J&J falls on sales warning; GE down on weak profit view
Microsoft to report quarterly earnings after market close
Indexes: Dow up 0.18%, S&P 500 off 0.13%, Nasdaq down 0.25%
NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Wall Street was mixed on Tuesday as a raft of mixed earnings took some wind out of the sails of the recent rally.
The session got off to an rocky start, as a spate of NYSE-listed stocks were halted at the opening bell due to an apparent technical glitch, which caused initial price confusion and prompted an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
More than 80 stocks were affected by the glitch, which caused wide swings in opening prices in stocks, including Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and Nike Inc (NKE.N).
“It looks like NYSE got on it real early,” said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. “Now they’re trying to determine what opening trade prices were.”
“Everyone involved in trade settlements is going to have a long day today.”
All three indexes sputtered near the starting line, with little apparent momentum in either direction.
Fourth quarter earnings season is in full swing, with 72 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 65% have beaten consensus, just a hair below the 66% long-term average, according to Refinitiv.
On aggregate, analysts now expect S&P 500 earnings 2.9% below the year-ago quarter, down from the 1.6% year-on-year decline seen on Jan. 1, per Refinitiv.
“Earnings don’t make a bull or bear case for the market yet, but there’s an anxiousness among investors to be long when the Fed is done raising rates,” Sroka added. “We’re hitting a ramp in the earnings cycle, and by next week we’ll have a lot more information on the direction of the market.”
Economic data showed shallower-than-expected contraction in the manufacturing and services sector in the first weeks of the year, suggesting that the Federal Reserve’s restrictive interest rates are dampening demand.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 60.69 points, or 0.18%, to 33,690.25, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 5.36 points, or 0.13%, to 4,014.45 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 28.39 points, or 0.25%, to 11,336.03.
Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, industrials was down the most.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, dropped 2.5% as SEC investigators searched for the cause of Tuesday’s opening bell confusion.
Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) shares dipped 1.8% after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Google for abusing its dominance of the digital advertising business.
Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) profit guidance came in above analyst expectations. Even so, its stock softened 0.3%.
Industrial conglomerates 3M Co (MMM.N) and General Electric Co (GE.N) both provided underwhelming forward guidance due to inflationary headwinds.
3M’s shares were off 5.1% while General Electric’s were modestly lower.
Aerospace/defense companies Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N) were a study in contrasts, with the former issuing a disappointing profit forecast and the latter beating estimates on solid travel demand.
Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were up 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively.
Railroad operator Union Pacific Corp missed profit estimates as labor shortages and severe weather delayed shipments. Its shares shed 2.7%.
Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is due to report after the bell.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.16-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.06-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 69 new highs and 21 new lows.
Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis
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WOKING, England, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The global auto industry has committed $1.2 trillion to developing electric vehicles (EVs), providing a golden opportunity for new suppliers to grab contracts providing everything from battery packs to motors and inverters.
Startups specialising in batteries and coatings to protect EV parts, and suppliers traditionally focused on niche motorsports or Formula One (F1) racing, have been chasing EV contracts. Carmakers design platforms to last a decade, so high-volume models can generate large revenues for years.
The next generation of EVs is due to hit around 2025 and many carmakers have sought help plugging gaps in their expertise, providing a window of opportunity for new suppliers.
“We’ve gone back to the days of Henry Ford where everyone is asking ‘how do you make these things work properly?’,” says Nick Fry, CEO of F1 engineering and technology firm McLaren Applied.
“That’s a huge opportunity for companies like us.”
Bought from McLaren by private equity firm Greybull Capital in 2021, McLaren Applied has adapted an efficient inverter developed for F1 racing for EVs. An inverter helps control the flow of electricity to and from the battery pack.
The silicon carbide IPG5 inverter weighs just 5.5 kg (12 lb) and can extend an EV’s range by over 7%. Fry says McLaren Applied is working with around 20 carmakers and suppliers, and the inverter will appear in high-volume luxury EV models starting January 2025.
Mass-market carmakers often prefer to develop EV components in-house and own the technology themselves. After years of pandemic-related parts shortages, they are wary of over-reliance on suppliers.
“We just can’t afford to be reliant on third parties making those investments for us,” said Tim Slatter, head of Ford (F.N) in Britain.
Traditional suppliers, such as German heavyweights Bosch and Continental (CONG.DE), are also investing heavily in EVs and other technologies to stay ahead in a fast-changing industry.
But smaller companies say there are still opportunities, particularly with low-volume manufacturers that cannot afford huge EV investments, or luxury and high-performance carmakers seeking an edge.
Croatia’s Rimac, an electric hypercar maker part-owned by Germany’s Porsche AG (P911_p.DE) that also supplies battery systems and powertrain components to other automakers, says an undisclosed German carmaker will use a Rimac battery system in a high-performance model – with annual production of around 40,000 units – starting this year, with more signed up.
“We need to be 20%, 30% better than what they can do and then they work with us,” CEO Mate Rimac says. “If they can make a 100-kilowatt hour battery pack, we must make a 130-kilowatt pack in the same dimensions for the same cost.”
NO TIME TO LOSE
Some suppliers like Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Actnano have had long relationships with EV pioneer Tesla (TSLA.O). Actnano has developed a coating that protects EV parts from condensation and its business has spread to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), as well as other carmakers including Volvo (VOLCARb.ST), Ford, BMW (BMWG.DE) and Porsche.
California-based startup CelLink has developed an entirely automated, flat and easy-to-install “flex harness”, instead of a wire harness to group and guide cables in a vehicle. CEO Kevin Coakley would not identify customers but said CelLink’s harnesses had been installed in around a million EVs. Only Tesla has that scale.
Coakley said CelLink was working with U.S. and European carmakers, and with a European battery maker on battery wiring.
Others are focused on low-volume manufacturers, like UK startup Ionetic, which develops battery packs that would be too expensive for smaller companies to make themselves.
“Currently it costs just too much to electrify, which is why you see some manufacturers delaying their electrification launch,” CEO James Eaton said.
Since 1971, Swindon Powertrain has developed powerful motorsports engines. But it has now also developed battery packs, electric powertrains, e-axles and is working with around 20 customers, including carmakers and an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft maker.
“I realized if we don’t embrace this, we’re going to end up working for museums,” said managing director Raphael Caille.
But time may be running out.
Mate Rimac says major carmakers scrambled in the last three years to roll out EVs and now have strategies largely in place.
“For those who haven’t signed projects, I’m not sure how long the window of opportunity will remain open,” he said.
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Reporting by Nick Carey
Editing by Mark Potter
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Dec 7 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Wednesday sentenced former Theranos Inc President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to 12 years and 11 months in prison on charges of defrauding investors and patients of the blood testing startup led by Elizabeth Holmes, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office confirmed.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, imposed the sentence on Balwani, who was convicted by a jury on two counts of conspiracy and 10 counts of fraud in July.
Prosecutors said Balwani, 57, conspired with Holmes, 38, to deceive Silicon Valley investors into believing the company had achieved miniaturized machines that could accurately run a broad array of medical diagnostic tests from a small amount of blood.
Meanwhile, the company secretly relied on traditional methods to run tests and provided patients with inaccurate results, prosecutors said.
Holmes, who started the company as a college student and became its public face, was indicted alongside Balwani, her former romantic partner, in 2018.
Davila later granted each a separate trial after Holmes said she would take the stand and testify that Balwani was abusive in their relationship. He has denied the allegations.
Holmes was convicted in January on four counts of fraud and conspiracy but acquitted of defrauding patients.
[1/3] Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, former president and chief operating officer (COO) of Theranos and ex-boyfriend of founder Elizabeth Holmes, leaves after the opening day of his federal trial for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud was postponed due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) exposure in the courtroom in San Jose, California, U.S. March 16, 2022. REUTERS/Brittany Hosea-Small/File Photo
Davila sentenced Holmes to 11-1/4 years in prison at a hearing last month, calling Theranos a venture “dashed by untruths, misrepresentations, plain hubris and lies.”
Prosecutors subsequently argued Balwani should receive 15 years in prison, saying he knew Theranos’ tests were inaccurate from overseeing the company’s laboratory operations, and decided to “prioritize Theranos’ financial health over patients’ real health.”
The probation office had recommended a nine-year sentence.
Balwani’s attorneys asked for a sentence of probation, arguing that he sought to make the world a better place through Theranos and was not motivated by fame or greed.
Once valued at $9 billion, Theranos promised to revolutionize how patients receive diagnoses by replacing traditional labs with small machines envisioned for use in homes, drugstores and even on the battlefield.
The company collapsed after a series of Wall Street Journal articles in 2015 questioned its technology.
The case is U.S. v. Balwani, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-cr-00258.
Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York;
Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot
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Jody Godoy
Thomson Reuters
Jody Godoy reports on banking and securities law. Reach her at jody.godoy@thomsonreuters.com
To be replaced on Oct. 15 by Connected Care head Jakobs
Shares up 2%, but down more than 50% since product recall
AMSTERDAM, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Philips (PHG.AS) Chief Executive Frans van Houten will leave the company in October, the Dutch health technology firm said on Tuesday, after a key product recall cut its market value by more than half over the past year.
Philips said Van Houten would be replaced on Oct. 15 by Roy Jakobs, head of the company’s Connected Care businesses. Van Houten’s third term as CEO had been due to end in April.
Jakobs, 48, is currently overseeing the company’s recall of millions of ventilators and machines for the treatment of sleep apnea. That process has lopped almost $30 billion off Philips’ value as investors fear large claims.
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“The time is right for the change in leadership,” Philips said in a statement.
Philips shares were up 2% in afternoon trading, but are still down almost 60% since its warning in June 2021 that foam used for sound dampening might release toxic gases that could carry cancer risks. read more
When it started the recall in September last year, Philips said it expected to complete the replacement and repair of all affected machines within a year.
But after broadening the scope of the operation to around 5.5 million devices worldwide, Philips in June said the work was only around halfway done.
ADDITIONAL TESTS
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January classified the recall as Class 1, or the most serious type, posing a threat of injury or death.
The FDA said on Tuesday it had received 48,000 new Medical Device Reports containing complaints about potential injuries related to the Philips devices, including 44 deaths, between May 1 and July 31 this year. read more
That is more than twice as many reports as it received for the entire year to April 30, 2022, which totalled over 21,000. They included 124 deaths.
CEO Frans van Houten from the Dutch health technology company Philips presents the company’s financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2018, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Eva Plevier
The FDA said it would analyse the reports and examine the possible reasons for the increased number.
The complaints do not prove causality, but are an indicator of the severity of the problem.
Philips in June said it had supplied the FDA with evidence from independent tests on the recalled devices which showed foam degradation was mainly linked to the use of aggressive, unauthorised ozone-based cleaning products. read more
It has promised to run additional tests to determine the potential toxicity of degraded foam parts, even though the tests so far had shown that the parts did not leave the machine.
Philips estimated the costs of the recall at 900 million euros ($915 million). That sum does not cover the possible costs of litigation. The company is facing more than a hundred class action suits.
“If you have three recalls in 10 years, it’s too much. His (Van Houten’s) position had become untenable,” said analyst Jos Versteeg of InsingerGilissen. He was referring to a defibrillator recall in 2017 and problems with medical scanners in 2014.
“This situation is not really under control, I think, because we’re still waiting for the definite conclusion of the (safety) studies.”
Although the blow to Philips’ reputation could have led it to pick an outsider for the top job, supervisory board chairman Feike Sijbesma said Jakobs was the right man to fix the company’s problems.
“He led the ramp up of production following the recall and knows very much about patient safety and product quality, so also from that perspective he is the right person,” he said.
During his almost 12 years at the helm, 62-year old Van Houten oversaw the disposal of Philips’ lighting and consumer electronics divisions.
Philips now focuses on medical imaging, monitoring and diagnostic equipment and competes against General Electric (GE.N) and Siemens Healthineers (SHLG.DE).
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Reporting by Bart Meijer; Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Matt Scuffham, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Richard Pullin
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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Walmart cuts profit forecast; news hits retailers
McDonald’s up as sales, profit top estimates
Coca-Cola up on forecast raise
Indexes down: Dow 0.8%, S&P 500 1.3%, Nasdaq 2%
NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were sharply lower on Tuesday afternoon, with Nasdaq down more than 2%, as a profit warning by Walmart dragged down retail shares and fueled fears about consumer spending.
Walmart (WMT.N) shares fell 8% after the retailer cut its full-year profit forecast late on Monday. Walmart blamed surging prices for food and fuel, and said it needed to cut prices to pare inventories. read more
Shares of Target Corp (TGT.N) declined 3.8% and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) dropped 5.1%. read more
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Also, Amazon said it would raise fees for delivery and streaming service Prime in Europe by up to 43% a year. read more
Amazon was among the biggest drags on the Nasdaq and S&P 500, while consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) fell more than 3% and led declines among S&P 500 sectors.
“The majority of companies that reported today beat earnings, and that’s been the case. But of course there have been some warnings, and that’s what the market is focusing on,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
“Walmart basically pulled the plug, and most retailers are lower across the board.”
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) gained 1.9% after the company raised its full-year revenue forecast. McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) rose 3% after beating quarterly expectations. read more
A busy week for earnings includes reports from Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) after the bell. Microsoft was down 3.4% and Alphabet was down 2.9%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 239.66 points, or 0.75%, to 31,750.38, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 52.28 points, or 1.32%, to 3,914.56 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 239.38 points, or 2.03%, to 11,543.29.
The Federal Reserve started a two-day meeting and on Wednesday, it is expected to announce a 0.75 percentage point interest rate hike to fight inflation. read more Investors have worried that aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed could tip the economy into recession.
Earnings from S&P 500 companies are expected to have risen 6.2% for the second quarter from the year-ago period, according to Refinitiv data.
Among the week’s heavy slate of economic news, data Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence dropped to nearly a 1-1/2-year low in July, pointing to slower economic growth at the start of the third quarter. read more
Advance second-quarter GDP data on Thursday is likely to be negative after the U.S. economy contracted in the first three months of the year.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.82-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.51-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week highs and 30 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 32 new highs and 123 new lows.
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Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Aniruddha Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Anil D’Silva and David Gregorio
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DETROIT/BEIJING, March 25 (Reuters) – A year ago Tesla dismissed the alternative path of electric car battery swapping as “riddled with problems and not suitable for widescale use”. It seems Beijing disagrees.
In fact, China is pushing hard for swappable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) as a supplement to regular vehicle charging, with the government throwing its weight behind several companies advancing the technology.
Four companies – automakers Nio and Geely, battery swap developer Aulton and state-owned oil producer Sinopec (600028.SS) – say they plan to establish a total of 24,000 swap stations across the country by 2025, up from about 1,400 today.
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Battery swapping allows drivers to replace depleted packs quickly with fully charged ones, rather than plugging the vehicle into a charging point. Swapping could help mitigate the growing strains placed on power grids as millions of drivers juice up, yet specialists caution it can only take off in a big way if batteries become standardized industry-wide.
If China is successful in making swapping successful on a large scale, though, the shift could undermine the business models of global brands like Tesla, Volkswagen and General Motors, whose EVs are designed for and powered by their own proprietary batteries and, in Tesla’s case, its own charging network.
Even slight changes of fortune in the country can have significant consequences for these carmakers, whose futures rely on achieving success in the world’s largest car market.
The Chinese swapping plans, announced piecemeal in recent weeks and months but not widely known outside the domestic auto sector, are part of Beijing’s broader plan to make 25% of car sales fully electric by 2025, or more than 6 million passenger vehicles based on current forecasts. Estimates vary widely as to how many will have swappable batteries.
The Ministry of Industry and Information (MIIT), a major supporter of battery swapping, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment about China’s battery swapping strategy
Furthermore, big Chinese players are also looking overseas.
Ningde-based CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Ltd) (300750.SZ), the world’s biggest battery maker, told Reuters it was developing swapping services not only for China, but “to meet the demand of global markets”.
“We are accumulating experience in the Chinese market and at the same time communicating closely with overseas partners. You’ll receive more concrete information soon,” said CATL, which supplies about half of China’s market and more than 30% of the battery cells used in EVs globally.
Nio, among China’s top EV makers, plans to offer U.S. customers battery-swapping services by 2025, the company’s North American head Ganesh Iyer said. It has more than 800 swap stations in China and has just set up its first in Europe.
‘NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN’
Such plans clash with the views expressed by global EV pioneer and leader Tesla in March 2021 when it dismissed the viability of large-scale battery swapping in China. It trialed swapping in the United States years ago and abandoned it.
Industry executives are divided over whether China’s push can overcome the reluctance of European and U.S. automakers to abandon their own battery designs and adopt standardized ones.
“You’ll never ever get carmakers to agree to swappable batteries,” said Andy Palmer, former CEO of Aston Martin and currently head of EV maker Switch Mobility.
John Holland, wireless EV charging company Momentum Dynamics’ commercial director for Europe and the Middle East, said convergence on batteries created a quandary for automakers.
“Then how do you differentiate your product?”
Tesla (TSLA.O), GM (GM.N) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) say they are not exploring battery swapping right now.
A GM spokesperson told Reuters that swappable batteries “are not part of our strategy at present.”
A VW spokesperson said the company originally considered battery swapping to avoid waiting times at charging stations, but that advances in fast charging and the lower costs of non-swappable batteries had led it to shift focus to the latter.
“Nevertheless, our strategists closely monitor and evaluate the competitive environment and all developments in this area,” the German carmaker said.
A Tesla spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Swapping and regular grid-charging both have critics and cheerleaders in a rapidly evolving auto tech arena.
The ease of exchanging batteries in e-scooters has been demonstrated in Asia and Europe, but the challenge is adapting the technology to larger and more complex cars, trucks and vans. See accompanying short story: read more
Concerns about the length of swapping times have also faded, with Nio saying it has automated the process so it takes as little as 90 seconds.
Yet the more familiar grid-charging side has a huge head start, and is bolstered by the fact there’s already billions of dollars’ worth of charging infrastructure built globally.
Automakers are also rolling out EVs with improved batteries that boast longer ranges and shorter charge times, which could make swapping obsolete.
‘BIGGEST GAME IN TOWN’
In China, MIIT released the global auto industry’s first standards for swapping technology last year. They went into effect in November, specifying safety requirements, test methods and inspection rules for EVs with swappable batteries.
The ministry aims to have more than 100,000 battery-swappable vehicles and more than 1,000 swap stations, in total, in 11 cities by 2023; stations in the bigger cities will accommodate both passenger and commercial vehicles, while outlying provincial cities will focus on electric heavy-duty trucks.
Yet a key uncertainty for China’s ambitions is whether enough carmakers adopt standardized batteries, an obstacle that scuttled attempts at battery swapping in the last decade – yet, if overcome, could propel the technology to a viable scale. Read a short history of swappable batteries: read more
There’s a long way to go. Even the swapping option offered to customers by Nio uses the company’s own batteries, thus limiting the service to people driving Nio cars equipped with the company’s proprietary batteries.
CATL, which helped Nio develop swappable batteries, has signed up China’s FAW Motor as the first customer for its new Evogo battery swapping service and expects to extend the service to other Chinese automakers.
CATL wants domestic firms to accept its standard battery design so its stations can service models from multiple brands, according to a person close to the company who declined to be named due to commercial sensitivities, adding that it expected more car brands to adopt its standardized designs.
The company is “the biggest game in town” for EV batteries, said Tu Le, managing director of Sino Auto Insights.
“They can offer a large footprint for swapping stations and a low cost to use those stations,” he said.
Meanwhile, among those Chinese companies building out swap station networks, Shanghai-based Aulton New Energy Automotive Technology has said it is working with automakers to develop standardized batteries, and with Sinopec to install stations at 30,000 Sinopec gas stations in China by 2030.
Aulton didn’t respond to a request for comment.
MAGIC IN AMERICA?
While international carmakers may resist swappable batteries, they are reliant on Chinese sales to fund their costly transition to electric and will have little choice but to adapt to the market there, according to many industry experts.
Furthermore, if Beijing ultimately mandates swappable batteries “and starts saying, ‘okay, the only car you’re allowed to produce is one that meets the standard’ . . . you would have to comply to stay in business” in China, says John Helveston, assistant professor at George Washington University’s School of Engineering.
Some advocates of swapping are looking beyond China.
Battery swapping “is too convenient, too economical and too logical for this not to happen at scale in Europe and the United States,” said Levi Tillemann, head of policy and international business at San Francisco-based battery swap startup Ample.
“It’s a sort of magical thinking to imagine that this is a uniquely Chinese phenomenon,” he added.
Ample, one of just a handful of battery swapping developers outside China, has raised $275 million from investors, including energy companies Shell, Repsol and Eneos, boosting its valuation to $1 billion.
It is running pilot programs with Uber (UBER.N) and car rental startup Sally, and says it is collaborating with several unnamed automakers.
“With a relatively small number of vehicles that are heavily utilized, we can deploy and operate a battery swap system profitably,” Tillemann said. “So fleets are a prime target for us.”
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Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit, Nick Carey in London and Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing; Additional reporting by Victoria Valdersee in Berlin; Editing by Pravin Char
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CAPE TOWN, Feb 3 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics has used the publicly available sequence of Moderna Inc’s (MRNA.O) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to make its own version of the shot, which could be tested in humans before the end of this year, Afrigen’s top executive said on Thursday.
The vaccine candidate would be the first to be made based on a widely used vaccine without the assistance and approval of the developer. It is also the first mRNA vaccine designed, developed and produced at lab scale on the African continent.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last year picked a consortium including Afrigen for a pilot project to give poor and middle-income countries the know-how to make COVID vaccines, after market leaders of the mRNA COVID vaccine, Pfizer (PFE.N), BioNTech (22UAy.DE) and Moderna (MRNA.O), declined a WHO request to share their technology and expertise.
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The WHO and consortium partners hope their technology transfer hub will help overcome inequalities between rich nations and poorer countries in getting access to vaccines. Some 99% of Africa’s vaccines against all diseases are imported and the negligible remainder manufactured locally.
During the pandemic, wealthy countries have hoovered up most of the world’s supplies of vaccines.
Biovac, a partly state-owned South African vaccine producer, will be the first recipient of the technology from the hub. Afrigen has also agreed to help train companies in Argentina and Brazil.
In September, the WHO’s hub in Cape Town decided to go it alone after failing to bring on board Pfizer and Moderna, both of which have argued they need to oversee any technology transfer due to the complexity of the manufacturing process.
Moderna had no immediate comment on Afrigen’s announcement on Thursday.
Moderna’s vaccine was chosen by the WHO due to an abundance of public information and the company’s pledge not to enforce patents during the pandemic. It’s not clear what will happen after the pandemic ends and whether the company will try to enforce them again.
‘CUTTING-EDGE PRODUCTS’
A production scientist works with samples during a visit by representatives of the Medicines Patent Pool, France and other European Union member states, at the Afrigen Biologics’ site in Cape Town, South Africa, February 3, 2022. REUTERS/Shelley Christians
Read More
“If this project shows that Africa can take cutting edge technology and produce cutting-edge products, this will banish this idea that Africa can’t do it and change the global mindset … this can be a game-changer,” Charles Gore, executive director at MPP, told Reuters at Afrigen’s facility, a converted warehouse.
Under pressure to make drugs in lower-income countries, Moderna and BioNTech have announced plans to build mRNA vaccine factories in Africa, but production is still a long way off.
“We haven’t copied Moderna, we’ve developed our own processes because Moderna didn’t give us any technology,” Petro Terblanche, managing director at Afrigen, told Reuters.
“We started with the Moderna sequence because that gives, in our view, the best starting material. But this is not Moderna’s vaccine, it is the Afrigen mRNA hub vaccine,” Terblanche said.
She later took a delegation of EU diplomats on a tour of the state-of-the-art facility where scientists were seen making mRNA in sterile white-walled rooms.
She said it had managed to make, in collaboration with Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand, its first micro-litre laboratory scale batches of COVID mRNA vaccines at the Cape Town facility.
EASIER STORAGE
Terblanche said Afrigen was also working on a next generation mRNA vaccine that didn’t need freezing temperatures for storage, required for the Pfizer and Moderna doses, and which would be better suited to Africa, which is often dealing with high temperatures and poor health facilities and infrastructure.
“We will only make our clinical trial batch probably in six months from now, (meaning) … fit for humans. And the target is November 2022,” Terblanche added.
Online training for other companies to make the shot started with manufacturers in Brazil and Argentina last year. Afrigen expects to get more on board within the next month.
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Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio
Editing by Tim Cocks, Josephine Mason, Mark Potter and Frances Kerry
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A 3D printed Pfizer logo is placed near medicines from the same manufacturer in this illustration taken September 29, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Jan 10 (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said on Monday he was unsure about the need for a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine and that a shot targeting the highly contagious Omicron variant would be ready in March.
The comments contrasted with those made by Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) CEO Stephen Bancel, who said last week people could need another shot in the fall of 2022 as the efficacy of boosters was likely to decline over the next few months.
A huge Omicron-driven spike in COVID-19 cases has forced some nations to look to another booster dose, but early signs suggest repeat vaccination may be a hard sell as beleaguered populations enter their third pandemic year. read more
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“I don’t know if there is a need for a fourth booster, that is something that needs to be tested,” Bourla said on CNBC, ahead of Pfizer’s presentation at the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference.
Work is ongoing on a new version of COVID-19 vaccine that would be effective against Omicron and other variants, he said.
The U.S. drugmaker earlier in the day announced three deals to broaden the use of the messenger RNA technology (mRNA) that its COVID-19 vaccine was based on, including a pact worth as much as $1.35 billion with gene-editing specialist Beam Therapeutics (BEAM.O).
Pfizer has been looking to advance the development of mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics after it led global efforts to develop a COVID-19 shot against the pandemic.
The company will also collaborate with Codex DNA Inc (DNAY.O) to leverage the biotech’s proprietary technology, which could enable more efficient development of mRNA-based vaccines, therapeutics and other biopharma products.
It deal with private biotech Acuitas Therapeutics will focus on the use of the Vancouver-based company’s lipid nanoparticle technology for developing up to ten vaccines or therapeutics.
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Reporting by Bhanvi Satija, Manojna Maddipatla and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Aditya Soni
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
A ground worker walking near a Qantas plane is seen from the international terminal at Sydney Airport, as countries react to the new coronavirus Omicron variant amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Sydney, Australia, November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
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Will buy 20 A321XLRs and 20 A220-300 jets
To replace ageing fleet of 737s and 717s
Selects Pratt & Whitney engines
SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX) said on Thursday it has chosen Airbus SE (AIR.PA) as the preferred supplier to replace its domestic fleet, switching away from Boeing Co (BA.N) in a major win for the European planemaker.
The airline said it had committed to buying 20 Airbus A321XLR planes and 20 A220-300 jets and had taken purchase options on another 94 aircraft, subject to board approval expected by June 2022.
Deliveries would start in mid-2023 and continue over the next 10 years to replace an ageing fleet of 75 Boeing 737s and 20 717s, Qantas said.
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“This is a clear sign of our confidence in the future and we’ve locked in pricing ahead of what is likely to be a big uptick in demand for next-generation narrowbody aircraft,” Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said in a statement.
It caps a successful week for Airbus after Singapore Airlines on Wednesday agreed to launch the A350 freighter and the planemaker looks likely to seize a narrowbody order from KLM as early as Thursday, in what would be the second defection to Airbus in 24 hours. read more
The loss of the contract, first reported by Bloomberg News, is a blow to Boeing’s 737 MAX, interrupting a strong run of sales since the jet was cleared for flight late last year following a safety ban.
Qantas has operated Boeing jets since 1959 and was once the world’s only airline with an all 747 fleet. After the Airbus narrowbody win, the U.S. planemaker will now supply only its long-haul 787 Dreamliners.
“Although we are disappointed, we respect Qantas’ decision and look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership,” Boeing said in a statement.
Joyce said in October that Qantas expected to order more than 100 narrowbody and regional planes, with a preferred supplier to be chosen in December.
The airline’s low-cost arm Jetstar already has an order for more than 100 Airbus A320neo family planes that will be combined with the new deal to give Qantas more flexibility and the need for fewer firm commitments.
Qantas plans to order Pratt & Whitney (RTX.N) engines for the fresh batch of Airbus A320neo family planes, having bought rival CFM International engines from GE (GE.N) and Safran (SAF.PA) for the Jetstar order. Pratt will also supply the engines for the A220.
Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard said the Qantas deal was a sign that Airbus was more focused on building up its narrowbody backlog than raising prices even though it already has a higher market share than Boeing.
“From an Airbus perspective, this should also help convince sceptical suppliers of the business case for moving the A320 family (production) to 75 a month over time,” he said.
Qantas is separately looking at A350 widebodies capable of the world’s longest commercial flights from Sydney to London, with a decision expected next year.
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Reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney, Tim Hepher in Paris and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Peter Cooney and Richard Pullin
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Syringes with needles are seen in front of a displayed stock graph and words “Omicron SARS-CoV-2” in this illustration taken, November 27, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/file photo
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Nov 29 (Reuters) – Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (TMO.N) said on Monday its COVID-19 diagnostic tests can accurately detect the new coronavirus variant Omicron that has prompted several countries to shut their borders.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last week classified the Omicron variant as a SARS-CoV-2 “variant of concern,” saying it may spread more quickly than other forms. read more
Thermo Fisher’s TaqPath COVID-19 assays can report accurate results even in the case where one of the gene targets is impacted by a mutation, the company said in a statement.
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“This assay can be used not only to successfully detect COVID-19 but… it can also be used as a proxy for the [Omicron] variant,” Mark Stevenson, chief operating officer at Thermo Fisher Scientific, said in an interview.
Stevenson said this is the only COVID-19 diagnostic test that is both authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and can be used to indicate if a case is caused by the Omicron variant.
He added that Thermo is prepared to increase its production of tests to meet demand from countries in Africa and elsewhere as they work to track the spread of the new variant.
Other COVID-19 tests, including from Roche Holding AG (ROG.S) and Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N), can also be used to diagnose positive cases of COVID-19 caused by the variant, though only Thermo Fisher has so far confirmed that its test can be used to help identify the variant.
“We have conducted an assessment of the Omicron variant and we’re confident our antigen and PCR tests can” identify positive cases of COVID-19 caused by Omicron, a spokeswoman for Abbott said.
Test samples must still be sent to a lab for sequencing to confirm that the case was caused by Omicron and not another variant with similar features, such as the Alpha variant, Stevenson said.
Omicron, which was first detected in Southern Africa, has now been confirmed in Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, France, South Africa, and the United States’ neighbor to the north, Canada.
The WHO said it was working with technical experts to understand the potential impact of the variant on existing countermeasures against COVID-19, including vaccines.
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Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru and Carl O’Donnell in New York; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Andrea Ricci
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.