Adamis has letter of intent to sell compounding business

  Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: ADMP) today announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with a potential buyer for sale of substantially all of the assets of its US Compounding Inc. (USC) subsidiary. Under the terms described in the letter of intent, the buyer would agree to acquire substantially all of the assets of US Compounding in exchange for a total gross consideration that could range from approximately $10-20 million, before transaction fees and expenses and other potential post-closing adjustments.

If a transaction is negotiated, reflected in definitive agreements entered into by the parties, and completed, the proposed purchase price consideration includes a combination of a cash payment at the closing of the transaction, a promissory note representing portion of the purchase price payable at a future date, and potential future performance-based milestone payments over a period of years. The amount and structure of consideration could change as a result of subsequent negotiations, due diligence or other factors.

Any definitive agreement would be subject to approval by the respective parties, including approval by the board of directors of Adamis, and would likely include a number of customary provisions, including without limitation representations and warranties of Adamis and USC, restrictive covenants and indemnification provisions.

The closing of a transaction would be contingent on the satisfaction of closing conditions which might include, among other things: (i) the receipt of required governmental, regulatory, and third-party consents and approvals, (ii) buyer obtaining required licenses, permits, registrations, or other approvals from the necessary state boards of pharmacy and other state and federal governmental authorities, and (iii) other customary closing conditions.

The letter of intent is non-binding other than with respect to certain customary confidentiality and exclusivity provisions. There can be no assurances that the parties will negotiate and enter into definitive transaction agreements, the final terms that might be included in any definitive agreements, whether a transaction will be completed, or concerning the timing of closing of any such transaction.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/01/26/2164340/0/en/Adamis-Pharmaceuticals-Provides-Update-On-Its-US-Compounding-Business.html

NYC can’t say how many teachers have received COVID-19 vax

 Reopening city schools will hinge largely on teacher vaccination rates — but the city has yet to say how many educators have taken the shot thus far.

United Federation of Teachers’ boss Michael Mulgrew has said that the lack of widespread inoculations for his members could delay a resumption of classroom learning.

But two weeks after he secured priority status for teachers and made the jab available to them, City Hall has yet to say how many have actually taken it.

Mulgrew relayed on January 11 that about 17,000 teachers requested the shot in the initial 24-hour period after it became available.

That was the last update offered from either City Hall or the UFT.

There are about 75,000 classroom educators in the nation’s largest school system and another 25,000 unionized staffers.

A City Hall spokesperson told The Post Monday that officials have not yet broken out vaccination rates for various workforce elements — including teachers.

Those figures are still being tabulated, she said.

Mulgrew has stressed the importance of teacher vaccinations in getting kids and staffers back into city classrooms — and said he was concerned about shortages.

“Increased availability of the vaccine is the key to fully re-opening everything, from schools to businesses,” he told The Post last week. “We’ve been through too much — as a school system and as a city — to further risk the health of our students, their families, and our staff.”

While the jab is not mandatory for city teachers, Mulgrew has encouraged his members to get it.

The UFT has prioritized access to COVID-19 vaccines for teachers who work inside city schools rather than those who toil remotely.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/25/nyc-cant-say-how-many-teachers-got-covid-19-vaccination/

More details of homegrown Cal. coronavirus mutation

 California officials on Monday revealed more details about the new homegrown coronavirus strain that could be partly responsible for a sharp uptick of cases and deaths in the state.

Two research groups discovered the B1429 variant while looking for the highly-contagious B117 variant that has been linked to the United Kingdom, officials said at a press conference.

The California mutation — said to be in the same “family tree” as the UK variant — has now been reported in 456 cases across the Golden State, Governor Gavin Newsom said.

But the governor warned the real number of cases is likely far higher.

About a quarter of viral samples gathered at the end of last year in Los Angeles and Northern California by two different groups contained the new strain, according to the LA Times.

Newsom said the state is still working to see if the B1429 strain leads to worse infections.

“We’re still working on, is that a COVID variant that’s unique to California? Or is it something else? Again, we’re still working through that. We’re working through its virulence, we’re working through its transmissibility to investigate more understanding,” the Democratic governor said.

Health officials are still determining if the new variant shares is more contagious than the regular strain, like its British counterpart.

“We’re concerned that it [B1429] attaches to the human cell a little more than the natural virus the one we’ve been dealing with. That might make it more contagious, we aren’t sure yet, we’re looking at it,” said Mark Ghaly, California Health and Human Services Secretary.

Cases have surged recently, while 35 percent of California’s 37,121 total coronavirus deaths have come in the past month, according to Johns Hopkins Medical Center.

Ghaly said a combination of holiday travel and the “curveball” of the new variant may be to blame.

“Look I grew up and played sports my entire life, [it] really depended on trying to understand my opponent,” Ghaly said.

“We have an opponent we’ve never seen before. We have no game film on COVID-19, we don’t know what it’s going to do, so we need to constantly be watching the plays of the day to understand what’s going to come tomorrow.”

Despite the warnings, Newsom on Monday lifted the state’s stay-at-home order, which had been imposed last month

Officials say it’s unclear if a new vaccine is needed to fight the B1429 strain, but are urging Californians to continue to get inoculated with the current shots.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/25/ca-officials-reveal-more-details-of-homegrown-coronavirus-mutation/

Biden administration can’t say how many COVID-19 vaccines US has in reserve

 White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday admitted that the Biden administration does not know how many COVID-19 vaccinations the US has in reserve.

Psaki made the startling revelation during a briefing with reporters at the White House, where she was repeatedly pressed on the nation’s lagging coronavirus vaccine rollout.

“Is there at least a ballpark amount that officials are aware of how much vaccine there is?” one reporter asked.

“We’ve been here for five days to evaluate the supply so that we can release the maximum amount while also ensuring that everyone can get the second dose on the FDA-recommended schedule,” Psaki said of what President Biden had said would be his top priority, before she then tried to lay the blame on the Trump administration.

“So the confusion around this issue, which we acknowledge there is some confusion, speaks to a larger problem, which is what we’re inheriting from the prior administration, which is much worse than we could have imagined.”

On Sunday, the new director of the CDC admitted that the agency was unclear on how many doses the United States had in reserve and also revealed that they didn’t have enough to send the hard-hit Empire State “as we would like.”

On Monday, Biden’s chief spokeswoman said vaguely that the administration was planning to give the states “more of a heads up on what to expect in the weeks ahead.”

“I think what we’re trying to do now is fully assess what we have access to, what the status of the vaccine supply looks like, and ensure that we’re communicating that accurately and effectively to the public,” Psaki said.

The new commander-in-chief has faced growing criticism for his vaccination targets, which were already being met by the Trump administration — causing critics to say Biden is aiming too low.

Psaki had no answers when pressed on recent remarks from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said New York state had more capacity than it did shots of the miracle jab, which it ran out of on Saturday.

She also refused to say if hard-hit New York would be prioritized given its readiness to distribute the drug.

“It’s not just about having supply, which is pivotal, of course, it’s also about having more people who can physically put the shots into the arms of Americans, and it’s about ensuring we have places that that can be done,” Psaki said. “I don’t have anything for you on the prioritization.”

Cuomo on Friday called on Biden “to do whatever he can to increase the supply” and said the state’s reserves had already run dry.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday also begged Biden to step in.

The Biden administration has set the target of distributing 100 million shots in its first 100 days in office, or 1 million jabs per day.

But that target was reached by former President Donald Trump in his final days in office, according to a Bloomberg News tracker that shows that 1.3 million shots were given on Jan. 11 and 1.1 million on both Jan. 14 and 16.

At that rate, it will take three years to inoculate the entire US population against the virus that has so far killed 419,000 Americans.

When asked when Americans would be able to be widely vaccinated, Psaki said she would defer to the nation’s health experts and went back to Biden’s 100-day target.

“We obviously have set out our bold goal of 100 million shots in the arms of Americans in the first 100 days. We will build from there and we are looking forward to building from there but I don’t have a broad assessment for you,” she said.  

https://nypost.com/2021/01/25/biden-administration-unclear-on-us-covid-19-vaccine-supply/

Lawmakers push back on $1.9T COVID-19 relief package

 Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle confronted the Biden administration on its $1.9 trillion economic recovery package, lobbying the newly installed White House to take a more targeted approach.

In a call Sunday, White House economic adviser Brian Deese was grilled by centrist Democrats and Republicans on the nearly $2 trillion price tag, which includes $1,400 checks for most Americans, an extension of the eviction and foreclosure moratorium until September and a national vaccination program.

“This isn’t Monopoly money,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), one of the lawmakers on the call, told reporters Sunday.

“Part of what we’re asking for is more data. Where did you get the number?” he continued, asking about the package’s price tag.

The call with Deese was organized by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Manchin is one of 16 moderate senators who serve as key swing votes.

Over a dozen senators took part in the 75-minute call, as did Reps. Tom Reed (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who co-chair the House Problem Solvers Caucus, a source familiar with the call told The Post.

Representing the Biden administration alongside Deese were Jeff Zients, President Biden’s coronavirus coordinator, and Louisa Terrell, head of White House legislative affairs.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined King in his concern about the new White House’s proposal, telling reporters, “It seems premature to be considering a package of this size and scope.”

Both she and King voiced their continued support for making vaccine distribution a core focus of the next relief package, something backed by other lawmakers on the call as well. What is not a priority in this legislation, many argued, is the provision creating a $15 federal minimum wage.

In an interview with NPR, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) said more transparency was needed on how the last round of stimulus funding was used.

“I think that case can be better made when we get more transparency and better numbers about how the last $900 billion — much of which has started to go out — but I think the administration needs to be very transparent about how those dollars have been delivered,” the Virginia senator, who was also on the call, told the outlet.

The last round of COVID relief legislation was signed by former President Donald Trump in December. The $908 billion bill was tied to a $1.4 trillion government funding bill.

The White House, meanwhile, stood firm on keeping the package as is on the Sunday afternoon call, King said when speaking to reporters.

The White House did not, however, broach the idea of pushing through the package without GOP support.

A spokesperson for the Biden administration did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the call.

The White House team is required to pass this legislation with some Republican support.

The Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, though Vice President Kamala Harris has a tie-breaking vote.

Still, 51 votes is not enough under current Senate rules to break through the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 members to end debate on most topics and move forward to a vote.

In working with the Senate rule, Biden appears to be banking on being able to convince 10 Republicans to back the package. It is currently unclear how many left the Sunday call more supportive of the measure.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/25/lawmakers-push-back-on-joe-bidens-covid-19-relief-package/

Novartis delivered sales growth, margin expansion

 Novartis AG said Tuesday that net profit for the fourth quarter grew on higher operating income and higher sales.

The Swiss pharmaceutical major posted net profit of $2.1 billion, up from $1.13 billion the previous year, while sales increased to $12.77 billion in the quarter, from $12.40 billion for the same period a year earlier.

A consensus forecast provided by FactSet had net profit at $2.77 billion and sales at $11.42 billion.

Core operating income, or income excluding extraordinary items, came in at $3.50 billion, up from $3.46 billion the year prior, Novartis said.

The company said coronavirus-related lockdowns throughout the year hurt some of its therapeutic areas such as ophthalmology, dermatology and the Sandoz retail business. However, it said its operations remain stable with cash collection continuing to be according to normal trade terms.

Key growth drivers in the quarter were, among other things, heart-failure drug Entresto and psoriasis treatment Cosentyx, Novartis said.

For 2021, the company guided for net sales growth in the low-to-mid singe digit and for core operating income growth in the mid-single digits.

The company proposed an increased dividend of 3 Swiss francs ($3.38) a share for 2020, it said.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/NOVARTIS-AG-9364983/news/Novartis-4Q-Profit-Sales-Grew-32274045/

Moderna: U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Update

 Company has supplied over 30 million doses to U.S. Government to date

Remains on track to deliver 100 million doses to the U.S. Government by end of March 2021

Remains on track to deliver 200 million doses to the U.S. Government by end of June 2021

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/MODERNA-INC-47437573/news/Moderna-Provides-U-S-COVID-19-Vaccine-Supply-Update-32277489/