BioNTech Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results and Corporate Update

 BioNTech (BNTX) reported Q4 2024 revenues of €1.2 billion and full-year revenues of €2.8 billion, with a net loss of €0.7 billion for 2024. The company maintains a strong financial position with €17.4 billion in cash and investments as of December 31, 2024.

Key highlights include:

• Advanced oncology pipeline with over 20 active Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials
• Completed acquisition of Biotheus, securing control of BNT327 immunomodulator candidate
• Successfully launched JN.1 and KP.2-adapted COVID-19 vaccines
• 2025 revenue guidance of €1.7-2.2 billion

The decrease in revenues was primarily attributed to lower COVID-19 vaccine sales due to reduced market demand and write-downs by collaboration partner Pfizer. R&D expenses increased to €2.25 billion in 2024, focusing on advancing clinical studies for late-stage oncology candidates. The company expects multiple data readouts in 2025 and 2026, aiming to become a diversified multi-product oncology portfolio company by 2030.

Positive

• Strong cash position of €17.4 billion provides substantial runway for R&D and operations
• Advanced oncology pipeline with over 20 Phase 2 and 3 trials progressing
• First oncology product launch expected in 2026
• Successful acquisition of Biotheus strengthening product portfolio

Negative

• Full year 2024 net loss of €665.3 million
• Revenue declined to €2.8 billion in 2024 from €3.8 billion in 2023
• Increased R&D expenses to €2.25 billion from €1.78 billion year-over-year
• Not expecting positive net income for 2025
• Lower COVID-19 vaccine sales due to reduced market demand

Insights

The 2025 revenue guidance of €1.7-2.2 billion signals continued financial pressure, with management explicitly stating they do not expect positive net income for the year. R&D expenses increased significantly to €2.25 billion (vs. €1.78 billion in 2023), reflecting the company's strategic pivot toward becoming an oncology-focused organization.

However, BioNTech maintains a formidable cash position of €17.4 billion, providing substantial runway for its strategic transformation despite upcoming payments of approximately $1.6 billion for the Biotheus acquisition and NIH settlement. This financial foundation supports their advancing oncology pipeline with over 20 active Phase 2/3 trials, with particular focus on BNT327 (anti-PD-L1/VEGF-A bispecific antibody) which has entered multiple Phase 3 trials and shows promising early efficacy in triple-negative breast cancer regardless of PD-L1 status.

The company faces a critical period as it evolves from COVID-19 vaccine reliance toward a diversified oncology portfolio, with first oncology product launch anticipated in 2026.

BNT327's development acceleration is particularly noteworthy, with three Phase 3 trials initiated or planned across small cell lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and triple-negative breast cancer. Early data in TNBC shows efficacy regardless of PD-L1 status - a potential competitive advantage in a space where current checkpoint inhibitors are typically to PD-L1 positive patients. The dual-targeting mechanism (PD-L1 + VEGF-A) represents a differentiated approach that could overcome resistance mechanisms seen with single-target agents.

The mRNA cancer immunotherapy platform continues advancing, with autogene cevumeran entering a global Phase 2 trial in urothelial carcinoma. Supporting publications in Nature Medicine and Nature demonstrate scientific validation of their approach. The recent FDA decision to lift the partial clinical hold on BNT316/ONC-392 is a regulatory positive, though limiting to squamous NSCLC suggests potential safety concerns in other populations.

BioNTech's strategic shift from infectious disease to oncology represents a challenging but potentially transformative pivot. Their 20+ Phase 2/3 trials provide multiple shots on goal, and while 2025 will be another investment year with continued losses, multiple data readouts could provide significant validation for their platform technologies and clinical approach.

https://www.stocktitan.net/news/BNTX/bio-n-tech-announces-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2024-financial-8w58nhb14xgn.html

Visualizing Washington's Key Role In Military Aid To Ukraine

 As doubts over future American support for Ukraine and the Trump administration's commitment to NATO loom large, European leaders have rallied to assure Ukraine of its unwavering support and to become more independent of their transatlantic partner. 

On Thursday, leaders gathered for a special European Council meeting, where the future of Europe’s security and the bloc’s role in Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression was discussed.

“This is a watershed moment for Europe. And it is also a watershed moment for Ukraine, as part of our European family,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement. 

“Europe faces a clear and present danger. And therefore, Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself, as we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself, and to push for a lasting and just peace.”

As Statista's Felix Richter reports, to be able to negotiate a “peace through strength”, as von der Leyen put it, the EU must quickly ramp up its military aid to Ukraine after U.S. President Donald Trump paused U.S. military support earlier this week. 

According to the IfW Kiel’s Ukraine Support Tracker, the EU’s 27 member states have allocated a total of $53.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine between January 24, 2022 and December 31, 2024. 

That’s equivalent to 39 percent of total military aid supplied to Ukraine during that time and roughly $15 billion short of what the U.S. supplied. 

Adding contributions from European non-EU members Norway and the UK, Europe’s military aid to Ukraine was roughly on par with U.S. support so far, meaning it would have to double its investment if the U.S. were to withdraw its support permanently.

 

In a joint statement, signed but 26 out of 27 heads of state or government – Hungary withheld its support – the European Council also reiterated some conditions for upcoming peace negotiations, demanding that Ukraine and Europe should be part of the negotiations and that an eventual peace agreement “must respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.” 

The latter could be a pain point in future negotiations, as President Trump has already suggested that Ukraine would likely have to cede some territory to Russia.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/visualizing-washingtons-key-role-military-aid-ukraine

FDA Action Alert: GSK, Alnylam, Sanofi and More

 

On the agenda for the FDA this month are two RNA-based treatments for rare diseases.

March is shaping up to be a busy month for the FDA, with nearly ten target action dates across a wide variety of disease areas. The more highly anticipated verdicts due this month include a next-generation antibiotic for urinary tract infection and two RNA interference therapies.

Read below for more.

Scienture Targets First Liquid Losartan Approval

Scienture is advancing a liquid formulation of the popular blood pressure drug losartan, for which the FDA has a target action date of March 17.

The asset, dubbed SCN-102, is being proposed for the treatment of hypertension and to lower blood pressure both in adults and in children aged 6 and older. Scienture’s New Drug Application also covers the use of SCN-102 to reduce the likelihood of stroke in patients with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy, and to treat diabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetes.

To back its application, Scienture filed Phase I pharmacokinetic data demonstrating that SCN-102 achieves “close comparability” to immediate-release tablets in terms of losartan exposure. Additionally, compared with the pill form of losartan, SCN-102 achieved peak concentration earlier, an outcome that is “expected” due to its liquid formulation, as per the company’s SEC document.

If approved, SCN-102 will be the first liquid formulation of losartan to hit the market, according to Scienture.

Elevar Eyes First-Line Nod in Liver Cancer

By March 20, the FDA is set to release its verdict on Elevar Therapeutics’ investigational VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitor rivoceranib, which the biotech is proposing for the first-line treatment of unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma. Elevar is combining rivoceranib with the PD-1 inhibitor camrelizumab.

Rivoceranib’s data package includes findings from the Phase III CARES-310 trial, a May 2024 readout that showed the rivoceranib combo resulted in significantly longer median overall survival than sorafenib alone. The study also noted progression-free survival, treatment response and duration of response benefits in patients treated with camrelizumab plus rivoceranib.

Elevar first tried to secure approval for rivoceranib in 2023, which ended in a rejection in May 2024. In its Complete Response Letter, the FDA pointed to manufacturing problems at a third-party provider, as well as incomplete clinical site inspections brought about by FDA travel restrictions. Elevar resubmitted its application in September 2024.

Alnylam’s RNAi Therapy for ATTR-CM Nears Judgment Day

One of the most highly anticipated FDA decisions this month is for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which is seeking to expand the label of its RNAi therapy vutrisiran to include transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) with cardiomyopathy. The FDA’s decision is due on March 23.

Vutrisiran is approved under the brand name Amvuttra, though its use is limited to the treatment of polyneuropathy of hereditary ATTR. The drug works by targeting and knocking down both the wildtype and mutant forms of the transthyretin RNA, in turn lowering the expression of the protein. As per Alynlam, this mechanism of action allows vutrisiran to address the underlying pathological cascade of ATTR and its cardiomyopathy manifestations.

Alnylam’s bid for label expansion is backed by the HELIOS-B study, data from which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in August 2024. Results showed a 28% and 33% drop in the risk of death from any cause and recurrent cardiovascular events, respectively, after vutrisiran treatment.

If approved, vutrisiran will be the first treatment cleared for both the polyneuropathy and cardiomyopathy manifestations of ATTR, according to Alnylam.

Theratechnologies Tries Again for HIV Lipodystrophy Drug

After suffering a rejection last year, Theratechnologies is once again awaiting the FDA’s verdict for its F8 formulation of tesamorelin, a peptide therapy that the biotech is proposing for the reduction of stomach fat in people with HIV and lipodystrophy. The regulator’s decision is expected on March 25.

In its Complete Response Letter, the FDA pointed to problems related to tesamorelin’s chemistry, manufacturing and controls, particularly with impurities and the stability of the drug. In its resubmission, filed in November 2024, Theratechnologies said it had addressed the FDA’s concerns and provided additional data regarding tesamorelin’s immunogenicity risk.

Tesamorelin works by mimicking the growth hormone-releasing factor, promoting the secretion of growth hormone and, in turn, facilitating the breakdown of abdominal fat. The drug was first approved in 2010 and an F4 formulation, which is four times as concentrated as the original product, was given the go-ahead in 2018. Theratechnologies’ drug application is seeking approval for a formulation that is eight times stronger than the initial product.

GSK Pushes First-in-Class Antibiotic for Uncomplicated UTI

By March 26, the FDA is scheduled to release its verdict on GSK’s investigational antibiotic gepotidacin for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections in adult women and adolescents 12 years and up weighing at least 40 kg.

Gepotidacin is a first-in-class triazaacenaphthylene antibiotic that works by targeting and preventing the replication of bacterial DNA by binding to a unique site. Because gepotidacin utilizes a novel mechanism to target bacteria, it has shown activity against most uropathogens such as E. coli and S. saprophyticus, as well as N. gonorrhoeae, including strains that have become resistant to currently available treatments.

GSK is backing its application with data from the Phase III EAGLE-2 and EAGLE-3 studies, which in April 2023 found gepotidacin to be non-inferior to a current first-line treatment option, nitrofurantoin. EAGLE-2, for instance, demonstrated a 50.6% treatment success rate in patients given gepotidacin versus 47% in nitrofurantoin counterparts. The respective success rates in EAGLE-3 were 58.5% and 43.6%.

Milestone Proposes Tachycardia Nasal Spray

Milestone Pharmaceuticals’ lead pipeline asset is Cardamyst, an etripamil nasal spray the biotech is developing for the treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). The FDA is expected to release its decision on Cardamyst by March 27.

In October 2023, when the FDA accepted Milestone’s first new drug application for Cardamyst, the biotech said it had submitted “the largest data package ever studied in PSVT.” The company at the time had filed what it called a “comprehensive data package” suggesting that its investigational calcium channel blocker was “twice as effective and three times as fast as placebo” in normalizing heart rhythm.

Despite an extensive evidence base, however, the FDA in December 2023 hit Milestone with a Refusal to File letter for Cardamyst, noting that the company’s filing was not sufficient to a warrant a full review. Milestone refiled its drug application in March 2024, which the FDA accepted in May of the same year.

After Delay, Soleno’s Prader-Willi Drug Nears Regulatory Decision

The FDA is scheduled to release its verdict on Soleno Therapeutics’ investigational Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) drug diazoxide choline by March 27.

Soleno’s diazoxide choline drug is an extended-release formulation of diazoxide, which has long been used to treat various rare diseases, though the molecule has yet to be cleared for PWS, according to the biotech. Soleno’s drug application, which it filed in June 2024, is supported by Phase III data pointing to the candidate’s potential in addressing hyperphagia and other hallmark symptoms of PWS, including aggressive behaviors and fat buildup.

Soleno also submitted findings from five Phase I studies in healthy volunteers and three Phase III trials.

In November 2024, the biotech announced that the FDA needed more time to review its application for diazoxide choline, especially following the company’s responses to certain information requests. The regulator considered these additional submissions as major amendments to the drug application and pushed its deadline back by three months.

Sanofi, Alnylam Hope for Hemophilia Approval for RNAi Therapy

Alnylam’s second showing on this list is for its Sanofi-partnered siRNA therapy fitusiran, which the companies proposed for the treatment of hemophilia A and B. The FDA’s verdict is expected on March 28.

To back the RNAi therapy, Sanofi and Alnylam ran the ATLAS clinical development program, publications from which went live in The Lancet and The Lancet Hematology in April 2023. In one study, dubbed ATLAS-INH, fitusiran treatment resulted in zero monthly bleeding episodes in 66% of patients who were also on factor VIII inhibitors. The other study, called ATLAS A/B, found that in patients without inhibitors, 51% achieved zero monthly bleeds after fitusiran.

Fitusiran is given via an injection under the skin and works by binding to and lowering the expression of antithrombin, a protein that inhibits clotting.

https://www.biospace.com/fda/fda-action-alert-gsk-alnylam-sanofi-and-more

GLP-1 Side Effects Only One Factor Driving Patient Discontinuation Rates

 

While drug developers work to mitigate the side effects associated with GLP-1–based obesity drugs, recent studies reveal that myriad variables are causing patients to stop treatment.

When GLP-1 drugs recently became a trendy talking point for their impressive weight loss efficacy, their less-than-appealing aspects also came into focus, particularly gastrointestinal side effects.

Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and abdominal pain are all commonly reported by people dropping pounds with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide) and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound (tirzepatide). In fact, real world studies indicate these GI adverse events develop in between 40-70% of GLP-1 treated patients.

With discontinuation rates a concern for companies, drug developers and practitioners are working together to help patients manage the worst of these side effects so they can stay on drug and benefit from the significant weight loss generated by the popular injectables.

In a recent survey of 50 physicians conducted by strategic advisory firm DNB Markets and Back Bay Life Science Advisors, 94% of doctors ranked the benefit-safety profile as one of the most important factors in prescribing a weight loss medication.

Physicians seem to be clamoring for drugs with fewer side effects, Peter Bak, partner and managing director of Back Bay Life Science Advisors, told BioSpace last month. Careful titration or dose adjustments, updated or combination formulations, and drugs targeting side effects are all strategies being deployed to improve the palatability of GLP-1s.

For David Cummings, director of the weight management program for VA Puget Sound Health Care System, side effects are less of a deciding factor. “For my patients, [the gastrointestinal side effects] are not a huge deal, but it’s not a trivial deal either,” he told BioSpace.

Titration, Combinations and Secondary Drugs

Side effects like nausea and constipation are “easy to understand” as they relate to the drug’s mechanism of action, Cummings explained. One of the ways in which GLP-1s make patients feel full is by slowing GI motility. If the drug has too great an effect in the upper GI system, it can cause nausea, as happens when eating a huge meal too fast. If the drug has too strong an effect in the lower intestine, slow GI motility leads to constipation, he said.

“In both cases, that’s just the drug doing what it’s supposed to do,” and the proper response is to decrease the dose to a level that is still efficacious but with fewer side effects, Cummings said. Interestingly, he said researchers are uncertain why diarrhea occurs with GLP-1 treatment.

A key strategy being deployed by drug developers to improve side effect profiles is titration. The starting dose and length of time to maintenance dose are critical to optimizing patient tolerability, Blai Coll, chief medical officer of Structure Therapeutics, told BioSpace.

Another popular approach is combination formulas. The addition of a gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP)—such as in Zepbound’s formulation—or an amylin receptor agonist can mitigate the gastrointestinal effects driven by the GLP-1, Coll said.

Amylin has become a hot mechanism for weight loss drug developers as companies like Novo, Structure, AstraZeneca and Viking Therapeutics chase after approval of their candidates.

Still other companies aim to target GLP-1-associated side effects with a separate, secondary drug.

In January, Jaguar Health subsidiary Napo Pharmaceuticals filed a patent application for Mytesi to treat the GI side effects common with GLP-1 and GIP treatments used for obesity.

Mytesi is a plant-based oral drug already approved for HIV-related diarrhea that has shown additional benefits for abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating and constipation when studied in HIV, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and cancer therapy-related diarrhea.

While Cummings isn’t familiar with Mytesi in particular, he said that if the drug truly helped to treat GLP-1 side effects, “I’d certainly consider using it.”

Ben Urick, senior director of health outcomes at Prime Therapeutics, isn’t convinced, however. He told BioSpace that the clinical goal is usually to instead find an alternative treatment with less burdensome side effects.

“You’d have to really convince me that we would need another drug,” said Urick, a pharmacist. For a patient with dire disease circumstances and no other option, it may be useful, he added, “but not for your average user.”

GLP-1 Discontinuation Is Multifactorial

Despite these extensive efforts, the jury is still out on just how much of a problem GLP-1–associated side effects are. Cummings noted that only about 5% of his patients on GLP-1 medications have really had problems with side effects.

A series of real-world studies mirror this assertion, with a 5% discontinuation rate found for patients taking semaglutide over roughly 30 weeks due to adverse events.

Another real-world study, published in July 2024 by Prime Therapeutics, showed that 85% of patients were no longer taking GLP-1 drugs two years after starting treatment. But this isn’t only due to tolerability concerns. Urick said discontinuation can be attributed to five common causes, of which side effects are only one, along with affordability, availability, physician drug switches and the achievement of weight loss goals.

However, “I don’t think shortages have quite as big of an impact as you would think,” Urick said, adding that patients on lower doses of the drugs are more likely to be affected.

Despite literature touting GLP-1s as long-term treatments, prescribers have indicated to Urick that patients often only use the drugs to reach certain weight loss goals and then discontinue treatment once these are accomplished. Another indicator of this phenomenon is that in Prime’s study, patients without type 2 diabetes discontinued treatment at a higher rate than those with the disease.

Urick also noted that Prime’s study data was initiated in 2021 and included older products that are no longer used as often, causing the treatment persistence rate to drop to 15%. With a “more modern product mix” led by heavy hitters like Zepbound and Wegovy, Urick said he expects to see two-year persistence rise to closer to 25%.

That’s not to say that side effects are not an issue for patients. In fact, Urick believes the role of side effects and achieved weight loss goals have been underestimated in efforts to uncover the cause of GLP-1 discontinuation. While this study wasn’t designed to measure it, a further probe into Prime’s data revealed those who persisted on treatment had lower side effect rates than those who discontinued their GLP-1. For Urick, this is a signal that side effects could be associated with stopping a drug early. “There is a relationship between the two,” he said.

Ultimately, Coll said, “I don’t think there’s a silver bullet by which we can continue benefiting from the GLP-1s while completely eliminating all the GI events.” He reiterated an emphasis on combination therapies with GIP and amylin to optimize tolerability. “That’s how we’re looking into the future.”

https://www.biospace.com/drug-development/glp-1-side-effects-only-one-factor-driving-patient-discontinuation-rates

Ecuador will not receive deported migrants of other nationalities, president says

 Ecuador President Daniel Noboa said on Sunday that his country will not receive deported migrants of other nationalities, and criticized Venezuela's president for allegedly rejecting flights of Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States.

Noboa, who will face off against leftist Luisa Gonzalez in an April 13 run-off election, said on X that Ecuador would always receive its own citizens deported from other countries because "we do not abandon our people."

In his post, Noboa attacked Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for "rejecting" flights of deported Venezuelans, calling it a "complete lack of empathy."

A day earlier, Maduro said that scheduled flights to bring home Venezuelan migrants from the United States had been affected by "this unexplained, tremendous commotion," after the Trump administration canceled a license allowing Chevron to operate in the South American country.

Maduro, however, did not mention the company's name directly in reference to the migrant flights. He said that communication between the two countries had been damaged and flights affected.

"This is how authoritarian and extremist regimes act, without caring about the fate of those fleeing the crisis they themselves caused," Noboa said in his post.

Maduro and his government have always rejected sanctions by the United States and others, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to an "economic war" designed to cripple Venezuela.

Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country’s resilience despite the measures, though they have historically blamed some economic hardships and shortages on sanctions.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ecuador-not-receive-deported-migrants-170553709.html

Beijing's 'Panama Strategy' Is Global

 by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,

What’s behind the Trump administration’s interest in revisiting the Panama Canal Treaty?

Plenty.

Although Panama technically owns the canal, China operates ports at both ends of it. This gives Beijing the opportunity to militarize its control over it with dual-use infrastructure, potentially positioning it to deny access to the critical waterway, particularly to the United States.

Today, China is the canal’s second-largest customer, behind only the United States. Some believe that Beijing’s influence has already led to disproportionately higher transit costs for the United States and that it violates Panama’s neutrality policy that was negotiated by a treaty with the United States in 1978.

The Trump administration believes that the treaty has already been broken, so U.S. action is justified. It also believes that Beijing’s de facto control over the Panama Canal poses a direct threat to U.S. economic, military, and geopolitical interests in the region and the world.

The administration is correct in its assessment.

The ‘Panama Strategy’ Goes Global

In the larger picture, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has deepened its presence and influence in Latin America, as it has in many strategic areas around the globe. The BRI, also known as “One Belt, One Road,” is a global infrastructure and investment scheme to insert Chinese money, influence, and personnel into nations worldwide by building needed infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports, and energy pipelines.

BRI participation typically weakens foreign governments by leaving them deep in debt to Beijing, resulting to some degree in a loss of sovereignty or control over Chinese-built ports and other infrastructure.

Panama’s relinquishment of economic control of the canal to Beijing is a great example of the CCP’s overarching strategy. Its “Panama Strategy” is a systematic way of gaining control over the world’s strategic waterways, shipping lanes, and ports.

This strategy’s main elements involve establishing a global naval presence, extending influence through its BRI deals, and building military sites and artificial islands in key locations around the world. The goal is to expand the Chinese regime’s power in order to overturn the U.S.-led global trading system and its open shipping lanes policy. The Panama Canal isn’t the first, but it is one of many strategic waterways that China controls through either infrastructure investments, or a military presence through its BRI program, or with both.

Beijing’s Big Board Game

For Beijing, the most critical area is the South China Sea. With about $3 trillion worth of trade (one-third of global shipping) passing through it annually, China has built artificial islands and military installations in the region to assert its dominance. Of course, this poses a direct challenge to U.S. security guarantees to nations in the region, from Taiwan to South Korea and Japan. This has led to rising tensions with neighboring countries and global powers, especially with the United States and Taiwan.

The Strait of Malacca is another narrow passage for global trade with a heavy Chinese naval commercial presence established through the BRI. With 60 percent of its imports and 80 percent of oil imports from the Middle East passing through the strait, it’s a strategic vulnerability to Beijing.

The CCP also exerts significant influence in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. Egypt is a BRI participant, and this vital passage linking the Mediterranean Sea to the top of the Red Sea enables China to monitor and potentially control trade between Europe, Asia, and Africa.

China is actively involved in several key waterways through the BRI and has military installations near or on them. These include the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil chokepoint connects the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea and the wider world, where China has a strategic partnership with Iran, which controls the strait. Beijing also has a strategic military presence near Djibouti, its first overseas military base, to project military power to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Will US ‘Trump’ Xi’s Grand Ambitions?

China’s sea power strategy has been in force since Chinese leader Xi Jinping took power in 2013. The takeover of key waterways reflects Xi’s broader ambition to assert control over and shape the flow of goods, energy, and military power across critical global chokepoints.

The plan is to secure China’s rise to global hegemon status based on four strategic areas: economic dominance, unrivaled strategic military power and presence, unchecked geopolitical influence across all global trading regions, and energy security.

By definition, for the CCPs plan to succeed, the United States must fail. The “China Dream” of global hegemony depends upon its ability to dethrone the United States as the supreme global power in each of those areas. Those are the true ambitions of Xi and the CCP.

It is apparent that the Trump administration is not only aware of those grand ambitions but is also prepared to challenge them. The Panama Canal seems like an obvious place to start.

Let us hope so.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/beijings-panama-strategy-global

Dr. Peter McCullough Links Bird Flu Outbreak To USDA Gain-Of-Function Experiment In Georgia

 Dr. Peter McCullough told The HighWire's Del Bigtree that the current strain of bird flu likely resulted from gain-of-function research conducted at the USDA Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Georgia.

"This strain of bird flu is different. This looks like it actually came from serial passage research done at the USDA Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Georgia ... We're so sure of it that we've published this in a peer-reviewed paper … and it hasn't been disputed by any of the public health officials. We cite the USDA research." McCullough told Bigtree. 

McCullough continued, "Serial passage is when a blend of viral strains is intentionally put in a mallard duck. They were trying to see which strain would pass to other mallard ducks. The mallard duck is studied because its gullet is where the virus attaches and doesn't go into the lungs. And indeed, they found CLADE 23446 that looked like it transmitted ... and sure enough, Athens was where the first cases were found." 

"The mallard ducks could spread it all over and in migratory waterfowl. It quickly spread into mammals, and now up to 40 different species of mammals," McCullough said. 

He pointed out that USDA officials have generally used biosecurity measures such as "sterilizing the entire farm" to stop the spread, adding, "Well, that doesn't work because the mallard ducks would just continue to re-infect the farms." 

McCullough cited research by Nicolas Hulscher, an epidemiologist and foundation administrator at the McCullough Foundation... 

"The current bird flu outbreak is likely the result of gain-of-function serial passage experiments at the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory—exacerbated by mass culling practices," McCullough Foundation wrote on X. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Robert Malone previously commented on McCullough's research on the origin of the virus.

The origin debate of the latest bird flu strain has been circulating social media in recent months after mass cullings of chickens by the Biden-Harris administration left the Trump administration with a historic mess...

Like Covid-19, perhaps decades of unelected bureaucrats funding gain-of-function research should be heavily scrutinized by the Trump administration. Perhaps it's time for an executive order to put an end to this madness—before the next man-made outbreak emerges.

And now you know why egg prices are high... Maybe the blame should be placed on government scientists and response... 

CC Doge... 

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/dr-peter-mccullough-links-bird-flu-outbreak-usda-gain-function-experiment-georgia