DOMA Perpetual Supports Pacira's New $300 Million Share Repurchase

Pacira BioSciences (NASDAQ: PCRX) has announced a significant $300 million share repurchase program, receiving support from DOMA Perpetual Capital Management, which owns 4.2% of the company's outstanding shares.

The initiative, representing the largest buyback in Pacira's history, comes alongside a new emphasis on increasing pre-tax net income margins. DOMA Perpetual views these moves as reflecting Pacira's strong financial position and the Board's commitment to disciplined capital allocation.

According to Pedro Escudero, CEO of DOMA Perpetual, Pacira has entered a period of rapid growth, with scaling earnings and free cash flow enabling capital returns while maintaining investment in growth.

DOMA Perpetual believes the stock is currently undervalued relative to both its historical average and future growth potential.

https://www.stocktitan.net/news/PCRX/doma-perpetual-supports-pacira-s-new-300-million-share-repurchase-e64v1k73uf2k.html

ReShape Lifesciences Notice of Allowance for Added U.S. Patent on Diabetes Neuromodulation Tech

ReShape Lifesciences (RSLS) has received a USPTO Notice of Allowance for patent application 18/069,689, titled 'High-Frequency Low Duty Cycle Patterns for Neural Regulation', providing protection until August 2037. The patent covers their Diabetes Neuromodulation system which utilizes proprietary vBloc™ technology for treating Type 2 diabetes through vagal nerve modulation.

The technology features an energy-efficient algorithm that uses discontinuous high-frequency signals with interwoven micro- and millisecond pauses, consuming 10 times less energy than traditional continuous signals. Preclinical testing on rat vagus nerves has shown equivalent efficacy while remaining compatible with standard implantable pulse generators.

The company's intellectual property portfolio includes 63 issued or pending patents covering vagal neuromodulation, glucose regulation, artificial intelligence, and Bluetooth-enabled applications.

https://www.stocktitan.net/news/RSLS/re-shape-lifesciences-receives-notice-of-allowance-for-additional-u-c8kfb326k05k.html

'Apollo Announces Changes to its Board of Directors'

 Gary Cohn to join the Board as Lead Independent Director

Outgoing Chair and Lead Independent Director Jay Clayton assuming role as interim US Attorney for SDNY

NEW YORK, April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced changes to its Board of Directors. Financial services leader Gary Cohn has been appointed to the Board as Lead Independent Director. Jay Clayton, who has served as Chair and Lead Independent Director since March 2021, has informed Apollo that he will assume the role of Interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York on April 22, 2025 and his resignation from the Apollo Board will be effective as of April 21, 2025. In addition, CEO Marc Rowan has been appointed to the expanded role of CEO and Chair of the Board. Both appointments will be effective as of April 21, 2025.

Commenting on the Board appointments, Clayton said, “It was an honor to Chair the Apollo Board of Directors over the past four years. Our Board has overseen a remarkable transformation to shareholder-aligned stewardship and our management team, under Marc Rowan’s leadership, has delivered outstanding results for all our stakeholders. I am pleased to welcome Gary Cohn to the Board. Gary has a wealth of business and financial services experience across both the private and public sectors and has an unparalleled understanding of the role financial services firms play in our global economy. His appointment as Lead Independent Director supports Apollo’s continued commitment to best-in-class governance. I am pleased Marc has accepted the Board’s request to take on the expanded role of Chair where he will continue to provide stakeholder-oriented leadership, shape firm strategy and ensure operational excellence.”

Cohn said, “I couldn’t be more excited to work with a transformational firm like Apollo that is driving the financial services industry forward. With the ongoing convergence of public and private markets, this is a remarkable time to create value for its shareholders and investors. I look forward to working with Marc and the Board to help Apollo capitalize on this opportunity and execute its growth plans.”

Rowan said, “In just a few years, Jay has made tremendous and lasting contributions to Apollo, and he was a stabilizing force at an extraordinary time for our firm. He operates with the highest integrity, and we are grateful for his strong stewardship. With his forthcoming departure, I can think of few professionals more qualified to help fill his shoes than Gary Cohn, who we are pleased to appoint as Lead Independent Director.”

Gary Cohn is the Vice Chairman of IBM and former director of the US National Economic Council. He spent 26 years with Goldman Sachs, including a decade as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2006-2016. He began his career in commodities trading in 1982. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of NYU Langone Health and is a graduate of American University.

Accounting for these changes, Apollo continues to maintain a two-thirds independent Board of Directors.

About Apollo

Apollo is a high-growth, global alternative asset manager. In our asset management business, we seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade credit to private equity. For more than three decades, our investing expertise across our fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of our clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, our retirement services business, we specialize in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Our patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses we invest in, our employees, and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of December 31, 2024, Apollo had approximately $751 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.

https://www.apollo.com/insights-news/pressreleases/2025/04/apollo-announces-changes-to-its-board-of-directors-3063830

Google: DOJ throwing 'caution to wind' as Chrome breakup trial begins

 The legal problems keep coming for Alphabet, which is back in the courtroom today trying to prevent a breakup of its Google search empire.

Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) fate will be in the hands of federal judge Amit Mehta, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized online markets for "general search" and "general search text."

The Justice Department is now asking Judge Mehta in a "remedies" trial to break up Google by forcing it to sell its Chrome browser and potentially sell its Android operating system.

The DOJ argued that Chrome, under a different owner, would give new rivals an "opportunity to operate a significant gateway to search the internet, free of Google's monopoly control."

Google argues that the DOJ's remedies reflect an "interventionist agenda" and would harm American consumers and undermine America’s tech leadership.

"When it comes to antitrust remedies, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that 'caution is key.' DOJ's proposal throws that caution to the wind," Google executive Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a blog post on Sunday.

The start of the remedies trial comes less than a week after Google was dealt yet another blow in a second antitrust case brought by the US Justice Department that alleged it monopolized two online advertising technology markets.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) · ASSOCIATED PRESS

DOJ wants more than just the divestment of Google's Chrome browser in the remedies trial.

The government also wants the judge to force the company to ban Google from paying mobile device makers and browser companies for search distribution. It also wants to require that Google share its search query, click, and results data. It left the door open to a possible divestiture of Google's Android operating system.

The only flexibility offered by President Trump's prosecutors concerns artificial intelligence. They scaled back a proposal from former President Biden's DOJ that pushed for Google to sell off its AI bets.

Trump's prosecutors are instead suggesting a setup where federal authorities could keep tabs on proposed AI investments that could threaten search competition.

Google has a stake in OpenAI rival Anthropic that's worth billions. Anthropic has argued to the judge that forcing Google to relinquish its stake would tilt the AI playing field in favor of OpenAI and its backer, Microsoft (MSFT).

Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia is overseeing the Google remedies trial. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) · Mark Wilson via Getty Images

Google has cautioned the judge against the DOJ's remedies proposals.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-doj-throwing-caution-to-wind-as-breakup-trial-begins-133814107.html

AstraZeneca, Daiichi Enhertu 'highly statistically significant' efficacy in first-line breast cancer

 AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo are aiming to establish their star antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) Enhertu as a first-line treatment in HER2-positive breast cancer after recording “highly statistically significant” efficacy in a key trial.

The two companies are preparing applications for Enhertu in first-line breast cancer with regulators after the phase 3 Destiny-Breast09 trial met its main goal, the two companies said Monday.

In the study, a combination of Enhertu and Roche’s Perjeta topped the standard THP regimen—which includes Perjeta, Herceptin and chemotherapy—in delaying tumor progression or death in patients with newly diagnosed HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

The improvement in progression-free survival was “highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful,” according to AZ and Daiichi, and it was observed across all pre-specified patient subgroups.

Destiny-Breast09 is “the first trial in more than a decade to demonstrate superior efficacy across a broad HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer patient population compared to the current first-line standard of care,” Susan Galbraith, Ph.D., EVP of oncology hematology R&D at AstraZeneca, said in a statement Sunday.

The trial remains ongoing after the interim analysis. Data on whether the Enhertu-Perjeta combo can extend patients’ lives were not mature, but the results have shown an early positive trend favoring the new regimen, according to AZ and Daiichi.

A second arm of the trial testing Enhertu alone versus THP has yet to read out and will proceed to the final progression-free survival analysis.

Data from the current analysis of Enhertu and Perjeta will be shared at an upcoming medical conference.

To benchmark expectations, the THP regimen won its FDA approval after showing a median progression-free survival time of 18.5 months in first-line HER2-positive breast cancer.

Results published last year from the phase 1/2 Destiny-Breast07 trial in the first-line setting linked the Enhertu-Perjeta combo to an 84% confirmed tumor response rate and an 89.4% 12-month progression-free survival rate based on a data cutoff in December 2023.

While efficacy is a key measurement, industry watchers are also keen to understand Enhertu’s safety profile in first-line treatment, especially on the potentially dangerous side effect of interstitial lung disease (ILD). In Destiny-Breast07, ILD events deemed related to Enhertu happened in 14% of patients who took the ADC and Perjeta. None of the cases were grade 4 or led to death.

Enhertu has shown potential to be one of the most successful medicines in oncology. After pioneering the HER2-low category in breast cancer treatment, the ADC won an FDA approval in January as a second-line treatment for breast cancer with HER2-low or HER2-ultralow expressions. 

In 2024, combined sales of Enhertu by AZ and Daiichi reached $3.75 billion, versus $2.57 billion the prior year. 

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/astrazeneca-daiichi-say-enhertu-delivers-highly-statistically-significant-efficacy-first

Gilead Sciences Sees Positive Results in Phase 3 Study of Aggressive Breast Cancer

 Gilead Sciences said that it saw positive results from the phase 3 study of its Trodelvy therapy in combination with Merck's Keytruda in patients with inoperable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

The biopharmaceutical company on Monday said that the results of the Ascent-04/Keynote-D19 study demonstrated that Trodelvy and Keytruda significantly improved progression-free survival, or how long the patients lived without the disease worsening, when compared to Keytruda and chemotherapy.

"These findings are the first to show the transformative potential of an antibody-drug conjugate combined with an immuno-oncology agent in early treatment lines of metastatic breast cancer," Chief Medical Officer Dietmar Berger said.

Gilead said overall survival, a key secondary endpoint, was not mature at the time of the analysis for progression-free survival but there was an early trend in improvement of that endpoint with the Trodelvy-Keytruda drug combination.

Triple-negative breast cancer whose tumors express PD-L1 is the most aggressive type of breast cancer and has historically been difficult to treat, accounting for about 15% of all breast cancers, the company said.

https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202504212478/gilead-sciences-sees-positive-results-in-phase-3-study-of-aggressive-breast-cancer

Zai Lab gets China's acceptance for label expansion of repotrectinib

 Zai Lab's repotrectinib label expansion accepted in China for treating advanced solid tumors with NTRK gene fusion.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4432749-zai-lab-gets-chinas-acceptance-for-label-expansion-of-repotrectinib