Tag Archives: Merck

Business

Merck, Lordstown Motors, Coty, Zoom and others

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Merck (MRK) – Merck shares surged 7.5% in the premarket after it announced that its experimental Covid-19 pill cut the risk of death and hospitalization by 50% in a late-stage study. Merck plans to file for emergency use authorization as soon as possible.

Lordstown Motors (RIDE) – Lordstown struck a deal to sell its Ohio plant to Taiwan’s Foxconn for $230 million, with Foxconn taking over the manufacturing of Lordstown’s full-sized electric pickup truck. It was reported earlier this week that a deal between the two sides was near. Lordstown rallied 6.3% in premarket trading.

Coty (COTY) – The cosmetics company’s stock gained 2% in the premarket as it announced a deal to sell another 9% stake in its Wella beauty business to private equity firm KKR (KKR). In return, KKR will redeem about half its remaining convertible preferred shares in Wella, reducing Coty’s stake to about 30.6%. Coty had sold a 60% stake in Wella to KKR last December.

Zoom Video Communications (ZM) – Zoom and Five9 (FIVN) have terminated a nearly $15 billion deal by mutual consent. Zoom had struck a deal to buy the contact center operator, but it was rejected by Five9 shareholders. The two sides will continue a partnership that had been in place prior to the proposed transaction. Zoom jumped 4% in the premarket while Five9 slid 1.4%.

Walt Disney (DIS) – Disney and Scarlett Johansson have settled a lawsuit involving the “Black Widow” movie. Johansson had sued Disney over the release of the movie on the Disney+ streaming service at the same time it was debuting in theaters. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.

Wells Fargo (WFC) – Wells Fargo will have to face a shareholder fraud lawsuit involving its attempt to rebound from years of scandals. A judge rejected the bank’s moved to have the suit dismissed, saying it was plausible that statements by various Wells Fargo officials about the recovery were false or misleading.

Exxon Mobil (XOM) – Exxon Mobil said in an SEC filing that higher oil and gas prices could boost third-quarter earnings by as much as $1.5 billion. Exxon profits have been improving amid the rising prices as well as cost cuts by the energy giant.

Nio (NIO) – Nio reported deliveries of 10,628 vehicles in September, a 126% increase over a year ago for the China-based electric vehicle maker. Nio added 1.8% in the premarket.

International Flavors (IFF) – The maker of food flavoring and cosmetic ingredients said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andreas Fibig plans to retire, although he’ll remain at the helm of the company until a successor is found. Shares added 2.5% in premarket action.

Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) – Jefferies reported a quarterly profit of $1.50 per share, beating the 99-cent consensus estimate, with the financial services company’s revenue also topping Wall Street forecasts. Jefferies saw its results boosted by a strong performance in its investment banking business. Jefferies gained 1.4% in the premarket.

MGM Resorts (MGM) – Susquehanna Financial downgraded MGM to “negative” from “neutral,” saying the DraftKings (DKNG) bid for British gambling company Entain weakens MGM’s prospects in the digital gaming and betting market.

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US

US coronavirus: Merck says pill cuts risk of Covid-19 hospitalization, death in half as many states see vaccinations increase

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It would become the first oral antiviral for Covid-19 if approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.

“At the interim analysis, molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%,” Merck said in a news release. “7.3% of patients who received molnupiravir were either hospitalized or died through Day 29 following randomization (28/385), compared with 14.1% of placebo treated patients (53,377). Through Day 29, no deaths were reported in patients who received molnupiravir, as compared to 8 deaths in patients who received placebo.”

One antiviral drug has been approved to treat Covid. Remdesivir is given intravenously to sick patients in the hospital. It is not meant for early, widespread use.

Some states are seeing increased vaccinations

Meanwhile, as more states and health care systems move toward mandatory inoculations for certain workers, officials are hoping the incentive of employment will eliminate vaccine hesitancy — while one governor is arranging contingency scenarios.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has instructed the National Guard to prepare in case there are staffing shortages when a vaccine mandate and testing requirement goes into effect at the end of Monday, he said. State employees must provide proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing requirements by the deadline, and those who don’t comply will be placed on unpaid leave.

As of Thursday, more than 63% — 20,000 employees — were fully vaccinated while 12% of employees have started weekly testing, Lamont said. More than 8,000 non-compliant employees remain, yet some 2,000 have updated their status in the last two days.

“We have provided most state employees with the option to get tested weekly instead of getting vaccinated, providing more flexibility than our neighboring states. We have also provided our employees with a compliance grace period. There is no reason all our employees should not be in compliance,” Lamont said.

Connecticut is just one of several states that face pushback over mandating vaccinations for critical workers, a move that has been highlighted by health experts as necessary to protect those at a higher risk for Covid-19, but which has been met with stiff resistance from a vocal minority who wish to remain both unvaccinated and in their current roles.

In Rhode Island, the department of health announced in August that “all employees, interns, and volunteers in RIDOH-licensed healthcare facilities” would be required to get their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by Friday.

Care New England, one of the largest hospital systems in the state, reported Thursday that over 95% of its healthcare workforce has been vaccinated. Staff vaccination “continues to climb by the day and the hour,” according to the system’s CEO James E. Fanale.

The deadline has already passed in other states. California’s 2 million health care workers needed to be vaccinated by Thursday or risk losing their jobs, with exemptions available for religious beliefs or qualifying medical reasons.

Many hospitals that CNN surveyed had high vaccination rates among employees, averaging over 90% at some of the state’s largest healthcare systems.

In New York, none of the health care facilities shut down as a result of vaccine mandates for workers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday. Earlier this week, it was reported that 92% of nursing home staff, 89% of adult care facilities staff, and 92% of hospital staff have received at least one dose statewide.

“You will see that number go higher quickly, because what we’re finding is, you know, as more people are furloughed or suspended, that that number is going to go up,” Hochul said.

Some area hospitals had reported suspending employees without pay or temporarily halting elective inpatient procedures due to shortages.

Vaccines for ages 5-11 may be available soon, but poll finds hesitancy remains

As the Delta variant continues to spread, health care employees are far from the only who deal with everyday risks on the job. The resumption of in-person learning in schools has already been complicated by Covid-19 outbreaks and the quarantining of exposed students and staff.

Yet despite evidence that vaccinations are lowering Covid-19 infections and severity among eligible age groups, there is still hesitancy among parents and guardians about inoculating children ages 5 to 11, according to a new survey.

Only around one-third of parents of 5- to 11-year-olds say that they will vaccinate their child as soon as a vaccine becomes available for that age group, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation Vaccine Monitor results published Thursday. A similar percentage, 32%, say that they will wait and see how the vaccine is working, and 24% say that they definitely won’t get their 5- to 11-year-olds vaccinated.

According to the report, 58% of parents said that K-12 schools should require masks in school for all students and staff, 4% said masks should be required only for unvaccinated students and staff, and 35% said there should be no mask requirements.

There is a split between vaccinated and unvaccinated parents polled, KFF found, with 73% of vaccinated parents saying schools should require masks for all students and 63% of unvaccinated parents saying there should be no mask requirements.

The bulk of interviews, conducted September 13 to 22 from a sample of more than 1,500 adults, were before Pfizer announced that clinical trials showed their Covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated an immune response in this age group.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is approved for people age 16 and older and has an emergency use authorization for people ages 12 to 15. On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced they submitted data on children ages 5 to 11 to the FDA for initial review but are not yet seeking emergency use authorization.

A formal submission to request EUA for the vaccine is expected to follow in the coming weeks, the companies said in a statement.

Among those already eligible for vaccines, the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nearly 200 million US adults have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. Nearly 67% of US adults are fully vaccinated.

Death rates in nonmetropolitan areas are higher, study finds

Meanwhile, researchers are looking at the effects the pandemic is having on different parts of the nation.

Deaths from Covid-19 in nonmetropolitan areas are now occurring at more than twice the rate of deaths from Covid-19 in metropolitan areas, according to an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data from the University of Iowa’s Center for Health Policy Analysis.

After analyzing data on average Covid-19 death rates at the county level, it was determined that in the two weeks ending September 15, 2021, nonmetropolitan areas had an average of 0.85 Covid-19 deaths for every 100,000 residents. Metropolitan areas had an average half that — 0.41 Covid-19 deaths for every 100,000 residents.

Deaths in nonmetropolitan areas have outpaced those in metropolitan areas consistently since the beginning of the study in April 2020, and the numbers from September 15 are the fourth time overall that the nonmetropolitan death rate has been at least double the metropolitan death rate. However, the nonmetropolitan rate had not been double that of metropolitan areas since December 1, 2020.

The researchers used US Department of Agriculture methodology to differentiate between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Counties were logged as metropolitan if they had an urban area with 50,000 or more people or were an outlying county with strong economic ties to an urban center. All other counties in the study were coded as nonmetropolitan.

CNN’s Virginia Langmaid, Naomi Thomas, Melanie Schuman, Augie Martin, Rosalina Nieves, Lauren Mascarenhas, Elizabeth Joseph, Melissa Alonso, Jamie Gumbrecht and Ben Tinker contributed to this report.

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Science

History of Rhinos Revealed in DNA Study

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Artist’s interpretation of woolly rhinos.
Image: Beth Zaiken

New research details the evolutionary history of rhinoceroses, exposing a surprising lack of genetic diversity throughout their long history. Given that all living species of rhinos are currently endangered and facing their own genetic bottlenecks, the new research could improve conservation efforts.

At a scientific meeting held a few years ago in Copenhagen, paleogeneticist Love Dalén from the Swedish Museum of Natural History met with Tom Gilbert, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Copenhagen. They discussed a possible scientific collaboration, wherein the topic of rhinos came up, as each was independently studying these horned mammals. This set the ball in motion, leading to a project in which Dalén and Gilbert, along with experts from around the world, used both ancient and modern genomes to study the evolutionary history of the rhinoceros family.

A collaboration made sense, given that scientists have struggled to reconstruct the rhino family tree. Biologist Charles Darwin even took a stab at it, writing an essay on the subject 17 years before his seminal work, On the Origin of Species, published in 1859.

Studying rhino history has been a challenge because all rhinos currently in existence are highly endangered and the focus of conservation efforts. What’s more, the vast majority of rhinos went extinct prior to the Pleistocene epoch, which began some 2.58 million years ago. The rhino family emerged between 55 million and 60 million years ago, having diverged from tapirs. Rhinos would go on to experience tremendous success, spawning more than 100 different species and spreading across Africa, Eurasia, and North and Central America.

Some rhinos got really big, like the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis). Weighing upwards of 4,500 pounds (2,000 kg), these rhinos had a shaggy coat, a gigantic hump, and a formidable 5-foot (1.5-meter) horn. By the time the Pleistocene ended around 11,500 years ago, however, only nine rhino species remained on Earth.

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To better understand rhinos in terms of their history and distant ancestors, the team charted the genetic relationships of five living rhino species to three species of rhino that went extinct just prior to the end of the last ice age: the Siberian unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum), Merck’s rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis), and the aforementioned woolly rhino. Black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum), Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis), and Javan rhinos (R. sondaicus), were the living species included in the study.

A white rhino.
Image: Yoshan Moodley

The ensuing analysis showed that an ancestral split happened 16 million years ago during the early Miocene, creating two distinct rhino lineages, one in Africa and one in Eurasia. This split was due to their geographical spread and not the result of an emerging physical difference, namely the appearance of one-horned and two-horned rhinos.

The other key finding is that rhinos have a long history of low genetic diversity. A lack of genetic diversity is a sign of small populations, and it can lead to all sorts of genetic diseases as the result of deleterious mutations. This happened to woolly mammoths in their final days.

“All eight species generally displayed either a continual but slow decrease in population size over the last 2 million years, or continuously small population sizes over extended time periods,” Mick Westbury, a co-author of the study and a researcher at the University of Copenhagen, explained in an emailed press release.

As this research suggests, ancient rhinos somehow managed to cope with or adapt to continuously small populations. Scientists have a cool term to describe the process that makes this possible: the purging of mutational load.

“Species aren’t adapted to low diversity, but in some ways one could say that they can adapt to being at small population size,” wrote Dalén in an email. “What theory predicts is that natural selection can remove deleterious mutations from the population, even when the population size becomes small. This is not an adaptation to low diversity, but should rather in my view be seen as an adaptation to inbreeding.”

So low genetic diversity, despite being an indelible part of rhino history, did not led to health declines as the result of inbreeding and harmful mutations. Interestingly, rhinos aren’t alone in this regard. The cat family (Felidae) has even lower genetic diversity, as Dalén explained. He said this is not too surprising, “since carnivores typically have lower diversity than herbivores, since their population sizes generally are smaller.”

But while “low genetic diversity is a long-term feature” of the rhino family, it has “been particularly exacerbated recently,” likely because humans have pushed these creatures toward extinction, as the biologists write in their study, published today in Cell.

Indeed, while the historic purging of mutational load may have prevented genetic problems from creeping in, the exceedingly low population sizes of modern rhinos are a different story. As the paper points out, the average genetic diversity observed in four modern-day rhino genomes were measured at about half of what was seen in the ancient genomes (the Javan rhino was included as a historical species because its DNA came from an individual who lived 200 years ago—prior to human influences on rhino populations).

Rhinos, as the study suggests, successfully purged unhealthy mutations over the past 100 years, but present-day rhinos are now having to contend with lower levels of genetic variation and higher rates of inbreeding compared to their ancestors. This is the result of overhunting and habitat destruction, and it’s placing these species at risk of extinction.

Thankfully, the new paper can inform current conservation efforts. Low genetic diversity, as the research suggests, is not necessarily indicative of rhinos being in trouble. Rather, conservationists should focus on increasing their population size, as opposed to boosting their individual genetic diversity. In practice, “this means that the main conservation focus should be on avoiding illegal poaching and destruction of the rhinos’ favoured habitat,” Dalén said, and the approach should vary depending on the species. African rhinos, for example, are threatened by illegal poaching, whereas Sumatran rhinos are threatened by the destruction of their preferred habitat, he explained.

“Having said that, I don’t think we can ignore the threat from low genetic diversity and inbreeding either,” Dalén added. “All rhinos still have harmful mutations in their genomes, even if perhaps less so than in ancient times. And given the small population sizes most rhinos have at the moment, it is very likely that inbreeding will keep increasing in the future. If that happens, we will see an increase in genetic diseases.”

Dalén’s advice to conservation managers is to do what they can to prevent poaching and protect the rhinos’ remaining habitat, “if there is to be a chance that future generations will get to see these animals.”

More: Unprecedented study of a woolly mammoth shows where it roamed from birth to death.

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Business

Comcast, Merck, Tempur Sealy, Yum and others

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Comcast (CMCSA) – Comcast rose 1.9% in the premarket after reporting adjusted quarterly earnings of 84 cents per share, beating the consensus estimate of 67 cents. The NBCUniversal parent also reported better-than-expected revenue, helped by a rebound in ad sales and a reopening of theme parks.

Merck (MRK) – The drug maker matched estimates with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.31 per share, with revenue beating Street forecasts. Sales of cancer drug Keytruda jumped 23%, in line with expectations. Merck fell 1.8% in premarket trading.

Tempur Sealy (TPX) – The mattress maker earned an adjusted 79 cents per share for its latest quarter, 22 cents above estimates, with revenue topping forecasts as well. Tempur Sealy also raised its full-year outlook, and the stock jumped 4.9% in premarket action.

Yum Brands (YUM) – The parent of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut came in 20 cents ahead of estimates with adjusted quarterly earnings of 1.16 per share, and revenue also beating analyst projections. Results got a boost from restaurant reopenings as well as continued strong demand in online orders. Yum rallied 2.3% in premarket trading.

Molson Coors (TAP) – Molson Coors added 1.8% in the premarket after its adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.58 per share beat the consensus estimate of $1.34. The beer brewer’s revenue was above Wall Street forecasts as well.

Northrup Grumman (NOC) – The defense contractor reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $6.42 per share, beating the $5.84 consensus estimate, with revenue also topping estimates. The company was helped by continued strength in its satellite and missile-making units, and the stock rose 1.1% in premarket trading.

Facebook (FB) – Facebook shares fell 3.7% in premarket trading after the company said revenue growth will slow during the second half of the year as a change in Apple’s (AAPL) privacy policies will hurt Facebook’s ability to target ads. For the second quarter, Facebook reported earnings of $3.61 per share compared to a consensus estimate of $3.03, with revenue also topping Wall Street forecasts.

Ford (F) – Ford surprised analysts with an adjusted quarterly profit of 13 cents per share. The automaker had been expected to report a second-quarter loss of 3 cents per share, due in large part to a chip shortage crimping production. However, Ford said it expected that situation to improve in the second half, and it raised its full-year outlook. Ford jumped 4% in the premarket.

PayPal (PYPL) – PayPal beat estimates by 3 cents with adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.15 per share, with the payment service’s revenue essentially in line with analyst projections. However, shares came under pressure after it gave a lower-than-expected outlook, as former PayPal parent eBay (EBAY) continues its transition to its own payment platform. The stock slid 5.6% in premarket trading.

Qualcomm (QCOM) – Qualcomm reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.92 per share, beating the $1.68 consensus estimate, with the chip maker’s revenue also exceeding Street forecasts. Qualcomm also gave an upbeat forecast as it expects supply chain disruptions to ease. Qualcomm added 3.2% in the premarket.

Uber Technologies (UBER) – Uber dropped 5.1% in premarket trading after sources told CNBC that Japanese investment giant Softbank is selling a chunk of its stake in Uber to cover losses related to its investment in another ride-hailing company, Didi Global (DIDI). Didi itself is in the news, denying an earlier Wall Street Journal report that it was considering going private. Didi had been up well over 30% in the premarket before that denial, before trimming that still-large gain to 17.5%.

iRobot (IRBT) – iRobot shares plunged 11.5% in premarket trading after it reported a second-quarter loss and cut its full-year outlook. The maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner said the worldwide chip shortage would continue to hurt its ability to fulfill orders during the second half of the year.

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Business

U.S. Government Scientists Skeptical of One-Shot Regimen for Pfizer, Moderna Covid Vaccines

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WASHINGTON—U.S. government scientists are pushing back against calls for one-dose regimens for two Covid-19 vaccines designed to be administered with two shots, saying there isn’t enough evidence that a single dose provides long-term protection.

“It is essential that these vaccines be used as authorized by FDA in order to prevent Covid-19 and related hospitalizations and death,” Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s center that oversees vaccines, told The Wall Street Journal.

The FDA late last year approved a two-dose regimen for vaccines from

Moderna Inc.

and from a partnership of

Pfizer Inc.

and

BioNTech

SE. More recently it approved use of a one-dose regimen for a vaccine from

Johnson & Johnson.

Some scientists and lawmakers have called for shifting to a one-dose regimen for all the vaccines, citing preliminary studies showing one shot can be effective. They contend shifting to one shot will allow the U.S. to accelerate the pace of vaccinations.

In a March 2 letter to acting Health and Human Services Secretary

Norris Cochran,

seven physician members of Congress urged the department “to consider issuing a revised emergency use authorization as soon as possible” that might lead to single-dose use of the

Pfizer

and Moderna vaccines.

“Last week, the U.S. passed a sobering milestone of over 500,000 deaths related to COVID-19,” said the letter, signed by lawmakers including

Rep. Andy Harris

(R, Md.) and

Rep. Gregory F. Murphy,

(R., N.C.). “These are staggering statistics, and anything we can do to help prevent further tragedy—to further protect the public health and safety of the American people—should be fully employed.”

In interviews, senior government scientists at the FDA and the National Institutes of Health said such a shift isn’t warranted, saying the evidence used to approve the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines was based on two doses.

These scientists said one dose may offer short-term protection, but the longer-term protection is a question mark.

“You would be flying blind to just use one dose,” said one senior scientist and adviser to President

Biden.

“If you’re going to do something else other than follow the studies shown to the FDA, show me that this one-shot effect is durable.”

Another senior U.S. government doctor said the durability of the vaccination is especially important when more-resistant strains of Covid-19, including those from the U.K. and South Africa, are appearing in the U.S.

“We think it’s best to get people to as high a level of immunity as possible,” the doctor said.

The doctor added that the pace of vaccinations is accelerating with the recent decision by

Merck

& Co. to help produce the J&J vaccine.

“We’re going to have a good supply of vaccines very soon,” the doctor said.

Representatives of Pfizer and Moderna didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday. Pfizer has previously said it doesn’t have data regarding the single-dose approach, and Moderna has previously said it isn’t studying the issue.

Paul A. Offit

of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who served on the FDA advisory panel that recommended the use of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, said those clinical trials “found a level of neutralizing antibodies [with one dose] that was significantly less than what they got with two doses.”

The FDA advisory panel’s chairman,

Arnold Monto,

also said the two-shot regimen is best for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Dr. Monto, a public-health doctor at the University of Michigan, stressed the need for two doses to counter the Covid-19 variants.

“We’ve got information on a two-dose strategy,” said Dr. Monto. “We need high antibody levels from those doses to deal with the variants.”

Others holding fast with similar views in the U.S. government are prominent infectious-disease doctor

Anthony Fauci

and

Andy Slavitt,

a senior White House adviser for Covid-19 response. Mr. Slavitt said it would be a mistake for the U.S. government to be persuaded by just one study.

University of Minnesota epidemiologist

Michael Osterholm

said in testimony Thursday before the Minnesota legislature that the U.S. should consider delaying second doses so more people can get first shots.

“We could get more of our over-65 group vaccinated,” he said. “I think the data will support that actually is a very effective way to go.”

Two weeks ago, researchers in Israel reported that one dose of the Pfizer vaccine was 85% effective in preventing symptomatic disease 15 to 28 days after inoculation.

In the U.K, the government has opted to stretch vaccine supplies by delaying a second dose by up to 12 weeks in a bid to reach more people.

British researchers released preliminary data in recent days saying that either of two vaccines—from Pfizer and from

AstraZeneca

PLC—reduced the risk of hospitalization among people older than 70 years old by 80%, compared with people of similar ages without vaccination.

AstraZeneca is still conducting a U.S. study of its vaccine, which hasn’t yet gained authorization from the FDA.

Write to Thomas M. Burton at tom.burton@wsj.com

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Health

Merck says study shows COVID-19 drug causes quick reduction in virus

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FILE PHOTO: The Merck logo is seen at a gate to the Merck & Co campus in Rahway, New Jersey, U.S., July 12, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) – U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co Inc said on Saturday the experimental antiviral drug molnupiravir it is developing with Ridgeback Bio showed a quicker reduction in infectious virus in its phase 2a study among participants with early COVID-19.

“The secondary objective findings in this study, of a quicker decrease in infectious virus among individuals with early COVID-19 treated with molnupiravir, are promising,” said William Fischer, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, in a statement from the companies.

The antiviral is being currently tested in a Phase 2/3 trial that is set to be completed in May.

Merck decided to focus on therapeutics after its two COVID-19 vaccines failed to generate desired immune responses, prompting it to abandon the program in January.

Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

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Health

Merck says study shows COVID-19 drug causes quick reduction in virus

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FILE PHOTO: The Merck logo is seen at a gate to the Merck & Co campus in Rahway, New Jersey, U.S., July 12, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) – U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co Inc said on Saturday the experimental antiviral drug molnupiravir it is developing with Ridgeback Bio showed a quicker reduction in infectious virus in its phase 2a study among participants with early COVID-19.

“The secondary objective findings in this study, of a quicker decrease in infectious virus among individuals with early COVID-19 treated with molnupiravir, are promising,” said William Fischer, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, in a statement from the companies.

The antiviral is being currently tested in a Phase 2/3 trial that is set to be completed in May.

Merck decided to focus on therapeutics after its two COVID-19 vaccines failed to generate desired immune responses, prompting it to abandon the program in January.

Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

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Business

Merck; Johnson & Johnson; stimulus checks; WHO

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CLOSE

Four million doses will be released on March 2 with a total of 20 million to be released by the end of March.

USA TODAY

Defying warnings from federal health officials about the need to stay vigilant against the coronavirus, the Republican governors of Texas and Mississippi said Tuesday they’re lifting COVID-19 restrictions, including mask mandates. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he’s moving to “open Texas 100%” and will issue a new executive order to take effect March 10 rescinding most of his earlier orders, including restrictions on business occupancy and the July 2 statewide mask order. 

“Texas is in a far better position now than when I issued my last executive order back in October,” Abbott said, referring to his order allowing bars to reopen under certain conditions. Cases spiked after he eased business restrictions in the fall.

Abbott said state residents have learned to avoid COVID-19 and “people and businesses don’t need the state telling them how to operate.”

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted that, starting Wednesday, all county mask mandates will be lifted and businesses will be allowed to operate at full capacity.

“Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!” Reeves’ tweet said.

On Monday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned states that “now is not the time” to remove coronavirus restrictions, citing a reversal in the decline in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths of recent weeks. Walensky said that in the last week, the average number of infections and deaths had increased by about 2%. The spread of virus variants has stalled progress despite the expanding vaccination program.

“Please hear me clearly,” she said. “At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.”

Also in the news:

►The federal government has crossed the 100 million mark vaccine doses distributed, and more than 78 million of them have been administered, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

►The National Fraternal Order of Police reports that 439 law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty due to COVID-19. Texas, with 105, has the highest death toll of officers on the FOP list.

►Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says his country and Denmark will stop relying solely on the European Union for coronavirus vaccines and will work with Israel to produce second-generation vaccines. The EU has faced criticism for its slow vaccine rollout while Israel is a world-leader in per-capita vaccinations.

►Many states prioritized COVID-19 vaccines for people over 75, then moved to those over 65, but they shouldn’t keep stepping down by age, an advisory committee to the CDC said. 

📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has more than 28.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 515,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 114.6 million cases and 2.54 million deaths. More than 102.3 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and about 78.6 million have been administered, according to the CDC.

📘 What we’re reading: Drugstore giants CVS and Walgreens and big-box stores such as Walmart and Kroger received most of the initial allotment of COVID-19 vaccines sent  to retail pharmacies. Community pharmacies want their share. Read the full story.

USA TODAY is tracking COVID-19 news. Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates. Want more? Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

New Orleans archdiocese labels J&J vaccine ‘morally compromised’; Merck to help manufacture it

Two pharmaceutical giants are forming a historic collaboration aimed at sharply increasing production of the first single-shot COVID-19 vaccine to win FDA authorization.

The Biden administration said Tuesday that Merck & Co. will help manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which won emergency authorization just days ago. Merck, one of the world’s largest vaccine makers, abandoned its own effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

“You don’t often see such fierce competitors partner to increase production capacity of pharmaceutical products,” said Kaitlin Wowak, assistant professor of IT, analytics and operations at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. “But unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.”

The vaccine has drawn a thumbs down, however, from the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The archdiocese says it wants Catholics who elect to be vaccinated to select the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, saying the Johnson & Johnson version used “morally compromised cell lines.”

In November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines involved some testing using the abortion-derived cell line. But the bishops said the vaccines “do not rely on cell lines from abortions in the manufacturing process and therefore can be morally acceptable for Catholics as the connection to abortion is extremely remote.”

A month later, the Vatican said that when “ethically irreproachable” vaccines are not  available, “it is morally acceptable” to use vaccines that used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production.

The New Orleans archdiocese said in a statement Friday that the development of the J&J vaccine involved cells from two abortions, one in the 1970s and one in the 1980s. It described the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as “morally compromised as it uses the abortion-derived cell line in development and production of the vaccine as well as the testing.”

Coming soon: Stimulus payouts – but not to as many people as planned

Americans could begin seeing the latest round of stimulus payments in about two weeks, but the number of people expected to cash in is likely to be pared down this week. The Senate could debate the crucial $1.9 billion stimulus package as soon as Wednesday, and Democrats are hoping for a Senate vote Friday. That would allow the House a few days to approve changes and President Joe Biden to sign it by March 14. Stimulus money could start rolling out before the ink is dry.

The Biden administration likely will need all 50 Democratic senators to get the legislation passed. Some moderate Democrats led by West Virginia’s Joe Manchin want to lower the threshold for the $1,400 checks, calling for helping “the people that need help the most.” Manchin also opposes the minimum wage measure and wants to continue the current $300 weekly unemployment boost, instead of the $400 called for in the legislation.

The measure would also provide hundreds of billions of dollars for schools and colleges, COVID-19 vaccines and testing, mass transit systems, renters and small businesses. Child care, tax breaks for families with children and assistance for states to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income residents also would get funding.

‘Vaccine angels’ try to rescue broken system for scheduling shots

The nation’s vaccine appointment system is broken in many places, leading to a race to find appointments that often works best for the lucky, the internet-savvy or the mobile. To help bridge the gap between the elderly and others without the means to connect online, strangers are stepping in. “Vaccine angels” or “vaccine hunters” have appeared online to help others find spots or simply to share information. One site, vaccinefinder.org, is still being built out but gives users in some states current vaccine eligibility for their ZIP code and what appointments are available nearby. The site’s getting millions of hits and helping people get immunized.

“Even though they still have to register for an appointment, the site told them where there was vaccine near them, which cuts down on frustration,” said John Brownstein, the site’s creator and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital. Read more here.

– Elizabeth Weise

Frontier Airlines accused of antisemitism after canceling flight

Frontier Airlines canceled a flight from Miami to New York on Sunday night, saying a “large group” refused to wear masks as the plane prepared for departure. The group was made up of Hasidic Jews, and the incident drew outrage from the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, which tweeted that even people who were not part of the group were accusing the airline of bigotry. The council posted videos of angry passengers and the confusion on board the plane. The Anti-Defamation League tweeted that “a visibly Jewish family was asked to leave a @FlyFrontier flight allegedly due to lack of mask compliance; while deplaning, apparent #antisemitic comments made by crew or others. @ADL formally calls for a full & transparent investigation.”

The airline said in a statement that members of the group, including adults, refused to wear masks as Flight 2878 was preparing to depart from Miami. “Repeated requests to comply with federal law necessitated their removal from the flight,” the airline said.

Stimulus bill would expand Obamacare

The Biden administration’s stimulus package includes measures that would be the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, since its 2010 passage. Though temporary, the more generous ACA provisions could lead to permanent – and even bigger – changes to the law that prompted a GOP-led government shutdown in 2013. It’s a law President Donald Trump and Republicans failed to repeal when they controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress. Republicans haven’t made the insurance subsidies a focus of their opposition to the stimulus bill they’ve dismissed as a “far-left wish list.”

Some experts say the measure is overdue. “In the U.S., we have done very little to address the underlying cost of health care, which is why health insurance is so expensive,” said Cynthia Cox, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

– Maureen Groppe and Courtney Subramanian

WHO warns end of 2021 might not mean end of pandemic

Health care experts are warning that it might be too soon to think the COVID-19 pandemic will be over by the end of 2021. The emergencies chief of the World Health Organization said it was “premature” to think that the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year, but the rollout of vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalizations and deaths. Dr. Michael Ryan said at a press briefing Monday that the world’s singular focus right now should be to keep transmission of COVID-19 as low as possible. And President Joe Biden’s top public health officials warned Monday that the U.S. could “lose the hard-earned ground we have gained” if cases plateau at their current level.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she was “deeply concerned” as new case counts stall but states continue their rollbacks of virus-related restrictions.

Amid uneven vaccine rollout, states work to get shots in arms

States and counties are getting better at the nitty-gritty of what’s required to get COVID-19 vaccines into arms, but distribution still varies because of the nation’s fractured and underfunded health system. That has led to broad disparities in state vaccination rates. 

“This is really a function of the total chaos of 50 state health systems in an uncoordinated, unresponsive, underreported system to the federal government,” said Barry Bloom, an immunologist and former dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Crazy as that may be, that’s the American way.”

What’s remarkable, experts said, is how many find ways to make it work. A look at the map of vaccine uptake shows a wide range across the USA. As of Monday, Alaska led with 23% of its population having received at least one vaccine dose, followed by New Mexico at 22%. On the low end were Georgia and Utah at 12% and Alabama, Tennessee and Texas at 13%.

– Elizabeth Weise and Karen Weintraub

Ivory Coast becomes first country to receive COVAX vaccine in UN initiative

Health care workers in the Ivory Coast in Africa became the first to receive a vaccine shipment form the U.N.-backed COVAX initiative. The program is meant to ensure inoculations against COVID-19 for the world’s most vulnerable but has been hampered by limited global supply and logistical problems.

Colombia also received a shipment Monday, becoming the first country in the Americas to receive a vaccine shipment. The arrival of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to the capital city of Bogota came days after the one-year anniversary of the first coronavirus case discovered in the region.

COVAX plans to initially deliver more than 330 million vaccine doses in the first half of 2021 for the 145 participating countries. Its goal is to distribute 2 billion vaccine doses before 2022.

Twitter works to stop misinformation, labeling COVID vaccine falsehoods

Twitter is bolstering its efforts to point out misinformation on the platform, a long-standing problem across social media that has taken on new urgency amid last year’s election and through the pandemic. 

“Starting today, we will begin applying labels to Tweets that may contain misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines, in addition to our continued efforts to remove the most harmful COVID-19 misleading information from the service,” Twitter said in a blog post Monday.

Since introducing COVID-19 guidance last spring and announcing it would remove harmful, misleading information about vaccines in December, Twitter has removed more than 8,400 tweets and “challenged” 11.5 million accounts across the globe.

At first, labels will be applied to tweets by Twitter’s team when they determine that the content violates the company’s policy. After a while, those assessments will be used to inform Twitter’s automated tools to label similar content across the social media platform. 

– Morgan Hines

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Merck ends its vaccine development; Google offers its offices for vaccination sites

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CVS completes first round of vaccination at 8,000 U.S. nursing homes

A CVS pharmacy manager prepares a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine dose at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, December 29, 2020.

Hoang ‘Leon’ Nguyen | The Republican | Pool | via Reuters

CVS Health completed administering the first round of Covid-19 vaccination at roughly 8,000 U.S. nursing facilities, Reuters reports.

Administration of second doses was underway and expected to be completed within four weeks.

CVS Pharmacy has administered nearly 2 million doses to date but has a capacity for 20 million to 25 million shots a month, the company told Reuters, adding that its long-term care vaccination effort remains on track.

—Terri Cullen

U.S. doesn’t know how much Covid vaccine it has, says CDC chief

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Sunday that the federal government doesn’t know how much coronavirus vaccine there is available to the country, adding yet another complication to the new administration’s efforts to mitigate the crisis, reports CNBC’s Amanda Macias.

“I can’t tell you how much vaccine we have, and if I can’t tell it to you then I can’t tell it to the governors and I can’t tell it to the state health officials,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told “Fox News Sunday.”

“If they don’t know how much vaccine they’re getting not just this week but next week and the week after they can’t plan. They can’t figure out how many sites to roll out, they can’t figure out how many vaccinators that they need, and they can’t figure out how many appointments to make for the public,” Walensky said.

President Joe Biden has set a goal for the country to administer 100 million vaccines in the president’s first 100 days.

—Fred Imbert

Merck ends its Covid vaccine program, citing inferior immune responses

A Merck sign in front of the company’s building in Summit, New Jersey.

Getty Images

Merck said it will end development of its two Covid-19 vaccines, Reuters reports.

In early trials, two of the company’s vaccines generated immune responses that were inferior to those seen in people who had recovered from Covid-19, as well as those reported for other Covid-19 vaccines, according to Reuters.

The drugmaker said it plans to focus its pandemic research on treatments, with initial efficacy data on an experimental oral antiviral expected by the end of March, the wire service said.

—Terri Cullen

Google to open vaccine sites at its U.S. offices

American multinational technology company Google logo seen at Googleplex, the corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc.

Alex Tai | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Google will make some of its own facilities available to open new coronavirus vaccination sites in the U.S.

The company said it has partnered with health clinic chain One Medical and public health authorities to open vaccine sites in Los Angeles; San Francisco; Kirkland, Washington; and New York City. The tech giant also plans to open vaccine centers abroad.

Google also committed $100 million in advertising grants to the CDC Foundation, World Health Organization and nonprofits, as well as a $50 million investment aimed at helping public health agencies reach underserved communities with vaccine information.

Google said it will start including Covid-19 vaccination locations in Google Search and Maps in the coming weeks, starting with Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The information will include details like whether an appointment or referral is required and if the location has a drive-thru.

—Ryan Browne

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