UPS’ healthcare logistics push gets boost from Andlauer deal

 

• UPS will acquire Andlauer Healthcare Group for $1.6 billion, advancing the company’s goal to grow its healthcare logistics services, according to an announcement Thursday.
• AHG, headquartered in Canada, serves healthcare manufacturers and distributors in North America with a mix of supply chain services. The deal’s closure is targeted for the second half of 2025 and is subject to approval from regulators and AHG shareholders.
• “This acquisition marks another important step in our declaration to be the number one complex healthcare logistics and premium international logistics provider in the world,” Kate Gutmann, UPS’ EVP and president of International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions, said in the release.

The deal will strengthen UPS’ portfolio of end-to-end cold chain services for healthcare customers, as the company will be able to leverage AHG’s facilities and specialized transportation for temperature-sensitive products, the news release said.

AHG operates 31 facilities equipped with temperature control and monitoring systems in Canada, according to its website. In the U.S., AHG provides healthcare transportation services in the contiguous 48 states through its trucking subsidiaries Skelton USA and T.F. Boyle Transportation.

UPS already has experience working with AHG, being one of the third-party logistics clients AHG highlighted in a March investor presentation. AHG founder and CEO Michael Andlauer will lead UPS Canada Healthcare and AHG following the deal’s closure.

“UPS Healthcare and AHG employees share a similar customer and patient-centric culture with a relentless focus on quality,” Andlauer said in the release. “Once the transaction is completed, the businesses will offer an even broader set of specialized logistics services to customers throughout Canada.”

Bolstering healthcare logistics capabilities is a high priority for UPS and other carriers, as the sector is seeing growing demand and generally offers better margins than home deliveries.

UPS’ healthcare revenue in 2024 totaled about $10.5 billion in 2024, CEO Carol Tomé said on a January earnings call. Through acquisitions like AHG and organic growth, UPS aims to increase its healthcare revenue to $20 billion by 2026.

https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/ups-andlauer-healthcare-logistics-deal/746242/

EU pharma majors Sanofi, Roche trade flat after reiterated guidance

 Shares of Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) and Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY) were flat in European trading on Thursday after the EU pharma giants reaffirmed their full-year forecasts while reporting their respective Q1 2025 results.

France-based Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) said it continues to expect mid-to-high single-digit percentage growth in its sales and low double-digit growth in its earnings per share for 2025 on a forex-adjusted basis.

The Paris-based firm reported €9.9B ($11.3B) in sales for the quarter, exceeding the consensus by €120M with ~11% YoY growth thanks mainly to its Regeneron (REGN)-partnered asthma therapy Dupixent, which added €3.5B to the topline with ~20% YoY improvement.

Meanwhile, SNY’s RSV vaccine, Beyfortus, marketed with AstraZeneca (AZN), generated €284M in sales with ~56% YoY growth, helping the company’s vaccine business to expand by ~11% YoY with €1.3B in sales.

Sanofi’s (NASDAQ:SNY) business operating income, excluding one-time items, rose ~21% YoY to €2.9B thanks mainly to a 2.3 percentage point increase in gross margin, exceeding €2.7B projected by analysts, according to Reuters data.

As for rival Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY), the Swiss pharma giant recorded CHF 15.44B ($18.7B) in sales for the Jan-Mar quarter with ~7% YoY growth, modestly surpassing the analysts’ estimates of CHF 15.4B, per Reuters data.

The company’s Pharma segment added CHF 11.9B to the topline with ~9% growth, while its Diagnostics unit brought in CHF 3.5B, mostly unchanged from last year. RHHBY’s multiple sclerosis therapy Ocrevus, eye therapy Vabysmo, and hemophilia therapy Hemlibra drove the pharma expansion with ~6%, ~18%, and 11% growth, respectively.

The Basel-based company continues to expect a mid-single-digit range of growth and a high single-digit range of growth for its 2025 sales and core earnings per share on a forex-adjusted basis, respectively.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/eu-pharma-majors-sanofi-roche-trade-flat-after-reiterated-guidance/ar-AA1Dx6ll

AbbVie seeks FDA approval for new neurotoxin TrenibotE

 AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), a prominent player in the biotechnology industry with a market capitalization of $313.2 billion, has submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new product, trenibotulinumtoxinE (TrenibotE), aimed at treating moderate to severe glabellar lines, commonly known as frown lines.  The company announced the submission today, positioning TrenibotE as a potential first-in-class botulinum neurotoxin serotype E with a rapid onset of action and a shorter duration of effect.

The application is backed by data from a clinical program involving over 2,100 patients. The program included two pivotal Phase 3 clinical studies and a Phase 3 open-label safety study, all of which met their primary and secondary endpoints. TrenibotE demonstrated a swift onset of action, with effects observed as early as 8 hours after administration, and an efficacy duration of 2-3 weeks. The safety profile was comparable to placebo, even after up to three consecutive treatments.

Darin Messina, Ph.D., senior vice president of aesthetics R&D at AbbVie, expressed that TrenibotE’s differentiated clinical profile offers patients a faster onset and shorter treatment duration, which could be particularly appealing for those new to facial aesthetic treatments. The product is designed to address concerns of looking unnatural, a common barrier cited by new patients considering neurotoxin use for aesthetic purposes.

https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/abbvie-seeks-fda-approval-for-new-neurotoxin-trenibote-93CH-4001780

Bristol Myers Boosts Outlook as Older Drugs Drive Sales Beat

 

Bristol Myers Squibb Co. raised its sales and profit forecasts for the year on better-than-expected sales of older drugs and a favorable impact from the weaker dollar.

The first quarter saw strong performances from the blood thinner Eliquis and cancer treatment Revlimid, a pair of older medicines whose sales are expected to dramatically decline before the end of the decade. Bristol also had a foreign exchange benefit of about $500 million in the period that contributed to sales coming in ahead of estimates.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-24/bristol-myers-bmy-boosts-outlook-after-older-drugs-drive-sales-beat

Judge rules U.S. owes North Dakota $28M over oil pipeline protests

A federal judge has ruled the U.S. government must pay North Dakota nearly $28 million in damages stemming from the Dakota Access oil pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor issued his ruling Wednesday, siding with North Dakota's claims of negligence, gross negligence, civil trespass and public nuisance against the United States in connection with the protests.

"This is a major win for North Dakota taxpayers and the rule of law," North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley, both Republicans, said in a statement in response to the ruling.

"As outlined in the trial testimony and Judge Traynor's ruling, decisions made by the Obama administration emboldened protesters and ultimately caused millions of dollars in damage to North Dakota, while endangering the health and safety of North Dakota communities, families and law enforcement officers who responded to the protests."

The protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the pipeline garnered wide public and political attention from August 2016 through March 2017, as they erected encampments on land near the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers.

The state's claims focused on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers use of a Special Use Permit to allow the protesters to demonstrate on Corps land.

In his ruling on Wednesday, the President Donald Trump appointee said the Corps had not officially granted the SUP despite saying one had been issued, and this so-called de factor permit prevented law enforcement from taking action against the protesters.

Traynor described this action as the Corps having "invited and encouraged the DAPL Protesters and their violent and tumultuous behavior," leaving North Dakota to clean up the mess.

"The State of North Dakota needed the power of the federal government to protect its citizens from danger. The federal government abandoned its duty," he said.

He added that the damage caused by the protests was "unfathomable," highlighting there human excrement pits, makeshift housing structures and violent clashes with law enforcement.

"The bottom line: United States had a mandatory procedure, it did not follow that procedure, and harm occurred to the state of North Dakota," Traynor said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-rules-u-owes-north-093300084.html

What Are CEOs Waiting For? Jobless Claims Refuse To Buckle To 'Recession' Narrative

 The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time rose very modestly to 222k last week. Since Nov 2021, jobless claims have barely blipped higher (or lower), despite the recent tsunami of calls for imminent recession...

Source: Bloomberg

Continuing jobless claims dropped to 3 month lows...

Source: Bloomberg

But here's the big picture - despite CEO panic, employment remains unquestionably strong...

Source: Bloomberg

So are these CEOs delinquent in their roles? Why aren't they firing 1000s of staff? Or are they just full of shit in their public prevarications?

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wtf-are-ceos-waiting-jobless-claims-refuse-buckel-recession-narrative

Ginko Automation Partners with Aura Genetics to Up DTC Testing and Innovation

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) has announced a strategic partnership with Aura Genetics to deploy its Reconfigurable Automation Cart (RAC) system at Aura's new high-throughput facility in Louisville, KY. The collaboration aims to enhance Aura's direct-to-consumer testing capabilities.

The RAC system will be installed at Aura's new 22,000-square-foot facility at the UPS Healthcare Labport. With Ginkgo's automation technology and support services, Aura Genetics expects to process tens of thousands of samples daily. The agreement includes comprehensive support through joint protocol development, biovalidation, and dedicated technical assistance.

https://www.stocktitan.net/news/DNA/ginko-automation-partners-with-aura-genetics-to-accelerate-direct-to-dnidr3hor83y.html