The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it
will start testing for the rapidly spreading coronavirus that
originated in China through its existing seasonal influenza surveillance
system in five states.
The agency said it is working with public health laboratories in Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York City to begin
testing for cases of the virus.
Laboratories in those cities are already tracking seasonal flu.
Patients with flu-like respiratory systems who test negative will be
tested for the new coronavirus, Nancy Messonnier, director of the
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a
telephone briefing with reporters.
So far, the United States has only had 15 cases of the coronavirus,
including two instances of person-to-person transmission, the agency
confirmed.
“What we’re focusing on right now is containing the virus,”
Messonnier said. “With only 15 cases here in the United States, we
remain optimistic our aggressive measures have slowed the impact of it
here.”
The CDC’s current strategy to fight the virus includes quarantines
and travel restrictions, but that may change if the virus takes hold in
the United States and begins to spread.
In that scenario, the CDC will put in place “social distancing”
strategies such as cancelling mass gatherings, using telemedicine,
tele-schooling and remote working to try to disrupt the spread of the
virus, Messonnier said.
Earlier on Friday, the World Health Organization said it will be
sending a bigger delegation of experts to help with the outbreak in
China, but it was still not clear if U.S. scientists would join them.
“We continue to hope CDC staff will be included in that mission,” Messonnier said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-influenza-usa/u-s-health-officials-to-start-testing-for-coronavirus-in-five-states-idUSKBN2082BP
Friday, February 14, 2020
Veeva +3% as new bull praises growth, margins
Piper Sandler starts Veeva Systems (NYSE:VEEV) with an Overweight rating and a $188 price target. The company has a Bullish average Sell Side rating.
Analyst Brent Bracelin calls Veeva a “best-in-class cloud software asset” due to its strong growth and margin model.
Bracelin sees “nothing alarming that would derail Veeva’s promising growth trajectory.”
Veeva shares are up 3.1% to $158.70.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3542335-veevaplus-3-new-bull-praises-growth-marginsMolina posts mixed Q4, says ACA shoppers not switching for savings
- Molina reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 fell to $168 million compared with $201 million during the prior-year period. However, net income for the full year increased to $737 million from $707 million in 2018.
- Like its competitors, Molina reported an increase in its medical cost ratio to 86% during the fourth quarter, mainly due to its Affordable Care Act marketplace business.
- The Long Beach, California-based insurer ended 2019 with 3.3 million members, less than the 3.8 million members it had at the end of 2018. The company’s premium revenue fell to $16.2 billion for the year and declined to $4.1 billion for the quarter. The drops in both periods are due to Medicaid membership losses in New Mexico and Florida.
Executives said so far in 2020 Molina’s marketplace business has attracted 350,000 members, a 30% increase from the end of 2019.
In a bid to drive greater marketplace membership, Molina lowered its prices by 4% on average. Despite the dip in prices, it did not attract the membership growth the company had hoped for in 2020, particularly in Texas and Florida.
It appears consumers are getting less price sensitive. CEO Joseph Zubretsky said fewer members switched to Molina plans for the same price differentials that had swayed them in previous years. Previously, shoppers would switch plans that were $10 or $20 cheaper, he said. That wasn’t what Molina witnessed this year.
That’s not all bad news, though, he said, as analysts zeroed on whether competitive pricing with affect future growth and whether there is anything beyond pricing that can fuel growth in the marketplace business during their line of questioning on Tuesday’s call with investors.
“The favorable news in all of this is while fewer members moved it also means that more members are retained,” Zubretksy said. Molina now expects less attrition of members throughout the year.
“As members stay with you longer they’re probably more chronic and heavy users of healthcare services and less likely to move,” he said. Still, the line of business produced exceptional margins in 2019, he said.
Molina expects 9.2% revenue growth in its marketplace business for 2020 and an after tax margin to be at least 4.7%.
In its Medicaid book of business, Molina ended the year with 2.9 million members, slipping from about 3.4 million members the year prior, and generated less revenue.
Still, the Medicaid business improved its medical cost ratio to 88%, an important measure that compares the amount an insurer brings in from premiums to the amount it spends on care.
For 2020, the company expects Medicaid premium revenue growth of 6.4% and at least a 3.2% margin.
Molina is poised to grow its Medicaid footprint as it announced two acquisitions already this year, adding nearly 100,000 members.
For its Medicare book of business, the company’s smallest segment by enrollment, the company reported its medical cost ratio increased to 85.3% but it was able to increase premium growth to $2.2 billion during 2019. Molina is forecasting premium growth of 12% for 2020 and margins to be around 5.6%.
Molina’s competitors have also noted an uptick in medical cost ratios. Centene reported that the flu and increased utilization among its marketplace members were responsible for the bump in its medical cost ratio for the fourth quarter.
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/molina-posts-mixed-q4-says-aca-shoppers-not-switching-for-savings/572045/
Moody’s weighs coronavirus impact across hospitals, other sectors
- The spread of COVID-19, the virus that sparked an outbreak two months ago beginning in Wuhan, China, will have mixed credit implications for healthcare companies in the United States, according to a report released Wednesday from Moody’s Investors Service.
- For hospitals, the effect will depend on the length of stay for patients with the disease. Any further outbreak would increase patient volume but could pressure margins if facilities are forced to cancel more lucrative elective procedures.
- The outbreak is credit negative for U.S.-based device and pharmaceutical companies that make products in China or rely on it in the supply chain. Payers are not likely to be materially affected, barring a pandemic, Moody’s said.
During a call with reporters Wednesday, Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the agency expects community spread in the U.S. and is “planning for increased demand on our healthcare system.” This includes “taking steps to make sure there are enough supplies and appropriate guidance to prevent the spread of the disease, especially among healthcare personnel caring for patients,” she said.
The CDC recommends providers treating potential cases of the virus be vigilant, follow infection protocols and use personal protective equipment.
The spread of the outbreak over the past month and a half has wreaked havoc on stock markets. Moody’s said healthcare companies will certainly see an impact due to China’s place in the global medical supply chain and other factors related to how prevalent COVID-19 becomes in the U.S.
For hospitals, outbreaks like seasonal flu can boost margins in a profitable way, but prolonged hospital stays get expensive as temporary labor must be hired and more overtime paid. Hospitals that aren’t well prepared for a surge can also suffer from an increase in hospital-acquired infections.
“Complications that may result from hospital acquired infections are not reimbursed by Medicare and often require treatment in the intensive care unit, which is one of the most expensive areas to staff,” Moody’s noted.
Hospitals in the U.S. have said they’re prepared for wider spread of the disease after learning lessons from the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Rebecca Bartles, executive director of system infection prevention at Providence, told Healthcare Dive recently the hospital treated the first U.S. patient with COVID-19 and the process went smoothly.
The system remains ready for such an occurrence at all times. “Drilling for high-consequence disease happens routinely,” she said.
Moody’s noted that if the virus does spread widely in the U.S., demand will also increase for certain medical products like hospital gowns, masks, gloves, infection prevention kits and ventilators. This would benefit companies like Cardinal Health, Owens & Minor and Vyaire Medical, so long as they can meet demand.
But device makers will likely see a credit negative effect from supply chain disruption, even if the outbreak is contained to China. Companies hit most in that area are Boston Scientific, Becton, Dickinson & Co. and Abbott Laboratories, Moody’s said.
Last week, the FDA awarded its first emergency use authorization for a test to detect and diagnose the disease, though some states have found during the verification process potentials flaws. CDC is working to resolve that issue. HHS has said it is working with biotech Regeneron on antibody treatments.
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/moodys-coronavirus-spread-in-us-to-have-mixed-credit-effects-across-healt/572261/
Coronavirus Outbreak Could Affect Production at 2 GM Plants: Union
Union officials at two major General Motors Co. factories in the U.S.
are warning of parts shortages related to the coronavirus outbreak in
China, a sign that fallout for the auto industry’s global supply chain
could soon touch U.S. shores..
A GM factory in Flint, Mich., which makes heavy-duty versions of GM’s Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, faces shortages of at least two parts sourced from China, said Chad Fabbro, a financial secretary at the United Auto Workers’ local representing workers at the plant.
In Arlington, Texas, GM’s assembly plant is confronting the possibility of running out of certain parts from China, said Terry Valenzuela, president of UAW’s local chapter. The situation remains fluid, he added.
That factory makes large sport-utility vehicles that are mechanically similar to pickup trucks, including the Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Suburban.
GM said it doesn’t anticipate an impact on truck production as of now.
“We continue to monitor our supply chain and are in close communications with our Tier One suppliers to mitigate any risk to production in North America,” the company said in a statement.
The outbreak of the novel disease, which health authorities have named Covid-19, led China’s government to impose extended shutdowns of manufacturing plants throughout the country after the traditional Lunar New Year holiday, in hopes of slowing its spread.
Although many companies said they planned to restart plants this week, analysts have stressed the impact of supply-chain disruptions, and worker quarantines make it difficult to anticipate when production will return to normal.
The outbreak has halted assembly lines at several car plants in China. Forecasters at LMC Automotive expect the outbreak to depress Chinese auto production by around 1.2 million cars this quarter. Last year, GM produced nearly 640,000 cars — nearly 40% of its Chinese production — in Hubei province, where the outbreak originated and where most of the infections have been diagnosed, the firm said.
The shutdowns have also affected factories making auto parts and components. Shortages of China-made parts have already started rippling through the global automotive supply chain, leading Hyundai Motor Co. and France’s Renault SA to temporarily idle some assembly lines in South Korea.
The Flint factory is one of GM’s largest in the U.S., employing about 5,000 workers. It would likely run out of decals and vents first, both of which can be installed after a near-finished truck rolls off the assembly line, Mr. Fabbro said.
Longer delays could impact more critical components, he said. “This is going to be a day-by-day monitoring thing,” he said. “If it goes six weeks, then we all have bigger problems.”
GM has arranged for parts to be flown by chartered jet from China when they are available, Mr. Fabbro said. A GM spokesman declined to comment.
GM derives the majority of its global profit from sales of large pickup-trucks and SUVs built in North America. The pickups are built at the Flint factory, along with a plant in Fort Wayne, Ind., and another in Silao, Mexico. The Arlington plant makes all of GM’s large SUVs.
GM has been scrambling already to replenish truck stocks after a 40-day strike last fall that shut down production across its U.S. factories.
Car companies have fortified their global supply chains in the years since a tsunami in Japan in 2011 knocked out supplies of certain components and led to cuts in vehicle production across the globe.
https://www.marketscreener.com/GENERAL-MOTORS-COMPANY-6873535/news/Coronavirus-Outbreak-Could-Affect-Production-at-2-GM-Plants-Union-Officials-Say-Update-30001258/
A GM factory in Flint, Mich., which makes heavy-duty versions of GM’s Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, faces shortages of at least two parts sourced from China, said Chad Fabbro, a financial secretary at the United Auto Workers’ local representing workers at the plant.
In Arlington, Texas, GM’s assembly plant is confronting the possibility of running out of certain parts from China, said Terry Valenzuela, president of UAW’s local chapter. The situation remains fluid, he added.
That factory makes large sport-utility vehicles that are mechanically similar to pickup trucks, including the Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Suburban.
GM said it doesn’t anticipate an impact on truck production as of now.
“We continue to monitor our supply chain and are in close communications with our Tier One suppliers to mitigate any risk to production in North America,” the company said in a statement.
The outbreak of the novel disease, which health authorities have named Covid-19, led China’s government to impose extended shutdowns of manufacturing plants throughout the country after the traditional Lunar New Year holiday, in hopes of slowing its spread.
Although many companies said they planned to restart plants this week, analysts have stressed the impact of supply-chain disruptions, and worker quarantines make it difficult to anticipate when production will return to normal.
The outbreak has halted assembly lines at several car plants in China. Forecasters at LMC Automotive expect the outbreak to depress Chinese auto production by around 1.2 million cars this quarter. Last year, GM produced nearly 640,000 cars — nearly 40% of its Chinese production — in Hubei province, where the outbreak originated and where most of the infections have been diagnosed, the firm said.
The shutdowns have also affected factories making auto parts and components. Shortages of China-made parts have already started rippling through the global automotive supply chain, leading Hyundai Motor Co. and France’s Renault SA to temporarily idle some assembly lines in South Korea.
The Flint factory is one of GM’s largest in the U.S., employing about 5,000 workers. It would likely run out of decals and vents first, both of which can be installed after a near-finished truck rolls off the assembly line, Mr. Fabbro said.
Longer delays could impact more critical components, he said. “This is going to be a day-by-day monitoring thing,” he said. “If it goes six weeks, then we all have bigger problems.”
GM has arranged for parts to be flown by chartered jet from China when they are available, Mr. Fabbro said. A GM spokesman declined to comment.
GM derives the majority of its global profit from sales of large pickup-trucks and SUVs built in North America. The pickups are built at the Flint factory, along with a plant in Fort Wayne, Ind., and another in Silao, Mexico. The Arlington plant makes all of GM’s large SUVs.
GM has been scrambling already to replenish truck stocks after a 40-day strike last fall that shut down production across its U.S. factories.
Car companies have fortified their global supply chains in the years since a tsunami in Japan in 2011 knocked out supplies of certain components and led to cuts in vehicle production across the globe.
https://www.marketscreener.com/GENERAL-MOTORS-COMPANY-6873535/news/Coronavirus-Outbreak-Could-Affect-Production-at-2-GM-Plants-Union-Officials-Say-Update-30001258/
New Astellas, Seattle Genetics Padcev combo data spark $5.8B sales hopes
Astellas and Seattle Genetics impressed Wall Street last fall when
their combination of Padcev and Merck’s Keytruda fought off advanced
bladder cancer in previously untreated patients. Friday, the partners
presented updated results that look even better.
They might even be good enough to snag an expedited regulatory review, analysts say—and at least one market-watcher hiked his peak sales estimate for Padcev to $5.8 billion after the data release.
At the 11.5 month-mark of a phase 1b/2 study, the pairing had provoked a response in 73.3% of patients ineligible for cisplatin chemo, the companies said in a Friday morning presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
Some 15% of those patients showed a complete response—i.e., no signs
of cancer activity—and the median duration of response hadn’t been
reached. But 83.9% of patients had seen their benefit last at least six
months at the time of analysis, and 53.7% had seen their benefit last at
least a year.
Overall, patients went a median 12.3 months without their cancer worsening, and 81.6% of patients were still alive at the one-year mark.
The data follow up on results presented at September’s European Society for Medical Oncology annual meeting, where the partners showed the tandem had shrunk tumors in 71% of patients and wiped them out completely in 13%.
“Now that the data is more mature, this gives us a very reassuring look in terms of how” the combo “is able to maintain those responses that we’re seeing,” Andrew Krivoshik, M.D., Ph.D., Astellas senior vice president and head of oncology, said.
Analysts were upbeat on the news, too, with JPMorgan’s Cory Kasimov remarking in a note to clients that the “initial duration data bodes well for the combo vs. Keytruda monotherapy.” Leerink Partners’ Andrew Berens, meanwhile, updated his peak sales projection for Padcev to $5.8 billion from $3.8 billion “to reflect the better-than-expected durability.”
Padcev, after a mid-December FDA approval, is for now cleared only for use as a monotherapy in bladder cancer patients who have already received chemo and a checkpoint inhibitor from the PD-1/PD-L1 class. But the way analysts see it, a front-line OK for the combo may not be too far off.
“We believe the companies could leverage this dataset for potential accelerated approval,” Berens wrote.
Astellas’ Krivoshik, for his part, couldn’t say much on the matter except that, “as always, we work very closely with our regulatory partners in terms of trying to bring areas that have high unmet need new and novel medicines forward as quickly as possible.”
“It’s part of the ongoing dialogue and what we always do with global regulators,” he added.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/new-astellas-seagen-padcev-combo-data-sparks-hopes-for-quick-approval
They might even be good enough to snag an expedited regulatory review, analysts say—and at least one market-watcher hiked his peak sales estimate for Padcev to $5.8 billion after the data release.
At the 11.5 month-mark of a phase 1b/2 study, the pairing had provoked a response in 73.3% of patients ineligible for cisplatin chemo, the companies said in a Friday morning presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
Overall, patients went a median 12.3 months without their cancer worsening, and 81.6% of patients were still alive at the one-year mark.
The data follow up on results presented at September’s European Society for Medical Oncology annual meeting, where the partners showed the tandem had shrunk tumors in 71% of patients and wiped them out completely in 13%.
“Now that the data is more mature, this gives us a very reassuring look in terms of how” the combo “is able to maintain those responses that we’re seeing,” Andrew Krivoshik, M.D., Ph.D., Astellas senior vice president and head of oncology, said.
Analysts were upbeat on the news, too, with JPMorgan’s Cory Kasimov remarking in a note to clients that the “initial duration data bodes well for the combo vs. Keytruda monotherapy.” Leerink Partners’ Andrew Berens, meanwhile, updated his peak sales projection for Padcev to $5.8 billion from $3.8 billion “to reflect the better-than-expected durability.”
Padcev, after a mid-December FDA approval, is for now cleared only for use as a monotherapy in bladder cancer patients who have already received chemo and a checkpoint inhibitor from the PD-1/PD-L1 class. But the way analysts see it, a front-line OK for the combo may not be too far off.
“We believe the companies could leverage this dataset for potential accelerated approval,” Berens wrote.
Astellas’ Krivoshik, for his part, couldn’t say much on the matter except that, “as always, we work very closely with our regulatory partners in terms of trying to bring areas that have high unmet need new and novel medicines forward as quickly as possible.”
“It’s part of the ongoing dialogue and what we always do with global regulators,” he added.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/new-astellas-seagen-padcev-combo-data-sparks-hopes-for-quick-approval
Royal Caribbean plans cruises for crisis responders
Royal Caribbean (RCL -0.6%)
says it will dedicate two ships to humanitarian efforts in Australia
and California to support some of the people affected by recent crises.
Spectrum of the Seas will travel to Australia and
be deployed on complimentary cruises sailing from Sydney in support of
Australia’s first responder community. In addition, Celebrity Millennium
is repositioning to the west coast of the U.S. earlier than previously
scheduled and will offer a series of “Cruising for Heroes” sailings in
support of California firefighters, other first responders and veterans.
Royal Caribbean also plans to dedicate a ship in
China to a series of complimentary sailings to thank first responders
and medical personnel when the outbreak is under control.
CEO Richard Fain says the cruise line operator is
also working with suppliers to deliver one million N-95 protective masks
into China for government distribution into affected areas.
Source: Press Release
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3542283-royal-caribbean-plans-cruises-for-crisis-responders
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