Category: Uncategorized

Confirming An Improving Regulatory Trend In China, Gardasil® Is Now Approved By China’s FDA — For Men — Not Just Women.

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In early November ’24, we mentioned that we thought the pessimism about Gardasil® sales in China (on Wall and Broad) was being overstated. Today’s news confirms that view.

You see, much of the decline in China’s HPV vaccine sales previously seen was due not so much to organic demand factors, but a sharp state-actor / regulatory crackdown by Xi, on many US companies’ Chinese network of distributors, of all sorts of drugs. [We covered that, here.]

Gardasil was particularly hard hit when ZFSW, the largest in-country distributor of Gardasil was nearly closed (due to concerns about alleged hospital kickbacks), by Chinese authorities. It is resolved, and yet it is taking a moment to rebuild rapport with hospital buyers, in this vast, sprawling Asian nation… but that effort is well-underway. [Hospitals themselves often fear state-actor reprisals, when there are stock-outs and the like.] Even so, as they say in China, “the mountains are high, and the emperor is very far away….”

In any event, here’s Reuters, on the latest “in China” clearance:

…Merck’s human papillomavirus vaccine has been approved for men in China, it said on Wednesday, providing the U.S. drugmaker a much-needed boost in a key market where demand has been falling among women. The shot, Gardasil, is already approved for women, but the vaccine’s distributor in China has reduced stock due to weak demand.

Merck [at Q3 2024] said weak sales in China were likely to continue in 2025….

This is the first HPV vaccine for men to be approved by China’s National Medical Products Administration and can be used by children and men aged between 9 and 26 years to prevent certain cancers and HPV-related diseases, the company said.
HPV is a common cause for cervical cancer in women, while it increases the risk of genital warts and several types of cancers among men….

Onward — grinning into the warming sunshine here — above zero on the wind chills, finally! And at 2 PM EDT today we will learn whether “Hizzoner” should even bother to show up for trial in Manhattan federal court, given the number of adverse inferences to be drawn, and the potential lack of any exhibits, since he’s missed all deadlines to provide them. Delicious.

नमस्ते

Mr. Giuliani Has Again Provoked The Righteous Ire Of The Able USDC Judge Liman In Manhattan — Failed To Meet Deadlines, On Pre-Trial Orders…

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UPDATED: As of 9:32 Eastern, no service appears on the docket. I think… that’s… game over. [Filing No. 226 was made a little after 7 pm — nothing has come in since. Yikes. No Filing No. 227.] End, update.

He is now in danger of losing at trial on Friday, the tenth of January, because he is not even trying to put on a case that complies with liong standing and clear court orders.

As I type this, he’s about 10 minutes away from missing another ordered deadline, below.

The slow motion train-wreck that is (former) Hizzoner Giuliani continues tonight, thus:

…The Court ordered the parties, including intervenor, to submit joint pretrial orders, as well as other submissions, by 5 p.m. today, January 7, 2025. 24-cv-06563, Dkt. No. 185; 24-mc-00353, Dkt. No. 219.

Plaintiff timely filed a proposed pretrial order reflecting the participation of intervenor. 24-cv-06563, Dkt. No. 191; 24-mc-00353, Dkt. No. [221]. The proposed pretrial orders reflect that counsel for the Defendant failed to make himself available to meet and confer. Id. Instead, at 4:50 p.m., counsel for Defendant emailed Chambers his exhibit list, and at 4:57 p.m., counsel for Defendant emailed Chambers what he represented were joint pretrial orders agreed to by all parties in both matters. The emailed joint pretrial orders make reference to an attached joint exhibit list but do not attach the exhibit list.

Nothing was filed on the docket. The Court would be within its prerogative to preclude Defendant from offering exhibits that are not contained in the joint pretrial orders filed by Plaintiffs. Counsel for Plaintiffs have not asked for such relief, however, and assuming Defendant complies with this Order, would not be entitled to it.The Court cannot go to trial with two competing joint pretrial orders, and it is not required to go to the effort of reconciling the competing submissions.

Before 9:30 p.m. tonight, Defendant is ordered to serve Plaintiffs and Intervenor, by email to all counsel appearing for Plaintiffs and Intervenor, his proposed exhibit list in each of these matters, as well as any edits to the joint pretrial orders submitted by Plaintiffs.

Failure to do so will result in waiver of the right to submit exhibits not otherwise included in the filed joint pretrial orders. Defendants counsel is also ordered to meet and confer with Plaintiffs counsel tomorrow morning at a time before 11:30 a.m. selected by Plaintiffs counsel (which Plaintiffs counsel should provide by 9:30 pm tonight).

Plaintiffs shall file revised joint pretrial orders on the dockets of each of these cases by 2 p.m. tomorrow. No other pretrial submissions will be received by the Court (except for the response to Plaintiffs motions in limine), the time period for any other such submissions having expired.

Signed by Judge Lewis J. Liman on 1/7/2025….

His filing extension expires at 9:30 PM EST tonight — ten minutes from now. And nothing is on the docket, at all. He’s… definitively DOA (without this filing) on the homestead question, and the Yankees World Series rings question. Oof.

नमस्ते

Equally Likely Explanation? Few Florida Men Want To “Waste Time” — On Jury Duty.

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Again tonight, John Hinderaker’s increasingly-wild imagination is getting the better of him.

He leaps to the conclusion that most Floridians “hate” CNN. I doubt it.

The far more likely explanation for the juror candidates’ remarks he cites… might be that most feckless Florida whyte men (and they are mostly men)… Don’t really want to serve on a jury, at all — given the very low pay and the relatively boring nature of that duty.

So they make up what will be disqualifying answers, in order to be preemptively struck.

That’s Occam’s Razor.

[Moreover it looks like CNN has truth as a defense — wanting to “nail” a war profiteer is not libel if his prices were wildly high. And it seems they… were.]

Cheers.

Power Alley — Ongoing: This Time On Potential For Therapeutic Nanobodies-Based Regimen — Treating Ebola Virus, In Humans…

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[Two or three on bio-science, in a single day? I must have some sort of… fever. Heh!] We just saw in Phys.org that the fine U of Minn research teams have a new approach to try, as an ebola virus therapy.

It has shown much promise in a mice model, and involves targeting hidden notches at the viral binding sites. This is all on an almost unimaginably small scale. No big chain, honkin’ complex chemical model, no.

This is a bit like dropping the tiniest dollop of “Super Glue” — into a huge vat — and seeing that the glue only binds onto the bad lil’ critters, and in only a tiny lil’ back alley of their structures. But that binder action prevents them from replicating across much larger human blood cells. Yep — it seems to gum up the viral replication process rather nicely. Here’s the latest:

…Ebola virus, one of the deadliest pathogens, has a fatality rate of about 50%, posing a serious threat to global health and safety.

To address this challenge, researchers at the University of Minnesota and the Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center have developed the first nanobody-based inhibitors targeting the Ebola virus….

Nanobodies are tiny antibodies derived from animals like alpacas. Their small size allows them to access areas of the virus and human tissues that larger antibodies cannot. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team created nine nanobodies to fight COVID-19. Now, they’ve used this technology to develop two new nanobody inhibitors for Ebola: Nanosota-EB1 and Nanosota-EB2.

The nanobodies work in different ways to stop Ebola. The virus hides the part it uses to attach to human cells under a protective layer. Nanosota-EB1 prevents this layer from opening, blocking the virus from attaching to cells. Nanosota-EB2 targets a part of the virus essential for breaking into cells, stopping its spread. In lab tests, Nanosota-EB2 was especially effective, greatly improving survival rates in Ebola-infected mice….

Onward — grinning; what a time to be alive, indeed. Pandemic / biotech research is ripping ahead apace, as well as interstellar / space sciences — day by day! Be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते

[U: UBS’s Target Still Above Mine!] Moderna Jumps Over 13% On First US Bird Flu Fatality. Hard News.

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UPDATE: On January 8, 2025, UBS Securities reduced its price targets on several pharma / bio-science companies, including Merck and Moderna (citing a coming Tangerine 2.0 imagined onslaught). Yawn. You see, in the case of Moderna, the reduced one year target at UBS is $96, which is $11 higher than my guess of $85. Bob’s your uncle. [And, in the case of Merck, the target now stands at $130, same as mine.] End updated portion.

Here two days later, Moderna’s stock price is still increasing.

The reason is rather morose: the bird flu death we mentioned in Louisiana. Moderna is likely to benefit from any vaccines contracts let by the federal government. We’ve suggested it will be an $85 stock by this time next year; and today it sits $46. We shall see. Here’s the latest:

…Moderna is one of a few drugmakers currently developing a vaccine for the H5N1 bird flu, which is spreading rapidly through farm- and wild animals….

As we say… we shall see.

नमस्ते

[U] NASA Administrator Bill Nelson Is Right Now Outlining Cheaper, And Faster Options — For The Mars Rock Sample Return Mission (2030s)…

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A press conference is underway (audio only) to lay out next steps for the partially privatized return of these Barsoomian rock core samples drilled by Perseverance. [It cannot escape notice that he is prominently mentioning, and explaining the Blue Origin ideas here — and has been utterly mum on any SpaceX stuff. He’s no fan of… the blowhard Musk, I gather.]

Below is a legacy video of what we hope to learn from them.

And the post-conference presser puts it this way:

…To maximize chances of successfully bringing the first Martian rock and sediment samples to Earth for the benefit of humanity, NASA announced Tuesday a new approach to its Mars Sample Return Program. The agency will simultaneously pursue two landing architectures, or strategic plans, during formulation, encouraging competition and innovation, as well as cost and schedule savings.

“Pursuing two potential paths forward will ensure that NASA is able bring these samples back from Mars with significant cost and schedule saving compared to the previous plan,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “These samples have the potential to change the way we understand Mars, our universe, and – ultimately – ourselves. I’d like to thank the team at NASA and the strategic review team, led by Dr. Maria Zuber, for their work….”

This is an extraordinary time to be alive, and witness space science unfurling, in vast puffs, day by day. Onward!

नमस्ते

Wait! WTH?! Aileen Cannon Thinks She… Rules The Universe?!

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The fairly inexperienced Tangerine 1.0 appointee, in Ft. Pierce, Florida… seems to think she can halt BIPARTISAN POLICY decisions of the Congress, sua sponte. [That’s a legacy graphic from Tangerine 1.0, as she’s not worth taking the time to edit any new, or additional… pixels. She will again shortly be… rendered… irrelevant.]

Whatever. These are BIPARTISAN policy decisions about what “we, the people” are entitled to see — as to how our government functions. The fact that it will lay bare all the evidence of Tangerine’s lawless, felonious behavior before and after J6… is exactly what the framers had in mind, in adopting an open Congress, and an open Judiciary.

This will get sorted out. We will see the Jack Smith final report.

If the Eleventh Circuit tries to block it, the Supremes will… release it.

This is core framer-enabled… open government.

“Truck Fump.”

Onward.

France Sees Its First Mpox Clade 1b Case Emerge: Believed Caused By Woman’s Contact With A Traveler Who Was Returning From Western Africa

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Not surprising — but it reaffirms my guess that this Clade 1b outbreak will vex us sporadically, but globe wide, through mid-year 2025, at least.

The virus finds a host from any close contact, and is particularly robust. The index traveler has yet to be identified, but all contacts of the woman have been vaccinated now in Rennes. Here’s the latest, from Reuters reporting:

…The patient had not traveled to Central Africa, where the new form of the virus originated but was in contact with two people who had returned from that region, AFP reported, citing the ministry. Health authorities are investigating the source of the infection and are working to trace all potential contacts, according to AFP.

The patient is a woman and was diagnosed in the northwestern region of Brittany at a hospital in Rennes, French regional newspaper Ouest France reported….

Now you know — and the first fatality from bird flu has been recorded, in that patient in Louisiana we mentioned who had seen it mutate en vivo, during the course of the viral progression.

Separately, we await Friday — with Hizzoner due to another contempt proceeding — this Friday, this time in DC federal court, before the able Judge Beryl Howell. This time the contempt concerns his continued defamation of the two Georgia election workers — not a fight over his (former) property, per se. He could see additional damages imposed — for continuing his libel of the women, to be sure, though.

नमस्ते

Johnson Has A “Sad”, Because He Didn’t Get A Platform… Heh.

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Apparently, yesterday there was a press conference in Minneapolis to announce the federal Justice Department/Minneapolis consent agreement — with the city, that has resulted from then MPD officer Derek Chauvin’s murder of a cuffed, subdued George Floyd, filmed by dozens in broad daylight.

Scott Johnson showed up to ask questions. But his questions were more like manifesto talking points, or political talking points for the hard right, if we are being charitable.

He signed in with other journalists by name, and was recognized by name as affiliated with a hard right/racist blogging site (he had “covered” Chauvin’s murder trial in 2021-22, laden with his own starkly whyte separatist rhetoric — going so far as to source the appeal lawyer for Chauvin, from his roster of “friends” — pro bono — when the disgraced former cop ran out of funds).

As irony would have it, Scott now professes to be incensed that he wasn’t allowed to ask a question from the gallery. Yet for four long years in the rare moments when Tangerine 1.0 would take ANY questions at a press conference, I cannot remember once Scott Johnson’s rising to defend the scads of journalists Trump had blackballed. All considered MSM “lefties” by both Tangerine and Scott and John and Paul.

not even… once. Nope.

So do spare me the “tiny violins” act, Scott.

Out.

YAWN. Meta “Pays Tribute” To Nero — And Hinderaker Thinks It’s A Game Changer?! Hilarious.

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Dana White — as a pure “patronage” offer to Tangerine 2.0… from Zuck… is just one of… what? 13 or 15 seats, on the Meta board of directors!?

But John’s suggests he churlishly now thinks… Tangerine runs the Facebook company’s board?! How preciously… naive, of him.

No John — it is just clear that US business leaders (Cook, at Apple included here) see Trump as a pure graft / bribe seeking a$$hole, and would rather just pay the bridge troll, to keep their businesses running — than fight his stupid executive orders against them, in the courts.

Cowardly?

Sure — I’d buy that critique — but not one of them thinks Trump (or Dana White) has any actual ethical business acumen.

They are all just appeasing Nero — but they see that swaths of Rome will burn — and soon. This way, they can at least summon a fire brigade if/when… Nero begins to burn their own lil’ business stalls just outside… the Colleso.

Out.