Target $71
https://www.benzinga.com/stock/SAGE/ratings
Friday, March 6, 2020
Coronavirus updates, March 6
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) told employees in the Bay Area to stay home and cancel any trips, while Gap (NYSE:GPS) shuttered its New York City headquarters after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) also confirmed that two employees have been diagnosed in Washington’s Puget Sound region, the area that includes its Redmond headquarters.
More bad new for the travel sector… Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is expecting a hit of up to $300M for first-quarter operating revenue, prompting the carrier to cut its outlook.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3549300-latest-coronavirus-updates-wfh-for-facebookDe Blasio Asks Travelers Returning From Certain Countries To Isolate Themselves
Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a new directive to international travelers Thursday.
He wants some returning from certain countries to isolate themselves voluntarily.
At JFK Airport, some international travelers were already wearing masks as a precaution to protect themselves from the coronavirus, but de Blasio wants those returning from China, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Japan to take it a step further.
“We’re asking that you isolate yourself for 14 days as a precaution,” he said.
“That’s crazy, though,” said Ali Saab, whose family member returned from Italy. “Because it’s not doable.”
One traveler returning from Italy says she’s going back to work.
“I’m a doctor, so I think that you should use good sense,” one woman told CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas. “There were no cases by us.”
“I can take online, but maybe after two weeks I can go back to classrooms,” he said.
So will Tyler Frisia, who is in limbo after returning from his study abroad in Italy.
“I would like to just minimize the risk for other people,” he said.
“We think it reduces the already low risk of getting the virus on public transit,” MTA Chairman Pat Foye said.
To lessen growing concerns, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson shared a picture online of him riding the subway with a caption that said, “Take precautions like you would any cold and flu season.”
De Blasio also rode the subway, hoping his example sends a clear message.
He wants some returning from certain countries to isolate themselves voluntarily.
“We’re asking that you isolate yourself for 14 days as a precaution,” he said.
“That’s crazy, though,” said Ali Saab, whose family member returned from Italy. “Because it’s not doable.”
One traveler returning from Italy says she’s going back to work.
“I’m a doctor, so I think that you should use good sense,” one woman told CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas. “There were no cases by us.”
“I can take online, but maybe after two weeks I can go back to classrooms,” he said.
So will Tyler Frisia, who is in limbo after returning from his study abroad in Italy.
“I would like to just minimize the risk for other people,” he said.
Quarantine is one strategy to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. Disinfecting all MTA stations is another.
“We think it reduces the already low risk of getting the virus on public transit,” MTA Chairman Pat Foye said.
To lessen growing concerns, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson shared a picture online of him riding the subway with a caption that said, “Take precautions like you would any cold and flu season.”
De Blasio also rode the subway, hoping his example sends a clear message.
Coronavirus Update: Mayor Bill De Blasio Asks Travelers Returning From Certain Countries To Isolate Themselves
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Biopharma’s role in tackling coronavirus
The
industry has a duty to develop Covid-19 antivirals and vaccines, but
the nature of clinical trials means that lower-profile measures must
take precedence.
Drug and vaccine development is a long and costly business that
frequently fails to generate a profit for the companies involved. If
this is widely appreciated within biopharma it probably needs repeating
in light of calls – politically driven or otherwise – on the industry to
“do something” about the coronavirus outbreak.
Given this harsh reality it is a minor miracle that Gilead has already managed to initiate two pivotal studies with its antiviral remdesvir. Numerous other biotech and diagnostic companies have been getting in on the Covid-19 act, EvaluatePharma shows, but in many cases enthusiastic press releases amount to empty words.
Vir, Epivax and Generex fall into the category of biotechs announcing the signing of deals aiming to develop vaccines or therapeutics targeting Covid-19. Of course, signing a deal is not the same as actually developing something, which will take a lot longer, but at least the effort is there.
There are more flagrant examples of jumping on the coronavirus bandwagon: Inovio, for instance, this week trumpeted the fact that it was “accelerating the timeline” for its Covid-19 vaccine; Innovation Pharmaceuticals presented a theoretical rationale backing one of its projects; Evelo is “considering developing” another asset; and Adma Biologics apparently has some relevant IP.
As is to be expected in biotech, fund-raisings are seldom far behind, especially if the purported news triggers a share price spike (Coronavirus stock hype proves infectious, February 27, 2020). Tonix and Co-Diagnostics, for instance, have this week raised cash in conjunction with coronavirus-related announcements.
Yet it is Pfizer that perhaps presents the most sober view. On Monday the world’s biggest drug company said it was screening its antiviral pipeline for possible hits; any identified would first need to undergo toxicology testing, Pfizer calmly spelled out, meaning that a clinical trial could start by the end of 2020.
In the case of flu preparations are made months in advance to identify relevant strains, and ensure sufficient manufacturing capacity and infrastructure to ship vaccines. Should the most virulent strain differ markedly there is rarely enough time to switch to a different vaccine within the same season.
A situation like Covid-19, where the virus is only just being characterised, no manufacturing capacity is in place, and the industry effectively has a standing start while incidence is rising exponentially, presents complexity on a completely different level.
This is not to say that development efforts should slacken. Apart from Gilead’s remdesvir, as of today Clinicaltrials.gov reveals 70 Covid-19 studies, virtually all sponsored by Chinese hospitals, testing everything from antivirals to vitamins and traditional Chinese medicine.
But pharma is not designed to be a fast-response unit, and it certainly is not a charity. By the time even a treatment like remdesvir becomes commercially available Covid-19 will have either abated or turned into a full-on pandemic.
Right now, given reports of people in South Korea congregating in their hundreds to buy face masks, for instance, less glamorous but no less important public education is key.
https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/analysis/vantage-views/biopharmas-role-tackling-coronavirus
Given this harsh reality it is a minor miracle that Gilead has already managed to initiate two pivotal studies with its antiviral remdesvir. Numerous other biotech and diagnostic companies have been getting in on the Covid-19 act, EvaluatePharma shows, but in many cases enthusiastic press releases amount to empty words.
Vir, Epivax and Generex fall into the category of biotechs announcing the signing of deals aiming to develop vaccines or therapeutics targeting Covid-19. Of course, signing a deal is not the same as actually developing something, which will take a lot longer, but at least the effort is there.
There are more flagrant examples of jumping on the coronavirus bandwagon: Inovio, for instance, this week trumpeted the fact that it was “accelerating the timeline” for its Covid-19 vaccine; Innovation Pharmaceuticals presented a theoretical rationale backing one of its projects; Evelo is “considering developing” another asset; and Adma Biologics apparently has some relevant IP.
As is to be expected in biotech, fund-raisings are seldom far behind, especially if the purported news triggers a share price spike (Coronavirus stock hype proves infectious, February 27, 2020). Tonix and Co-Diagnostics, for instance, have this week raised cash in conjunction with coronavirus-related announcements.
Yet it is Pfizer that perhaps presents the most sober view. On Monday the world’s biggest drug company said it was screening its antiviral pipeline for possible hits; any identified would first need to undergo toxicology testing, Pfizer calmly spelled out, meaning that a clinical trial could start by the end of 2020.
In the case of flu preparations are made months in advance to identify relevant strains, and ensure sufficient manufacturing capacity and infrastructure to ship vaccines. Should the most virulent strain differ markedly there is rarely enough time to switch to a different vaccine within the same season.
A situation like Covid-19, where the virus is only just being characterised, no manufacturing capacity is in place, and the industry effectively has a standing start while incidence is rising exponentially, presents complexity on a completely different level.
This is not to say that development efforts should slacken. Apart from Gilead’s remdesvir, as of today Clinicaltrials.gov reveals 70 Covid-19 studies, virtually all sponsored by Chinese hospitals, testing everything from antivirals to vitamins and traditional Chinese medicine.
But pharma is not designed to be a fast-response unit, and it certainly is not a charity. By the time even a treatment like remdesvir becomes commercially available Covid-19 will have either abated or turned into a full-on pandemic.
Right now, given reports of people in South Korea congregating in their hundreds to buy face masks, for instance, less glamorous but no less important public education is key.
https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/analysis/vantage-views/biopharmas-role-tackling-coronavirus
Covid-19 May Have You Working At Home
The numbers don’t tell the whole story. Nine Americans have died of
Covid-19, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms
more than 100 cases in 15 states. But there are probably already several
thousand Americans who have been infected. For now, the average
person’s risk is low in a nation of 330 million, but that may soon
change. The highest risk is for those who live in regional hot zones
such as Washington state or Northern California.
The usual flu-season advice applies: Wash your hands frequently, avoid handshakes, and try not to touch your face. Most important, stay home when you or someone in your household is sick. For home isolation and quarantine to work, employers need to be as understanding and flexible as possible. They can help by holding videoconferences instead of meetings and letting employees work from home. Some may consider alternative schedules or staggered shifts.
These measures will be most effective if applied early and widely. Singapore suspended mass gatherings at schools and eldercare facilities immediately after detecting local disease transmission. This appears to have slowed the number of new infections. But it is important to acknowledge that these measures can cost workers money and even their jobs.
The coming weeks will be hard as more Americans become infected and some die of the disease. Mitigation efforts will be disruptive. But these steps are the best defense until innovation can produce an effective treatment or vaccine that can arrest the virus’s spread.
Dr. Borio is a vice president at In-Q-Tel and was director for medical and biodefense preparedness policy at the National Security Council, 2017-19. Dr. Gottlieb is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a partner at New Enterprise Associates. He was commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, 2017-19.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-may-have-you-working-at-home-11583279399
Measures that limit social activity may soon be in place. China tried
to curb transmission by shutting down entire cities and mandatory mass
quarantines. That won’t fly in the U.S., socially or legally. Iran is
taking the opposite approach amid what may be a wider epidemic. Tehran
appears resigned to letting the virus rage through the country’s
population. Iran’s official reports say there are 2,300 cases in the
country with 77 deaths, but the true number is likely much higher.
There’s still a chance to delay an American epidemic, though full containment is no longer possible. The key is to develop a strategy of mitigation, which will buy time to prepare hospitals, expand testing, and develop vaccines and therapies. This doesn’t mean the U.S. needs to ban people from moving freely in the country, which has happened in China and even Italy. Public-health authorities must develop an approach suited to American law, technology and social structures.
The original priority was tightening travel to and from China. But travel restrictions and advisories will become obsolete as the number of affected countries grows. Any of the thousands of airplanes that land in the U.S. each day could be carrying people who are infected. Airports should remind incoming travelers to isolate themselves and seek medical care if they develop symptoms. Decisions to travel outside the U.S. will largely depend on factors such as individual’s risk tolerance, health status, and the ability to access medical care in a foreign country.
As the number of cases expands, other time-worn public-health
measures for containing disease—detecting infected individuals and
tracing their contacts—will no longer be enough. Slowing down community
spread may require aggressive steps aimed at “social distancing”—keeping
people who are sick away from others. The CDC provides guidance to help
states and cities put these measures into place—for example, canceling
mass gatherings or closing schools and conducting classes online. But
it’s up to local authorities to decide what measures to implement. A
patchwork of policies may initially confuse the public.There’s still a chance to delay an American epidemic, though full containment is no longer possible. The key is to develop a strategy of mitigation, which will buy time to prepare hospitals, expand testing, and develop vaccines and therapies. This doesn’t mean the U.S. needs to ban people from moving freely in the country, which has happened in China and even Italy. Public-health authorities must develop an approach suited to American law, technology and social structures.
The original priority was tightening travel to and from China. But travel restrictions and advisories will become obsolete as the number of affected countries grows. Any of the thousands of airplanes that land in the U.S. each day could be carrying people who are infected. Airports should remind incoming travelers to isolate themselves and seek medical care if they develop symptoms. Decisions to travel outside the U.S. will largely depend on factors such as individual’s risk tolerance, health status, and the ability to access medical care in a foreign country.
The usual flu-season advice applies: Wash your hands frequently, avoid handshakes, and try not to touch your face. Most important, stay home when you or someone in your household is sick. For home isolation and quarantine to work, employers need to be as understanding and flexible as possible. They can help by holding videoconferences instead of meetings and letting employees work from home. Some may consider alternative schedules or staggered shifts.
These measures will be most effective if applied early and widely. Singapore suspended mass gatherings at schools and eldercare facilities immediately after detecting local disease transmission. This appears to have slowed the number of new infections. But it is important to acknowledge that these measures can cost workers money and even their jobs.
The coming weeks will be hard as more Americans become infected and some die of the disease. Mitigation efforts will be disruptive. But these steps are the best defense until innovation can produce an effective treatment or vaccine that can arrest the virus’s spread.
Dr. Borio is a vice president at In-Q-Tel and was director for medical and biodefense preparedness policy at the National Security Council, 2017-19. Dr. Gottlieb is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a partner at New Enterprise Associates. He was commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, 2017-19.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-may-have-you-working-at-home-11583279399
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