Britain 'confident that Oxford vaccine works for all ages'

 Britain’s health secretary said that new research meant that there was a high degree of confidence that the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine works for all ages, after some countries said they would not give it to older age groups.

“We have a high degree of confidence that this vaccine works for all ages,” Matt Hancock told the BBC on Wednesday.

Britain is working on tightening controls at its borders to stop new variants of COVID-19 entering the country, he said, with details of a plan to make some arrivals quarantine in hotels due to be set out shortly, he added.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-hancock-va/britain-says-confident-that-oxford-vaccine-works-for-all-ages-hancock-idUSKBN2A312A

Dutch to roll out rapid breath tests for COVID-19

 The Netherlands is to introduce rapid COVID-19 breath tests to sites across the country to speed up the testing process and make it less intrusive.

Testing facilities in Amsterdam were this week the first to start using the SpiroNose, a machine which requires a person to breathe into it to indicate a possible coronavirus infection within a minute.

After months of trials, Dutch health authorities found the SpiroNose to be reliable in the case of negative test results, infectious disease expert Mariken van der Lubben of Amsterdam’s municipal health services told Reuters.

“If you are negatively tested, then it’s a very reliable outcome and you can go,” Van der Lubben said.

A positive test needed to be followed by a regular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to establish whether the detected infection was caused by a coronavirus.

The Dutch health service has ordered around 1,800 machines with plans to introduce them in test facilities across the country in coming months.

“It’s a promising technology, especially because of the speed, you can get a result within a minute,” Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst said.

“That’s a game changer, if you can make a rapid diagnosis or rule out an infection within a minute.” But he added: “We don’t have enough results yet to unequivocally say this is the future, this is the way to go.”

Van Ranst said lengthy test periods comparing the breath test with the PCR test would be necessary to see whether the test could also make the distinction between different types of viruses.

Dutch health tech company Breathomix, which originally developed the machine to detect asthma and lung cancer, said it had collected enough data to reliably spot a possible coronavirus infection.

“In the past couple of months we have measured thousands of patients with corona and people who don’t have corona, so we know what is the average breath profile of corona and people without corona,” Breathomix executive Rianne de Vries said.

Breathomix is investigating options to use the SpiroNose in companies or schools, De Vries said, to help them create a safe environment.

But the machine will not offer a direct solution for reopening venues to large audiences, she said, as every test takes 2-3 minutes from start to finish. The machine is also sensitive to alcohol, smoke and other distracting factors in a person’s breath.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-netherlands-tests/dutch-to-roll-out-rapid-breath-tests-for-covid-19-idUSKBN2A31PF

AstraZeneca, Oxford expect 'next generation' COVID vax to tackle variants by autumn

 AstraZeneca and Oxford University aim to produce the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines that will protect against variants as soon as the autumn, a senior executive at the British drugmaker said on Wednesday.

Asked when AstraZeneca could produce a next generation vaccine to tackle new variants, AstraZeneca research chief Mene Pangalos said “as rapidly as possible”.

“We’re working very hard and we’re already talking about not just the variants that we have to make in laboratories, but also the clinical studies that we need to run,” he said in a briefing with media.

“We’re very much aiming to try and have something ready by the autumn, so this year.”

The partners are getting close to having data on the efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccine on older adults, Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-astrazenec/astrazeneca-oxford-expect-next-generation-covid-19-vaccine-to-tackle-variants-by-autumn-executive-idUSKBN2A31ME

WallStreetBets targets Sellas for short squeeze

The stock price of Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc (NASDAQ: SLS) — a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development of novel cancer immunotherapies for various cancer indications in the United States — is trading at over 50% pre-market today as of 4:37 AM ET. This follows continued momentum from this week as the stock price of the company had increased 34.10% on Tuesday, February 2. 

One of the biggest reasons for the stock price increase has to do with due diligence about the company conducted by users on Reddit, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, StockTwits, etc. Users on Reddit forum “WallStreetBets” noted that Sellas is considered undervalued and highly shorted despite the company recently highlighting the development of novel cancer immunotherapies.

In the forums I have been seeing, a number of users on the aforementioned platforms said that it is frustrating that a company focused on developing cancer cures is being heavily shorted by hedge funds so they decided to counter those actions with a short squeeze.

A short squeeze happens when a stock price increases higher and forces traders who bet the price would fall to buy it in order to prevent further losses – which adds to upward pressure on the stock price. The short-sellers borrow the shares that they believe will fall in price in order to buy them after it falls. If they are wrong about the price falling, then the short-sellers are forced to buy it at a higher price and pay the difference between the price that was set and the sales price.

https://pulse2.com/sls-stock-price-nasdaq-sellas-life-sciences-group-increases-over-50-pre-market-why-it-happened/

Boston Scientific Sees Full-Year Revenue Growth

 Boston Scientific Corp. Wednesday said it expects single-digit revenue growth in the first quarter, but stronger momentum over the course of the full year.

The company forecast revenue in the first quarter from flat to 6% growth. On an organic basis, revenue will be between a 3% decline and a 3% gain compared with the year-ago quarter, the company forecast.

Boston Scientific guided for a profit in the first quarter of 5 cents a share to 11 cents a share, or 28 cents a share to 34 cents a share on an adjusted basis.

For the full year, the company said it expects revenue growth of 13% to 19% compared with 2020, or 12% to 18% on an organic basis. Its full year profit is expected to be 72 cents a share to 82 cents a share, or $1.50 a share to $1.60 a share on an adjusted basis, the company said.

The full-year guidance excludes the impact of Boston Scientific's acquisition of Preventice Solutions Inc.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/BOSTON-SCIENTIFIC-CORPORA-11935/news/Boston-Scientific-Sees-Full-Year-Revenue-Growth-32345696/

Biogen: 4Q Profit Falls on Lower Revenue, Higher R&D Costs

 Biogen Inc. said its profit fell for the latest quarter as revenue declined and the company spent more on research and development.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based pharmaceutical company on Wednesday posted a profit of $357.9 million for the fourth quarter, compared with $1.44 billion in the prior year. Earnings were $2.32 a share, compared with $8.08 a share a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings were $4.58 a share in the quarter that ended Dec. 31. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting an adjusted profit of $4.79 a share.

Revenue fell 22.3% to $2.85 billion. Analysts were targeting $2.79 billion in revenue.

Research and development costs rose to $1.73 billion from $691.7 million.

Biogen and its partner Eisai Co. Ltd. last week said their Alzheimer's drug candidate will undergo an additional three months of review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after a panel of experts in November voted the agency shouldn't approve the drug. With the extension, the FDA is slated to make a decision on the potential blockbuster drug, aducanumab, on June 7.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/BIOGEN-INC-4853/news/Biogen-4Q-Profit-Falls-on-Lower-Revenue-Higher-R-D-Costs-32345962/

Diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk upbeat on 2021, sees Biden boost

 

Diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk forecast a rise in underlying sales and profit for 2021 on Wednesday and said it expected more Americans to get access to its drugs under the new Biden administration.

Novo Nordisk, the world's biggest manufacturer of diabetes drugs, posted fourth-quarter results in line with expectations, as more patients began treatment with its drugs even as some existing ones used stocks built up at the start of the pandemic.

Rival Eli Lilly said last week it had seen strong demand for diabetes drugs in the fourth quarter.

However, Novo said higher U.S. unemployment had hit sales as some patients were pushed out of corporate insurance plans, leaving them to rely on other insurance coverage such as the government-run Medicaid or pay for diabetes drugs themselves.

"It's clear that under the new Biden administration, healthcare is high on the agenda," Chief Executive Lars Fruergaard said at a conference call.

"What we saw with Obamacare was that it led to bigger volumes, but also a higher cost to the industry to fund those volumes," Fruergaard said, referring to the health insurance programme introduced by former U.S. president Barack Obama.

Novo said it expected 2021 sales in local currencies to rise by 5%-9% and operating profit by 4%-8%. But currency headwinds are expected to reduce sales growth by 4 percentage points when reported in Danish crowns, while operating profit growth will be 6 percentage points lower, the company forecast.

Operating profit for October-December fell 6% from a year earlier to 11.2 billion Danish crowns ($1.81 billion), in line with analysts' forecast.

Novo's sales stood at 32.1 billion crowns in the quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of 31.8 billion.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/NOVO-NORDISK-A-S-1412980/news/Novo-Nordisk-A-S-Diabetes-drugmaker-Novo-Nordisk-upbeat-on-2021-sees-Biden-boost-32344136/