Hinderaker Is Spouting Nonsense “No Meat Allowed” Conspiracies (AGAIN!)…

For the umpteenth time, Hinderaker — nooooo… no “liberal” is going to take away your right to go buy meat.

Or mine.

But I’m sentient enough to know this. To know that Steve Bannon and Sean Hannity… and Tucker Carlson… are moronic loons.

You seem to have lost your ability to discern BS, from reality.

This — again — is utter BS.

[As a footnote of sorts, there is an internet meme that posits and posts various loony things old mostly-whyte guys say, and believe… it is called “sh!t my grandpa says.” John is… sadly, becoming Exhibit A.]

Cheers.

The Cruel Ironies, Even Today, Of Being A “Difficult Woman”… In Memory Of St. Joan D’ Arc.

On 04.29 of 1429 (yes, I like repeating number sequences), the anniversary of which is tomorrow at 1 pm, Joan entered Orléans with the blessing of the church — to liberate the city. Which is exactly what she proceeded to nearly immediately do.

Yet just 25 months later, the very same church authorities had her condemned as a heretic, and burned at the stake, at Rouen. By then she was still only 19 years old.

So threatening was she to the patriarchy, of that day. Of any day… really. Here’s a bit — of the more mystical version of her legend:

…For years, vague prophecies had been circulating throughout France, of an armored maiden who would rescue the French from the English. Many of these prophecies suggested that the armored maiden would come from the borders of Lorraine (where Domrémy, Joan’s birthplace was located).

As a result — when word reached the besieged citizens of Orléans of Joan’s journey to see the king — expectations (perhaps unrealistically) ran high….

But within the span of two years, having suffered a pair of unrelated military defeats — she was declared persona non gratis. It certainly did not help her that she chose to wear men’s clothing. Here, see the thread on Giannis below — it is… apt. Onward, smiling just the same….

नमस्ते

So, The Settlement Of The Zetia® Antitrust Litigation Cost Merck Substantially MORE Than $580 Million, Net Of Insurance?! Wow.

The Q1 2023 earnings release indicates that in Q1, Merck had made a provision for at least $573 million, for settling with only “certain” of the Zetia plaintiffs.

By Monday of this week, the company had settled with all of them, as we reported from the Norfolk, Virginia federal court filings. So this number is larger — and the “charge” is likely NET of insurance payments.

So was the figure actually paid out to pharmacies, hospitals, pharmacy benefit managers, the government entity payors and direct purchasers, all-in (before any insurance reimbursements, to Merck or Glenmark)… over a billion? We may never know. But one doesn’t record amounts recovered from insurers into any GAAP appropriate “charge” for settled litigation (see the bottom of page 8, there). Perhaps when the SEC Form 10-Q files, we will learn more — but here is the bit:

…The favorability was partially offset by a $573 million charge in the first quarter of 2023 related to settlements with certain plaintiffs in the Zetia antitrust litigation….

Told ya’ it was gonna’ be boxcar numbers. Heh. Crazy. And that is a massive black eye, for “Fast” Fred Hassan’s theory of pharma product management — just took over a decade, to arrive.

नमस्ते

Giannis Is THE MAN For This Viral Answer To A Snotty Sports Flack… Off Topic — But Actually… Not. It Applies In All Of Life!

Please, just watch this. I’ve cued it up at the exact moment you need to see. This is a strong lesson for critics of business leaders as well — if the biologic or drug they are working on doesn’t show the benefit one had hoped, at the outset (of course, assuming no intentional deceptions of regulators, or the investing public):

Dayuuuum. He’s 100% right. Out.

नमस्ते

Scott Johnson Omits That TANGERINE Openly Called, In A PR Event, For The US To “Protect” Chinese Factory Jobs…

Well — this is… adorable (in a truly tragic way). Scott Johnson thinks the fact that Mr. Biden used cue cards about protecting US (NOT CHINESE) factory jobs… is some vast scandal.

That’s because Mr. Trump is being confronted with videotape of his saying in a presser, that he would favor a Chinese company his businesses had long done business with — and he would favor that company, as Preznit — so the Chinese wouldn’t see too many factory jobs lost, in the hidden kingdom.

Funny — Johnson seems unaware that US presidents are advocates for US jobs. That’s the story he ought to mention.

Sheesh. Out.

Small Scheduling Update: Next Major Date In Merck v. Merck Will Be September 25 — A Three Month Delay, After Decades Of Global Litigation…

We wrote most recently just a week ago — about German Merck’s legal team seeking to push off a trial date, yet again — under the guise of a likely medical-related leave for one of the lawyers on its team. That proposal was seeking a date later into November 2023, for the final pre-trial conference.

That has been ratcheted-back, by the able judge — to October 12, 2023 — while still accommodating what is clearly a fundamental human dignity issue, as to medical leave. Here’s that overnight joint letter — and the order of this morning, below:

…The Court has considered the parties’ positions in the April 26, 2023 joint letter [D.E. 222] and the Court’s own schedule. The parties must submit the Final Pretrial Order (both filed on the docket and 2 courtesy hard copies provided to chambers) on or before September 25, 2023.

The Final Pretrial Conference shall proceed, in person, before the Undersigned on October 12, 2023, at 11:00 a.m..

So Ordered by Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer on 4/27/2023….

So — the metaphorical Bataan Death March… continues. Grin….

नमस्ते

[U] It Figures. Hinderaker Thinks A Video From Tucker’s Basement… Is “Winning”?!

It seems Hinderaker uses the same inverted Orwellian dictionary Tangerine reads, to say he too is “winning”.

To wit: today, under oath — in a majestic NYC federal wood paneled courtroom, with a jury seated and listening in rapt attention, a woman testified that Donald Trump forcibly raped her.

Let that sink in. He’s the GOP’s leading nominee candidate for 2024. That’s “winning”?!

I guess in GOP-er / MAGA-idiot land.

Which brings us back to Tucker, who apparently is fond of calling what he regards as difficult women (and here he includes Sidney Powell) “c*nts”.

This is John’s “winner”. Tweeting out a two minute video message in what looks like his “college days” Southern frat get up, for Spring Formal ‘67, but from his own basement.

Maybe 6,000 people will watch it. [UPDATE: And to be clear — I mean real human beings — not not not the 4 million automated server-bots, unleashed last night (04.26.23), to repeat view it, via an automated routine — and which have now reached 50 million views — by what are effectively robots, without eyes — by the morning of 04.27.23. What a joke. End update.]

Maybe.

Yeh – just like the GOP’s chances for 2024… stick a fork in old Tucker. No one cares what he, or Hinderaker… thinks. They are both dead letters.

Utterly.

Out.

And… NASA | JPL May Yet Coax A Few More Years Of Life/Power From Far Off Voyager… And Thus, Some MORE Interstellar Science!

Even though this is about V’ger 2, at the moment — next year Voyager 1 will face this same issue — and likely use this same solution set.

You know I am loving it! On, to NASA/V’ger’s undiscovered (interstellar) country, then — and a bit:

Launched in 1977, the Voyager 2 spacecraft is more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from Earth, using five science instruments to study interstellar space. To help keep those instruments operating despite a diminishing power supply, the aging spacecraft has begun using a small reservoir of backup power set aside as part of an onboard safety mechanism. The move will enable the mission to postpone shutting down a science instrument until 2026, rather than this year.

Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the Sun. The probes are helping scientists answer questions about the shape of the heliosphere and its role in protecting Earth from the energetic particles and other radiation found in the interstellar environment.

“The science data that the Voyagers are returning gets more valuable the farther away from the Sun they go, so we are definitely interested in keeping as many science instruments operating as long as possible,” said Linda Spilker, Voyager’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission for NASA.

“Variable voltages pose a risk to the instruments, but we’ve determined that it’s a small risk, and the alternative offers a big reward of being able to keep the science instruments turned on longer,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s project manager at JPL. “We’ve been monitoring the spacecraft for a few weeks, and it seems like this new approach is working.”

The Voyager mission was originally scheduled to last only four years, sending both probes past Saturn and Jupiter. NASA extended the mission so that Voyager 2 could visit Neptune and Uranus; it is still the only spacecraft ever to have encountered the ice giants. In 1990, NASA extended the mission again, this time with the goal of sending the probes outside the heliosphere. Voyager 1 reached the boundary in 2012, while Voyager 2 (traveling slower and in a different direction than its twin) reached it in 2018….

I am grinning, ear to ear, on this one — V’ger indeed!

नमस्ते

Betsy Whines About Nothing — To Distract From DeSantis Getting Blasted In Florida’s Federal Courts, By Disney.

So, lil’ Bitsy is complaining about the Veep. Not about policy, but about personal style. I guess Bitsy never saw Quayle in action, or Pence for that matter — or Tangerine. Um… Whatever.

Meanwhile, in actual news, the Disney company is about to crash DeSantis’ dreams of national office.

When the rest of the nation reads how “anti-business” he is… it is game over, for a GOP nomination in 2024. See this:

Governor DeSantis announced that Disney’s statement had “crossed the line” — a line evidently separating permissible speech from intolerable speech — and launched a barrage of threats against the Company in immediate response. Since then, the Governor, the State Legislature, and the Governor’s handpicked local government regulators have moved beyond threats to official action, employing the machinery of the State in a coordinated campaign to damage Disney’s ability to do business in Florida. State leaders have not been subtle about their reasons for government intervention. They have proudly declared that Disney deserves this fate because of what Disney said. This is as clear a case of retaliation as this Court is ever likely to see….

As the Florida representative who introduced the Reedy Creek dissolution bill declared to the Florida House State Affairs Committee: “You kick the hornet’s nest, things come up. And I will say this: You got me on one thing, this bill does target one company. It targets The Walt Disney Company….”

Disney takes seriously its responsibility to shareholders, employees, and the many residents and local businesses in Central Florida whose livelihoods depend on Walt Disney World. And Disney now is forced to defend itself against a State weaponizing its power to inflict political punishment….

It is a clear violation of Disney’s federal constitutional rights — under the Contracts Clause, the Takings Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the First Amendment — for the State to inflict a concerted campaign of retaliation because the Company expressed an opinion with which the government disagreed. And it is a clear violation of these rights for the CFTOD board to declare its own legally binding contracts void and unenforceable. Disney thus seeks relief from this Court in order to carry out its long-held business plans….

Damnation. What a latter day repressionist DeSantis is. Positively 17th Century, pre-colonial monarchy BS. So yeh — put a sock in it, Betsy.

[U: Added Lilly To Graphic!] Amgen Spent 54% Less Than Amazon And/Or Pfizer In Q1 2023 — Lobbying To Bend A Passel Of Laws, In Its Favor…

This will close out this quarter’s series. However, though — just for fun, I might add Lilly into this group, at some point next week.

We will see how busy the day job gets. Here’s the run-down — but taxes, patent evergreening and provisions to make drugs and other therapies and treatments more affordable. . . top the list of items we are watching most closely:

. . .Issues related to drug pricing reform; Changes to Public law 117-1769 Inflation Reduction Act; Awareness of implications to patients and research and development of Public law 117-1769 Inflation Reduction Act; S. 113 Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023; S.127 Pharmacy Benefit Transparency Act; HR 830 HELP Copays Act; HR 485 Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act; HR 1613 to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve transparency and prevent the use of abusive spread pricing and related practices in the Medicaid program issues related to cardiovascular disease awareness and treatment; Issues related to Federal Trade Commission; FDA issues; Issues related to clinical trial diversity; Issues related to patient affordability issues, including copay cards, copay accumulators, copay maximizers, National Benefit Payment Parameters; Biosimilars reimbursement issues, no specific bill; Supply Chain Issues, no specific bill; Issues related to 340B (PROTECT 340B act of 2023); Issues related to pharmacy benefits managers. . . .

Issues related to drug pricing reform; Changes to Public law 117-1769 Inflation Reduction Act; Awareness of implications to patients and research and development of Public law 117-1769 Inflation Reduction Act; S. 113 Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023; S.127 Pharmacy Benefit Transparency Act; HR 485 Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act; HR 1613 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve transparency and prevent the use of abusive spread pricing and related practices in the Medicaid program issues related to cardiovascular disease awareness and treatment; Issues related to ESRD; Issues related to asthma and self-administered drug list; Issues related to reimbursement for biologics/biosimilars. . . .

Issues related to corporate and international tax, including regarding Public Law 115-97, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; Issues related to Puerto Rico; Issues related to OECD negotiations on the taxation of global income. . . .

S. 79 Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2023; S. 113 Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023; S.127 Pharmacy Benefit Transparency Act; S. 150 Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023; S. 148 Stop STALLING Act; S. 142 Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars; Federal Trade Commission related issues, no specific bill; Issues related to the Patent Act, no specific bill; Issues related to march-in/Bayh Dole, WTO/TRIPS waiver, no specific bill; Issues related to false claims act; Issues related to FDA/PTO coordination; Issues related to patent thickets/product hopping. . . .

Now you know — out into the sunshine — grinning. . . .

नमस्ते