Lawmakers call on Biden to end public health emergency

 More than 70 House Republican lawmakers have signed a letter calling for an end to the designation of COVID-19 as a public health emergency, NPR reported Feb. 14. 

The letter was addressed to President Joe Biden and HHS secretary Xavier Becerra. The group of Republican lawmakers that penned the letter cited access to vaccines and treatments, as well as the mental health effects of isolation, as reasons to end the emergency. 

"Although the PHE was certainly necessary at the outset of the pandemic, it was always meant to be temporary. Our country is now in a much different situation than we were when the PHE was originally enacted," lawmakers wrote. 

The lawmakers also in their letter urged President Biden to lift vaccine and mask mandates and reopen schools for in-person learning.

Mr. Becerra last extended the public health emergency designation Jan. 14, which is set to expire April 15. The letter called for President Biden to submit plans to Congress by March 15.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/lawmakers-call-on-biden-to-end-public-health-emergency.html

Covid test revenues to crash in 2022

 While they would probably admit that, on balance, a receding of the pandemic is a good thing, makers of Covid tests do stand to lose out should case numbers continue to fall. All the big Covid test makers that have given guidance for the coming year expect sales of these products to fall – but by widely varying degrees. The European groups seem to expect a better year than those based in the US, perhaps because assays tend to be centrally distributed, often free of charge to the user, in European countries. Of the US cohort, Abbott expects to do best, though it still expects test sales to fall by two thirds from 2021’s total of $7.7bn. But there is a chance that test sales might not fall quite so sharply. Covid transmission is notoriously unpredictable, and another new variant and corresponding surge cannot be ruled out. Moreover, when reporting fiscal first-quarter results this month, both Becton Dickinson and Siemens Healthineers raised 2022 Covid test guidance from the numbers they had given in November. It is certainly possible that the figures compiled in the table below might be raised further as the year continues. 

Covid tests – how sales might fall in 2022
Company	2021 Covid diagnostics sales ($bn)	2022e Covid diagnostics sales ($bn)	% change
Becton Dickinson*	2.0	0.5	(77%)
Thermo Fisher Scientific	7.2	1.8	(76%)
Quest Diagnostics	2.8	0.7-1.0	(70%)
Labcorp	2.8	0.7-1.1	(68%)
Abbott Laboratories	7.7	2.5	(68%)
Qiagen	0.7	0.4	(50%)
Siemens Healthineers*	1.2	0.8	(33%)
Roche**	7.6	5.4	(29%)
*Outlook for fiscal 2022, which ends Sep 2022. **Figures include sales of Covid medicines. Source: company statements & Stifel. https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/news/corporate-strategy-snippets/covid-test-revenues-crash-2022

Stocks, Bonds Sink As Fed's Bullard Reiterates Hawkish Stance

 With many expecting/hoping for the usual 'walk-back' by St,Louis Fed's Jim Bullard this morning - after unleashing some chaos with his reality check on inflation fighting last week - his interview with CNBC this morning did anything but, rather reiterating the need for quick aggressive action to raise rates and his efforts to persuade the rest of the committee of the need to act decisively and soon:

"We need to front load more of our planned removal of accommodation than we would have previously."

Additional headlines, via Bloomberg, suggest voting-member Bullard is ready to push this hawkish agenda across the whole board...

• *BULLARD: FED MUST REASSURE PEOPLE IT WILL DEFEND INFLATION TGT

• *BULLARD: INITIAL RATE HIKES, BAL-SHEET RUNOFF RELATIVELY CHEAP

• *BULLARD: HAVE BEEN PUSHING CMTE TO MOVE FASTER SINCE SUMMER

• *BULLARD: COULD HAVE MOVED ASSET BUYS UP FASTER IN RETROSPECT

• *BULLARD: I'M A LITTLE MORE WORRIED WE'RE NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH

• *BULLARD: HAVE A LONG WAYS TO GO IF WE WANT TO BE RESTRICTIVE

• *BULLARD: WOULD WANT TO START PASSIVE BAL-SHEET RUNOFF IN 2Q

Bullard was very frank about at least one thing: "our credibility is on the line here..."

Stocks sank back after the rebound on Russia comments...

Treasury yields are extending their spike with 10Y Yields pushing back towards 2.00%...

And 2Y Yields are back near Bullard spike highs from last week...

And finally, the market is now pricing in a 75% chance of 50bps hike in March...

Will any of the other Fed speakers now come out to play good-cop?

Juxtaposing Bullard's views were those of San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, who warned on Sunday that being too “abrupt and aggressive” with interest rate increases could be counter-productive to the Federal Reserve’s goals; signaling she is not yet prepared to come out of the gate with a half-percentage-point interest rate hike next month.

“So I look at the data, and I see that it is obvious that we need to pull some of the accommodation out of the economy, but history tells us with Fed policy that abrupt and aggressive action can actually have a destabilizing effect on the very growth and price stability that we’re trying to achieve,” Daly told CBS’ “Face The Nation” in an interview.

So 7.5% inflation is not enough to get you off the pot Mary? ... because stocks are so fragile?

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-bonds-sink-bullard-reiterates-hawkish-stance-rate-hike-odds-rebound

Biodesix: Preliminary Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2021 Revenue

 Biodesix, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSX) a leading data-driven diagnostic solutions company with a focus in lung disease, today announced that the Company expects to report fourth quarter and record full-year 2021 preliminary unaudited total revenue of $7.2 million and $54.5 million, respectively. The strength in the full-year 2021 total revenue of $54.5 million compared to $45.6 million in 2020 was a result of growth in the Company’s core lung diagnostic testing and first half 2021 COVID-19 testing. The financial results included in this release pertaining to the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 are preliminary and unaudited and subject to final review and adjustments.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biodesix-announces-preliminary-fourth-quarter-110000570.html

Collegium to Acquire BioDelivery Sciences in an All-Cash Deal

 BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI), a growing specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to patients living with serious and complex chronic conditions, today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement for Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. (NASDAQ: COLL) to purchase all outstanding shares of BDSI at $5.60 per share in an all-cash transaction. This corresponds to a total equity value of approximately $604 million (on a fully diluted basis). The merger agreement has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both BDSI and Collegium.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Collegium will promptly commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of BDSI’s common stock, and BDSI will file a recommendation statement containing the unanimous recommendation of the BDSI board that BDSI shareholders tender their shares to Collegium.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/collegium-acquire-biodelivery-sciences-cash-113000673.html

Axcella NASH Candidate Fast-Tracked

 Axcella Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AXLA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to treat complex diseases using multi-targeted endogenous metabolic modulator (EMM) compositions, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a Fast Track Designation to AXA1125 for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with liver fibrosis. AXA1125 is a multi-targeted oral drug candidate that is currently being investigated in the EMMPACT Phase 2b clinical trial in NASH (NCT04880187) and a separate Phase 2a clinical trial in Long COVID (NCT05152849).

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/axcella-therapeutics-announces-fda-fast-125800942.html

Bayer says production of weedkiller glyphosate may be curtailed

 Pesticide and seed producer Bayer said on Monday a supplier of an ingredient for its widely used herbicide glyphosate has run into technical problems which may hamper Bayer’s output of the product in the short term.

The “mechanical failure” at Bayer’s supplier comes in addition to a tight supply situation in global crop chemical markets, in part due to the global pandemic, Bayer added.

“Our supplier is on track to restore production, (and) we’ve sourced additional materials and made other mitigation efforts to help best manage this situation,” the company said in a statement.

A Bayer spokesperson declined to disclose the name of the supplier or the ingredient in question, and would not comment further on any impact on deliveries to customers.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Bayer brands such as Roundup and RangerPro. It has been at the center of mass litigation in the United States brought mostly by residential gardeners claiming the weedkiller caused their cancer.

Bayer, which has settled close to 100,000 cases for billions of dollars, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for legal relief, building its case mainly on repeated safety clearances given by the federal environmental regulator.

In a letter on Friday seen by Reuters, Bayer alerted industrial customers using glyphosate to the supply issue, declaring force majeure, which typically suspends a supplier’s contractual liabilities in the wake of disruptions beyond its control.

In the letter, Bayer said repairs at its supplier would take about three months.

The spokesperson said the manufacturing issue would also affect in-house production of its own glyphosate-containing brands such as Roundup.  

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/bayer-says-production-of-weedkiller-glyphosate-may-be-curtailed/article_eb0264c7-bf3e-5c99-972b-3bbbd7854279.html