Germany likely to apply for EU leeway on defence spending, Finance Minister says

 Germany is likely to ask the European Commission for an exemption from European Union borrowing limits to increase defence spending in coming years without breaking EU rules, German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies told Reuters on Friday.

"It looks likely that we may do that, but the final decision needs to be taken," Kukies said in an interview, adding that this is being discussed in the German government in coordination with the incoming parties.

The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of GDP each year for four years without any disciplinary steps that would normally kick in once a deficit is above 3% of GDP.

Portugal has signalled it would ask for an exemption and Poland is likely to as well, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The European Commission had hoped the proposal would be widely taken up by the 27 EU countries and help boost EU defence investment by 650 billion euros over the next four years to deter a potential Russian invasion.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Germany-likely-to-apply-for-EU-leeway-on-defence-spending-Finance-Minister-says-49725591/

Amgen to expand Ohio biotech manufacturing plant

 Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) today announced a $900 million expansion of its Ohio manufacturing facility, bringing the total number of jobs created to 750 and the total investment in Central Ohio to over $1.4 billion.

"Amgen has been a leading U.S.-based manufacturer of biologic medicines since 1988. Today's investment reinforces our ongoing commitment to expanding U.S. manufacturing and ensuring patients around the world have access to our innovative medicines," said Robert A. Bradway, chairman and chief executive officer at Amgen. "Ohio offers a supportive business climate, skilled workforce, and strategic location, making it an ideal choice for this next phase of our investment." 

Amgen first entered Ohio in June 2021, when it announced plans to invest in a state-of-the-art biomanufacturing facility in Central Ohio. This investment marked the company's expansion into the Columbus Region, which enhanced its U.S.-based manufacturing capabilities and created 400 jobs upon the facility's opening.  

"Ohio has built a strong foundation for economic development, which has led companies like Amgen to see Ohio as a premier destination for growth," said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. "We are happy to see Amgen deepen its commitment to our state and look forward to the innovation and economic impact it will drive."

Since passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Amgen has invested almost $5 billion in direct capital expenditures in the United States, generating an additional downstream output to the U.S. economy of approximately $12 billion.

The Ohio expansion enhances the company's global biomanufacturing network, leveraging decades of operational expertise and technological advancements and follows the company's recent announcement that it would invest $1 billion to build a second manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, NC. With these investments across the U.S., Amgen is focused on building the most cutting-edge biologics manufacturing capabilities in the world.

https://www.amgen.com/newsroom/press-releases/2025/04/amgen-announces-900-million-manufacturing-expansion-creation-of-350-new-jobs-in-ohio

Sales of Merck’s 4-Way Measles Vaccine Take Hit as US Dips Into Stockpile

 

Proquad is rarely a newsmaker from Merck’s earnings, but this time around, the U.S. has had a series of measles outbreaks. Sales of the vaccine were $539 million for the quarter, a 5% decline from the same period in 2024.

Sales of Merck’s measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox vaccine Proquad dropped in the first quarter after the U.S. dipped into its six-month pediatric vaccine supply amid a handful of measles outbreaks, the company announced Thursday.

Overall, Merck’s worldwide sales declined 2% to $15.5 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a first quarter earnings report released Thursday morning. Also contributing to the decline is a steep drop in revenue from the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil/Gardasil 9 that continues to be impacted by supply challenges in China. Sales of the vaccine fell 41% to $1.3 billion for the quarter. While the decline was steep, Merck said it could have been worse had demand not increased in other regions, particularly in Japan, and the higher pricing in the U.S. also helped offset the losses.

Merck saw a 3% decline in its pharmaceuticals business, with sales falling to $13.64 billion for the first quarter. The company said the drop was driven by vaccines, virology and immunology, but as always, cancer blockbuster Keytruda helped offset the losses with 4% worldwide growth to $7.21 billion. Even so, BMO Capital Markets said Keytruda’s sales were a rare miss for the pharma giant, landing 3% below expectations.

Proquad, first approved almost 20 years ago, is rarely a newsmaker from Merck’s earnings, but this time around the U.S. has had a series of measles outbreaks that have brought the vaccine back into focus. Merck said that sales of the common childhood vaccine declined as doses were borrowed from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pediatric Vaccine Stockpile. Sales of the four-way vaccine were $539 million for the quarter, a 5% decline from the same period a year earlier.

Offsetting the loss was higher sales of the M-M-R II vaccine, which provides protection against measles, mumps and rubella. Merck attributed this increase to private-sector buy-in due to measles outbreaks and higher pricing.

The earnings blip for Merck comes as a measles outbreak spreads across the U.S., primarily driven by unvaccinated people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 800 confirmed cases as of April 17, across dozens of states and three deaths. There have been 10 total outbreaks in 2025 so far, compared to 16 total for all of 2024. The CDC said that 96% of the cases were in people who were unvaccinated.

https://www.biospace.com/business/sales-of-mercks-4-way-measles-vaccine-take-hit-as-us-dips-into-stockpile

Merck, Boehringer Ingelheim, More To Present Key Data at AACR ’25

 

Presentations at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research meeting could have a broad impact on the treatment landscape for head and neck and lung cancer, and implications for specific drug modalities like TIGIT and VEGF.

On Friday, the streets of Chicago, Illinois—or at least, the halls of its McCormick Place Convention Center—will flood with hundreds of cancer experts from across the country. The annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research is in town and will host some of the most cutting-edge research in oncology.

Expectations are great for this year’s event, which will host a few highly impactful readouts, some of which could have far-reaching implications for the market and for clinical practice.

One of the most anticipated presentations is a detailed readout for Merck’s Phase III KEYNOTE-689 study, which evaluated its blockbuster PD-1 blocker Keytruda in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

In October 2024, the pharma provided a topline peek at the study’s results, noting that Keytruda elicited a “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement” in event-free survival and a “trend toward improvement” in overall survival. Merck did not provide specific data at the time, and Keytruda’s magnitude of efficacy in this indication remains unknown.

However, in an April 16 note to investors, William Blair analysts said they expect KEYNOTE-689 to have “read-through to the broader” HNSCC treatment space.

“Merck’s Keynote-689 will have some impact on the head and neck cancer landscape/market opportunity,” William Blair analyst Matt Phipps added in an email to BioSpace. Detailed findings from the trial will likely affect other players in this space, including Merus and its bispecific antibody petosemtamab, and Exelixis, which is advancing its oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor zanzalintinib, according to Phipps.

Aside from HNSCC, AACR 2025 could also witness big readouts in lung cancer. In an email to BioSpace, AACR president-elect Lillian Siu, a senior medical oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, pointed to Boehringer Ingelheim’s Beamion LUNG-1 trial, which she said could be “practice-changing.”

The trial is studying the HER2 tyrosine kinase blocker zongertinib in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A Phase Ib readout in September 2024 demonstrated a 66.7% objective response rate for zongertinib, which also shrank tumors in 94% of treated patients. Boehringer Ingelheim is scheduled to release additional findings from Beamion LUNG-1 on Monday.

Modality Movement

Beyond specific indications, many experts also expect this year’s AACR cycle to be critical for certain treatment modalities.

“VEGF-PD(L)1 bispecifics took the oncology world by storm” in September last year, when Summit Therapeutics and Akeso announced that their investigational bispecific antibody ivonescimab bested Keytruda as a frontline NSCLC treatment, Christiana Bardon, co-managing partner at biotech investment firm MPM BioImpact, told BioSpace in an email.

The oncology partners doubled down on those results on Wednesday, reporting that the candidate yielded better progression-free survival than BeiGene’s PD-1 inhibitor Tevimbra in patients with NSCLC.

“Since [September 2024], a wave of VEGF bispecifics and some trispecifics have emerged,” according to Bardon, who noted that at least 13 of these, including ivonescimab and a candidate developed by Hangzhou DAC Biotechnology and dubbed DXA023-G017, will have data at AACR. “There’s even a VEGF bispecific with an [antibody-drug conjugate] payload,” she said.

Bardon is quick to caution, however, that assets playing in this space “are still mostly at the preclinical stage.” Nevertheless, “they have the potential to disrupt the oncology landscape if successful.”

William Blair’s Phipps, for his part, is focused on the TIGIT space, which in recent months has been battered by setbacks. Last month, for instance, BeiGene was forced to scrap its TIGIT asset ociperlimab after disappointing late-stage data, which showed that the candidate was “unlikely to meet the primary endpoint of overall survival” in the Phase III AdvanTIG-302 trial in NSCLC.

However, arguably the most high-profile defeat belongs to Roche, which in November 2024 reported that its anti-TIGIT antibody tiragolumab failed the SKYSCRAPER-01 study in locally advanced unresectable or metastatic NSCLC, unable to significantly improve overall survival versus placebo.

The pharma did not provide specific data at the time, but will do so at AACR. A more comprehensive readout “will have important implications for the TIGIT inhibitor space,” Phipps said. “We know the trial failed, but are there reasons that can be gleaned that might allow others to still succeed with this target?”

Among these other players are partners Gilead and Arcus, which in November 2024 reported Phase III data showing that their anti-TIGIT antibody domvanalimab, when combined with the PD-1 therapy zimberelimab, significantly boosted progression-free and overall survival in patients with a specific type of NSCLC, as compared with zimberelimab or chemotherapy.

The partners are also trialing the domvanalimab-zimberelimab combo in HSNCC, for which they are scheduled to present mid-stage data at AACR.

https://www.biospace.com/drug-development/merck-boehringer-ingelheim-more-to-present-key-data-at-aacr-25

Beijing Vows To Stabilize China's Sinking Economy

 As we have shown on several recent occasions, the US-China trade war is notable in that while the Xi and Trump admins are clearly going at it, their core "support" organizations such as the Fed and PBOC have taken on decidedly different paths: while the Chinese central bank (which is controlled by the communist party) is doing everything to prop up markets and the yuan, and give Beijing the upper hand when it comes to market leverage in the war with Trump, the Fed is doing just the opposite, allowing the dollar to tumble and letting stocks slide, refusing to intervene in the market. 

In fact one of the biggest tension points in recent weeks has been Trump's anger at Powell, and his desire to "remove" the Fed chair due to the Fed's reluctance to cut rates now, versus cutting them in September 2024, when the market was at all time highs and the Biden economy was reportedly so much stronger.

Perhaps not surprisingly, with every passing day this dynamic only gets more acute, because while the Fed is desperately seeking reasons to avoid cutting rates such as predicting inflation may jump in a year or so - despite increasingly dovish comments from the likes of Fed officials Waller and Hammack who realize that the US would be in recession long before inflation kicks in - China’s leadership overnight vowed to stabilize the economy and society, "as the country is now at a critical stage in handling the unprecedented trade war with the United States."

In an economic-analysis meeting on Friday, the 24-man Politburo, China's main decision-making body headed by President Xi Jinping, said authorities would roll out specific plans to support companies and individuals affected by the trade war.

They pledged to “coordinate domestic economic work with international economic and trade engagements, resolutely focus on doing our own affairs, steadfastly expand high-level opening up, and focus on stabilizing employment, businesses, markets, and expectations”, according to a meeting readout released by Xinhua.

“By enhancing the certainty of high-quality development, we can effectively respond to the uncertainties brought by drastic changes in the external environment,” it said.

In other words, the PBOC will continue doing more of the same, creating a false sense of stability, even as stateside, the Fed encourages the all too real sense of instability.

The Politburo meeting typically sets the tone for the country’s economic work in the second quarter. This year, it has come amid uncertainty over how the world’s second-largest economy will fare in an escalated tariff war with the US while trying to meet leadership’s annual growth target of “around 5 per cent”, after a solid start in the first quarter saw gross domestic product rise by 5.4%, but the growth rate is expected to tumble in coming months.

To boost the role of domestic consumption in driving economic growth, Beijing will strive to increase the income of the lower- and middle-income groups while vigorously developing service consumption, the authorities said. Which is desperately needed since unlike the US, China does not have a social safety net, and therefore how long its economy can remain stressed depends entirely on how long the middle class refuses to revolt.

Beijing will also step up measures to stabilize the housing market, including renovating dilapidated housing in urban areas and refining policies for the acquisition of commercial housing inventory, according to the readout. On the other hand, why Beijing has failed to do this for the past 5 years ever since China suffered a spectacular collapse in its housing sector which crushed the middle class, is anyone's guess. Actually, it's not a guess: the reason why China can not do anything to forcefully stabilize its housing market is because China has way too much debt, and any attempt for massive fiscal stimulus will lead to a quick sugar high... and epic crash shortly after. And Beijing is well aware of this, which is why China has perfected the art of jawboning constantly and doing absolutely nothing.

There's more: authorities said they will also maintain stability and boost vitality in the capital markets, in other words the PBOC and "National Team" plunge protection teams will be even more active... while Powell goes fishing.

The Politburo reiterated that Beijing would implement a more proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy, by accelerating the issuance of government bonds and cutting the reserve requirement ratio and key policy interest rates at an appropriate time.

It will also launch new lending facilities to boost technological innovation, consumption and trade.

To support companies significantly impacted by tariffs, the proportion of job-retention refunds from unemployment insurance funds will be increased, the readout added. “We must focus on ensuring people’s livelihoods,” it said correctly, although it will be short by a few trillion yuan when it's all said and done.

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for China’s economic growth this year to 4%, down from 4.6%, while slashing the US growth outlook to 1.8%, a 0.9% drop from its January projection, as the trade war between the two countries raises the risk of a prolonged decoupling.

And speaking to just how debt-constrained China truly is, the Politburo meeting did not announce any new stimulus measures beyond the budget approved in the National People’s Congress in March, but it "reflects the government’s readiness to launch new policies" when the economy is affected by external shocks, according to Zhang Zhiwei, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

“It seems Beijing is not in a rush to launch a large stimulus at this stage,” Zhang said. “It takes time to monitor and evaluate the timing and the size of the trade shock.” Actually, the only reason China is not in a rush to launch a large stimulus, is because it can't: if it does, all it does is buy a few quarters of time before a far more dire crash as deflationary debt-crisis spreads across the country.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/beijing-vows-stabilize-chinas-sinking-economy

Walmart Opens Channel For Battered Chinese Exporters To "Quickly Expand" In Domestic Market

 Walmart in China rolled out a new program this week to support Chinese exporters reeling from President Trump's 145% tariffs on U.S.-bound goods. The initiative offers exporters a chance to pivot their strategy by selling domestically through Walmart's hundreds of stores across the world's second-largest economy. 

The new program was announced on Walmart's WeChat account on Thursday and comes in response to the Chinese government's call for the "integrated development of domestic and foreign trade."

Here's a snippet of Walmart's WeChat statement:

Walmart's supplier recruitment system was recently launched, and we sincerely invite high-quality companies with the same values ​​to join us and jointly create high-quality, high-value products for customers. In order to actively respond to the call for the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, Walmart has opened a green channel for qualified foreign trade companies, simplified the access process, accelerated the approval efficiency, and helped related companies quickly expand the domestic market.

As of 2024, Walmart operated nearly 400 retail stores and clubs across more than 100 cities in China, supported by almost two dozen distribution centers. In the most recent quarter, Walmart reported a 28% net sales growth in the country. 

China's Ministry of Commerce has been working with domestic retailers and e-commerce platforms to redirect export-oriented goods toward domestic consumers, aiming to prevent a shock to the manufacturing sector. This initiative also includes JD.com's move to help offload unsold export inventory within the domestic market. 

Some of the latest trade headlines suggest China is already under pressure, while the lag in any shock is about to hit the shores of U.S. West Coast ports as soon as next week...  

• Amazon Cancels Orders, Walmart Pulls Forecast As Tariffs Take Hold

• Are China Road Traffic Indicators Set To Collapse As Tariff War Cancels Factory Orders

• Chinese Sellers On Amazon Panic After Trump's Tariff Bazooka

• Liberation Day Fallout: China's Port Volumes Sink After Trump's Tariff Blitz

• Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As U.S. Ethane Supply Evaporates

• "Our Export Orders Disappeared": Chinese Factories Shutting Down, Laying Off Workers, FT Finds

• First Tariff Shock Set To Hit Port Of Los Angeles, With Ripple Effects Across The Broader Economy

So, what about the U.S.? Why hasn't Walmart set up an 'America First' campaign to promote products from mom-and-pop companies with patriotic signage such as "Made in America" at stores nationwide?

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/walmart-opens-channel-battered-chinese-exporters-quickly-expand-domestic-market

China is 'caving' to Trump's trade war strategy: Chang

 Early signs are emerging that China is now "caving" to the U.S. and President Donald Trump on tariffs, according to one foreign policy observer

Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang agreed there’s "a win for Trump" after the president revealed he’s spoken to China about trade tensions and the recent exemption of some U.S. goods from its 125% tariff.

"China is doing this, but it's not announcing it. It's just not imposing the tariffs on aviation products, industrial chemicals, and semiconductors. It's sort of like the Chinese way of doing it," Chang said on "Varney & Co." Friday.

"It's basically, they're caving, but they don't want to say they're caving."

From the White House lawn Friday morning, President Trump took questions from the press when he was asked the last time he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Gatestone Institute's Gordon Chang explained why he feels China is "caving" to U.S. President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)

"I don't want to comment on that, but I've spoken to him many times," Trump responded before pivoting to a question about what exactly they discussed: "I'll let you know at the appropriate time. Let's see if we can make a deal."

Though China on Thursday publicly announced it was not negotiating with the U.S. on trade, a later report from Reuters claimed China’s Ministry of Commerce taskforce is collecting lists of items that could be exempted from tariffs and is asking companies to submit their own requests.

Washington has said the current status quo is economically untenable and has already offered tariff exemptions to some electronic goods. But Beijing has taken a harder stance, saying it is willing to fight to the end unless the U.S. lifts its tariffs.

Chang predicts the tariff back-and-forth between China and Trump’s America "can go on for a very long time."

"Xi Jinping has boxed himself into the corner," he said. "And I believe that if he comes to a deal with the U.S., he's got to explain that to the Chinese people. That's going to be very difficult for him."

"You can't say, 'Well, I'm now dealing with the U.S.,' because that would be undercutting everything that he has said to his own people for years," he continued.

Weighing whether China is indeed "really vulnerable," Chang noted the country’s negative consumer and producer price indices, shrinking gross domestic product and tax receipts down in the first quarter.

video

Chinese economy is in ‘desperate straits’: Gordon Chang

Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang weighs in on critical trade talks as China claims talks with the U.S. are not ongoing and more during a wide-ranging interview on 'Mornings with Maria.'

"When you had India a couple days ago slap the 12% tariffs on steel, that was directed at China because they don't want their market flooded with Chinese steel that otherwise would have gone to the U.S. You're going to see other countries do the same thing, which really means China is going to have export problems because that's where they've been looking for growth," the expert analyzed.

"But they can't grow it in a world like we have today. And besides, when you add deglobalization, this is a really bad story for Beijing."

https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/china-caving-trumps-trade-war-strategy-expert-signals