Tag Archives: Merck & Co Inc

Business

S&P 500 rises to the highest level in five months Thursday as Meta leads a tech comeback

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The S&P 500 rose to its highest level in five months on Thursday as better-than-expected Meta results further improved sentiment around technology shares, which led the market lower last year.

The broader market index jumped 1.4%, or its best level since August. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced about 3% to its highest level since September. The gains come ahead of a trio of Big Tech results after the bell in Apple, Amazon and Alphabet.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average underperformed, falling 102 points, or about 0.3%. The major index was dragged by Merck shares after the pharmaceutical firm issued a weak outlook in its latest earnings results, despite beating estimates on the top and bottom lines.

Meta surged more than 25% in its best day since 2013 after reporting a fourth-quarter beat on revenue and announcing a $40 billion stock buyback. That helped investors look past losses in the business unit overseeing the metaverse.

Other mega-cap tech stocks rose on the back of those results. Shares of Google-parent Alphabet were up more than 6%, while Amazon jumped more than 6%. Apple shares gained more than 3%.

Tech stocks have outperformed in 2023, buoyed by recent signals of cooling inflation that investors expect could lead to a pause from the Federal Reserve in its aggressive rate hiking campaign. The S&P 500 information technology sector is up more than 14% this year after a decline of more than 28% last year.

“It’s showing that growth is outperforming value as it unwinds some of the pressures that hawkish rhetoric brought to risk markets over the course of 2022,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments.

Wall Street is coming off a winning session after the Fed on Wednesday announced a 0.25 percentage point interest rate hike. While the central bank gave no indication of an upcoming pause in rate hikes, investors were encouraged by the smaller increase and Chair Jerome Powell’s comments recognizing easing inflation.

Traders are awaiting the latest jobs report Friday that will give further insight into the labor market. Any signs of cooling could suggest to investors that further rate hikes are off the table.

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Health

BioNTech says it will start cancer vaccine trials in the UK from September

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A NHS vaccinator administers the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 booster jab to a woman, at a vaccination centre in London. BioNTech is launching a large-scale trial of mRNA therapies to treat cancer and other diseases in the U.K.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

LONDON — The U.K. government on Friday announced a partnership with German firm BioNTech to test potential vaccines for cancer and other diseases, as campaigners warned any breakthrough must remain affordable and accessible.

Cancer patients in England will get early access to trials involving personalized mRNA therapies, including cancer vaccines, which aim to spur the immune system to attack harmful cells.

They will be administered to early and late-stage patients and target both active cancer cells and preventing their return.

BioNTech will set up new research and development centers in the U.K., with a lab in Cambridge and headquarters in London, and aim to deliver 10,000 therapies to patients from September 2023 until the end of the decade.

The company developed one of the most widely-distributed Covid-19 vaccines alongside U.S. pharma firm Pfizer. Its CEO, Ugur Sahin, said it had learned lessons from the coronavirus pandemic about collaboration between the British National Health Service, academics, regulators and the private sector in the development of drugs that it was applying now.

“Our goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies we have been researching for over 20 years,” he said in a statement. “The collaboration will cover various cancer types and infectious diseases affecting collectively hundreds of millions of people worldwide.”

Peter Johnson, Britain’s National Clinical Director for Cancer, said mRNA technology had the potential to transform approaches to a number of illnesses.

The government confirmed to CNBC the announcement represented a private investment into the U.K., but would be supported by a new Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad funded by the NHS.

Other mRNA cancer vaccines, including a collaboration between U.S. firms Moderna and Merck, are also being trialed.

Tim Bierley, a campaigner at U.K.-based group Global Justice Now, said big pharmaceutical companies had “terrible record of price gouging on new medicines, even where public money has played a key role in bringing them to the market.”

“The government has a moral duty to push BioNtech to set the price of this potentially life-saving vaccine so it is accessible to all,” he said.

CNBC Health & Science

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Mohga Kamal-Yanni, policy co-lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance — a global group of health organizations, economists and activists — said news of the trial was good, but that any outcome “belongs to the people” due to the amount of public funding involved.

“The U.K. government must say how it will ensure any new medicine, vaccine or technology will be made available and affordable to developing countries,” Kamal-Yanni said.

A government spokesperson told CNBC the research was at too early a stage to discuss pricing and distribution, but pointed to its record in distributing free Covid-19 vaccines.

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Health

BioNTech says it will start cancer vaccine trials in the UK from September

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A NHS vaccinator administers the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 booster jab to a woman, at a vaccination centre in London. BioNTech is launching a large-scale trial of mRNA therapies to treat cancer and other diseases in the U.K.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

LONDON — The U.K. government on Friday announced a partnership with German firm BioNTech to test potential vaccines for cancer and other diseases, as campaigners warned any breakthrough must remain affordable and accessible.

Cancer patients in England will get early access to trials involving personalized mRNA therapies, including cancer vaccines, which aim to spur the immune system to attack harmful cells.

They will be administered to early and late-stage patients and target both active cancer cells and preventing their return.

BioNTech will set up new research and development centers in the U.K., with a lab in Cambridge and headquarters in London, and aim to deliver 10,000 therapies to patients from September 2023 until the end of the decade.

The company developed one of the most widely-distributed Covid-19 vaccines alongside U.S. pharma firm Pfizer. Its CEO, Ugur Sahin, said it had learned lessons from the coronavirus pandemic about collaboration between the British National Health Service, academics, regulators and the private sector in the development of drugs that it was applying now.

“Our goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies we have been researching for over 20 years,” he said in a statement. “The collaboration will cover various cancer types and infectious diseases affecting collectively hundreds of millions of people worldwide.”

Peter Johnson, Britain’s National Clinical Director for Cancer, said mRNA technology had the potential to transform approaches to a number of illnesses.

The government confirmed to CNBC the announcement represented a private investment into the U.K., but would be supported by a new Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad funded by the NHS.

Other mRNA cancer vaccines, including a collaboration between U.S. firms Moderna and Merck, are also being trialed.

Tim Bierley, a campaigner at U.K.-based group Global Justice Now, said big pharmaceutical companies had “terrible record of price gouging on new medicines, even where public money has played a key role in bringing them to the market.”

“The government has a moral duty to push BioNtech to set the price of this potentially life-saving vaccine so it is accessible to all,” he said.

CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global health coverage:

Mohga Kamal-Yanni, policy co-lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance — a global group of health organizations, economists and activists — said news of the trial was good, but that any outcome “belongs to the people” due to the amount of public funding involved.

“The U.K. government must say how it will ensure any new medicine, vaccine or technology will be made available and affordable to developing countries,” Kamal-Yanni said.

A government spokesperson told CNBC the research was at too early a stage to discuss pricing and distribution, but pointed to its record in distributing free Covid-19 vaccines.

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Business

The tech tyranny is over. Here are the stocks driving this market

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A worker washes a Caterpillar crawler dozer at Ideal Tractor in West Sacramento, California, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Never have the bulls been more bashful and timid. Never have the bears been so ascendant and so wrong. Oh sure, the bears nailed Meta Platforms (META) and hit Microsoft (MSFT) out of the park. Amazon (AMZN) flopped. So did Alphabet (GOOGL).

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Business

Netflix, Las Vegas Sands and more

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The Netflix logo is seen on their office in Hollywood, California.

Lucy Nicholson | Reuters

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

Netflix — Shares of the streaming company popped 4.4% a day after Netflix posted a smaller-than-expected subscriber loss in the recent quarter. Netflix reported a beat on earnings but a miss on revenue.

Casino stocks — Shares of Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts rose 3.3% and 2.3%, respectively. The action followed a report from Reuters that Macau will reopen casinos on Saturday as it gradually eases back on Covid restrictions.

Bath & Body Works — Bath & Body Works’ shares slipped more than 1% after the personal care retailer trimmed its guidance for the second quarter and full year. The company cited macroeconomic issues among the reason for the cut.

Baker Hughes — Shares plunged more than 8% after the oilfield services company reported disappointing second-quarter earnings. Baker Hughes reported earnings of 11 cents per share, which is half of what analysts were expecting, according to consensus estimates from Refinitiv.

Biogen —  Shares of the biopharmaceutical company fell more than 5% despite the company reporting a beat on quarterly earnings and revenue. Biogen said it faces increasing generic and biosimilar competition for its Tecfidera and Rituxan drugs.

Merck — Merck shares slipped 2.7% after the company’s cancer therapy drug did not meet its goal in a late-stage trial in patients with head and neck cancer.

Nasdaq — Shares of the exchange operator jumped 5.2% on the back of an earnings beat on the top and bottom lines. Nasdaq reported earnings of $2.07 per share on revenue of $893 million.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services — Shares of J.B. Hunt dipped about 1.7% despite a stronger-than-expected report for the recent quarter. The company’s chief operating officer said that the labor and equipment markets remain “challenging.” The transportation company reported $2.42 in earnings per share on $3.84 billion of revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had penciled in $2.35 in earnings per share on $3.60 billion of revenue.

Elevance Health — Elevance shares tumbled more than 8% despite a beat on earnings and revenue in the recent quarter. The company, formerly known as Anthem, also raised its full-year guidance.

— CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel, Sarah Min and Jesse Pound contributed reporting

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Business

Dow futures fall slightly after the blue-chip average notches third winning week in a row

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 15, 2021 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Stock futures edged lower in overnight trading Sunday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched its third positive week in a row at a record high.

Dow futures dipped 50 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both fell about 0.1%.

Wall Street is coming off a winning week on the back of strong corporate earnings. The blue-chip Dow gained more than 1% last week and closed Friday at a record. The S&P 500 rallied 1.7% last week, also posting its third straight positive week and hitting an all-time high Friday.

Of the 117 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date, 84% posted numbers that beat expectations, according to Refinitiv. S&P 500 companies are expected to grow profit by about 35% in the third quarter.

“Rising tide of earnings is lifting all the boats and adding fuel to the bull market fire,” said Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network. “The 3Q earnings season is off to a strong start despite concerns about supply bottlenecks and labor shortages.”

Some of the biggest technology companies are slated to report earnings this week, including Facebook, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple. A third of the Dow companies also is set to release quarterly results this week, including Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Boeing and McDonald’s.

Major averages have all registered solid gains for October. The Dow and the S&P 500 are both up more than 5%, while the Nasdaq Composite has climbed 4.4% month to date.

Leading the October rally in the broader market has been the energy sector, which is up 11% this month. Industrials, real estate, materials and financials have all popped at least 7% over the same period.

“Transports, consumer discretionary, and large-cap tech have led the market higher these past two weeks, signaling that growth worries around supply chain constraints are beginning to fade,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest.

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Business

Dr. Scott Gottlieb says Merck’s Covid pill ‘can make a real difference’

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Dr. Scott Gottlieb explained why he’s optimistic about Merck’s Covid antiviral pill after the drugmaker asked the Food and Drug Administration Monday to authorize its pill to treat people with mild to moderate Covid symptoms. 

“The topline data from this Merck study was probably the best treatment effect we’ve seen from orally available antiviral drug in the treatment of any respiratory pathogen, so this can make a real difference,” said the former FDA chief in the Trump administration. 

If the agency signs off on the drug, it will be the first pill shown to work against Covid-19 and Americans could get it by the end of the year. 

Gottlieb told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” Merck’s pill is part of an “overall, significant improvement in our therapeutic toolbox against this virus, not just with vaccines and therapeutics, but also with more accessible diagnostic tests.”

Host Shepard Smith also asked Gottlieb about masking rules across the country. Gottlieb told Smith that he thinks decisions will be made at a local level and noted the varying prevalence of the delta variant across the U.S. 

“We’ve seen sharp declines in the south, where delta’s largely run its course, so cases are coming down very sharply in populous states like Texas and Florida, but you’re seeing pretty dense epidemics in the midwest and plain states, and we still don’t know how the northeast and the northern states are going to fare,” Gottlieb said. 

He predicted that a Covid-19 delta wave could hit northern U.S. states, despite higher vaccination rates and higher prior infection rates. 

“I still think that there’s a delta wave that’s going to sweep across the northern states, as well in the northeast, it’s not going to be nearly as dense as what you saw in the south, but we still are probably in store for more spread,” Gottlieb said.

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech company Aetion Inc. and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

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Business

5 things to know before the stock market opens Monday, Oct. 11

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Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Wall Street set to start week lower as oil hits 7-year highs

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 04, 2021 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

2. Oil jumps to over $82 per barrel as global energy crisis persists

U.S. oil prices, measured by West Texas Intermediate crude, surged 3.5% on Monday to more than $82 per barrel after rising nearly 4.6% last week. Gasoline prices at the pump were also at seven-year highs, around $3.27 per gallon, according to AAA. Crude prices extended multiweek gains as an energy crisis gripping major global economies showed no sign of easing. The energy crunch has been due to a pickup in business activity and restrained supplies from international producers. However, U.S. drillers were taking advantage of the increases, adding five new oil rigs last week, the fifth straight weekly increase.

3. Major banks’ earnings lead third-quarter reporting this week

A combination file photo shows Wells Fargo, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

Reuters

4. Yellen warns on debt ceiling as House gets set to vote on deal

A view of the U.S. Capitol during morning rush hour on Wednesday morning October 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday there’s an “enormous amount at stake” after the Senate approved only a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, again setting up the potential for default in December if lawmakers are unable to make another deal. “A failure to raise the debt ceiling would probably cause a recession,” Yellen reiterated on the ABC program “This Week.” The House, which had been scheduled to be out this week, is set to return Tuesday to pass the measure. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell sent a warning Friday to President Joe Biden, saying Republicans “will not provide such assistance again.”

5. Southwest cancels about 2,150 flights, blaming weather and staffing

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is pictured in front of United Airlines planes, including Boeing 737 MAX 9 models, at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, March 18, 2019.

Loren Elliott | Reuters

Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,800 flights this weekend, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of customers and stranding flight crews. The carrier blamed the meltdown on a combination of bad weather as well as shortages in air traffic controllers and its own staff. Other airlines canceled relatively few flights. Southwest, which did not comment on the disparity, has canceled 349 flights, 9% of its schedule, on Monday, according FlightAware. On Saturday, union officials said Southwest’s decision this week to join its rivals in requiring Covid vaccines for workers is contributing to distractions for aviators.

— Reuters and NBC News contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest on the pandemic with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.

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Business

Merck asks FDA to authorize antiviral for emergency use

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The Merck logo at the Merck campus in Rahway, New Jersey.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Merck said Monday it has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of its experimental antiviral pill to treat mild to moderate Covid-19 in adults.

The U.S. drugmaker’s request came after phase three clinical trial data released on Oct. 1 showed that the medication – known as molnupiravir – reduced the chances that patients newly diagnosed with Covid would be hospitalized by about 50%.

The drug works by inhibiting the replication of the virus inside the body. Unlike Gilead Sciences’ intravenous drug remdesivir, Merck’s molnupiravir can be taken by mouth. If approved by U.S. regulators, it would be the first pill to treat Covid, a potentially game-changing advancement in the fight against the virus, which is killing an average of more than 1,600 Americans per day.

“The extraordinary impact of this pandemic demands that we move with unprecedented
urgency, and that is what our teams have done by submitting this application for molnupiravir to the FDA within 10 days of receiving the data,” Merck CEO Robert Davis said in a press release.

The pill could be available to Americans by late this year. Merck, which developed the drug with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said it is actively working with regulatory agencies worldwide to submit applications for emergency use or authorization “in the coming months.”

The company agreed earlier this year to supply the U.S. with around 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir if it receives emergency use authorization or full approval from the FDA. According to The New York Times, a five-day course of the medication will cost the federal government about $700 per patient, a third of the current cost of monoclonal antibodies.

While vaccinations remain the best form of protection against the virus, U.S. officials and health experts hope a pill like Merck’s will keep the disease from progressing in those who do get infected and prevent trips to the hospital.

Pills like Merck’s are considered a sort of “holy grail” for treatments, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, said at a press conference last week.

Other drugmakers are also working on antiviral pills. One created by Pfizer, which developed the first authorized Covid vaccine in the U.S. with BioNTech, could be available by the end of this year, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC in April.

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Business

Dr. Scott Gottlieb says antiviral pills, kids’ vaccines key to ending pandemic phase

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Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Wednesday he expects the coronavirus’ “pandemic phase” to be over in the U.S. once vaccines become available for children and Merck’s antiviral pill is cleared by regulators.

The other crucial development is for the highly transmissible Covid delta variant to have “moved through the country,” which is likely conclude around Thanksgiving, Gottlieb told CNBC’s David Faber in a Squawk on the Street” interview from 13D Monitor’s Active-Passive Investor Summit in New York City.

“On the back end of that, we’re going to have, hopefully, a vaccine available for children and, at some point before the end of the year, we probably will have the orally available drug from Merck if things go well and that undergoes a favorable review,” said Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who now serves on the board of Covid vaccine maker Pfizer, which is also working on an antiviral pill.

“I think those two things are going to be the bookend on the pandemic phase of this virus and we’re going to be entering the more endemic phase, when this becomes an omnipresent risk but don’t represent the extreme risk that it represents right now,” Gottlieb said.

Seasonal flu is one example of an endemic virus.

Gottlieb has previously told CNBC the U.S. is unlikely to ever fully eradicate Covid like other diseases such as polio and smallpox.

An FDA advisory panel is set to meet Oct. 26 to discuss whether use of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine should be expanded to kids ages 5 to 11. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech submitted their initial trial data focused on that age cohort to the regulatory agency last week. The FDA has already cleared the companies’ vaccine for individuals ages 12 and up, including full approval for those ages 16 and older.

On Friday, Merck said its antiviral pill, developed alongside Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by roughly 50% in trial participants who had mild to moderate cases of Covid. The companies said they planned to file for emergency use authorization with the FDA “as soon as possible.”

Gottlieb said he believes children becoming eligible for the vaccine and vaccinated people having the option to take an antiviral pill should they have a breakthrough infection will be “two very important psychological events,” particularly as it relates to resuming activities such as going back to the office.

“A lot of people who are vaccinated who are worried about going back into the office recognize the risk to them is low. They’re vaccinated. They’re unlikely to have a very bad outcome from Covid,” said Gottlieb, who led the FDA from 2017 to 2019 in the Trump administration. “What they’re worried about is bringing a mild or asymptomatic infection back into their home where they might have young kids or an older relative.”

Currently, 76% of eligible Americans — those ages 12 and up — have received at least one Covid vaccine dose, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 66% are fully vaccinated.

The overall number of new daily coronavirus infections in the U.S. has been declining in recent days, after the delta variant sparked a fresh surge of cases that hit parts of the country at different times. It began this summer, first ripping through the American South before spreading to more Western and Midwestern states.

The seven-day average of daily new U.S. Covid cases is roughly 103,000, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. That’s down 11% compared with one week ago, but it remains considerably above where infection levels stood in early summer. In June, the weekly average of new cases per day was below 15,000.

— CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech company Aetion and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings‘ and Royal Caribbean‘s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

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