Search This Blog

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Siemens Healthineers to hold on to ultrasound division - CFO

 

U.S.-German medical device maker Siemens Healthineers plans to keep its ultrasound equipment business and is in fact investing in it, said the company's chief financial officer.

"There is no sale process for the ultrasound division," CFO Jochen Schmitz said in Ismaning near Munich on Tuesday evening. "We already repositioned the business at the end of last year and are investing heavily in it."

Siemens Healthineers CEO Bernd Montag has questioned the future of the relatively small-scale business, which had sales of about 400 million euros ($420.84 million) last year. "We can be in the business, but we don't have to be," he said at the time.

According to investment bankers, the publicly traded Siemens subsidiary had brought in bankers from JPMorgan to review bids that had come in for the division.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/SIEMENS-HEALTHINEERS-AG-42379342/news/Siemens-Healthineers-to-hold-on-to-ultrasound-division-CFO-40852873/

Biden Admin To Deploy 1.6 Million Doses Of Monkeypox Vaccines In 'Enhanced' Strategy

 by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

The Biden administration announced it will expand access to monkeypox vaccines in a new “enhanced” national strategy to combat the outbreak, which includes the deployment of 296,000 vaccine doses over the coming weeks, and potentially 1.6 million vaccine doses over the coming months.

The plan seeks to “expand vaccination for individuals at risk and make testing more convenient for healthcare providers and patients across the country,” the White House said in a statement on June 28.

Source: BNO

Under the strategy, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will immediately allocate 56,000 doses of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, which are currently in the national stockpile, to states and territories across the United States.

States will be offered an equitable allotment based on cases and proportion of the population at risk for severe disease from monkeypox, and the federal government will partner with state, local, and territorial governments in deploying the vaccines,” the White House announced.

The move is a major step up from the 9,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine that HHS has so far deployed from the national stockpile to the 32 states and jurisdictions that requested the vaccine.

HHS will also allocate another 240,000 doses in the coming weeks “to a broader population of individuals at risk,” as more doses are received from the manufacturer. This would bring the total number of vaccines to be distributed over the coming weeks to 296,000.

The White House said HHS will hold another 60,000 vaccines in reserve.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement that the new strategy allows the government to “maximize the supply of currently available vaccines and reach those who are most vulnerable to the current outbreak.”

...

Up until now, monkeypox vaccines have been provided only to people who have had confirmed exposure to a monkeypox case. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) from the CDC now recommends that vaccines will be made available to people with “confirmed monkeypox exposures and presumed exposures.”

“This includes those who had close physical contact with someone diagnosed with monkeypox, those who know their sexual partner was diagnosed with monkeypox, and men who have sex with men who have recently had multiple sex partners in a venue where there was known to be monkeypox or in an area where monkeypox is spreading,” HHS said in a statement.

...

The White House noted that the ACAM2000 vaccine “cannot be provided to individuals who are immunocompromised or who have heart disease.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/biden-admin-deploy-16-million-doses-monkeypox-vaccines-enhanced-strategy

US Emergency Oil Reserves Tumble To Record Low 27 Days Worth Of Supply

 As we detailed earlier in the week, the latest weekly release has pushed the SPR below the 500 million barrels mark for the first time since 1986...

And as the chart above shows, the plummeting SPR is not having the impact on prices that President Biden hoped (which explains why he is blaming everyone and everything else for the rise in gas prices - as it becomes clear it's a refining capacity issue as much as anything else).

While that is ominous by itself, we note that in the context of US demand, it is even more of a concern as based on the latest Department of Energy estimate of Implied Crude Demand, there is just 27 days of supply left in the emergency oil reserve... a record low...

"Congress has been irresponsibly selling the SPR down," said Bob McNally, who in the early 2000s oversaw the Energy Department's efforts to replenish the SPR under former President George W. Bush, adding that "draining the reserve leaves the country and the world more vulnerable to geopolitical shocks."

Finally, we note that in response to growing concerns about the depleted reserve, the Department of Energy revealed plans to replenish emergency stocks.

This fall, it will launch a buyback process to repurchase 60 million barrels of oil, or one-third of the six-month 180-million-barrel emergency release.

As Andrew Moran writes at The Epoch Times, although the White House is exploring multiple avenues, such as urging OPEC to open the taps and pushing gasoline stations to diminish the pain at the pump, the best solution is greater North American output, says Tortoise Senior Portfolio Manager Rob Thummel.

The best solution remains increasing oil and natural gas production from reliable supply sources like U.S. and Canada that will assist in balancing the global energy markets and reduce the geopolitical risk premium embedded in global oil and natural gas prices resulting in lower prices at the pump,” Thummel stated during a recent TortoiseEcofin QuickTake podcast.

Biden announced last week that he is encouraging Congress to lift the 18-cent federal gas tax for three months...

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/us-emergency-oil-reserves-tumble-record-low-27-days-worth-supply

Lexicon: Positive Top-Line Results From Phase 2 Proof-Of-Concept Study In Diabetic Neuropathy

 Study Supports Translation of Potential New Mechanism of Action for Neuropathic Pain and Advancement of LX9211 Development in Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

Conference Call and Webcast at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time June 30, 2022

Lexicon management will hold a live conference call and webcast on June 30, 2022 at 8:00 am ET / 7:00 am CT to discuss the RELIEF-DPN-1 top-line results. The dial-in number for the conference call is 888-886-7786 (U.S./Canada) or 416-764-8658 (international). The conference ID for all callers is 20954316. The live webcast and replay may be accessed by visiting Lexicon’s website at www.lexpharma.com/events. An archived version of the webcast will be available on the website for 14 days.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lexicon-announces-positive-top-line-200100262.html

Corcept Initiates Pivotal Phase 3 Trial in Ovarian Cancer

 Phase 2 trial showed that relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel improved progression-free survival, duration of response and overall survival without an increased side effect burden compared to nab-paclitaxel alone

Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated (NASDAQ: CORT), a commercial-stage company engaged in the discovery and development of medications to treat severe endocrine, oncologic, metabolic and neurological disorders by modulating the effects of the hormone cortisol, today announced that it has initiated ROSELLA, a pivotal Phase 3 trial of relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/corcept-therapeutics-initiates-rosella-pivotal-200500723.html

Avadel: Pursuing strategies to accelerate final approval of FT218 NDA

 

  • Optimizing cost structure to fund strategic priorities and extend cash runway

  • Continuing key activities to accelerate launch timing of FT218, targeting multi-billion-dollar narcolepsy market opportunity

  • Management to host a conference call tomorrow, June 30 at 8:00 a.m. ET

To access the conference call, investors are invited to dial (844) 388-0559 (U.S. and Canada) or (216) 562-0393 (International). The conference ID number is 4176205. A live audio webcast can be accessed by visiting the investor relations section of the Company’s website, www.avadel.com. A replay of the webcast will be archived on Avadel’s website for 90 days following the event.

Angion to End Phase 2 Trial of ANG-3070 in Patients with Primary Proteinuric Kidney Disease

 Angion Biomedica Corp. (NASDAQ:ANGN), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel small molecule therapeutics to address fibrotic diseases, today announced the discontinuation of JUNIPER, its Phase 2 dose-finding trial of ANG-3070, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), in patients with primary proteinuric kidney diseases, specifically focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). This trial, which began enrolling patients in December 2021, is being discontinued in the interest of patient safety based upon a reassessment of the risk/benefit profile of ANG-3070 in patients with established serious kidney disease.

This reassessment was conducted following the occurrence of a potential safety signal of an unexpected and substantial decline in kidney function in a patient in the trial’s drug treatment arm and took into account a number of factors, including an evaluation of the totality of the data Angion has reviewed with respect to ANG-3070, known TKI class side effects, including potential adverse effects on the kidney, and an analysis of the blinded patient data which did not detect any early treatment signal indicating a reduction in proteinuria. These factors collectively lead Angion to believe discontinuation of the JUNIPER study is in the best interest of patients. Angion is communicating with clinical trial sites and regulatory authorities regarding its decision to terminate the trial.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/angion-announces-discontinuation-phase-2-200500227.html