Author: condor

Merck Closes Its Purchase Of All Of Cidara Thera, As Expected: Power Alley Stuff.

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As we earlier reported in November, this will complement Rahway’s offerings in the flu therapies spaces.

It will result in a charge of $0.30 per share, to this year’s GAAP results — and an in-process R&D expense of about $3.65 a share. Still it is a very savvy move by the leaders of Merck. Here’s the closing presser, this morning, and a bit:

…[Merck] today announced the successful completion of the cash tender offer, through a subsidiary, for all the outstanding shares of common stock of Cidara Therapeutics, Inc….

“The acquisition of Cidara strengthens and complements our expanding respiratory portfolio and exemplifies our business development strategy of investing where compelling science and value meet,” said Robert M. Davis, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. “CD388, a potentially first-in-class, long-acting antiviral with strain-agnostic properties, underscores that approach. We look forward to building on Cidara’s progress and further evaluating the potential of this candidate for the prevention of symptomatic influenza in certain individuals at high risk of complications.”

Merck completed the cash offer at a purchase price of $221.50 per share of common stock of Cidara, without interest and subject to deduction for any required tax withholding. As of the tender offer expiration at one minute after 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on January 6. . . approximately 85.96% of the total number of Cidara’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock [had been tendered]. All such shares have been accepted for payment in accordance with the terms of the tender offer, and Merck expects to promptly pay for such shares….

Cidara will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck and the common stock of Cidara will no longer be listed or traded on the Nasdaq Global Market. The acquisition is expected to be accounted for as an asset acquisition, resulting in a charge that will increase 2026 research and development expenses by approximately $9.0 billion or approximately $3.65 per share, included in GAAP and non-GAAP results. Additionally, GAAP and non-GAAP EPS are expected to be negatively impacted by approximately $0.30 per share in the first 12 months [post closing]….

Now you know. And so, we head ever onward — to an unseasonably warm, if gray, morning in the steel and glass canyons. Grin….

नमस्ते

New Interstellar / Cosmos-Enlightening Discoveries Are Arriving Daily, Now: JWST Spots Very Early, And Tiny “Platypus” Galaxies… Whoa!

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We live in an age of immensely-accelerating discovery. There can be no denying it (even if some in our co-hort of humans behave like dumb, panicky mastodons). The rest of us [likely a firm majority, in fact] see… with our better eyes.

And now, as with all ground-breaking real science, this discovery simply points us toward new, and different… questions: how indeed, did what we now think of as our early universe cool and coalesce into the strands of diamonds we now see in our night sky, some 13 billion years on? And why were these tiny lil’ pools of tightly shimmering light… left behind? We may need to ask the “platypus” deviner — one Haojing Yan, Ph.D.:

…After combing through NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s archive of sweeping extragalactic cosmic fields, a small team of astronomers at the University of Missouri says they have identified a sample of galaxies that have a previously unseen combination of features. Principal investigator Haojing Yan compares the discovery to an infamous oddball in another branch of science: biology’s taxonomy-defying platypus….

“It seems that we’ve identified a population of galaxies that we can’t categorize, they are so odd. On the one hand they are extremely tiny and compact, like a point source, yet we do not see the characteristics of a quasar, an active supermassive black hole, which is what most distant point sources are,” said Yan.

research was presented in a press conference at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix….

The team whittled down a sample of 2,000 sources across several Webb surveys to identify nine point-like sources that existed 12 to 12.6 billion years ago (compared to the universe’s age of 13.8 billion years). Spectral data gives astronomers more information than they can get from an image alone, and for these nine sources it doesn’t fit existing definitions. They are too far away to be stars in our own galaxy, and too faint to be quasars, which are so brilliant that they outshine their host galaxies….

Onward — to that undiscovered country — the future, then. Grin.

नमस्ते

I’ve Lost The Link To Who First Posted This — But It Is Beyond Doubt… Correct.

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Please do not follow the advice in the RFK, Jr. “modified” / truncated rec’d. vaccines list.

I saw this, from a full-on medical doctor — on X-itter. But now I cannot find him, to credit him, for it. [If anyone knows — post it in comments, so I might give him credit — he looks to be (from a thumbnail image) a US-based white guy — looks to be in his mid 40s — short haircut — darkish hair; last name may have been… Stone.]

…One of the vaccines being DROPPED from the CDC schedule is for meningitis.

MENINGITIS

One of THE most horrific, deadly infections you would ever have the misfortune to see.

It can — and does — kill kids within hours.

Dropped.

To satisfy anti vaccine fantasies.

Sick….

Now you know. Do bettah, for your own babies and grand-babies — at least.

नमस्ते

A Hope-Filled Countdown Begins, In Ethiopia — For The End Of The 2025 Marburg Flare Up / Outbreak.

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If all holds as expected, and no new cases are seen in these next 21 days, as of Janaury 27, 2026… the outbreak will be officially at an end.

As we reported, this dread disease presents much like an Ebola infection. Tragically, it is fatal more than 60% of the time, as there are no approved therapeutics, and no approved vaccines. So — being on the end of this cycle is very good news. We will keep you posted, here — but this is the latest, locally — overnight:

…Addis Abeba: The Ministry of Health announced that no new cases of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) have been detected in Ethiopia over the past 21 days, signaling progress in containing the outbreak, though authorities warned that the outbreak will only be officially declared over after 42 consecutive days without new infections.

In a statement released on 5 January 2026, the Ministry said that since the outbreak was confirmed in the South Ethiopia Region on 14 November 2025, laboratory tests have been conducted for 3,800 people. Among these, 14 tested positive for the virus, resulting in nine deaths and five recoveries, according to the Ethiopian Public Health Institute….

Now you know… onward, smiling.

नमस्ते

NASA’s Hubble Scope Helps Resolve An Enduring Mystery: Why Does Betelgeuse Brighten And Dim, About Every 2,100 Days?

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The companion star, only a tiny fraction the size of the monster it closely orbits… has been dubbed Siwarha by the team who “discovered” her orbit.

The term derives from ancient Arabic — and translates as “her bracelet“. Especially fitting, since she carves a space-time ring — around the “wrist” of the massive Betelgeuse.

Do read go it all — as this always fires my imagination: the moment of revealing, of that new “undiscovered country” (per NASA):

…The team detected Siwarha’s wake by carefully tracking changes in the star’s light over nearly eight years. These changes show the effects of the previously unconfirmed companion as it plows through the outer atmosphere of Betelgeuse. This discovery resolves one of the biggest mysteries about the giant star, helping scientists to explain how it behaves and evolves while opening new doors to understanding other massive stars nearing the end of their lives.

Located roughly 650 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Orion, Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star so large that more than 400 million Suns could fit inside. Because of its enormous size and proximity, Betelgeuse is one of the few stars whose surface and surrounding atmosphere can be directly observed by astronomers, making it an important and accessible laboratory for studying how giant stars age, lose mass, and eventually explode as supernovae….

Using NASA’s Hubble and ground-based telescopes at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory and Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory, the team was able to see a pattern of changes in Betelgeuse, which provided clear evidence of a long-suspected companion star and its impact on the red supergiant’s outer atmosphere. Those include changes in the star’s spectrum, or the specific colors of light given off by different elements, and the speed and direction of gases in the outer atmosphere due to a trail of denser material, or wake. This trail appears just after the companion crosses in front of Betelgeuse every six years, or about 2,100 days, confirming theoretical models….

The scale of these events is just… staggering. Most of our frames of reference are sub-nanometer, by comparison. But what a sight it would be, if we could witness it, from about five or so light years off. Whoosh — a safe distance, so we wouldn’t burn up — but it would still fill most of our [at this point mythical] spacecraft’s forward viewing window.

Very cool — and, in the masthead below, our Sun would be less than 1/600,000th of a pixel in size!!

नमस्ते

Hilarious. “ICE-Barbie” Noem Is Just Now (Finally) Realizing… She’s Lost, In Nashville — Come The 28th. All Subsequent Trial Orders Stayed… Until That Dismissal Hearing Is Decided.

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To (sort of) channel T.S. Eliot, it comes “not with a bang. . . but a whimper.”

I’d put the probability around 90% — that the very capable USDC Judge Waverly Crenshaw will simply toss the goevernment’s case against Abrego, by (or shortly after) month’s end.

And he may seek to impose sanctions (for misconduct, and repeated misrepresentations to the court) against Messrs. McGuire and Boucek. And maybe even Noem and Bovino — we’ll wait to see (but these latter two would a stretch, in truth — as they held presss briefings, only). But Noem held one in Nashville in late Spring — where she repeatedly lied about the accused. So we shall see. Here’s the “game — set — match” admission, just filed this afternoon:

…COMES NOW the United States of America, by and through Braden Boucek, United States Attorney, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire and moves this Court to stay any deadlines related to the jury trial in this case.

Previously, this Court set deadlines as part of a global scheduling order (DE # 103) and also granted the Government an extension to file responses to the Defendant’s Motions in Limine which also extended the Defendant’s time to file any optional replies (DE # 256). The Court has since canceled the January 27, 2026, trial date, to be rescheduled after the Court rules on the Defendant’s pending motion to dismiss. (DE # 281.)

Therefore, the United States respectfully requests that the Court stay all trial-related deadlines pending further orders of this Court. The undersigned has conferred with defense counsel who has no opposition to this Motion….

Tune in on the 28th — as I’ve said, I’ll be there in person the night before — and live blogging at 9 AM inside Judge Crenshaw’s 3C Courtroom. Onward, goggled and grinning.

नमस्ते

New ’34 Act Onco-R&D-Co To Follow? Minn.’s Celcuity Apparently Bought Its Breast Cancer Candidate From Pfizer For ~$5 Million… Now Stock Up ~620%?

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Here on Sunday morning, Scott Johnson tooted his own horn — about his prior closeness to this Minneapolis area CEO [old school GOP, it would seem], so… here goes:

We will likely reserve any judgment on this name for a bit, here. While the Viktoria-1 topline data does look promising, it could be largely due to later stage breast cancer patients hopping into new therapies, when existing ones are not working, for their specific tumor types.

We do note in passing that the cum-laude Harvard educated CEO is making over $6.5 million a year, whilst issuing lots of dilutive new stock to the public, to fund the company — since it is a pure cash burn, no-revenue shop at the moment. That said, the CEO, Mr. Sullivan, has seen prior successes — in selling two prior companies he led, to large companies (JNJ and PNG, respectively — if memory serves), after developing the in-house assets — and one, even in the life sciences space.

So, in truth it bears… watching. The stock price may be a little ahead of itself, given the need to issue more shares — but in the world of onco-pharma CEOs, $6.5 million a year in pay is about mid-market — not excessive, at all… [and appears positively modest, when one considers that Bitcoin miner (money losing and perennially cash burning) Riot Platforms is paying over $35 million a year to its CEO, Jason Les].

Do your own diligence, but here is an October 2025 run-down on the company’s progress, in breast cancers — and a bit:

…Discussing the Viktoria-1 data, Dr. Alessandra Gennari of University of Piemonte Orientale welcomed gedato’s low rates of hyperglycaemia, but pointed to a 69% rate of stomatitis (19% at grade 3+), which is higher than seen with Piqray, Itovebi or Truqap.

Overall, however, this remains a decent result for Celcuity, especially as it had paid just $5m to license gedato from the project’s originator, Pfizer. Now the focus turns to regulatory filing, and data in PIK3CA-mutant cohort breast cancer….

Me? I might wait a tick(!), to see how the market digests the coming equity dilution — there may soon be a lower entry-point — on prices, for a patient set of long term holders, in 2026. [Onward — ignoring the latest Trumpian lunacy.]

नमस्ते

I Might Answer, With A Question Of My Own: “How Depraved… Is Hinderaker?”

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Tonight, late — John seeks to find fault with all “leftists” (and who knows whatever he might imagine that term encompasses), for having the temerity to question the lawfulness of “dear leader’s” actions, as well as the wisdom of the same.

What a putz.

Funny, I seemed to recall Hinderaker questioning on the daily almost everything either Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden ever did while in office. And in the main… they weren’t invading countries without informing the Senate Armed Services Committee.

They weren’t seizing oil — and the wives of presidents — and indicating that an opposition leader (who has won an actual Nobel Peace Prize) wasn’t “popular enough” (at 67% favorables) to serve her own country, and serve as a quickly elected replacement leader. [Here do recall that Trump is over 60% unfavorable, and has never been more than 51% favorable in either of his terms.]

He claims we went there to end “narco terrorism” (again, whatever that might mean?), and to restore elected democratic leadership. But he says while she’s “a nice lady”, she doesn’t “have what it takes” — to run her own country.

Why? Well (of course!) because she has a vagina. And who knows, she might… bleed or something.

So John hops right to the boot-licking, claiming that any editorial questioning his “dear leader” is tantamount to treason, or at least… unpatriotic. What I’m not clear about is how this is any of our business, John.

Power Alley ’26: Two Major Names Decided To In-License Oncology Candidates In December 2025…

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We have been particularly impressed with Gilead for the past several years, between Hep C and COVID related wins, but we’ve been a little more cautious about the Abbott spinoff called AbbVie.

I expect to be more bullish on AbbVie in 2026, as it continues to show both its R&D savvy, and deal-doing expertise. Here’s the latest from Fierce, on each of them:

…AbbVie and Gilead Sciences each used the holiday season to reward their pipelines with a new clinical-stage cancer drug.

Zejing Biopharmaceutical unwrapped a $100 million upfront payment from AbbVie in return for the option to license alveltamig, also known as ZG006, outside of China. Zejing has been evaluating the DLL3-targeting trispecific T-cell binder in late-stage trials for “cellular lung cancer and other DLL3-expressing malignancies,” according to Zejing’s filing with the Shanghai stock exchange….

Under the Dec. 30 agreement, AbbVie will hand over another $60 million if it takes up its ex-China license option, while milestone payments tied to the alveltamig program could potentially reach $1.07 billion….

Now you know — off to the art museums here… out, into the sunshine. Grin — with my Oregon Ducks set to play Indiana in a week’s time. Woot!

नमस्ते

Jim “Gym” Jordan Released Some Depo About Some Six Year Old Events / Transcripts. Yawn.

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And Hinderaker would like us to pretend they mean… something… untoward. Or, anything… really.

They don’t.

Except that MAGA world is out of ideas — for its faux outrage machine.

It is… dying, as I type this. [Mayor Mamdani’s inaugural was local proof of it, today.]

At a rally the other night, Trump said inflation was “fake”. That prices were actually… “declining.”

No crowd applause. No shouts of agreement.

Just stony silence — from the small crowd.

An idle cough was heard — but that was it: his own idiotic base finally has had its fill of his narcissistic lies.

John reaches back to smear Jack Smith’s honorable, competent service… to blunt the Trumpian death rattles… from being heard.

But here’s what Jack Smith himself said, under oath (H/T to EmptyWheel):

…Mr. Smith: All of that is false, and I’ll say a few things.

The first is the evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit.

The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit.

So in terms of why we would pursue a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the Presidential election…

Hinderaker’s high-jinks are… hilarious. But it won’t work, John.

Out.