Compass Pathways: Up to $285 Million Private Placement Financing

COMPASS Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS), a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, today announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with a select group of healthcare specialist investors for the private placement of (i) 16,076,750 American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) representing 16,076,750 ordinary shares, and (ii) warrants to purchase up to 16,076,750 ADSs (representing 16,076,750 ordinary shares) (the “Warrants”) at a purchase price of approximately $7.78 per ADS and accompanying Warrant to purchase one ADS. Each Warrant will have an exercise price of $9.93 per ADS, representing a 30% premium to the last sale price. The financing is expected to close on August 18, 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.

The transaction is being led by TCGX and Aisling Capital with participation from new and existing institutional investors, including Vivo Capital, RA Capital, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Paradigm BioCapital Advisors LP, Soleus Capital, Armistice Capital, Logos Capital, PFM Health Sciences and Laurion Capital Management, among others.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/compass-pathways-announces-285-million-125800025.html

NC Legislature overrides vetoes of bills targeting transgender health care, athletes

 The North Carolina Legislature voted Wednesday to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto against three bills that would ban gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, prevent transgender women and girls from competing on female sports teams and limit classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Cooper vetoed all three bills last month, writing in the veto message that “Republicans are serving up a triple threat of political culture wars.”

House Bill 808, the gender-affirming health care ban, bars medical professionals in North Carolina from administering puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries to transgender minors. Those who began treatment prior to Aug. 1 may continue receiving care with their parents’ consent.

The new law, which takes effect immediately, also blocks state funds from being used to support government health plans that offer “surgical gender transition procedures, puberty-blocking drugs, or cross-sex hormones to a minor.”

The North Carolina House — where Republicans secured a veto-proof majority in April after state Rep. Tricia Cotham (R) switched political parties — voted 74-45 Wednesday to override Cooper’s veto of the bill. Later in the evening, the Senate voted 27-18 to do the same, making North Carolina the 22nd state to pass a law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender young people, and the 19th to do so this year.

State lawmakers also voted Wednesday to override Cooper’s veto of House Bill 574, which bars transgender women and girls from middle school through college from competing on female sports teams.

Republicans said Wednesday that the bill is needed to maintain the integrity of women’s sports, while Democrats in both chambers criticized the legislation as “targeted abuse” toward transgender young people.

“This is just a mean-spirited bill,” state Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey, a former Olympic swimmer, said Wednesday on the House floor. “We’re not talking about world-class athletes.”

Morey, who represented the U.S. in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, noted that the government did not intervene when she competed against women using performance-enhancing drugs.

“The government didn’t step in, the Olympic Committee did. It was the right way to do it,” Morey said. “Let the governing sports bodies pass their regulations. They’re much more attuned to fairness in sports than politicians are.”

The Legislature also voted Wednesday to override Cooper’s veto of a third bill, known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, to prohibit kindergarten through fourth grade teachers from engaging in classroom instruction about gender identity or sexuality.

Prior to this year, North Carolina had largely refrained from advancing anti-LGBTQ policies after its 2016 “bathroom bill,” which barred transgender people from using public restrooms consistent with their gender identity, sparked a nationwide protest that threatened to cost the state upward of $3.7 billion in lost business.

The law, commonly referred to as House Bill 2, was partially eliminated after Cooper took office in 2017. A lawsuit challenging the measure’s restrictions on transgender bathroom access was settled in federal court in 2019.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4156088-north-carolina-legislature-overrides-vetoes-of-bills-targeting-transgender-health-care-athletes/

Harvard University Shows Students How To Milk Welfare System

 Earlier this year, Harvard University organized an event for graduate students, informing them how to milk the welfare system typically used by low-income families, not college students. 

The Ivy League university's endowment is upwards of $50 billion, making it the wealthiest academic institution in the world; sent a flier to graduate students, urging them to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in March, according to Vice. 

The flier reads: "Fuel your body & stock your pantry. Did you know that grad students may qualify for assistance paying for food & groceries?"

The university's welfare advice comes as graduate students have demanded that Harvard increase all graduate student workers' yearly wage to $60,000 from the current $40,000. These workers have gone on strike twice in recent years over low pay. Much of the distress is because the progressive city of Boston has out-of-control living expenses, including shelter and food. 

A Harvard spokesperson told Vice in an email earlier this year that the flier would help students sign up for welfare. 

... and it appears Harvard isn't the only university encouraging grads to utilize welfare. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/harvard-university-shows-students-how-milk-welfare-system

Fruit With Potentially Deadly Bacteria Recalled In A Dozen States

by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Green organic kiwifruit is now under recall in 14 states due to a potentially deadly listeria contamination, according to an announcement posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website.

David Oppenheimer and Company said it is voluntarily recalling some of its clamshell packages of kiwi after testing found Listeria monocytogenes in some of the products, according to the notice. The bacteria can cause listeriosis, a sometimes severe and fatal infection.

The company traced the contamination back to two grower lots in New Zealand. The recalled kiwi, repackaged locally for sale in 1-pound clear plastic clamshells has the Zespri brand and UPC code 8 18849 02009 3, and it has fruit with a sticker featuring a GTIN bar code of 9400 9552.

The recalled products were shipped between June 14, 2023, and July 7, 2023, and were sold in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection to the products, according to the notice. No other products from David Oppenheimer and Company are subject to the recall.

What Is Listeria?

Federal health officials say that listeria is a bacteria that can cause severe or fatal illness in children, the elderly, or individuals with compromised immune systems. Healthy people can suffer short-term problems including a high fever, nausea, stiffness, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and headaches. Among pregnant women, the organism can cause stillbirths and miscarriages.

Individuals who are infected with the bacteria may see symptoms within a few hours to three days after eating contaminated food, according to the FDA’s website. More severe forms can take three days to three months to develop.

“L. monocytogenes is generally transmitted when food is harvested, processed, prepared, packed, transported or stored in environments contaminated with L. monocytogenes. Environments can be contaminated by raw materials, water, soil, and incoming air. Pets can also spread the bacteria in the home environment if they eat food contaminated with L. monocytogenes,” says the FDA’s website.

Despite the warnings, the bacteria appears to be rare. An estimated 1,600 Americans develop listeriosis each year, while about 260 die, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) data.

“Listeria bacteria can survive refrigeration and even freezing. So people who are at higher risk of serious infections should avoid eating the types of food most likely to contain listeria bacteria,” according to the Mayo Clinic’s website. That includes “improperly processed” deli meat products and unpasteurized milk products, it says, while also listing raw vegetables that have been contaminated from manure or soil as a source of infection.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fruit-potentially-deadly-bacteria-recalled-dozen-states

Chinese asset manager Zhongzhi says it is in liquidity crisis

 Zhongzhi Enterprise Group on Thursday told investors it is facing a liquidity crisis and will conduct a debt restructuring, according to video footage of a meeting, as the Chinese asset manager grapples with a deepening property market downturn.

Beijing-based Zhongzhi has hired one of the Big Four accounting firms to conduct a comprehensive audit of the firm, and is seeking strategic investors, Zhongzhi management told investors in a meeting on Thursday, the video seen by Reuters showed.

The meeting was held after Zhongrong International Trust Co, a leading trust company controlled by Zhongzhi, missed payments on dozens of investment products since the end of July, according to investor sources.

Zhongzhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zhongzhi, with sprawling businesses ranging from mining to wealth management, is the latest major Chinese conglomerate to get into trouble, after the collapse of others including Anbang Insurance Group and HNA Group.

The liquidity stress facing Zhongzhi, which has sizable exposure to real estate, highlights the rippling effect of China's property debt woes.

Zhongzhi is facing a "liquidity crisis" and has stopped payment to investors in its products, its management team told investors in the meeting, according to the video.

It was not possible to determine whether the company is insolvent before completion of auditing work, which began in July, the executives said.

The plan is for "self-rescue" through restructuring, with a focus on debt collection and asset liquidation, but bankruptcy is also an option, they added, without disclosing the amount of debt that needed to be restructured.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-asset-manager-zhongzhi-says-034120629.html

Canadian wildfire threatens towns, govt orders evacuations

 Canadian officials ordered the evacuation of the Northwest Territories' capital of Yellowknife and several smaller communities on Wednesday as a massive wildfire threatened the town of Hay River overnight.

Teams were working to evacuate Hay River, a community of some 3,000 on Great Slave Lake, by bus or plane on Wednesday night as the fire approached.

"Hay River saw the fire south of their community increase, get closer to the city today," fire information officer Mike Westwick said at a news briefing on Wednesday evening. "We saw highly active fire in that area and it was moving quickly."

Westwick said the blaze could reach Yellowknife by this weekend barring rain and that residents of the capital were also being asked to leave as part of a "phased evacuation" beginning with the most threatened communities.

So far no deaths have been reported from the Yellowknife fire but several structures have been destroyed. Yellowknife has a population of around 20,000 people and lies 250 miles (400 km) south of the Arctic circle.

Canada is enduring its worst wildfire season with more than 1,000 active fires burning across the country, including 230 in the Northwest Territories.

Thousands of residents of the sparsely populated territory have already fled smaller communities and the hamlet of Enterprise near the Alberta border was almost entirely destroyed by a blaze that swept through on Sunday.

Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane said some Yellowknife residents were preemptively leaving the city but urged people to remain calm and warned that highways could close suddenly because of the fire risk.

"I've never seen so many vehicles leaving town," Cochrane said. "There's all kinds of rumors out there, but be ready and evacuate if necessary. Be calm. Do not panic."

NWT Fire said the 163,000 hectare (402,781 acres) wildfire is currently 17 km from Yellowknife and would likely reach Highway 3, the only highway connecting the city to the rest of Canada, on Thursday.

"There is risk to the City of Yellowknife. Our team, alongside the City of Yellowknife, are doing everything possible to slow the growth of this fire and protect the community," NWT Fire said.

The Northwest Territories declared a state of emergency late Tuesday and the Canadian military has been mobilized to help tackle the blazes and airlift some residents to safety.

Cochrane spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the wildfire situation on Wednesday afternoon. Trudeau reaffirmed the federal government's ongoing commitment to help the territory, according to a readout of their conversation.

Western Canada is enduring a heat wave that saw 19 daily heat records broken on Tuesday and is fuelling hundreds of out-of-control wildfires.

In the Pacific province of British Columbia around 80 people were forced to shelter in place in a mountain guesthouse after their only way out was cut off by a rapidly expanding blaze.

The stranded people, including lodge guests and campers from nearby campgrounds, sheltered overnight at the Cathedral Lakes Lodge near Keremeos in the south of the province before being brought down the mountain in vehicles on Wednesday afternoon.

Blazes have engulfed parts of nearly all 13 Canadian provinces and territories this year, forcing home evacuations, disrupting oil and gas production and drawing in federal as well as international firefighting resources.

https://sports.yahoo.com/british-columbia-wildfire-strands-150-220820245.html.

3 dead from flesh-eating bacteria in New York, Connecticut

 The New York State Health Department released guidance for residents to identify a flesh-eating bacterium that has claimed the lives of one New York resident and two Connecticut residents over the summer.

The state Department of Public Health said that there are three people known to have been infected with the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria. 

Vibriosis is a rare but potentially fatal bacterial infection that can cause skin breakdown and ulcers and is found in raw shellfish or seawater, health officials said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul called the flesh-eating bacteria “extraordinarily dangerous,” calling upon her constituents to take precautions against the bacteria.

“While rare, the vibrio bacterium has unfortunately made it to this region and can be extraordinarily dangerous,” Hochul said in a press release. “As we investigate further, it is critical that all New Yorkers stay vigilant and take responsible precautions to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, including protecting open wounds from seawater and for those with compromised immune systems, avoiding raw or undercooked shellfish which may carry the bacteria.”

Hochul said that Vibriosis is caused by several species of bacteria, including the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, which occurs naturally in saltwater coastal environments. 

She noted that the potentially deadly bacteria is found in higher concentrations from May to October, when the weather is warmer.

Hochul said that Vibriosis is caused by several species of bacteria, including the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, which occurs naturally in saltwater coastal environments. 

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Symptoms include diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, fever and chills. Exposure can also result in ear infections and cause sepsis and life-threatening wound infections.

The person in New York who died from Vibrio was in Suffolk County. Hochul said that the death is still being investigated to determine if the bacteria were encountered in New York waters or elsewhere. 

New York State Department of Health cautioned that individuals liver disease, cancer or a weakened immune system or people taking medicine to decrease stomach acid levels may be more likely to get an infection or develop complications when infected.

To help prevent vibriosis, people with a cut or scrape or a recent piercing or tattoo should avoid exposing skin to warm seawater in coastal environments or cover the wound with a waterproof bandage.

Hochul noted that the potentially deadly bacteria is found in higher concentrations from May to October, when the weather is warmer, Beach 60 in Rockaway NY pictured on Aug. 9, 2023.

James Messerschmidt for NY Post
In addition, the health department cautioned those with compromised immune systems to avoid eating raw or undercooked shellfish, such as oysters, which can carry the bacteria.

Wear gloves when handling raw shellfish and thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water when finished.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/16/ny-health-department-releases-guidance-after-3-die-from-flesh-eating-bacteria/