-protective-masks-clothing-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN1ZU20A
It did not give a reason for the ban but it reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a woman in the southern state of Kerala who was a student of Wuhan University in China.
The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicenter of the outbreak, and the virus has since spread to more than 9,800 people globally and killed 213 people in China.
Several Indian citizens living in Wuhan will arrive in India by plane on Saturday and be taken to a quarantine center on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.
India, the world’s second most heavily populated country after China, has taken measures to ensure that all people arriving from China report to health authorities.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-india/india-bans-export-of-protective-masks-clothing-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN1ZU20A
CMS cuts payments to 786 hospitals over high rates of infection, injury
CMS will trim 786 hospitals’ Medicare payments in fiscal year 2020
for having the highest rates of patient injuries and infections.
Five things to know:
1. Created under the ACA, the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program aims to prevent harm to patients by providing a financial incentive for hospitals to prevent hospital-acquired conditions. Under the program, a hospital’s total score is based on performance on six quality measures. Each year, Medicare cuts payments by 1 percent for hospitals that fall in the worst-performing quartile.
2. On Jan. 29, CMS identified the 786 hospitals that will have their Medicare payments reduced for patients discharged between last October and this September, according to Kaiser Health News. The penalties will be applied as hospitals submit claims to Medicare for reimbursement.
3. According to KHN, Medicare is penalizing the following seven hospitals named to U.S. News‘ Best Hospitals Honor Roll:
5. The hospital industry has argued the program’s design causes hospitals that do the best job of testing for infections to appear among the worst based on statistics, while those with less thorough testing might appear better than they should.
Access the full Kaiser Health News article here.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/cms-cuts-payments-to-786-hospitals-over-high-rates-of-infection-injury.html
Five things to know:
1. Created under the ACA, the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program aims to prevent harm to patients by providing a financial incentive for hospitals to prevent hospital-acquired conditions. Under the program, a hospital’s total score is based on performance on six quality measures. Each year, Medicare cuts payments by 1 percent for hospitals that fall in the worst-performing quartile.
2. On Jan. 29, CMS identified the 786 hospitals that will have their Medicare payments reduced for patients discharged between last October and this September, according to Kaiser Health News. The penalties will be applied as hospitals submit claims to Medicare for reimbursement.
3. According to KHN, Medicare is penalizing the following seven hospitals named to U.S. News‘ Best Hospitals Honor Roll:
- UPMC Shadyside (Pittsburgh)
- Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles)
- Keck Hospital of USC (Los Angeles)
- Stanford (Calif.) Hospital
- UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco)
- NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City)
- Mayo Clinic (Phoenix)
5. The hospital industry has argued the program’s design causes hospitals that do the best job of testing for infections to appear among the worst based on statistics, while those with less thorough testing might appear better than they should.
Access the full Kaiser Health News article here.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/cms-cuts-payments-to-786-hospitals-over-high-rates-of-infection-injury.html
EssilorLuxottica Takeover of Grandvision Faces Full EU Probe
Optical company EssilorLuxottica SA’s 7.2 billion-euro ($7.94
billion) bid for peer Grandvision NV faces full-scale EU antitrust
scrutiny after it declined to offer concessions to address the European
Commission’s concerns, Reuters reports, citing unnamed sources.
–Retailers and rival lens makers had expressed concerns about the merger to the EU’s antitrust authority, Reuters reports.
–EssilorLuxottica gave up the chance to offer concessions on Thursday, according to information on the website of the commission. The commission is set to conclude its preliminary review on the merger on Feb. 6, Reuters reports. Both the commission and EssilorLuxottica declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
https://www.marketscreener.com/ESSILORLUXOTTICA-4641/news/EssilorLuxottica-Takeover-of-Grandvision-Faces-Full-EU-Probe-Reuters-29921403/
–Retailers and rival lens makers had expressed concerns about the merger to the EU’s antitrust authority, Reuters reports.
–EssilorLuxottica gave up the chance to offer concessions on Thursday, according to information on the website of the commission. The commission is set to conclude its preliminary review on the merger on Feb. 6, Reuters reports. Both the commission and EssilorLuxottica declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
https://www.marketscreener.com/ESSILORLUXOTTICA-4641/news/EssilorLuxottica-Takeover-of-Grandvision-Faces-Full-EU-Probe-Reuters-29921403/
Bayer considers new tactic in Roundup settlement talks
As Bayer AG tries to settle U.S. lawsuits claiming that its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the company is considering a proposal that would bar plaintiffs’ lawyers involved in the litigation from advertising for new clients, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bayer has said it is engaged in mediation to resolve the litigation,
which has hit its share price since it acquired Roundup as part of its
$63 billion takeover of Monsanto in 2018.
The company has denied claims that Roundup or its active ingredient glyphosate causes cancer, saying decades of independent studies have shown the product is safe for human use.
The person said that Bayer believes an agreement with plaintiffs’ attorneys to ban advertising would limit the company’s future legal exposure since the “vast majority” of U.S. law firms that would bring such claims would be bound by the agreement.
Bayer declined to comment.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Thursday that Bayer was considering stopping retail sales of glyphosate while continuing to serve farmers, because the bulk of plaintiffs are private users. Bayer did not comment to Reuters on this report.
The company has ruled out putting a cancer warning on the weedkiller because market regulators such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have deemed it save to use, but that means lawsuits could keeping piling in.
In October, Bayer largely blamed law firms’ TV ad campaigns for the more than doubling of U.S. plaintiffs seeking damages to 42,700 within just three months.
A provision such as the one the company is considering could result in “dramatically fewer claims” so that the litigation is no longer a “big drag on Bayer’s balance sheet,” said David Noll, a professor at Rutgers Law School and expert in mass torts, who is not involved in the litigation.
In January, court-appointed mediator Ken Feinberg put the number of Roundup cancer claimants at more than 75,000, which includes those that have not been filed. Bayer said the claims it has been served with in court were below 50,000.
While such a provision is unusual, there is precedent.
As part of a 2013 settlement between Merck & Co and plaintiffs claiming the company’s Fosamax osteoporosis drug caused jaw injury, lawyers pledged that they did not intend to “solicit claims” that arose after the settlement.
Perry Weitz of Weitz & Luxenberg, one of the leading plaintiffs’ firms involved in the Roundup litigation, criticized an idea to bar firms from advertising for future clients.
“A company cannot ask a lawyer to enter an agreement to restrict his practice in the future,” he said.
He said there had not been “serious discussions about future cases,” but declined to elaborate.
Michael Miller of The Miller Firm, another major party in the talks, said that “it is possible, if done correctly, to manage the exposure to future claims.” He declined to elaborate. Three other plaintiffs firms who have brought the bulk of the claims – Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman; Andrus Wagstaff PC; Holland Law Firm – declined to comment. Moore Law Group PLLC did not respond to requests for comment.
Bayer’s shares have lost about 20% of their value since August 2018 when a California jury in the first lawsuit over Roundup found Monsanto should have warned of the alleged cancer risks. Bayer has lost two more jury verdicts and is appealing all three rulings.
The company has denied claims that Roundup or its active ingredient glyphosate causes cancer, saying decades of independent studies have shown the product is safe for human use.
The person said that Bayer believes an agreement with plaintiffs’ attorneys to ban advertising would limit the company’s future legal exposure since the “vast majority” of U.S. law firms that would bring such claims would be bound by the agreement.
Bayer declined to comment.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Thursday that Bayer was considering stopping retail sales of glyphosate while continuing to serve farmers, because the bulk of plaintiffs are private users. Bayer did not comment to Reuters on this report.
The company has ruled out putting a cancer warning on the weedkiller because market regulators such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have deemed it save to use, but that means lawsuits could keeping piling in.
In October, Bayer largely blamed law firms’ TV ad campaigns for the more than doubling of U.S. plaintiffs seeking damages to 42,700 within just three months.
A provision such as the one the company is considering could result in “dramatically fewer claims” so that the litigation is no longer a “big drag on Bayer’s balance sheet,” said David Noll, a professor at Rutgers Law School and expert in mass torts, who is not involved in the litigation.
In January, court-appointed mediator Ken Feinberg put the number of Roundup cancer claimants at more than 75,000, which includes those that have not been filed. Bayer said the claims it has been served with in court were below 50,000.
While such a provision is unusual, there is precedent.
As part of a 2013 settlement between Merck & Co and plaintiffs claiming the company’s Fosamax osteoporosis drug caused jaw injury, lawyers pledged that they did not intend to “solicit claims” that arose after the settlement.
Perry Weitz of Weitz & Luxenberg, one of the leading plaintiffs’ firms involved in the Roundup litigation, criticized an idea to bar firms from advertising for future clients.
“A company cannot ask a lawyer to enter an agreement to restrict his practice in the future,” he said.
He said there had not been “serious discussions about future cases,” but declined to elaborate.
Michael Miller of The Miller Firm, another major party in the talks, said that “it is possible, if done correctly, to manage the exposure to future claims.” He declined to elaborate. Three other plaintiffs firms who have brought the bulk of the claims – Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman; Andrus Wagstaff PC; Holland Law Firm – declined to comment. Moore Law Group PLLC did not respond to requests for comment.
Bayer’s shares have lost about 20% of their value since August 2018 when a California jury in the first lawsuit over Roundup found Monsanto should have warned of the alleged cancer risks. Bayer has lost two more jury verdicts and is appealing all three rulings.
https://www.marketscreener.com/BAYER-AG-436063/news/Bayer-considers-new-tactic-in-Roundup-settlement-talks-29921616/?countview=0
Pilots, flight attendants demand flights to China stop as global virus fear mounts
Pilots and flight attendants are demanding airlines stop flights to China as health officials declare a global emergency over the rapidly spreading coronavirus, with American Airlines’ pilots filing a lawsuit seeking an immediate halt.
China has reported nearly 10,000 cases and 213 deaths, but the virus
has spread to 18 countries, mostly, presumably, by airline passengers.
The United States has advised its citizens not to travel to China, raising its warning to the same level as those for Iraq and Afghanistan.
U.S. airlines, which have been reducing flights to China this week, were reassessing flying plans as a result, according to people familiar with the matter.
It is possible the White House could opt to take further action to bar flights to China in coming days, but officials stressed that no decision has been made.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American Airlines pilots, cited “serious, and in many ways still unknown, health threats posed by the coronavirus” in a lawsuit filed in Texas, where the airline is based.
American said it was taking precautions against the virus but had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. On Wednesday, it announced flight cancellations from Los Angeles to Beijing and Shanghai, but is continuing flights from Dallas.
APA President Eric Ferguson urged pilots assigned to U.S.-China flights to decline the assignment. In a statement, the American Airlines’ flight attendants union said they supported the pilots’ lawsuit and called on the company and the U.S. government to “err on the side of caution and halt all flights to and from China.”
Pilots at United Airlines, the largest U.S. airline to China, concerned for their safety will be allowed to drop their trip without pay, according to a Wednesday memo from their union to members.
United announced on Thursday another 332 U.S.-China flight cancellations between February and March 28, though it will continue operating round trip flights from San Francisco to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The American Airlines pilot lawsuit came as an increasing number of airlines stopped their flights to mainland China, including Air France KLM SA, British Airways, Germany’s Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic.
Other major carriers have kept flying to China, but protective masks and shorter layovers designed to reduce exposure have done little to reassure crews.
‘COUNTDOWN’
A U.S. flight attendant who recently landed from one major Chinese city said a big concern is catching the virus and spreading it to families, or getting quarantined while on a layover.”I didn’t understand the gravity of the situation until I went there,” she said on condition of anonymity, describing general paranoia on the return flight, with every passenger wearing a mask.
“Now I feel like I’m on a 14-day countdown.”
Thai Airways is hosing its cabins with disinfectant spray between China flights and allowing crew to wear masks and gloves.
Delta Air Lines is operating fewer flights and offering food deliveries so crew can stay in their hotels. The carrier is also allowing pilots to drop China trips without pay, a memo from its union to members said.
Korean Air Lines Co Ltd and Singapore Airlines are sending additional crew to fly each plane straight back, avoiding overnight stays.
The South Korean carrier also said it was loading protective suits for flight attendants who might need to take care of suspected coronavirus cases in the air.
Airlines in Asia are seeing a big drop in bookings along with forced cancellations because of the coronavirus outbreak, the head of aircraft lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd said, adding the impact could last for some months.
The outbreak poses the biggest epidemic threat to the airline industry since the 2003 SARS crisis, which led to a 45% plunge in passenger demand in Asia at its peak in April of that year, analysts said.
Fitch Ratings said airlines with more moderate exposure to China and the Asia-Pacific region were likely to be able to re-deploy capacity to alternative routes to mitigate the effect on traffic, but that could increase competition on those routes and reduce airfares.
Air France, which maintained China flights throughout the SARS epidemic, suspended its Beijing and Shanghai flights on Thursday after cabin crews demanded an immediate halt.
“When the staff see that other airlines have stopped flying there, their reaction is ‘Why are we still going?’,” said Flore Arrighi, president of UNAC, one of the airline’s four main flight attendants’ unions.
The United States has advised its citizens not to travel to China, raising its warning to the same level as those for Iraq and Afghanistan.
U.S. airlines, which have been reducing flights to China this week, were reassessing flying plans as a result, according to people familiar with the matter.
It is possible the White House could opt to take further action to bar flights to China in coming days, but officials stressed that no decision has been made.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American Airlines pilots, cited “serious, and in many ways still unknown, health threats posed by the coronavirus” in a lawsuit filed in Texas, where the airline is based.
American said it was taking precautions against the virus but had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. On Wednesday, it announced flight cancellations from Los Angeles to Beijing and Shanghai, but is continuing flights from Dallas.
APA President Eric Ferguson urged pilots assigned to U.S.-China flights to decline the assignment. In a statement, the American Airlines’ flight attendants union said they supported the pilots’ lawsuit and called on the company and the U.S. government to “err on the side of caution and halt all flights to and from China.”
Pilots at United Airlines, the largest U.S. airline to China, concerned for their safety will be allowed to drop their trip without pay, according to a Wednesday memo from their union to members.
United announced on Thursday another 332 U.S.-China flight cancellations between February and March 28, though it will continue operating round trip flights from San Francisco to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The American Airlines pilot lawsuit came as an increasing number of airlines stopped their flights to mainland China, including Air France KLM SA, British Airways, Germany’s Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic.
Other major carriers have kept flying to China, but protective masks and shorter layovers designed to reduce exposure have done little to reassure crews.
‘COUNTDOWN’
A U.S. flight attendant who recently landed from one major Chinese city said a big concern is catching the virus and spreading it to families, or getting quarantined while on a layover.”I didn’t understand the gravity of the situation until I went there,” she said on condition of anonymity, describing general paranoia on the return flight, with every passenger wearing a mask.
“Now I feel like I’m on a 14-day countdown.”
Thai Airways is hosing its cabins with disinfectant spray between China flights and allowing crew to wear masks and gloves.
Delta Air Lines is operating fewer flights and offering food deliveries so crew can stay in their hotels. The carrier is also allowing pilots to drop China trips without pay, a memo from its union to members said.
Korean Air Lines Co Ltd and Singapore Airlines are sending additional crew to fly each plane straight back, avoiding overnight stays.
The South Korean carrier also said it was loading protective suits for flight attendants who might need to take care of suspected coronavirus cases in the air.
Airlines in Asia are seeing a big drop in bookings along with forced cancellations because of the coronavirus outbreak, the head of aircraft lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd said, adding the impact could last for some months.
The outbreak poses the biggest epidemic threat to the airline industry since the 2003 SARS crisis, which led to a 45% plunge in passenger demand in Asia at its peak in April of that year, analysts said.
Fitch Ratings said airlines with more moderate exposure to China and the Asia-Pacific region were likely to be able to re-deploy capacity to alternative routes to mitigate the effect on traffic, but that could increase competition on those routes and reduce airfares.
Air France, which maintained China flights throughout the SARS epidemic, suspended its Beijing and Shanghai flights on Thursday after cabin crews demanded an immediate halt.
“When the staff see that other airlines have stopped flying there, their reaction is ‘Why are we still going?’,” said Flore Arrighi, president of UNAC, one of the airline’s four main flight attendants’ unions.
https://www.marketscreener.com/news/Pilots-flight-attendants-demand-flights-to-China-stop-as-virus-fear-mounts-worldwide–29916989/?countview=0
Aduro adds to rally as bargain hunters move in
Micro cap Aduro BioTech (ADRO +18.1%) is up on almost double normal volume. Shares have rallied 60% since touching $0.99 on December 23, 2019.
Shares were in a long-term downtrend before the recent rally, pressured by Novartis’ exit from STING pathway activator ADU-S100 and a recent downsizing that cut 59% of its workforce.
Despite the bad news, SVB Leerink’s Daina
Graybosch raised her fair value target to $7 (335% upside) from $3
citing the company’s modest valuation considering the upside if either
of two gene therapy programs are successful and/or one of its Big
Biopharma collaborations bear fruit.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3536944-aduro-adds-to-rally-bargain-hunters-move-in-shares-up-18
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