Category: Uncategorized

And Here Is The Significantly DECREASED Amgen Spend — And Where All It Went, In Q1 2026…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

As I indicated in the last post, it seems Merck has increased its spend by almost as much as Amgen has cut its. Interesting — we shall see if this reversal of fortunes continues through all of 2026. [It is typical that all majors may decrease spending slightly, in the third quarter, as Congress may recess for most of August.] So, we shall wait and see what Q2 brings.

Here is the decreased Amgen Q1 2026 — and you may compare it to the Amgen Q1 2025 listing, here, in any event:

…[Both Houses of Congress:] Issues related to drug pricing; Issues related to cardiovascular disease awareness and treatment; Issues related to FDA; Issues related to patient affordability issues, including copay cards, copay accumulators, copay maximizers, National Benefit Payment Parameters; Issues related to biosimilars reimbursement; Issues related to Supply Chain; Issues related to 340B; Issues related to pharmacy benefit managers; Issues related to biosimilars regulatory standards; Issues related to bone disease awareness and treatment; Issues related to Public law 117-1769 Inflation Reduction Act; HR 1492 Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures Act; HR 1672 Maintaining Investments in New Innovation Act; HR 1 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14); S 1954 Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act; S.3345 PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act; H.R. 6166 Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act; S.3019 No Big Blockbuster Bailouts Act; HR 4317 PBM Reform Act; S 3510 Biosimilar Inspection Modernization Act; PL 119-75 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026; HR 4299 Protecting Patient Access to Cancer and Complex Therapies Act; H.R.7837 Most Favored Patient Act of 2026; S 3788 Clear Labels Act; HR 5256 340B Access Act; H.R.5526 Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act; HR 7391 Community Health Center Drug Pricing Protection Act….

Issues related to drug pricing; Issues related to cardiovascular disease awareness and treatment; Issues related to reimbursement for biologics/biosimilars; Issues related to PBM reform; Issues related to bone disease awareness and treatment; HR 1 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14); S.3345, PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act; HR 6166, Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act; S 3019 – No Big Blockbuster Bailouts Act; S 3349 PBM Disclosure Act; HR 4317 PBM Reform Act; Issues related to Public law 117-1769 Inflation Reduction Act; HR 1492 Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures Act (EPIC); HR 1672 Maintaining Investments in New Innovation Act (MINI); HR 4299 Protecting Patient Access to Cancer and Complex Therapies Act; H.R.7837 Most Favored Patient Act of 2026; PL 119-75 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026….

[Taxes:] Issues related to corporate and international tax; Public Law 115-97, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; Public Law 119-21, One Big Beautiful Bill Act (An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14); Issues related to Puerto Rico; Issues related to OECD negotiations on the taxation of global income….

Federal Trade Commission related issues: Issues related to the Patent Act, no specific bill; Issues related to March-In/Bayh Dole, WTO/TRIPS; Issues related to patent thickets; Issues related to obviousness/ double patenting; Issues related to FDA/PTO coordination; Issues related to skinny labeling; S.1041 A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, to address the infringement of patents that claim biological products, and for other purposes; S.1040 -A bill to amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to prohibit product hopping, and for other purposes; S 708/ HR 1574 — Realizing Engineering, Science and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive Patent Rights Act of 2025 (RESTORE); S.1553/HR3160– Promoting and Respecting Economically Viable American Innovation Act (PREVAIL); S. 1546/ HR 3152– Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2025 (PERA); S 2276 / HR 3269 Eliminating Thickets to Increase Competition Act (ETHIC Act); S. 43/HR 6485 Skinny Labels Big Savings Act; S.2658 Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act; S. 3452/HR 6624 Biological Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2025….

Issues related to tariffs; Issues related to trade agreements; S. 3452/HR 6624 Biological Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2025….

Now you know — and maybe, just maybe — Amgen figured out that the Supremes (as we’s long said — and as did many other wise heads) were going to all but end tariffs regardless, and thus the company needed to spend less overall, in Q1 — jaw-boning Congress for some future possible legislative “fix“.

Who knows? Anyhoo — onward now, grinning into the Spring sunshine, for a bike ride — by the clear, cold azure waters of the lake….

नमस्ते

Merck’s Q1 Lobby Spending Is Almost Double Last Year’s Q1, And Nearly Above [Gargantuan] Pfizer’s — From Last Year’s Q1…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is, admittedly, a complete surprise. To be fair, Pfizer will likely always be about 30% bigger than Merck, on NYSE market cap and asset base — and thus, lobby spending.

But this huge jump in Q1 2026, for Merck seems… out of character, over the past seven or so annual cycles. [In the next in this series, we will add in the Amgen spend, which has fallen by almost as much as Merck’s has… risen. Odd.]

Why now? Why so much — in each direction?! We are abidingly curious — especially compared to the peer group. In any event, see my chart at right, and the below, filed on April 20 [and look for a four way version, with Amgen in, tonight or tomorrow]:

…[Senate] S. 1339, Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act; S. 2076, Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions To End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act of 2021….

Issues relating to: 340B program integrity; 340B of the Public Health Services Act; 340B issues; 340B drug pricing program; Drug pricing; Drug pricing and reimbursement issues; Cost and value of medicines; Vaccine issues; Package inserts and e-labeling; Package inserts, labeling issues, and e-labeling authorization legislation; Pharmaceutical supply channel issues; Drug shortages issues; Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169), issues relating to drug pricing provisions; One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21), issues related to health care; FY-2027 Budget and Appropriations Legislation; Budget reconciliation drug pricing provisions; Commerce Justice, Science, and related agencies appropriations legislation for 2026; Interior, Environment, and related agencies appropriations legislation for 2026; Intellectual property protection and trade issues; Animal Health Policy Issues; Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA) & Funding for Electronic Animal Traceability; General pharmaceutical issues; Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP); Vaccine Policy; Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) policy issues; Pharmacy Benefit Manager reforms; Food and Drug Administration issues; Public Health Issues; Most Favored Nation (MFN) drug pricing; Section 232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaceutical Ingredients; International competition in biopharmaceuticals….

[US House] Issues relating to: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21), issues related to health care; Medicare; Medicare Part B and D drug pricing issues; 340B program integrity; 340B of the Public Health Services Act; 340B drug pricing program; Drug pricing; Cost and value of medicines; Drug pricing and reimbursement issues; FY-2027 Budget and Appropriations Legislation; Medicaid drug rebate program (MDRP)….

[Taxes] Issues relating to: Tax reform and tax policy, generally; Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169), provisions relating to budget reconciliation and taxes; Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97), provisions relating to tax reform….

[Animal Health] Issues relating to: Animal Health Policy Issues; Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA) & Funding for Electronic Animal Traceability; Agriculture, Rural Development , Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2026; Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2026; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill 2026….

That is — overall, a rather stunning reversal in spend levels. Mr. Davis must believe that the arms of the federal government may be bent / bought, with enough… lucre. Wow — under Trump, that might be true. Onward.

नमस्ते

Who’ Da’ Thunk It?! A Career-Grifter Grifts Some Other Career-Grifters… And Now Says (In A Federal Suit)… They “Defrauded” Him. Shocking. Not.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Really. This couldn’t possibly happen to. . . a nicer bunch of people — on both sides.

You may recall, that during Trump 1.0, Justin Sun paid $4.6 million — in an online charity auction — just to have a one hour lunch with Warren Buffett, in Omaha. Mr. Sun hoped to convince Mr. Buffett that crypto- was not “rat poison, squared“. He failed.

Mr. Sun was then sued in 2023, by the SEC — on allegations of fraud, wash-trading, and illegal promotion of crypto assets (Tronix and BitTorrent). Those charges were settled for a small sum, at the SEC, within this past 12 months, under Trump 2.0 — after Sun had “invested” ~$45 million in WLFI, a Trump family-affiliated (purported) crypto- multi-platform.

Then the people at WLFI locked up his “investment” — preventing him from being able to sell it — or so he claims. WLFI is likely to say they’ve locked everyone — into their “positions” — and no one can sell. The question is… what did the contracts allow / prohibit? [The full and fair disclosures of SEC rules (free of material omissions) arguably do not govern these crypto- investing contracts — it is caveat emptor, or so the MAGA-administration asserts.]

Mr. Sun says he was promised liquidity, and in short order. That plainly has not happened [but does he have that promise in writing?]. Thus the 52 page fraud suit, in California’s northern federal District courts:

…World Liberty repeatedly claimed its mission was to promote the “liberty” provided by DeFi, summed up in the gold paper as “the ability to transact privately and without intermediaries.” The gold paper decried the “centralized control” of “traditional financial intermediaries,” lauded the “freedoms that decentralized assets provide” and the benefits of “peer-to-peer systems of transactions,” and pledged to make DeFi “readily available to mainstream Americans.” To those ends, the gold paper announced World Liberty’s plan “to launch the World Liberty Financial Protocol (‘WLF Protocol’), a US-based decentralized platform, that is intended to offer users with information about and access to certain third party DeFi applications, based on American ideals of liberty, privacy, and freedom to transact.” The gold paper thus boasted that World Liberty was “intended to be more than a decentralized finance platform” and was “committed to democratizing access to DeFi and fostering mass adoption of DeFi and cryptocurrency….”

As part of World Liberty’s professed goal to “to democratize finance,” the gold paper explained, “$WLFI tokens represent a right to vote on certain WLF Protocol matters.” According to the gold paper, token holders could “submit proposals[,] discuss them and vote on WLF Protocol changes, marketing initiatives, new features, and more.” Indeed, the gold paper noted that World Liberty was “required in its bylaws to defer to certain token holder votes.” The gold paper further stated that the “WLF Governance Platform is community-governed through the $WLFI token” and that “World Liberty Financial governance is divided into two categories of votes,” the first of which was “[a]pproved upgrades to the WLF Protocol.” The gold paper thus described $WLFI as “the governance token at the heart of World Liberty.” In fact, the gold paper claimed that because $WLFI tokens were initially locked from trading and conferred “no right of return or other distribution,” the “sole utility of holding $WLFI is governance of the WLF Protocol….”

Pop the popcorn, folks. And me? I’m waiting for Mr. Sun to say under oath, in a deposition, that he feels he did not get the full value of “the bribe” he agreed to pay — and did pay. . . to Trump, and his minions. Stay tuned. Grin.

नमस्ते

Fifty Years On, For Norman’s Iridescent Gem Of A Debut — And 56 Years, Celebrating Earth Day… Seems Appropriate.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

I think I’ve mentioned a few times here, over the years, that in many ways… my childhood was a mash-up of what was written by Norman, in A River Runs Through It, and slightly modernized by Stephen King’s “The Body” / Stand By Me. We fly-fished less than Norman, but got caught up in a lot of the same shenanigans, my brothers and I.

Our soundtrack / backpacking in the national forests of the High Rockies — mostly at the headwaters of the Arkansas… was definitely a AA battery powered tinny transistor AM Radio tuned to KOMA, out of Oklahoma City [mostly Soul and Funk]… the only station with the wattage to clear the Continental Divide.

And so, most of my very pro-environmental thoughts began… on those rivers, and in those canyons. The mountain-tops of 14,000 plus feet, too. Here’s Norman [slightly modified], then:

“…Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.

“Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn’t.

Like many fly fisherman in [the Rockies], where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the [Arkansas] River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are [mine, to you]….

I am haunted by waters….”

Smile — do go be excellent to one another — and be excellent to the mother of us all — the Earth. Onward.

नमस्ते

[U] DoJ: Weaponizing Criminal Law — Against Investigators, Of White Supremacy Groups…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

For over a decade, John Hinderaker has complained that the Southern Poverty Law Center had labeled his blog… a racial hate site.

My reaction? “One cannot libel… garbage by saying it… stinks.

[Truth is an absolute defense under US law, that is.]

Minor update @ 10 pm EDT — no surprise here at all Bill G. over at Powerline gets the story completely wrong… He has no idea what he’s talking about. Yet he blathers on and on… that the KKK itself was/is a “hoax.” What a stupid tool.

Bill conveniently fails to mention that his boss, Hinderaker — regularly complained about the “unfairness” of being labeled as a hate site by the SPLC — for about three years from 2016 to 2019. John didn’t think they were an hoax at all. End, silly updated portion.

Tonight, it seems John has gotten Kash Patel, Todd Blanche and the boys… to indict the SPLC — on preposterous charges of not being truthful with their donors.

The claim is that SPLC was required (under federal criminal laws) to tell its donors that some small part of the organization’s funds would be used to recruit and keep… “double agents” / informants… inside hate groups like the various KKK chapters and the “Unite The Right” a-holes, who attacked peaceful demonstrators in 2018, in Charlottesville, VA — during Trump 1.0.

It is obvious that no crime occurred (and it is obvious why one would not out its double agents here — on pain of likely death!), but Todd Blanche’s homie-indictments have been handed up, tonight. They will be shortly dismissed — by right thinking USDC Judges.

This is simply Trump’s ongoing demonization campaign, against any organization that criticizes him and his minions, as racists.

Do note that organizations on the right including Tom Fitton’s JudicialWatch, and Kevin O’Keefe’s “fraudulent left group” Project Veritas, were never charged (under Messrs. Biden or Obama), after using organization funds to run “double-agent” programs against ACORN, among others. [And they lied on video about what they were doing.] No, they were caught spending donations on orgies and the like — that’s what ended them.

They are bankrupt, but not… in jail.

Onward, resolutely.

Well — Not Every Game Features… A Grand Slam. Eisai And Merck See Another Miss, On Their Combos, In Advanced Renal Cell Carcinomas…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Regular readers here will recall that in August of 2023, the same combo posted some disappointing results in head and neck cancers. [But the combo remains quite useful in uterine cancers.]

Yes — to be fair, that is the way of things — not every combo trial will be a home run. The strides that we’ve made in about a decade, in treating previously dire cancers… is nothing short of revolutionary, with Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), primarily — just the same.

And to be certain, each of the therapies is a mega blockbuster in its own rights — so I think the NYSE reaction (off ~4%, as to Merck, particularly) is decidedly over-blown.

This is all… mostly fine-tuning, where and how to deploy these wonder drugs — in various combinations, for various cancers. Here’s the latest, in any event:

…Merck and Eisai today announced results from the Phase 3 LITESPARK-012 trial evaluating combination regimens for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The trial evaluated the triplet therapy of KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, plus LENVIMA® (lenvatinib), the orally available multiple receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) discovered by Eisai, plus WELIREG® (belzutifan), Merck’s first-in-class, oral hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha (HIF-2α) inhibitor. The study also evaluated MK-1308A, the coformulation of KEYTRUDA and quavonlimab, Merck’s investigational anti-CTLA-4 antibody, plus LENVIMA. Both combination regimens were compared to KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA for these patients.

At a pre-specified interim analysis, the combination regimens did not meet the dual primary endpoints of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for the first-line treatment of patients with RCC compared to KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA….

This is how real life science progresses — find the blind alleys, and then don’t go back down them. That’s the iterative process we all must endure — to make truly lasting, evidence based advances — in oncology. Onward — with bby grrls at the park, again this evening — woot!

नमस्ते

The Vast Economic Harm Caused By Warrantless ICE Raids — Just In Minneapolis/St. Paul, Alone: New Report.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The twin cities estimate, via an independent study, that over $650 million in lost revenue was directly attributable to the disruptions, street barricades and general fear engendered by the ICE surges in Minneapolis, over those nine weeks. You may read that (all eight pages) as an exhibit to the amended complaint, in the class action now working its way throught the federal court there. [Prior backgrounder, here.]

That is. . . staggering — but personally, I want to highlight the way businesses and others have reported that ICE agents treated them. That is. . . staggering — but personally, I want to highlight the way businesses and others have reported that ICE agents treated them. [I’ve used the St. Paul version, below, but here is the Minneapolis one, for a complete record.] Most of all, look at that last line: not even one person was ever shown a judicial warrant, prior to ICE trespass, into private property — and/or arrests. Damn:
Most of all, look at that last line: not even one person in st. Paul was ever shown a judicial warrant, prior to ICE trespass, into private property — and/or arrests. Damn:

…Agents entered a non-public area of their business without consent | 12.8%

Agents questioned their workers about their immigration status | 7.4%

Agents detained or arrested workers inside the business | 3.6%

Agents questioned customers about their immigration status | 19.1%

Agents detained or arrested customers inside the business | 0.9%

Agents presented an administrative warrant | 2.3%

Agents displayed weapons inside the business | 3.6%

Agents presented a judicial warrant signed by a judge | 0.0%….

This is insane. The American people deserve better, from their elected administration, at the federal level. It is high time to vote them… out. Onward.

नमस्ते

USDC Judge Dolly Gee Entered A Clear Order That Kids Grabbed By ICE Or DHS Shall Not Be Held In Hotels More Than 48 Hours. The Government Says She Didn’t Mean It — Wants Us To Blink — At Reality.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

These are small children — frightened — and more than occasionally, alone until a relative can be found.

The AUSAs, on Miller’s likely orders, are filing sworn statements from ICE officials, saying certain things simply “cannot be done” promptly — or at all. [But they offer zero proof of actual impossibility.]

One of the stupidest things they say cannot be done — is listed as “due to a likelihood of fleeing“.

First, this misstates the law — and it blinks unconvincingly, at the actual facts. Seven year olds are not likely to flee a hotel holding them in a strange city under cover of night — especially if they are alone. But that’s what these affidavits falsely assert: that the law requires DHS not to grant them release to relatives.

There is no such law. There is only Tangerine 2.0’s black Sharpie scribble, for that proposition — the Congress, by statute said the opposite: they are to be promptly freed (to their family- or other- guardians) — so as not to suffer added trauma.

[Do recall that the lil’ guy (age 5) grabbed in Minnesota — was shipped off to El Paso, Texas (without any hearing or intervention), and it took two weeks to get him back home, early in 2026.]

These people are… simply monsters. Out.

नमस्ते

Crime Often Will Go Down… With A “Gestapo, In Town”, John.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Yeah Hinderaker… the trains ran on time too — when Hitler imposed martial law in Berlin.

But that is nothing to celebrate — as John has, this evening.

We should pride ourselves (as a nation) on being a “civil” democracy, policed by civil forces, restrained by Constitutional law.

In the main, the people ought to be free… to act foolishly, but not criminally.

Trump (in version 1.0 and 2.0, too) has inverted that pyramid — trampling all of our civil rights, in the process.

I get it: Hinderaker prefers the “original German”.

I do not.

And most Americans do not.

Watch the mid-terms, chump.

Out.

Lilly To Pay Up To ~$7 Billion, To Acquire All Of Kelonia, And Its CAR-T BCMA-Targeting KLN-1010 Phase 1 Candidate…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This just might be a case of buying the whole cow, when perhaps only buying a few gallons — of the milk — would have sufficed.

But if the CAR-T KLN-1010 “milk” candidate is as good as advertised, this may have been the only deal Kelonia management would accept: “buy the whole cow” — and get the BCMA targeting goods, along with it. That is, the Kelonia team may well have been in a position of strength, and the perhaps as much as ~$7 billion price tag reflects it. Here’s the latest, from Fierce:

…Eli Lilly is picking up its second in vivo CAR-T company of the year, paying $3.25 billion in upfront cash for Kelonia Therapeutics and its phase 1-stage myeloma therapy.

Kelonia is a lentiviral vector delivery specialist [with a] lead program [that] BCMA-target[s] in vivo CAR-T. [The candidate is dubbed] KLN-1010 [by Kelonia]….

The Boston-based biotech read out a slice of data from a phase 1 trial in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma last year that demonstrated a 100% minimal residual disease-negative response rate in the first four patients evaluated….

Wow — that’s a small data set — yet, $7 billion? I gather Lilly’s CAR-T shopping spree, in the oncology suite, continues apace [and spending some of that GLP-1 blockbuster revenue]. Smile — onward, into the sunshine in the steel and glass canyons, now.

नमस्ते