British Airways (OTCPK:ICAGY), easyJet (OTCPK:EJTTF) and Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) have initiated legal action against the U.K. government’s quarantine policy, asking for a judicial review to be heard as soon as possible.
The airlines describe the rule as “flawed,” saying it will have a “devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy.”
Instead, they want the government to reintroduce a
policy from March 10, which saw passengers from countries deemed at
high risk for COVID-19 being ordered to self-isolate on arrival in the
U.K.
Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AGIO) announces
that clinical proof-of-concept has been established based on a
preliminary analysis in Phase 1 trial of mitapivat (AG-348), an oral,
small molecule allosteric activator of wild-type and a variety of
mutated pyruvate kinase-R enzymes in patients with sickle cell disease.
Mitapivat has been shown to decrease
2,3-diphosphoglycerate and increase adenosine triphosphate, and through
this mechanism, it may reduce hemoglobin S polymerization and red blood
cell sickling.
The study has enrolled nine patients to
date. Seven of eight (88%) of patients experienced a
hemoglobin increase, with five of eight patients (63%) achieving a
hemoglobin increase of ≥1.0 g/dL from baseline (range 1.0-2.7 g/dL).
Adverse events reported were generally consistent
with those previously reported in pyruvate kinase deficiency or that are
to be expected in the context of sickle cell disease.
Pharmacodynamics and biomarker data support mitapivat’s proposed mechanism of action.
The company is focused on advancing mitapivat to pivotal development, with the goal of initiating a pivotal study next year.
Quidel (NASDAQ:QDEL) secures
the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (“BARDA”)
funding of $635,000 to support the development of a point-of-care
diagnostic assay that potentially tests for four respiratory viruses:
SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A, Influenza B, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus
(RSV). The respiratory virus panel would be developed to run on Quidel’s
Sofia 2 flagship instrument.
The funding will run through April 2021 with he goal of achieving an FDA Emergency Use Authorization for the test.
In our battle against SARS-CoV-2, we have mobilized as if we were at
war with an alien invader. But this enemy is not from outer space. We
and SARS-CoV-2 spring from the same source, the deep reservoir of all
life on earth. Each species, struggling to survive.
With humans and SARS-CoV-2 that struggle binds us together, as we
happen to be the choice ecological niche for this particular
virus—conveniently numerous, crowded together, and traveling freely
across continents.
Normally when we enter into battle, we count both the dead and
wounded. But in this struggle, we tally only the infected and the dead.
Yet a far greater toll is being paid in those wounded by the virus, who
will never be whole again. Rarely do we even mention this growing tide
of suffering.
Thanks to a recent story in the Washington Postwe
can now put faces to a few of our wounded survivors. Each is part of
the Covid-19 recovery mosaic, lungs that will never breathe easy, foggy
brains and paralyzed limbs, failing kidneys, hearts that swell and veins
that burst.
Covid-19 is no mild cold that kills just a few, nor is it a mirror of
the flu from which most recover intact. It is a deadly disease to some,
and the beginning of debilitating lifelong disability for many others.
It is high time we heard the voices of our wounded and extended our hand
to help. https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2020/06/10/wounded-in-action-from-covid-19/#1737bc22bde4
