Gottlieb: Fauci Funded Gain Of Function On Even Deadlier MERS-like Coronaviruses

 by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Former FDA head and current Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb reacted to further revelations this week regarding the funding of dangerous gain of function research by Anthony Fauci, noting that a previously unknown fact has emerged that lab tampering was undertaken on MERS-like coronaviruses, which are even deadlier than their SARS-like relatives.

Gottlieb noted that documents obtained under the FOIA also show that the viruses were made more deadly to humans in several labs around Wuhan, including a level three biocontainment facility, which has lesser security that the level four labs previously mentioned in relation to the outbreak.

“Whether or not this was gain-of-function is a political and legal discussion,” Gottlieb said in an interview with CNBC.

He added, “The bottom line is they were doing research on viruses in that institute that was making those viruses potentially more dangerous to humans. And handling the viruses in ways that could potentiate their release, particularly by infecting transgenic animals that have fully-humanized immune systems.”

“They were doing things in that lab that could have led to circumstances where a virus that was purposefully evolved in ways that it could be more dangerous to humans could have escaped,” Gottlieb further emphasised.

He continued, “What’s revealed by these documents are two interesting details I previously didn’t know. First, there was experimentation being done on MERS-like coronaviruses, not just SARS-like coronaviruses. Second, they affirmed what we suspected about coronavirus research being done at other institutes around Wuhan… at a level three biocontainment facility. 

Watch:

"They were doing things in that lab that could have led to circumstances where a virus that was purposefully evolved in ways that it could be more dangerous to humans could have escaped," says @ScottGottliebMD. pic.twitter.com/KxWmL2ITnI

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) September 8, 2021

Gottlieb previously noted that “These kinds of lab leaks happen all the time,” further warning that “in China, the last six known outbreaks of SARS-1 have been out of labs, including the last known outbreak, which was a pretty extensive outbreak that China initially wouldn’t disclose that it came out of lab.”

“It was only disclosed finally by some journalists who were able to trace that outbreak back to a laboratory,” Gottlieb explained back in May.

Watch:

Gottlieb also recently revealed that Fauci briefed world health leaders in the spring of 2020 that a lab leak was a possible cause of the COVID outbreak.

Appearing on CBS News, Gottlieb admitted that Fauci told government health advisors that the virus “looked unusual,” and that scientists he was working with “had suspicions” that it was manipulated.

For almost 18 months now, the former FDA head has been calling for a robust investigation into China’s cover up of the outbreak:

It also recently emerged that there was an outbreak of a DIFFERENT virus from another Chinese bio-facility at around the same time as the COVID outbreak.

Reports also indicate that China is planning on opening scores of bio-facilities over the next five years.

The Financial Times reports that “some Chinese officials have warned about poor security at existing facilities. In 2019 Yuan Zhiming, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s BSL-4 lab, wrote a review of the safety deficiencies in China’s laboratories. ‘Several high-level BSLs have insufficient operational funds for routine yet vital processes,’ Yuan wrote, adding that maintenance costs were ‘generally neglected.’”

The report adds that Yuan warned “Due to the limited resources, some BSL-3 laboratories run on extremely minimal operational costs or in some cases none at all.”

As both Senator Rand Paul and former CIA director and secretary of state Mike Pompeo also warned recently, the Wuhan Institute of Virology is still up and running, and there is evidence pointing to its involvement with the Chinese military in bioweapons research.

The accumulating scientific evidence that points to a potential coronavirus lab leak, as well as China’s record on bio-security, and its constant stonewalling, warrants an adequate independent investigation, which hasn’t happened.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/former-fda-commissioner-fauci-funded-gain-function-even-deadlier-mers-coronaviruses

Push to let teens drive trucks interstate divides the industry

 Proposed legislation to test letting people as young as 18 years old drive big rigs interstate is exposing a divide in the trucking sector, where companies are having trouble finding workers for the grueling job of hauling goods over long distances.

A provision in the infrastructure bill the Senate approved in August would set up a pilot program allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to drive tractor-trailers across state lines. Most states allow people under 21 to get commercial driver’s licenses, but federal rules restrict those drivers to working within state borders.

Some in the industry say the measure could help expand the pool of available drivers. But others say it wouldn’t address core problems that cause people to leave trucking for other blue-collar work such as construction. Those issues include demanding work conditions and pay too low to compensate for the long hours behind the wheel and time away from home.

"If you’ve got holes in the bucket, no matter how much water you put in the top of the bucket, if it’s running out as fast at the bottom as it is at the top, you haven’t really resolved that issue," said Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents independent owners of single trucks and small fleets.

A group of trucks parked at truck stop in Missouri (iStock / iStock)

The association says there is no true shortage of drivers, as many trucking companies contend. In a recent letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the group said that hundreds of thousands of people get commercial driver’s licenses each year and that driver turnover, not supply, is the problem, as new entrants try out the business and leave for other work.

The American Trucking Associations, another trade body that represents trucking companies, hopes the pilot program will demonstrate that young people can safely drive tractor-trailers interstate, said Bill Sullivan, its executive vice president of advocacy.

Proponents of lowering the federal age limit say that plenty of young commercial-driver’s-license holders already drive long distances within large states like Texas and California and that the proposed apprenticeship program’s required 400 hours of training would add another layer of safety beyond what is needed to get a commercial license.

Highway-safety advocates warn that supervision on long routes is lax and that putting young drivers in big rigs will make roads more dangerous. They cite an analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showing that teenagers are far likelier to crash than older drivers.

"They call it a pilot program, but it’s basically a foot in the door to change the rules for their imaginary driver shortage," said Russ Swift, a board member of the Truck Safety Coalition advocacy group whose son died in 1993 in an accident in which a truck driven by an 18-year-old got stuck on a road after an attempted U-turn.

Trucking employment fell sharply at the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year and was still below pre-pandemic levels this summer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some industries have pointed to the dearth of truck drivers as a drag on their ability to restock and recover from the pandemic downturn and many transport operators say the halting rebound in trucking jobs highlights longstanding problems they have had in recruiting and retaining drivers.

Finding people to drive trucks has been complicated by issues including last year’s rollout of a federal database that tracks drug or alcohol use violations by holders of commercial driver’s licenses, as well as the relatively fast recovery of blue-collar sectors such as construction, said Avery Vise, a vice president at transportation research company FTR.

"We would always have several hundred job openings in the best of times," said Derek Leathers, chief executive of Werner Enterprises Inc., a large truckload carrier based in Omaha, Neb. But now the company has more than 500 job openings, he said, and the hardest to fill are those for long-haul drivers. Like many companies, Werner is trying to attract more drivers by offering higher pay, but ensuring they get home regularly is an important incentive as well, he said.

In this Jan. 11, 2017, file photo, early morning traffic is at a standstill on Interstate 5 headed into town as a semi truck and cars block the off ramp to Highway 217 above in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)

The infrastructure bill’s pilot program would allow up to 3,000 drivers to take part in the test, in a heavy-duty and tractor-trailer trucking sector that altogether employs about 1.8 million people, according to BLS. The House is due to take up the bill this month.

The ATA wants the Transportation Department to eventually eliminate its ban on interstate truck drivers under 21. The American Transportation Research Institute, a group affiliated with the ATA, projects that by 2023, the industry will fall 100,000 people short of the drivers needed to replace retiring workers and handle new freight demand. That is in part because close to a third of drivers now on the road are over age 55.

Mr. Sullivan of the ATA said the rigors of the job are more suitable for young people with more energy and without families. "I think that what I wanted to do and what I would put up with when I was 18 is a heck of a lot different than today," he said.

But broadening the pool of potential drivers could cause the industry to simply cycle through more workers, according to those who have studied the sector’s labor force, as truckload carriers seek to compete by cutting costs and keeping drivers on the road for long stretches.

"You can run your trucks more efficiently, in which case, especially as they go longer distances, drivers get treated like pinballs and they don’t get home very often; they work long hours," said Stephen Burks, a professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris focused on transportation and economics.

Truck drivers often shift into other blue-collar jobs such as construction and nontrucking transportation, moves driven by differences in earnings and hours, while high turnover in long-distance trucking can create the appearance of a shortage, Mr. Burks and BLS Associate Commissioner Kristen Monaco wrote in a 2019 paper.

Average annual pay for heavy-duty truck and tractor-trailer drivers in May 2020, the latest month for which data is available, was $48,710, up from $40,360 in 2012, according to BLS. In comparison, drivers of light trucks or vans had average annual pay of $41,050 in May 2020, BLS data show.

The problem isn’t just pay, drivers say, but the tough life on the road.

Michelle Kitchin, who drives for Byron Center, Mich., truckload carrier Van Eerden Trucking Co. and has worked behind the wheel for more than three decades, doubts that bringing in younger recruits would plug leaks in the trucking labor force. Truckers face a "retention issue," she said, because of the long hours, the time spent waiting for freight handling at truck docks and extended periods away from home.

"What 17-year-old is going to look at the trucking industry and say, ‘I want to do that when I’m 18?’" Ms. Kitchin asked.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/industrials/teens-drive-trucks-interstate-divides-industry

Producer prices surge 8.3% annually, fifth straight record gain

 Producer prices climbed at the fastest annual pace on record for the fifth consecutive month in August as supply-chain disruptions and materials shortages continued to put upward pressure on costs. 

The producer price index for final demand jumped 8.3% year over year, according to the Labor Department. The reading was hotter than the 8.2% increase that analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting and above the 7.8% print recorded in July. The reading was the strongest since recordkeeping began in November 2010.

Producer prices rose 0.7% in August, slowing from the 1% increase the month prior. Economists were anticipating a 0.6% gain.  

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/producer-price-index-august-2021

AzurRx Activates Trial Sites in India for Phase 2 COVID Med

 Phase 2 placebo-controlled clinical trial to confirm safety of FW-1022 and investigate its ability to remove SARS-CoV-2 virus from the GI tract

AzurRx BioPharma, Inc. (“AzurRx” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: AZRX), a company specializing in the development of targeted non-systemic, therapies for gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, today announced the activation of seven (7) new clinical trial sites in India for the ongoing RESERVOIR trial evaluating FW-1022. FW-1022 is a proprietary oral tablet formulation of micronized niclosamide developed for the treatment of COVID-19-related GI infections.

The seven new clinical trial sites in India, together with the existing eleven sites in the U.S. and the five trial sites recently added in the Ukraine, brings the total number of RESERVOIR trial sites to twenty-three. AzurRx expects to report topline results during the first quarter of 2022.

“Expanding our clinical trial into India provides access to the second most populous country in the world and one that, unfortunately, continues to experience a devastating COVID-19 outbreak,” said James Sapirstein, President and CEO of AzurRx BioPharma. “Despite the global vaccination effort, COVID-19, and the new Delta variant, remain pernicious. Infection rates in India average 38,000 a day with more than 31.1 million people infected overall. The virus’ impact on the GI tract is often overshadowed by its effect on the respiratory system, however COVID-19-related GI infection remains an undertreated symptom with devastating aftereffects. A safe and effective treatment that removes the virus from the gut is needed for the millions who have contracted and continue to fall victim to the virus.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/azurrx-biopharma-activates-clinical-trial-123000453.html

Sanofi's BTK inhibitor flunks phase 3 autoimmune trial

 Chalk up a pyrrhic victory for the Principia Biopharma short sellers. After arguing Principia’s pipeline was worthless, short sellers saw Sanofi snap up the biotech at a hefty premium in a $3.7 billion deal. Now, rilzabrutinib, one of Principia’s key candidates, has flunked its first major clinical test.

Rilzabrutinib is an inhibitor of BTK, a target that has proven fruitful in the treatment of B-cell cancers but has been a graveyard for autoimmune candidates tested by companies including Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead and Roche. Principia bet reversible binding would make rilzabrutinib both safe and potent, enabling it to succeed where other similar molecules had flopped.

After generating data in a single-arm phase 2 trial in the rare autoimmune skin disease pemphigus, Principia moved into a pivotal trial designed to support a filing for approval in the first half of next year. The filing plan now lies in tatters.

Investigators randomized 131 newly diagnosed or relapsing moderate-to-severe pemphigus patients to take rilzabrutinib or placebo orally. The primary endpoint looked at the number of patients in each arm who were in complete remission and taking 10 mg or less of corticosteroids a day from week 29 to week 37 of the study. By that yardstick, rilzabrutinib was no better than placebo.

The failure of rilzabrutinib to free patients from skin lesions validates the arguments put forward by groups that shorted Principia’s stock, notably Sahm Adrangi's Kerrisdale Capital. Early last year, Kerrisdale said Principia’s pipeline was “worthless” and gave a skeptical reading of its data.

As Kerrisdale saw it, Principia’s single-arm phase 2 study in pemphigus suggested the drug was no match for Roche’s Rituxan, which won approval in the most common form of the disease in 2018. Sanofi’s decision to pay $100 a share for Principia, well above the price it traded for at the time of the short attack, delivered a win for the biotech’s investors but Kerrisdale could still prove to be right about the therapeutic potential of rilzabrutinib.

Sanofi is yet to give up on the drug, though. A phase 3 clinical trial in the rare blood disorder immune thrombocytopenia and a phase 2 study in the autoimmune condition IgG4-related disease are continuing. And Sanofi plans to start midphase trials in immunological diseases including asthma, atopic dermatitis, chronic spontaneous urticaria and warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia by the end of the year. The roster of trials reflects Sanofi’s belief that rilzabrutinib is a pipeline in a product. 

In a statement to disclose the phase 3 failure, Naimish Patel, Sanofi’s head of global development, immunology and inflammation, said the company still believes “the rilzabrutinib clinical program holds great potential to address the unmet treatment needs of people living with immune-mediated diseases.” 

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/sanofi-s-btk-inhibitor-flunks-phase-3-autoimmune-trial-delivering-blow-to-3-7b-biotech-bet

Biden picks Kroger, other top retailers to sell COVID tests at cost

 Kroger is among several large national retailers tapped to offer at-home, rapid test COVID kits at cost over the next three months.

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced Kroger, Walmart and Amazon as the retailers that will sell the tests kits.

Because the kits will be sold at cost to the retailers, they will be priced 35 percent lower than currently available test kits, according to the administration.

These price reductions will be in effect by the end of this week.

The administration also acted to ensure Medicaid will cover at-home tests for free for beneficiaries.

Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act to produce as many as 280 million COVID tests.

The act authorizes the president to require businesses to accept and prioritize contracts for materials deemed necessary for national defense, regardless of a loss incurred on business.

President Donald Trump invoked the act twice, first in March 2020 to prohibit price gouging on health and medical resources, second in April 2020 to require the production of N95 respirators.

Biden invoked the act in January 2021 on his second day in office to increase the production of supplies related to the pandemic including protective equipment. He invoked it again in March to supply equipment to Merck to safely manufacture J&J vaccines.

Demand for testing is expected to rise as Biden’s new vaccination mandate covering employers with 100+ employees goes into effect.

The mandates require a weekly negative test from employees who refuse to get vaccinated.

https://www.fox19.com/2021/09/09/kroger-sell-millions-covid-19-rapid-tests-part-bidens-new-vaccine-policy/

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