EU Regulator Decides Against Tecovirimat SIGA, As An Mpox Therapeutic…

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As we mentioned last month, the would-be treatment did no better than placebos, in animal models — CHMP has declared, at the EMA.

No double-blinded human trials were run, as there were too few Mpox patients (at the time) to evaluate it against.

The path of bio-science is inexorably littered with blind alley detours, as here.

Here’s all of that — from MedScape:

…The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended that Tecovirimat SIGA should no longer be used for the treatment of mpox.

A review of the antiviral medicine was initiated at the request of the European Commission following evidence from clinical trials suggesting a lack of effectiveness in the treatment of mpox. The CHMP’s decision does not affect the drugs other uses, including in the treatment of smallpox, cowpox, and complications from smallpox vaccines….

Onward, smiling — to a 90 minute isolation/flotation tank this afternoon [I will report here, scientifically if I am able to regress — to some primordial soup state(!)] — then the NCAAs tonight with buddies (at the United Center!), and “No Kings” again marching, down in the 40 degree Chi weather, tomorrow!

नमस्ते

In Which Mr. Obama Beats Me, Again…

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I had selected Houston to win the national championship this year. Mr. Obama has Arizona. He also had Illinois to beat Houston, here in the Sweet 16. And that just happened.

I didn’t think the Illini could get by a tough Houston team. But they did.

Tonight’s game puts a fork in it for me — I have no chance of catching him now. Take me off the grill; I’m cooked.

So now over 21 years I’ve only beat him four times. 

I guess there’s always next year!

नमस्ते

[U] A Day Late On This… But Good News, For Rahway…

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Updated @ 4 PM EDT: Well, at least one Leerink analyst feels that this proposal undervalues the portfolio of Terns’ onco-candidates — and he expects a bidding war / hostile topping offer to emerge. I am not too sure about that. End, updated portion.

Mr. Davis continues to position the company for the 2030s — and beyond. [There should be no problem clearing Hart-Scott on this deal.]

While I am still out of pocket, this did happen yesterday, and I wanted to note it:

…[Merck and Terns Pharma] today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck, through a subsidiary, will acquire Terns for $53.00 per share in cash for an approximate equity value of $6.7 billion. This equates to approximately $5.7 billion net of acquired cash and represents an approximate premium of 31% to the 60-day and 42% to the 90-day volume-weighted average stock price on March 24, 2026.

“The acquisition of Terns builds on our growing presence in hematology with TERN-701, a potential best-in-class candidate for the treatment of certain patients with chronic myeloid leukemia,” said Robert M. Davis, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. “This transaction further diversifies and strengthens our position in oncology as we continue to look for opportunities to broaden our portfolio into other therapeutic areas….”

Now you know. Departing from Iowa’s med center in about six hours… grin.

नमस्ते

Catching Up, From Time Away — And Gone Again, Until Friday Morning… The First Cir. Freeze Decision.

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Unsurprisingly, while I was in the Rockies, the First Circuit affirmed the decision we talked about in Rhode Island last Spring.

The DOGE / Tangerine “freezes” ran afoul of the APA. And the courts may both review that lawless action, and countermand it, thus:

…The Government thus appears to be of the view that, notwithstanding the APA’s presumption of reviewability, the limited statutory examples that it has put forth suffice to cast doubt on whether virtually any of the States’ APA claims target agency actions that can be reviewed under § 701(a)(2). Even if we were to accept that doubtful premise, however, we still would reject the Government’s position, given what Lincoln holds.

There, the Supreme Court held that the Indian Health Service’s decision to discontinue a program that provided services “to handicapped Indian children in the Southwest” was “‘committed to agency discretion by law.'” Lincoln, 508 U.S. at 184 (quoting 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2)). But the Supreme Court did so on the limited grounds that “[t]he allocation of funds from a lump-sum appropriation is [an] administrative decision traditiionally regarded as committed to agency discretion,” id. at 192, and the relevant statutes spoke “about Indian health only in general terms” and did “not so much as mention” the program at issue, id. at 194.

Thus, contrary to the Government’s suggestion, Lincoln did not address an agency’s discretion to withhold obligated funds.

It thus did not hold that agencies have unreviewable discretion to categorically stop disbursing obligated funds, such that they may indefinitely pause their disbursement of them in a categorical fashion….

Now you know. Onward, to… Iowa. Smile.

नमस्ते

Surprising: Some Honesty From Hinderaker, Tonight… On Iran.

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John is finally accepting what everyone else has long known: Trump’s actual story is “the emperor’s new robes” — incarnate.

Hinderaker can see that many in the GOP are going to have to explain why they let Hegseth get so far off the chain — with no real command experience… and no clear strategy — in a war of choice — one with potentially nuclear implications, over a half a globe away. [The GOP cannot blame Trump, as they well-knew what a toddler he was — and is.] What a mess this all is.

Here’s all that — from John, and a bit of it:

…Are we talking to the right people? Are we sure we know who the right people are? Are we really talking to anyone, or is Trump just trolling to sow confusion in the enemy’s ranks? Assuming talks are really taking place, is Trump negotiating from a position of strength, having devastated Iran’s military?

Or has the magnitude and persistence of Iran’s response surprised and dismayed Trump and his advisers, so that Trump is desperately looking for a way out?

I have absolutely no idea…

It is certainly correct that John has long had “no idea”.

And now he admits it likely that all of MAGA doesn’t either.

O U T.

Highly Mutated Version Of Covid Virus Now In The Wild In 23 Countries, And “Of Concern”: Not Clear The Existing Vaccines Will Work Against It.

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This SARS-CoV-2 BA.3.2 variant is of significant concern — as an entirely new mRNA vaccine may need to be synthesized, in order to combat it.

The data is not yet in on it, in robust enough fashion to be sure — so we will keep an eye on it:

…The highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 BA.3.2 variant, which has been reported by at least 23 countries as of February 11, has been detected in nasal swabs collected from four US travelers, clinical samples from five patients, three airplane wastewater samples, and 132 wastewater surveillance samples from 25 states, per a study published last week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

First identified in a respiratory sample in South Africa in November 2024, the strain has roughly 70 to 75 substitutions and deletions in the gene sequence of its spike protein relative to the JN.1 variant and its descendant, LP.8.1, the antigens used in the latest COVID-19 vaccines….

From November 2025 to January 2026, weekly BA.3.2 detections increased to about 30% of sequences in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The first US instance of BA.3.2 in a clinical specimen was documented on January 5, 2026. As of February 11, the strain’s prevalence among 2,579 total genetic sequences in national surveillance collected starting on December 1, 2025, was 0.19%….

As BA.3.2 mutations in the spike protein could reduce protection from a vaccination or infection, “continued genomic surveillance is needed to track SARS-CoV-2 evolution and determine its potential effect on public health,” they added….

We will keep a weather eye on the horizon, on this one. Trust that. Onward.

नमस्ते

Paul Seems To Think That “Greatness” Is Synonymous With “Unthinking Cruelty” — For Cruelty’s Sake. Not So.

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Mirengoff this afternoon tells us we must “see it through” in Iran — even though he admits… his regime change (the objective he supported, in wild-eyed fashion, just two months ago) is no longer even remotely likely.

What Paul won’t admit is that Bibi conned or bullied the malign dotard Trump into this war of choice. And Paul well-knows, if Trump doesn’t now obliterate all of Iran’s ability to make war… it could be the end of Israel. That is true.

I might counter his non-stated underlying major premise by observing that Bibi may have sealed Israel’s fate — either way. Even after the entire nation of Iran is rubble, and all its uninformed soldiers have abandoned their posts, and left their rifles empty in the sand… there are certainly right now sleeper cells in Israel, in Tel Aviv — and perhaps even very near Mar-a-Lago.

Bibi and Trump have fallen into a quagmire they do not understand.

Paul writes that we are less than “great“ if we don’t keep dropping $6 billion in bombs a day, on Iran:

…[T]here should be no disagreement that if the U.S. ceases military activity in Iran because the conflict has caused high gas prices, that will be strong evidence that America is not great. Great nations do not give up on their military objectives because pursuing them is leading temporarily to higher prices….

Paul’s purported “analysis” is… transparently silly. Rather than grappling with the legitimacy or lack of it, of the whole operation, he simply assumes Trump was right — or more precisely, that Bibi was.

If the goal was illegitimate (and it was!), then deciding that now over 20 dead US soldiers is 20 too many — or deciding (correctly) that Trump was Bibi’s clown here… either or both, or higher gas prices… would be, and is plenty of reason to just walk away.

The Strait will reopen; gas prices will fall… and Bibi may well be cooked, either way.

Paul assumes that this was one of the conflicts John F. Kennedy would have paid “any price” to win, in 1961.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

This was a grave mistake. One that will define Trumpism, forever in history — as the Know Nuthin’s… rebirthed.

O U T.

Deke Slayton Is Spinning In His Grave, As Isaacman At NASA Pushes Trump’s “Science-Free” Agenda…

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Ugh. Even the would-be “illustrations” the Trumpers are using in today’s press gaggle at NASA look like those elementary school posters from the 1960s which proclaimed “We will live and work, on the Moon”. Yikes.

As I’ve often written, there is little scientific need or reason (other than hubris) to put humans on the Moon, again — and no reason to live there. Same, same — Mars.

There is however, a vast trove of science to be conducted remotely on the moons Titan and Europa… in looking for organics, robotically. Finding currently thriving biology on any non-Earth rock or ice patch would be… the discovery of discoveries.

And we could do it without risk to any human crew. But Trump is all hat — no cowboy. Everything is about a TV show, for him — not about actual scientific advances — in any endeavor. He wants a flag-planting, imperial presence on every rock he might reach. Ugly.

So I know the real scientists at NASA are cringing, as completely fantastical deadlines and missions are now being talked about… to build bases on the Moon, and thus forego real science — on the outer moons, where exo-Earth / cellular life might be dividing right now, under sheets of ice.

And the flight controllers of the the Mercury and Apollo programs are certainly cringing at this regression against real space science.

That is my opinion — not new, here — but ever more firmly held, now. We should go to Titan, and back to Mars — robotically, to collect the tubes left by Perseverance. Damn. Damn. Damn.

नमस्ते

Gilead Takes An M&A Plunge Of Size — With Ouro Medicines: $2.2 Billion US.

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Gilead has plunked down (what is, for it) a very good sized bet — to extend a foray into immuno-oncology, and in part diversify itself from being a pure HIV therapies, and mRNA-approach R&D vaccines-candidate house. It will still make scads of shekels in that wheel-house, but now looks beyond 2032. Very forward-thinking, indeed.

Here’s the latest, from a London based outlet:

…Gilead Sciences is buying autoimmune disease biotech Ouro Medicines for nearly $2.2bn as the drugmaker kick-starts a dealmaking spree emboldened by its near-record share price.

The California-based company will pay privately held Ouro’s investors just less than $1.7bn in cash when the deal closes and a further $500mn once certain clinical trial milestones are hit, Gilead said on Monday after the FT reported a deal was imminent.

The transaction is Gilead’s second biotech acquisition in the past month following its $7.8bn takeover of Arcellx, with which it had an existing partnership to develop a novel cell therapy for patients with … multiple myeloma….

Okay — that’s two in the power alley, in a single morning. May be done for the day. Heh. Onward.

नमस्ते

“Often From Small Beginnings, Come Perfect Green Shoots”: Merck Invests Initial $20M, In Quotient’s IBD Somatic Genetic Mutation Approach…

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The actual amount of money involved at the outset… is positively waifish, a bar tip, from the massive coffers of Rahway, but it is an important first step, for Quotient.

A potential first step to finding new approaches to treating IBD, a developed world high-burden disease (likely in part due to our generally richer — animal fat-laden — diets). Here’s the latest, from Fierce Biotech:

…After generating interest from the likes of Pfizer and GSK, Quotient Therapeutics’ somatic genomics platform has attracted another Big Pharma suitor in Merck & Co.

Looking to devise new drug targets in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Merck will pay Quotient $20 million upfront for access to the Flagship Pioneering-founded biotech’s somatic genomics platform.

Quotient’s tech interrogates patient tissue for somatic genetic mutations “within the context of disease,” aiming to pinpoint mutations that cause or protect from various conditions, the company explained in a March 24 press release….

Now you know. Onward, grinning — as an M&A deal of size (over a hundred times this $20 million size) is up next — for Gilead. See above in a few.

नमस्ते