Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) announced that Janssen-Cilag International NV, a Johnson & Johnson company, received European Commission approval for an indication extension of DARZALEX, or daratumumab, subcutaneous co-formulated with Halozyme's ENHANZE in the frontline setting. The approval is for daratumumab SC in combination with bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Tenet Healthcare stock is Best Idea at Guggenheim
Tenet Healthcare (THC) stock was named as Best Idea at Guggenheim as the firm launched the coverage of 11 healthcare services names.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/4429814-tenet-healthcare-stock-best-idea-guggenheim
Guggenheim sets Elevance stock Buy rating with $518 target
On Wednesday, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Elevance Health Inc. (NYSE:ELV), formerly known as Anthem Inc., with a Buy rating and a price target of $518.00. Currently trading at $430.90, InvestingPro analysis suggests the stock is undervalued, with the company maintaining a "GREAT" overall financial health score of 3.15 out of 5. The firm believes that Elevance’s strategic use of the Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) brand, its effective diversification across all end-markets, and its strong presence in both the commercial and Medicaid sectors, along with the growth of its services organization, Carelon, place the company in a strong and defensible position. This positioning is expected to help Elevance mitigate potential headwinds and drive favorable earnings growth.
The analyst from Guggenheim acknowledged the near-term margin pressures Elevance faces, including Medicaid rate and acuity mix pressures, a shift in government mix, and the impacts of acquisitions. Supporting this optimistic outlook,
The report also highlighted Elevance’s ability to leverage selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) efficiencies to offset some of the current fiscal pressures. The firm views the healthcare company’s headwinds as temporary and believes that Elevance’s broad market reach and growth in its services sector provide a strong foundation for future performance.
Looking ahead, Guggenheim anticipates that Elevance’s capital deployment strategies and the potential for further expansion in Medicare Advantage and services will contribute to the upside potential. This could lead to surpassing the company’s long-term earnings per share (EPS) growth target of over $12. The firm’s initiation of coverage with a Buy rating reflects confidence in Elevance’s business strategy, growth prospects, and what is considered an attractive valuation at the current levels. Adding to the investment case,
Universal Health initiated with a Buy at Guggenheim
Guggenheim initiated coverage of Universal Health (UHS) with a Buy rating and $208 price target The firm launched coverage on 11 healthcare services stocks, spanning managed care, hospitals, and behavioral health. The payors and providers of care are still emerging from the “upheaval” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the fallout of varying health coverage changes combined with elevated utilization and pricing developments “effectively tossing long-term growth targets aside,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. Guggenheim believes investors are “sifting through the moving pieces and looking for value” within stocks that can manage and show resiliency, or have compelling stories “outside the noise.” Guggenheim named Tenet (THC) its best idea in the group
https://www.tipranks.com/news/the-fly/universal-health-initiated-with-a-buy-at-guggenheim
Amazon cancels some inventory orders from China after tariffs
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has canceled orders for multiple products made in China and other Asian countries, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter, suggesting the company is reducing its exposure to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
The orders for beach chairs, scooters, air conditioners and other merchandise from multiple Amazon vendors were halted after Trump’s April 2 announcement that he planned to levy tariffs on more than 180 countries and territories, including China, Vietnam and Thailand, the people said. The timing of the cancellations, which had no warning, led the vendors to suspect it was a response to tariffs.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. The company identified international trade disputes as a risk factor in its annual report released in February. “China-based suppliers provide significant portions of our components and finished goods,” the company said.
It’s unclear how widespread the cancellations are and how many types of merchandise they affect.
One vendor who has been selling beach chairs made in China to Amazon for more than a decade received an email from the company last week that said it was canceling some purchase orders it placed “in error“ and instructed the vendor not to ship them. The email, which was reviewed by Bloomberg, didn’t mention tariffs.
The vendor said the $500,000 wholesale order was nixed after the chairs had already been manufactured, leaving this person on the hook to pay the factory and find other buyers. The vendor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from Amazon, said the company had never canceled one of its orders in such as manner.
Scott Miller, a former Amazon vendor manager who now works as an e-commerce consultant, said Amazon canceled orders for merchandise made in China and other Asian countries from several of his clients. The cancellations came without warning, he said, and could force vendors to renegotiate terms with the e-commerce company.
“Amazon really holds all of the cards,” said Miller, founder and CEO of pdPlus in Minneapolis. “The only real recourse vendors have is to either sell this inventory in other countries at lower margins or try to work with other retailers.”
Amazon has been importing items this way for years as a way to reduce costs since Amazon can often use bulk shipping rates to import items at lower costs than vendors. Canceling those orders puts the tariff exposure back on vendors if they import merchandise to the US by other means.
Items Amazon buys directly from vendors account for about 40% of the products sold on its website. The rest of the company’s sales are made by independent merchants who essentially rent digital shelf space from Amazon, paying the company commissions and fees for logistics and advertising.
Trump’s tariffs have rattled global markets. Many businesses are raising prices, stoking fears of a recession. On Tuesday, Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. reduced its 2025 revenue forecast for Amazon, citing the effects of tariffs in a research note. The company’s shares have fallen about 21% this year, compared with the S&P 500’s 15% slump.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-cancels-inventory-orders-china-142849013.html
FDA nod broadens use of Brainomix's stroke AI
UK medtech company Brainomix has been granted FDA approval for a new feature for its artificial intelligence-powered stroke imaging software that could unlock wider use in the US.
The new approval will allow doctors to use the AI to assess ischaemic core volume – the amount of brain tissue affected by a stroke – from computed tomography (CT) scans carried out without the use of contrast agents.
That means that the Brainomix 360 Stroke software can now be used in non-contrast CT (NCCT) images, which are estimated to account for about 60% of the total number of CT scans carried out in the US every year.
Previously known as e-Stroke, the platform has been approved by the FDA for use in contrast-enhanced CTs since 2023 and supports physicians by providing real-time interpretation of brain scans to help guide treatment and transfer decisions for stroke patients.
Now, it can address a longstanding unmet need in stroke triage, enabling physicians across stroke networks to improve their decision-making for treatment and transfer of patients using routinely available NCCT brain scans, according to University of Oxford spinout Brainomix.
The new feature for assessing ischaemic core volume has been put through its paces by leading US stroke centres, with results demonstrating equivalency to CT perfusion and MRI-derived core volume assessments.
"The ability of Brainomix 360 to estimate ischaemic core volumes in a reliable and reproducible manner with a similar performance to CT perfusion represents an attractive alternative in centres without ready access to either advanced imaging modalities or stroke neurologist and/or neuroradiologist for imaging interpretation," said Dr Mehdi Bouslama, a neuroendovascular surgery and vascular neurology specialist at Broward Health in Florida, US.
The new approval "has the potential to make endovascular therapy more widely available," he added.
A study published last year in the journal Frontiers in Neurology showed that the use of Brainomix 360 Stroke enabled a primary stroke centre in the UK to triple the number of stroke patients achieving functional independence at 90 days, from 16% to 48%, and also achieved a 61-minute reduction in their door-in-door-out (DIDO) time.
Long DIDO times are an important cause of treatment delay in stroke patients and can have a big impact in how well they recover.
Last year, Brainomix's software was one of two AI tools recommended for use in the NHS to help detect stroke from CT brain scans, alongside the RapidAI platform.
https://pharmaphorum.com/news/fda-nod-broadens-use-brainomixs-stroke-ai
Pharma warns EU of "exodus to US" without reform
At the same time that Donald Trump was saying that a "major tariff" on pharmaceuticals is coming to force more manufacturers to relocate to the US, pharma leaders told the EU that – without reforms – the bloc could lose out on capital investment programmes and R&D spending.
The US president has yet to disclose any details about the tariff plan but – even before those emerge – chief executives of some of the biggest drugmakers in Europe warned that research, development and manufacturing are "increasingly likely to be directed towards the US," according to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).
The results of a survey carried out by EFPIA of 18 of its member companies, were presented to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at a meeting yesterday. It showed that without "rapid, radical policy change" a massive chunk of the almost €165 billion capital investment and R&D expenditures currently planned for the 27 EU member states in the next five years will be at risk of being diverted to the US.
That includes 85% of around €50.6 billion in capital projects and up to 50% (approximately €52.6 billion) of R&D spending, according to the poll.
It also suggested that this is no long-term risk – respondents said that a total of €16.5 billion i.e. 10% of the total investment plans is at risk within the next three months as Trump's tariffs – which kicked in fully this morning, including a ramped-up 104% rate on China – start to have an impact.
"The US now leads Europe on every investor metric from availability of capital, intellectual property, speed of approval to rewards for innovation," said EFPIA in a statement on the findings. "In addition to the uncertainty created by the threat of tariffs, there is little incentive to invest in the EU and significant drivers to relocate to the US."
The trade organisation is calling for a regulatory framework that rewards innovation and has strong intellectual property protections, in what appears to be a rebuff to a reform package making its way through the EU legislature that the industry has argued will compromise competitiveness and patient care.
It also called for "policy coherence across environmental and chemical legislation to secure a resilient manufacturing and supply chain of medicines in Europe."
After yesterday's meeting, von der Leyen said that pharma leaders raised strong concerns about US tariffs and their impact on globally interconnected supply chains and the availability of medicines for European and US patients alike.
She also acknowledged there had been calls for a simplification of procedures in particular for clinical trials and digitalisation of the European health system, as well as for stronger IP protections, and indicated that there was support from the industry for a "negotiated solution" with the US.
Pharmaceuticals are currently exempt from Trump's tariffs but, according to remarks made by the president in the last 24 hours, they will be subject to a separate individual levy that will be announced shortly.
"The advantage we have over everybody is that we're the big market," he said in a speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner last night, during which he also said that world leaders are "calling us up, kissing my ass" to try to reach deals to mitigate the tariffs, without mentioning any specific countries.
"We're going to put tariffs on our pharmaceuticals and once we do that, they're going to come rushing back into our country because we're the big market," claimed Trump.
https://pharmaphorum.com/news/pharma-warns-eu-exodus-us-without-reform
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)