Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC said Friday its Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc takeover has been given the go-ahead by the US Federal Trade Commission.
FTSE 100-listed Astra said the move from the US regulator is an "important step" toward completing the deal.
The US clearance follows competition clearances in Canada, Brazil and Russia, but Astra is still waiting on clearance in the UK, EU and Japan.
Astra Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer Marc Dunoyer said: "These clearances further advance us towards closing our acquisition of Alexion. We remain focused on the next chapter for AstraZeneca and Alexion, building on our combined expertise in immunology and precision medicines and our shared ambition to bring more innovative medicines to patients worldwide.
"We look forward to working closely with other global authorities as we progress toward this goal."
Astra agreed a deal for US biotech firm Alexion in December for USD39 billion to boost its work on immunology.
WSJ report here:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/j-j-privately-asked-rival-covid-19-vaccine-makers-to-probe-clotting-risks-11618570802?mod=hp_lead_pos1
Johnson & Johnson privately contacted other drugmakers producing COVID-19 vaccines to join a study into the potential risk of blood clots, but Pfizer and Moderna refused, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
J&J contacted Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca to join the study, but only AstraZeneca agreed, The Journal reported.
More...
https://www.businessinsider.com/jj-asked-help-study-blood-clots-moderna-pfizer-refused-wsj-2021-4?r=US&IR=T
Link doesn't work
AstraZeneca early-stage lung cancer treatment receives China approval
(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC on Wednesday said its Tagrisso drug has been approved in China for early-stage lung cancer.
Shares were up 1.2% to 7,247.00 pence in London. The wider FTSE 100 index was marginally higher.
The approval comes after positive results from a Phase 3 trial, in which Tagrisso "reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 80%," AstraZeneca said.
Tagrisso the only early-stage treatment for the disease to show efficacy in a global trial and the first to be approved in China, which has more than a third of the world's lung cancer patients, the Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical firm said. The drug is approved in "more than a dozen" countries including the US.
"The expedited approval of Tagrisso in China as part of a curative-intent regimen for early-stage EGFR-mutated lung cancer underscores the high unmet need in this setting," AstraZeneca's executive vice president for oncology, Dave Frederickson, said.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/johnson-johnson-vaccine-faces-inquiry-over-fatal-blood-clots-7mlsmttw8
European regulators are launching an investigation into whether the Johnson & Johnson single-shot coronavirus vaccine may cause blood clots.
Four cases of blood clots have been reported, one of them fatal. Three of those cases occurred in the United States and one during clinical trials, according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
In a statement, the EMA said: “Four serious cases of unusual blood clots with low blood platelets have been reported post-vaccination. One case occurred in a clinical trial and three cases occurred during the vaccine rollout in the USA. One of them was fatal.”
https://www.ft.com/content/8d9edc58-7922-496a-942f-5360bfe84876
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/us/politics/johnson-johnson-coronavirus-vaccine.html
Interesting that the vaccine (15 million doses) had been made in the Netherlands
EU member states will have received a total of 107 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of this week, a European Commission spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Also, the EU's drug regulator said, experts probing links between the AstraZeneca PLC coronavirus vaccine and blood clots have found no specific risk factors, including age, but are carrying out further analysis.
"At present the review has not identified any specific risk factors, such as age, gender or a previous medical history of clotting disorders, for these very rare events," the European Medicines Agency said in a statement.
Deliveries for the first three months of the year are made up of 67.2 million doses from BioNtech SE-Pfizer Inc, 29.8 million from Astra, and 9.8 million from Moderna Inc, the commission said.
The overall figure was revised down dramatically after the Anglo-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca slashed the number it was providing from a contracted 120 million doses.
The production shortfall has contributed to a stuttering start to the EU's vaccination campaign that has seen the bloc lag behind countries including the US, Britain, and Israel.
Deliveries are expected to pick up considerably in the second quarter of the year, with the commission saying it should receive at least 300 million doses by the end of June.
That figure should include 55 million shots of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson jab, which officials hope will help speed up vaccination rates.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen insists the 27-nation bloc remains on course to meet a target to inoculate 70% of adults "by the end of summer".
That is despite it being set to miss another stated ambition to have 80% of over-80s and health workers vaccinated by the end of March.
The shortfall in deliveries from AstraZeneca has led to a row with Britain, as both sides scramble to ensure they get doses.
Von der Leyen warned last week that the bloc would ban drug firms exporting vaccines until they made good on promised deliveries to the EU.
There have also been calls from five member states led by Austria for some doses to be redistributed within the EU over fears of shortfalls in some capitals.
On Tuesday, Austria said it had become the latest EU country to open talks with Russia about securing deliveries of its Sputnik V vaccine.
extract:
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https://www.ft.com/content/28158bed-5f07-4504-9a00-2f3d8f7519df
Thierry Breton, internal market commissioner, played down the likely outcome of talks that have been ongoing between Brussels and London over vaccine production, saying “there is nothing to negotiate” between the two parties.
Production from the Seneffe plant in Belgium and the Halix factory in the Netherlands “more or less” matches AstraZeneca’s commitments to Brussels, and so must be reserved for the EU, he said.
“If [AstraZeneca] does more, we don’t have any issue, but as long as it doesn’t deliver its commitment to us, the doses stay in Europe — except for Covax,” said Breton in an interview, referring to the international vaccine scheme aimed mainly at poorer countries. “There is no negotiation.”
News from February.
GSK and Sanofi Start With New COVID-19 Vaccine Study After Setback
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2021-02-22/gsk-sanofi-begin-new-covid-19-vaccine-trial-of-protein-based-vaccine
The climax sees Stratton running through the streets at night in his glowing white suit, pursued by both the managers and the employees. As the crowd advances, his suit begins to fall apart as the chemical structure of the fibre breaks down with time. The ever lasting suit:
The mob, realising the flaw in the process, rip pieces off his suit in triumph, until he is left standing in his underwear.
Only Daphne Birnley, the mill-owner's daughter, and Bertha, a works labourer, have sympathy for his disappointment.
The next day, Stratton is dismissed from his job. Departing, he consults his chemistry notes.
A realisation hits and he exclaims, "I see!" With that he strides off, perhaps to try again elsewhere.
Alliance News) - Scientists are to look into the effectiveness of the Oxford/AstraZeneca PLC vaccine when delivered using a nasal spray.
The University of Oxford will examine the level of immune system responses generated by the vaccine using this delivery technique, as well as monitoring safety and for any adverse reactions.
Thirty healthy Oxford-based volunteers aged 18-40 will receive the vaccine through an intranasal spray device, similar to many over-the-counter hay fever nasal sprays.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is currently being delivered by intramuscular injection as part of the national rollout.
Sandy Douglas, who is leading the study, said: "Some immunologists believe that delivering the vaccine to the site of infection may achieve enhanced protection, especially against transmission, and mild disease.
"We hope this small safety-focused study will lay the foundation for future larger studies that are needed to test whether giving the vaccine this way does protect against coronavirus infection."