Kazakhstan Denies US-Funded 'Military Biological Lab' Seized By Rioters After Russia Claims Potential Pathogen Leak

 Kazakh officials have denied that a US-funded 'military biological laboratory' was seized by rioters in the recent unrest, which has seen at least 160 dead since the violence broke out just one week ago.

It is unclear whether the deaths, reported by the health ministry to state news channel Khabar-24, are primarily civilians or law enforcement according to the Daily Mail - however officials said on Sunday that at least 16 police or national guard members had been killed. Pictures of Kazakh secret service operatives killed during the unrest have also been released.

According to Russian media, the biolab near Almaty - built in 2017 and used to study outbreaks of particularly dangerous infections - was 'compromised,' resulting in a potential leak of dangerous pathogens. Kazakh officials have denied the claim.

The secret bio-laboratory funded by the US defence department - which has links to Russian and Chinese scientists - was also compromised in the disturbances, according to social media claims that it was seized.

'This is not true. The facility is being guarded,' said the health ministry which is responsible for the Central Reference Laboratory, in Almaty.

Official Russian news agency TASS had highlighted alleged social media reports that it was taken over by 'unidentified people' and 'specialists in chemical protection suits were working near the lab so a leak of dangerous pathogens could have occurred'.

The laboratory's existence has been controversial and in 2020 the country formally denied that it was being used to make biological weapons.

At the time, the Kazakh government stated: 'No biological weapons development is underway in Kazakhstan - and no research is conducted against any other states.' -Daily Mail

Of course, since the source of the claim is Russian state media, one should take it with the same grain of salt as any state-sponsored outlet (or their legacy media mouthpieces).

As the Mail notes, "The airport, mayor's office and secret services buildings fell briefly into the hands of rioters during a wave of protests backed by shadowy armed cells."

In 2018 there were reports that a new strain of meningitis which had leaked from the lab - which was similarly denied. According to officials, no US personnel remain involved in the lab's work, which included studying Covid.

The most recent controversy over the lab comes amid 'growing intrigue' over how the recent protests came to be organized, and which have been tamped down since a large Russian force was sent to the country. According to reports, 'well-coordinated' armed groups were operating alongside protesters over a hike in gas prices.

Nearly 6,000 people have been detained following the riots, with a "sizeable number of foreign nationals among them," the Mail reports. It's unclear where these alleged foreign provocateurs originated from.

Russia and allies Belarus have continued to pour troops and equipment into Kazakhstan.     

Kazakh authorities said earlier on Sunday that 16 police or national guard members had been killed in the protests that started on January 2.

A total of 103 deaths were in Almaty, the country's largest city, where demonstrators seized government buildings and set some on fire, according to the ministry. The country's ombudswoman for children's rights said that three of those killed were minors, including a four-year-old girl.

The ministry earlier reported more than 2,200 people sought treatment for injuries from the protests, and the Interior Ministry said about 1,300 security officers were injured. -Daily Mail

As we noted on Sunday, Among the boldest and eye-brow raising political moves by embattled Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev within the past days that grabbed international headlines was his ordering the arrest of Kazakhstan's powerful former intelligence chief, Karim Massimov, on the charge of high treason.

Massimov had served as the prior longtime strongman ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev's prime minister and has long been considered his "right hand man". Shortly after, a photo has resurfaced, currently subject of widespread speculation which shows Joe Biden and Hunter Biden posing with the now detained Kazakh security chief Karim Massimov, along with well-connected oligarch Kenes Rakishev.

Hunter and Joe Biden pictured with Kenes Rakishev (left) and Karim Massimov (right)

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/kazakhstan-denies-us-funded-military-biological-lab-seized-rioters-after-russia-claims

Molecular Partners, Novartis: Positive Topline Data in Phase 2 for Antiviral Therapeutic for COVID-19

 

• Topline results from the randomized, placebo-controlled EMPATHY Part A study in acute COVID-19 ambulatory patients comparing single intravenous doses of ensovibep, a DARPin antiviral therapeutic candidate vs. placebo, met the primary endpoint of viral load reduction over eight days

• The secondary endpoint of hospitalization and/or ER visits related to COVID-19, or death showed an overall 78% reduction in risk of events across ensovibep arms compared to placebo; No deaths were observed in the ensovibep treatment arms
  
  

• A total of 407 patients were recruited in the Phase 2 study and ensovibep was safe and well-tolerated at all doses (75mg, 225mg and 600mg) – with 75mg the planned dose for further development
  
  

• Ensovibep continues to maintain potent in vitro pan-variant activity against all variants of concern identified so far, including Omicron
  
  

• Ensovibep is a multi-specific DARPin (Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein), specifically designed to block the receptor binding domains of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein through highly potent and cooperative binding, making it challenging for escape mutants
  
  

• Novartis confirms it will exercise its option to in-license ensovibep from Molecular Partners, accelerate manufacturing scale-up, and plans to seek expedited regulatory authorizations globally – first via the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)
  
  

• Upon completion of in-licensing, Molecular Partners will receive a milestone payment of 150M CHF and be entitled to a 22% royalty on sales of ensovibep in commercial territories

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/molecular-partners-novartis-report-positive-061700268.html

Celyad Oncology Provides Outlook for 2022

 

• KEYNOTE-B79 and IMMUNICY-1 clinical trials evaluating the Company’s allogeneic CAR T candidates, CYAD-101 and CYAD-211 respectively, expected to generate key data throughout 2022

• Company’s proprietary non-gene edited shRNA technology clinically validated as a novel platform for the development of next-generation, allogeneic CAR Ts

• Preclinical shRNA-based allogeneic pipeline continues to progress with IL-18-armored CAR T candidate CYAD-203 as well as discovery programs focused on in-licensed T-cell engagers targeting TAG72 and GPC3

• Recent $32.5 million private placement with Fortress Investment Group affiliate to fund further research and development of Company’s current allogeneic CAR T pipeline

• As of December 31, 2021, the Company ended the year with an unaudited treasury position of €30 million ($34 million)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/celyad-oncology-provides-outlook-2022-060100170.html

Exact Sciences Announces Prelim Fourth Quarter 2021 Results

 Expected total fourth quarter revenue of $472-475M, including Screening revenue of $277-278M, Precision Oncology revenue of $148.5-149.5M, and COVID-19 testing revenue of $46.5-47.5M

- Total 2021 revenue, excluding COVID-19 testing, increased 29% compared to 2020, including 30% increase in Screening revenue and 27% increase in Precision Oncology revenue

- Screening revenue growth driven by Cologuard rescreens, Cologuard use in 45-49 age group, expansion of primary care sales team, and increased in-person sales calls

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exact-sciences-announces-preliminary-fourth-000000623.html

Exact Sciences Acquires PreventionGenetics

 PreventionGenetics' comprehensive genetic testing portfolio complements Exact Sciences' advanced cancer tests, enabling disease prevention and earlier cancer detection to benefit patients across decades of life

Foundational laboratory and skilled team with experience in sequencing, informatics, and genetic counseling will support entrance into hereditary cancer testing

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exact-sciences-acquires-preventiongenetics-accelerate-000000793.html

Pelosi Dangles New Round Of Virus Aid; Wants Tied To February Debt Ceiling Vote

 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has floated the possibility to tack a new round of federal COVID-19 relief to a package of legislation which would fund the government past a February stopgap deadline, according to Bloomberg.

"It is clear from the opportunity that is there and the challenge that is there," Pelosi told CBS's "Face the Nation," adding that President Biden's administration "has not made a formal request for more funding."

"I believe that left to their own devices, the appropriators can get the job done," said Pelosi. "Something like additional funding can be in there, can be fenced off for emergency, as would be Covid."

More via Bloomberg:

Last week, two senators suggested that additional relief for U.S. restaurants and other service industries hurt by the surge of infections could be added to the spending bills. Senators Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and head of the Small Business Committee, and Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said they are working to build support for the plan among their colleagues. Pelosi didn’t specify what any extra funding might be used for.

Pelosi told CBS that the virus’s “resilience” means it’s spreading faster than in previous phases of the pandemic, underscoring the need for everyone “to get vaccinated, to be masked, to have spatial distancing and the rest. And to be tested, tested, tested.”

Senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, blasted the administration on the Senate floor last week, saying the problem wasn’t funding but the administration’s lack of a strategy for getting a handle on the virus. Biden officials focused on vaccinations at the expense of additional testing capacity, he said.

"For a full year, the administration has focused almost exclusively on one thing, and testing and treatments have not had the attention they should have had or now that they must have," said Blunt, adding: "That failure’s come at a steep cost. Today, Americans can’t find over-the-counter tests, and the nation lacks a comprehensive, reliable testing infrastructure."

Pelosi also poured cold water on the notion that the spending bill will include an extension of the child tax credit, which expired in December.

"The Child Tax Credit, we have to have that fight, that discussion, in the Build Back Better legislation," she said. "In order to pass the Build Back Better, it’s under reconciliation, we only need 51 votes. The bill that is the appropriations bill requires 60 votes in the Senate. So we have to do what’s possible there."

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/pelosi-dangles-new-round-virus-aid-wants-tied-february-debt-ceiling-vote

California Folds; Says Asymptomatic COVID-Positive Health Workers Can Get Back To Work Amid Shortages

 Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

The California Department of Public Health issued guidance that allows health care networks to enable COVID-19-positive employees to keep working if they don’t show any symptoms.

“The department is providing temporary flexibility to help hospitals and emergency services providers respond to an unprecedented surge and staffing shortages. Hospitals have to exhaust all other options before resorting to this temporary tool. Facilities and providers using this tool, should have asymptomatic COVID-19 positive workers interact only with COVID-19 positive patients to the extent possible,” the Department of Public Health said in a statement to news outlets over the weekend.

Health care workers in the state now don’t have to isolate or show a negative COVID-19 test, the guidance said, before coming back to work if they are asymptomatic. The guidance, which remains in effect until Feb. 1, stipulates that staff wear N95 respirator masks while on the job.

After the guidance was handed down, several unions that represent nurses and other hospital staff expressed alarm.

“Healthcare workers and patients need the protection of clear rules guided by strong science. Allowing employers to bring back workers who may still be infectious is one of the worst ideas I have heard during this pandemic, and that’s really saying something,” Bob Schoonover, the head of union SEIU California, told CBS Sacramento.

Schoonover added that while his union supports “supplemental paid sick leave,” the latest guidance imperils a “critical piece of the protection that workers and the public need.”

The president of the California Nurses Association, Sandy Reding, told local media that the California health department’s guidance will put patients at risk.

“We are very concerned,” she told KNTV news.

“If you have health care workers who are COVID positive care for vulnerable populations, we can spread the COVID virus inside the hospital as well.”

Union officials did not mention the rampant staffing issues that have plagued hospitals across the United States and California in recent days.

Mandates that were put into effect last year by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, required health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines or face termination—despite studies showing that natural immunity conferred by a previous COVID-19 infection shows lasting immunity to the virus. Critics of vaccine mandates have questioned why governments and businesses would impose vaccinate or fire policies for “essential workers”—such as nurses and doctors—in the midst of staff shortages during a viral pandemic.

Health giant Kaiser Permanente suspended more than 2,000 employees who were not vaccinated in October. Other California systems such as Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and Sutter Health also terminated or suspended their employees who weren’t vaccinated in the fall of 2021.

Meanwhile, Dr. George Rutherford, professor of Epidemiology at the University of California San Francisco, told KNTV that the guidance revision isn’t anything new.

“This is about having infected people taking care of infected people. We did this with Ebola in South Africa. We’ve done it before. It’s not the first play option in our playbook. I think staffing issues are such that it led the state to put this guidance out,” he told the outlet.

It comes days after the Newsom administration mandated that booster shots be given to certain health care staffers by Feb. 1. On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, issued said she would issue a directive for all health care workers in the state if signed off by a public health advocacy board.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/california-folds-says-asymptomatic-covid-positive-health-workers-can-get-back-work-amid