CVS revamps profit outlook after health insurance warning

CVS shares edged higher in early Tuesday trading after the health insurance and pharmacy retailer lowered its full-year profit forecasts amid concern about the continued surge in U.S. medical costs.

Health insurance groups such as CVS, as well as rivals Humana  (HUM) , UnitedHealth  (UNH)  and Cigna  (CI)  are seeing payouts to policyholders surge as more Americans, typically those in retirement age, find the time and space for elective surgeries in hospitals that were previously overwhelmed by covid patients.

That's added significant pressure to medical-cost ratios, a key profitability metric that isolates an insurer's payouts against the premiums it collects, for the industry's biggest companies.

CVS said its benefit-expense ratio rose more than 2.7% from a year ago, to 98.5% over the fourth quarter and up more than 2.4% over all of 2023 to 86.2%.

The medical spike is expected to continue, CVS said, adding that "Uppon finalizing the medical cost trend analysis for the fourth quarter of 2023 and recognizing potential implications for elevated medical cost trends",, the group would lower its profit forecasts.

CVS said it sees 2024 adjusted profit of at least $8.30 a share, down from its prior forecast of $8.50 a share. It estimates cash flow from operations at between $12 billion and $12.5 billion.

For the three months ended in December, CVS posted adjusted profit of $2.12 a share, a 4% increase from a year earlier. The latest figure firmly topped Wall Street forecasts.

Group revenue also impressed, rising nearly 12% from a year earlier to $93.81 billion, well ahead of analysts' estimates of a $90.36 billion tally.

"With a focus on delivering care and value, we had a strong fourth quarter and full year in 2023 as we build a world of health around every consumer," said CEO Karen Lynch. "We will continue to drive affordable access to care when, where and how people want, while we improve transparency throughout the health care system."

CVS shares were marked 1.8% higher in pre-market trading immediately following the earnings release to indicate an opening bell price of $75.09 each.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cvs-cuts-2024-profit-outlook-122311391.html

GSK, Alector: Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Frontotemporal Dementia

 -Latozinemab is the most advanced progranulin-elevating candidate in development for FTD-GRN and has now become the first investigational medicine to receive a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the treatment of FTD-GRN-

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/02/07/2825041/0/en/FDA-Grants-Latozinemab-Breakthrough-Therapy-Designation-for-Frontotemporal-Dementia-Due-to-a-Progranulin-Gene-Mutation-FTD-GRN.html

BriaCell: Strong Clinical Data in Breast Cancer

 

• Disease control rate of 61% observed in evaluable Phase 2 patients treated with the same formulation in BriaCell’s pivotal Phase 3 study
• Disease control rate of 50% in evaluable patients treated with the Phase 3 formulation who failed prior antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapy
• Notable responder had failed 4 prior therapies including ADC therapy with metastatic liver tumor “no longer observed” following BriaCell treatment

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/02/07/2825162/0/en/BriaCell-Announces-Strong-Clinical-Data-in-Breast-Cancer-Patients-Reports-Another-Notable-Responder-Case.html

Biodexa: U.S. Patent Covering Tolimidone

 Biodexa plans to initiate a Phase 2 clinical program of tolimidone in Type 1 diabetes, following several preclinical studies demonstrating its role in beta cell survival

Safety profile established in prior human studies of more than 700 patients

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/02/07/2825207/0/en/Biodexa-Announces-Allowance-of-U-S-Patent-Covering-Tolimidone.html

Amgen cut to Market Perform from Outperform by Leerink

 Target to $318 from $324

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=AMGN&p=d

Guardian Angels tackle ‘migrant shoplifter’ during live TV interview, cops say it was pest trying to stop filming

The Guardian Angels violently tackled a man they claimed to be a migrant shoplifter during a live TV interview from Times Square about the crisis — but who cops say was just a pest trying to disrupt filming.

Group founder Curtis Sliwa was talking to Fox News late Tuesday about migrant crime in the city when members of his red-clad cohort suddenly dashed off.

“Our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys right here on the corner of 42nd and 7th while all this is taking place,” Sliwa told amazed host Sean Hannity.

The camera then panned over to show the Guardian Angels surrounding and shoving a bespectacled man in a dark jacket with the hood up.

During a scuffle, Sliwa’s volunteers tackled him to the ground, with one seemingly putting him in a chokehold.

“He had been shoplifting,” Sliwa later told Hannity about the fracas, without explaining how he or his group members knew.

Guardian Angels are seen on live television roughing up a man alleged to be a migrant shoplifter at Times Square.FOX NEWS

“The Guardian Angels spotted him, stopped him, he resisted, and let’s just say we gave him a little pain compliance.

“His mother back in Venezuela felt the vibrations,” the former mayoral candidate quipped, again without explaining why he had drawn such a conclusion.

“He’s sucking concrete, the cops scraped him off the asphalt, he’s on his way to jail, but they’ll cut him loose,” he said, referring to the scandal over migrants freed after attacking an NYPD cop.

Curtis Sliwa was being interviewed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity when the scuffle broke out nearby.FOX NEWS

The NYPD, however, had a very different take on the drama.

Officers responded to a 911 call about “a disorderly male,” a police spokesperson told The Post, with no mention of it being either a migrant or a shoplifter.

“Upon arrival officers observed a male being detained by bystanders,” the spokesperson said.

“Officers were informed that the male had repeatedly attempted to interfere with and disrupt a live television interview. The male was issued a summons for disorderly conduct.”

During his interview, Sliwa decried Times Square being overwhelmed by criminal migrants.

“We gotta take 42nd Street back, Sean,” Sliwa said. “These illegals think they own this street, they think they rule the night. This is our country, if they can’t abide by the rules, then we’re gonna kick ’em back from where they came.”

Hannity said that he had accompanied the Guardian Angels on patrol in Times Square and suggested that police officers were “very appreciative” of their efforts.

“Unfortunately, they’ve been told, ‘hands off,’ but guess what? We don’t keep our hands off,” Sliwa said.

“You shoplift, you commit crime, you assault people, you don’t belong in our country and we’re gonna make sure you pay a price for that.

“We gotta fight for what we know is right and you saw a little bit of this,” he added. “They got a little bit of taste of what the Guardian Angels are gonna do to liberate Times Square from them.”

Earlier in the interview on Fox News, Sliwa, who lost the mayoral election to Eric Adams in 2021, identified himself as Adams’ “number one hater” — and attacked his political opponent for “single-handedly destroying this city” by offering migrants prepaid debit cards to buy food and baby supplies.

“This mayor doesn’t seem to get it,” Sliwa fumed. “He takes care of the illegal aliens and forsakes his own people, especially the African-American poor and impoverished who elected him the mayor of the city of New York over me, Curtis Sliwa.”

Sliwa, 69, was arrested in August during an anti-immigration rally outside the mayor’s home, where his Guardian Angels were involved in a fight between protesters and counter-protesters.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/07/metro/guardian-angels-tackle-man-during-live-tv-interview-in-times-square/

Biden forgets Hamas’ name when asked about hostages held in Gaza

 President Biden has sparked fresh alarm by appearing to get lost during his latest press conference — even forgetting the name Hamas.

The oldest-ever US president was asked a question Tuesday about the ongoing hostage negotiations between the terrorist group and Israel, after delivering a speech promoting the new border security bill.

“There is some movement, and I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna …,” the 81-year-old commander-in-chief said, pausing to stare blankly ahead.

“Let me choose my words — there’s some movement, there’s been … a response from the, uh…,” he said, again pausing while looking ahead with the same lost look.

“There’s been a response … from … the opposition, but, um —” he said.

Sounding confused about what he was supposed to say, Biden suddenly looked up to his left while getting much-needed guidance.

“Yes, I’m sorry, from Hamas,” he said of the terror group behind the war with Israel, a key US ally.

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who is challenging the president for the Democratic nomination, was among those unable to contain their horror at the footage.

President Biden appeared to forget the name Hamas while giving a press conference on Tuesday.AFP via Getty Images

“I’m attacked for being honest and saying the quiet part out loud — the part DC insiders only do in private,” he posted on X.

“I admire our President. I voted for him and campaigned for him. He has visited my home and been gracious to my family and our country.

“But shame on all of you pretending everything is OK,” Phillips continued. “You are leading us — and him — into a disaster, and you damn well know it.”

Sky News’ US correspondent Mark Stone also called the apparent gaffe “quite a stark moment.

“It was quite clear that he could not remember the word ‘Hamas’ and had to be prompted by a member of the media who was there in the White House,” Stone told his UK network.

“This is not the first time — so many times over the past few years, he has stumbled on his words, and I think people, right or wrong, see it as more than just a problem with a stutter,” he noted.

“This is happening a lot and I think it is, you know, a reflection of his age.”

“There are so many people in America and beyond that are concerned that this is a man who is not going to be capable of fighting this brutal election that is upcoming.”

Biden is already the oldest president to serve in office, and if he were elected to serve another four years, Biden would leave office at the age of 86.

But, Stone noted, “the guy he is likely to fight, Donald Trump … is elderly and also seems to be mixing things up.

“So on both sides, we have elderly men who are the front-runners to be the next president of the United States — quite a state of affairs.”

https://nypost.com/2024/02/07/news/biden-appears-to-forget-hamas-name/