Ukrainian Drones Hit Russia's Third-Largest Oil Refinery, Prompting White House Anger

 As discussed in our morning wrap, US equity futures are dipping lower as bond yields in the US continue to move higher as crude continues to surge and is up another 2% on growing fears of middle-eastern escalation after a senior Iranian commander was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria yesterday, with Iran immediately vowing revenge, and as Ukraine once again struck oil infrastructure targets deep inside Russia, overnight hitting Russia’s 3rd largest refinery, ~800 miles from the front lines.

As OilPrice details, Ukrainian drones hit the primary refining unit of Russia’s third-largest refinery southeast of Moscow more than 800 miles from the front line, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Ukraine keeps striking Russian oil assets despite the Biden admin's unequivocal demands for a hard stop, suggesting that diplomatic fallout is now imminent.

The Taneco refinery of Russian company Tatneft in Tatarstan, an industrialized region southeast of Moscow, was attacked by Ukrainian drones in the latest such attack from Ukraine on Russian refining infrastructure.

The refinery has a capacity to process 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude. Its primary refining unit, with a capacity to process about 155,000 bpd, was hit in Tuesday’s attack, according to pictures seen by Reuters. The unit caught fire, which was swiftly extinguished, Russian media report.

They also quote Ramil Mullin, the mayor of the city of Nizhnekamsk, where the refinery is located, as saying that there have been no injured people in the attack.

“There are no injuries or serious damage,” Mullin wrote on Telegram. “The technological process of the enterprise has not been disrupted,” the mayor added.

A source with the Ukrainian intelligence in Kyiv told Reuters that Ukraine hit a major Russian oil facility in Tatarstan to reduce Russian oil revenues.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on oil refineries in Russia in recent weeks, which have reduced Russian refining capacity, and which, reportedly, have the White House concerned about rising international prices.

The United States has repeatedly urged Ukraine to halt its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries due to Washington’s assessment that the strikes could lead to Russian retaliation and push up global oil prices, the Financial Times reported last month, citing sources familiar with the exchange.

According to Reuters estimates, the amount of Russian oil refining capacity that has been taken offline due to Ukrainian drone strikes is 14% of Russia’s total refining capacity.

Calculations show that 900,000 bpd of refining capacity have been taken offline by drone strikes, Reuters reported last week.   

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ukrainian-drones-hit-russias-third-largest-oil-refinery

Aditxt to Acquire Appili, Developer of Biodefense Vaccine Funded by DoD

 

Assets include the FDA-approved LIKMEZ™, the ATI-1701 tularemia vaccine defense program that has been awarded a USD $14 million non-dilutive award from the DoD, and the ATI-1801 topical formulation

Aditxt, Inc. (“Aditxt” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: ADTX), a company dedicated to discovering, developing, and deploying promising health innovations, today announced that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement ("Arrangement Agreement") to acquire Appili Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: APLI; OTCQX: APLIF) (“Appili”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on drug development for infectious diseases and medical countermeasures. Under the Arrangement Agreement, Aditxt’s wholly owned subsidiary, Adivir, Inc. (“Adivir”) agreed to acquire all issued and outstanding Class A common shares of Appili (the “Appili Shares”) through a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act ("Transaction").

Since its inception in 2015, Appili has developed a diverse portfolio, including the FDA-approved LIKMEZ™ (previously ATI-1501), ATI-1701 biodefense program supported by a USD $14 million non-dilutive award from the U.S DoD., and ATI-1801, a topical formulation targeting cutaneous leishmaniasis, a painful and disfiguring disease.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240402301815/en/

Verve pauses enrollment in early-stage gene therapy study for high cholesterol

Verve Therapeutics said on Tuesday that it had paused enrollment for an early-stage study testing its experimental gene editing therapy for high cholesterol after a patient experienced a severe drug-related adverse event.

Shares of the Boston, Massachusetts-based company fell 33.5% to $8.50 in premarket trading.

The company was testing the therapy in patients with a genetic condition that leads to high cholesterol levels, which raises the risk of heart disease. The treatment is supposed to permanently turn off a protein called PCSK9 helping reduce blood cholesterol levels.

The trial enrolled 13 patients, of which six were dosed with 0.45 milligrams of the therapy called VERVE-101.

The sixth patient dosed with VERVE-101 saw a rise in the levels of a problem-causing liver enzyme along with abnormally low levels of blood platelets within the first four days after dosing.

Verve said it is investigating the abnormalities and, based on the results, expects to work with regulatory authorities on further development of the therapy.

The genetic medicines company said it will now prioritize the development of another gene editing therapy VERVE-102, which is in development for the same condition.

The company plans to start an early-stage trial to test VERVE-102 in the second quarter of this year.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-verve-therapeutics-pauses-enrollment-113510691.html

FDA accepts application for Astrazeneca-Daiichi breast cancer med

 Application based on results from the TROPION-Breast01 Phase III trial

Additional BLA under review in the US for AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s datopotamab deruxtecan for patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/datopotamab-deruxtecan-biologics-license-application-110000638.html

Nurix Extends Collaboration with Gilead

 Two-year extension of ongoing research collaboration intended to generate multiple additional clinical candidates

Nurix will receive a $15.0 million extension fee, and will remain eligible for up to an additional $73.5 million in potential preclinical research milestones and licensing fees, and up to $1.7 billion in potential future development, regulatory, and sales milestones as well as royalties on future products

Nurix continues to retain co-development and 50/50 profit sharing options on up to two programs in the United States

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/04/02/2855797/0/en/Nurix-Therapeutics-Announces-Extension-of-Strategic-Collaboration-with-Gilead-Sciences.html

Florida top court allows for near-total abortion ban; says voters can decide issue in November

 Florida's top court on Monday cleared the way for a Republican-backed law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy to take effect, but also approved an initiative to let voters decide whether to amend the state's constitution to establish a right to an abortion.

In a pair of rulings, the Florida Supreme Court upheld an existing law that banned abortion after 15 weeks, and by doing so, cleared the way for a six-week ban to take effect.

However, the court also dismissed an effort by the state's Republican attorney general to prevent an initiative from appearing on the November ballot, giving voters the chance to decide whether there should be a right to an abortion.

"We decline to encroach on the prerogative to amend their constitution that the people have reserved to themselves," the court said in one of the rulings.

Abortion is illegal after 15 weeks in Florida under a law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022, two months before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized the procedure nationwide.

DeSantis in April 2023 signed an even stricter ban passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature starting at six weeks of pregnancy. That measure included "trigger" language that enacted the near-total ban one month after the state Supreme Court affirmed the earlier 15-month ban. At six weeks, many women do not yet know they are pregnant.

A group of Florida abortion providers including affiliates of Planned Parenthood had filed a lawsuit in 2022 challenging the 15-week ban, saying the measure violates the state's constitution.

Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, said in a statement her organization had seen the negative impact from abortion bans on patients in Florida. "Today’s decision paves the way for Florida voters to stop these ridiculous abortion bans once and for all," she said.

ON THE NOV. 5 BALLOT

Abortion access is now almost non-existent in Southern U.S. states, with most having imposed sweeping Republican-backed restrictions.

That could change on Nov. 5, when the Florida voters will decide on the abortion ballot initiative alongside the presidential election between Democrat Joe Biden and his Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump.

Democrats have credited the abortion debate for driving supporters to the voting booths in 2022, when the party did better than expected in Congressional elections.

"This is our chance to engage in direct democracy to stop these unpopular and harmful policies," said Lauren Brenzel, the campaign director for Yes on 4, the umbrella group backing the ballot initiative.

Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal group that opposed the ballot initiative, posted on social media platform X that it was "incredibly disappointed" with the court's ruling. "We are hopeful Floridians will side with LIFE in November!"

The constitutional amendment proposal's backers in January secured the required number of signatures to put it on the ballot. It would ban laws that "prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider."

On Monday, the Florida Supreme Court said it was departing from in a 1989 decision that found the state constitution's right to privacy included a right to abortion. At that time, a majority of the high court's justices had been appointed by Democratic governors. The court now is viewed as one of the most conservative in the United States.

All seven of its current justices were appointed by Republican governors, including five by DeSantis, an outspoken abortion opponent who mounted an unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination.

Republican state Attorney General Ashley Moody sued Floridians Protecting Freedom, the abortion rights group sponsoring the ballot measure, and had argued that the proposal was impermissibly vague and misleading.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected Moody's arguments, writing that "the broad sweep of this proposed amendment is obvious in the language of the summary. Denying this requires a flight from reality."

Moody said in a statement she would respect the court's decision.

Abortion rights advocates have sought to put the matter directly to voters. Abortion rights measures have prevailed everywhere they have been on the ballot since the Supreme Court's decision.

Constitutional amendments in Florida must pass with at least 60% of the vote, a larger percentage of the vote than any statewide abortion measure has yet won.

Last November, voters approved by a margin of 57% to 43% a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights in Ohio, a state that in the 2020 election voted for Trump by a margin of 8 percentage points over Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election. In 2020, Trump topped Biden by 3 percentage points in Florida.

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday also rejected a bid by the attorney general to prevent a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-top-court-lets-abortion-200524255.html

Biden administration US ban on menthol cigarettes delayed

 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposal to ban menthol flavored cigarettes in the United States faced another setback, according to anti-tobacco advocates who noted that White House officials have missed another deadline to issue a final rule on a ban.

The White House declined to comment.

Menthol cigarettes account for a third of the industry's overall market share in the United States. The highly addictive products have been cited for their appeal to young smokers, as well as significant health impacts for Black communities, where they are marketed heavily.

After the FDA in 2022 issued a long-awaited proposal to ban menthol cigarettes, several health and anti-smoking groups urged the Biden administration to enforce it.

The Administration delayed issuing a final rule in December and now has missed the new deadline it set to issue the rule by March 2024, according to a statement on Monday from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the NAACP, both of which support the FDA's push for a ban of menthol cigarettes.

Civil rights groups have contended for years that menthol cigarettes pose a disproportionately higher risk in Black communities, where they are heavily marketed.

About 81% of Black adults who smoked cigarettes used menthol varieties, compared with 34% of white adults, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

States including Massachusetts and California have previously banned all flavored tobacco products.

U.S.-focused tobacco company Altria and rival British American Tobacco both get more than 20% of their revenue from menthol, Morningstar analyst Philip Gorham estimated in notes in March.

Altria has the largest exposure, Gorham said, though British American also has high sales of menthol versions of top brands like Newport.

BAT cited uncertainty around the menthol ban as one factor in its decision to write down the value of some of its U.S. cigarette brands last year.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-administration-us-ban-menthol-205758546.html