This Rumor Seems Pretty Implausible… They Compete Head To Head In Oncology — So Vast Divestitures Would Be Required. Timing Seems… Off, Too.

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As purported M&A market rumors go, this one in particular seems to strain the far edge… of credulity.

But as is more than occasionally the case — it only takes one wild eyed pundit to start a “silly-news cycle” — for at least 24 to 48 hours. This seems to be the case here.

The most salient reason to doubt it could actually transpire would be the manifold antitrust objections in the UK, US, EU and Japan. These companies are head-to-head competitors in oncology and cardiovascular medicines — and on a vast scale. Sure — there are other, even larger, competitors — but sorting out the thicket of overlapping jurisdictional objections might take three or four years, all by itself. [Really — can anyone imagine responsible regulators in the UK, and EU and Japan… agreeing on much of anything — with Tangerine 2.0’s DoJ / Antitrust / FTC divisions? Me either.]

So, were a deal to occur, the combined company would scarcely resemble the two constituent parts (but for BMS, that may be the attraction, to be fair). In sum, AZ really has no need for this wildly large a deal — of any sort — unless there is much Pascal Soriot has been lying to the world about (highly unlikely).

So — color us… decidedly skeptical, here.

In any event, here is just some of the “at best, a rumor” now being reported in the financial press, around the globe this Monday AM:

…While details of the talks remain scarce and sources told the FT that a deal may never materialize, analysts questioned why AstraZeneca — whose market value has surged under CEO Pascal Soriot on the back of a strong drug pipeline — would pursue such a transaction.

AstraZeneca’s London-listed shares were last seen trading 4.7% lower, weighing on the U.K.’s blue-chip index FTSE 100, which was largely flat.

Shares of Bristol Myers rose 6% in U.S. premarket trading.

Coming into Monday trading, AstraZeneca had a market cap of $264 billion. That number has risen steadily over the past decade and since CEO Pascal Soriot took the reins in 2012 as the company has developed a solid pipeline of new drugs. It is targeting $80 billion in sales by 2030, up from $58.7 billion last year.

Bristol Myers’ market cap is roughly $133 billion, and the company is facing loss of exclusivity for multiple drugs. It’s expected to see declining growth from next year as patents expire and top-selling drugs like its blood thinner Eliquis and cancer medicine Opdivo will start to face generic competition.

Analysts were puzzled by both the news itself, as well as the timing of it.

“Given the strength of AZ’s growth and innovation profile, we are a bit perplexed,” Jefferies analysts wrote Monday morning. “Of course financial accretion can look good and maybe more cash generation would allow for more R&D. But if there is one company that doesn’t need financial engineering, it’s AZ….”

There you have it — Soriot simply has no need to do this deal. Onward, smiling into the sunshine — this beat is rarely cloaked in dull moments, to be certain! Yup.

नमस्ते

And Hinderaker Bloviates About Epidemic Dynamics He Never Even Remotely Understood…

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This will be a very short entry, as we have set forth many times how horribly wrong — and willfully deceptive Hinderaker was (and still is) about COVID-19.

He’s both no biologist, and no statistician.

So, his purported “look back” — at Covid, is worth less than… zero.

As we’ve long shown — he lied to benefit Trump — and never even achieved that goal.

And people died for it (disproportionately, in MAGA country — as irony would have it).

D A M N.

Meanwhile, Hinderaker Whines That People In London Say Mean Things To Each Other…

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Confidential Note to John:

That would be just about the opposite of… “the death of free speech”, across the pond, son.

[Seems he ought to more spend time worrying about US gags (RFK, Jr.) on actual public health science. Or about his Ohio GOP candidate credibly accused of sexual assaults and spouse abuse.]

But whatever — do carry on with your trivial lunacies, man.

I mean, your boy Tangerine 2.0 is once again talking about a multi-billion dollar slush fund, for his violent thugs/backers — and eternal immunity from IRS audit for himself — all because he can’t get his AG.

What’s not to like?!

Damn, are you guys predictable.

Out.

Some Marginally Good News: A Small Portion Of The Former USAID Funds Are FINALLY Being Sent On, To Africa…

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It is infuriating that Musk was ever allowed to run amok. But that is what happens when he buys Tangerine 2.0, lock, stock and barrel.

Only now, eighteen months later, do the less idiotic members of Tangerine’s cabinet begin to accept that this gutting of multinational health and humanitarian aid… also endangers our national security. Just as we’ve pointed out, right from the get-go. Slowly, the Rubio hive-mind is accepting that reality.

To be clear, this is only a small fraction of what is needed, and what was lost. But it is… a start. Here’s the latest, from the NYT:

“…What may be happening here is that reality is sinking in for decision makers,” said Mark A. Green, who served as administrator of U.S.A.I.D. during President Trump’s first term and who is president of ONE, an advocacy organization for foreign assistance. “The good news is that Secretary Rubio clearly realizes that global health is what we do, and we’re really good at it. That’s why you’re starting to see more money moving.” He added, “I think there’s a realization that global health security is also American national security, too….”

Eighteen months ago, the freezing of assistance was perceived internationally as a significant U.S. retreat from multilateralism. It created immediate financial crises for many aid institutions, leaving gaping holes in budgets such as that of the World Food Program (WFP), which provides emergency food aid in war and disaster zones….

[Even so,] organizations working to support health programs in low-income countries are watching the closeout budget with alarm. Vincent Lin, associate director of health policy and advocacy at Partners In Health, said the fear was that the budget office was running down the clock, so that the funding allocations would expire at the end of the fiscal year in September.

Mr. Lin noted that while the budget office has not provided Congress with a breakdown of those closeout costs, many of the canceled U.S.A.I.D. awards were already closed. He said it would be hard to understand how the remaining costs could register in the billions of dollars.

“We can prevent a tremendous amount of suffering from TB, malaria, malnutrition and deaths of mothers and babies in childbirth by using these funds as Congress intended,” he said….

With each renewed step — each new step in the right direction… in this way, slowly, sanity might make a comeback. [Even so, it seems the close-out funds are being used by Tangernine 2.0… as back-door bribe opportunities. Dammit.]

नमस्ते

[U] The City’s Lawyers Have Done An Excellent Job, Overnight, Here…

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The City of Evanston has filed its reply to the Fitton-driven nonsense. These crisis actors are simply too late — five years too late — in complaining.

The able USDC Judge Kness will soon so rule. Here is the latest, a powerful argument, from my city’s counsel — and a bit of it:

…Bifurcation of discovery is the means by which this Court can best fulfill its constitutional avoidance obligation. As discussed above, the timeliness of Plaintiffs’ injury of being “able and ready” to apply to the Program but being deterred from doing so is a separate inquiry from whether Plaintiffs actually could have truthfully applied to the Program. Bifurcating discovery is the mechanism by which this Court can avoid deciding Plaintiffs’ case on a constitutional issue and instead terminate Plaintiffs’ case through the straightforward issue of timeliness. Plaintiffs’ rejoinder that constitutional avoidance “says nothing about how a court should sequence discovery” (see ECF No. 59 at 9), misses the point: courts routinely consider the avoidance principle in exercising their case-management discretion. See Ameritech Corp. v. McCann, 403 F.3d 908, 911 (7th Cir. 2005) (noting that “federal courts are supposed to explore all nonconstitutional grounds of decision first, to ensure against unnecessary constitutional adjudication” and then reexamining a lower court decision “in the right order” by analyzing non-constitutional grounds for adjudication prior to addressing the constitutional issues). The Seventh Circuit has long recognized the “well established rule” that constitutional questions should not be reached where a case may be resolved on other grounds. See Stern v. U.S. Gypsum, Inc., 547 F.2d 1329, 1342 (7th Cir. 1977).

Nor is Evanston’s statute of limitations defense a constitutional question in disguise: an affirmative defense based on the accrual and expiration of a limitations period is a paradigmatic non-constitutional ground for resolving a case. See, e.g., Davis v. Borgen, 349 F.3d 1027, 1029 (7th Cir. 2003) (noting that a district court should not issue a certificate of appealability on a constitutional question where the underlying case was essentially resolved by a nonconstitutional issue like the claim being untimely)….

The motion to intervene filed by the United States (“the Government”) after Evanston moved to bifurcate discovery does not change the priority of bifurcating discovery as to the Plaintiffs. See ECF No. 48. As addressed in its opposition to the intervention motion and response to Plaintiffs’ motion to stay briefing on the Motion, Evanston contends that the Government’s motion is untimely and bifurcation is appropriate as to Plaintiffs’ claims regardless, so intervention is no basis to deny the Motion. See ECF No. 56 at 4; ECF No. 60 at 4–9. Both plaintiffs and intervenors must bring their claims in a timely manner. See Flower Cab Co. v. Petitte, 1987 WL 14715, at *4–6 (N.D. Ill. July 21, 1987)….

UPDATED: Monday, August 3, 2026 — Mr. Boutros, the
Trumpian AUSA — has claimed this evening that he (as the USA) can intervene, even when he’s missed the statute of limitations. The law is clear: he is completely wrong on it. So I won’t quote it — but just link it for a complete record. End updated portion.

Now you know. Onward, grinning. Yep. That’s (eventually) game… over.

नमस्ते

Tangerine’s State Dept. [Marco Rubio] Is Withholding Family Planning Supplies From Famine Stricken Ituri Province In Congo… Deplorable.

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The dollar amounts involved are very small. So they can only be seen as… punishments, against humans having… disfavored sexual congress.

And the ones this “policy” of feckless cruelty truly hurts most… are the children born into a world of poverty and disease — one that they did not choose — and for which their parents are almost completely unprepared. Many will die in child-birth… and many more will suffer from life-long debilitating malnutrition. All of it avoidable, for a small cost.

But this is Marco Rubio’s new priority: kill as many African children as he can — in the name of his Catholic “right to lifers”. Dammit.

Overall, indeed — the family planning funds are but a small portion of the USAID former-budget. A budget approved by Congress (repeatedly), and ordered spent (again), two terms ago. No Congressional Act has changed any of the applicable law. Trump is just… ignoring it (and he is losing in the federal courts on this attempt — but at a glacial pace). What a putz. Here’s the latest, from Semafor:

…A bipartisan pair of senators is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to unlock family planning funding and supplies for women caught in the Ebola outbreak sweeping the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s east, warning that the Trump administration’s freeze on such aid is deepening a maternal health crisis.

In a letter shared first with Semafor, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked Rubio to use $608 million in international family planning funds from the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill and release $1.7 million worth of already-purchased contraceptive products which, the senators said, would otherwise be destroyed.

They also pressed for a “humanitarian exemption” allowing US support for the UN Population Fund, or UNFPA, so it can resume sexual and reproductive health programming in the affected region. President Donald Trump withdrew from the organization earlier this year.

“Providing sexual and reproductive health support to women is not a parallel track alongside the Ebola response: It is the Ebola response for the 642,000 women of reproductive age — including an estimated 37,820 pregnant women — in the affected areas,” the senators wrote….

What is wrong with these people?! They would lustily choose cruelty, solely for cruelty’s sake. Onward, resolutely just the same.

नमस्ते

NASA Updates Tonight, On Swift’s “Boost” Possibilities…

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Well, this is at least some progress — even if Katalyst itself has not updated its own website — NASA has.

Any path forward would still seem to face pretty long odds, in my estimation. This is the full text, from tonight:

…Teams at Katalyst Space are making progress slowing the spin of their LINK spacecraft, which is designed to boost the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. A series of thruster burns this week reduced the rate of spin from approximately 9 degrees per second to less than 4 degrees per second. Katalyst is continuing with this approach to restabilize the spacecraft in the coming days.

Teams also further evaluated LINK’s functionality and determined there are still potential paths forward for a boost. NASA is working closely with Katalyst to consider revised, innovative approaches. The agency will continue to provide updates about stabilization of LINK and next steps for the mission. LINK is now expected to approach Swift around the end of August….

We will keep a good thought — and keep the readership posted. Grin.

नमस्ते

So — A Georgia Dad, Who Gave His Mentally-Disturbed 14 Year Old An AR-15 — [After A Finding Of Dangerousness] Has Been Sentenced To 15 Years, After Son Became a School Shooter. Justice.

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Our national insanity about guns… must end.

It is a public health epidemic of the first order. And wildly irresponsible, criminal parents… are not helping the matter. Yes, he deserves the 15 years in prison. Several children are injured and four are dead — due to his fecklessness. Here’s the latest, out of Georgia; and a bit:

…A man who gifted his 14-year-old son an assault rifle that he then used to unleash a mass shooting at a Georgia high school was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.

A jury in March convicted the man, Colin Gray, on multiple charges, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, over the Christmas gift his son used in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School….

Gray gave the weapon to his son, Colt Gray, even when a few months earlier law enforcement had come to the Gray home because the teenager had threatened to shoot up an elementary school, according to prosecutors.

“The weight of your crimes is tethered and tied to the acts of someone else, your son,” Primm said. “Two scenarios: you fail the same way in both. You fail to get Colt counseling. You fail to remove the guns from the house.”

The younger Gray, now 16, was sentenced to life without parole for the shooting, which left two students and two teachers dead. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them by gunfire….

We must reign this in. Dammit.

नमस्ते

The Private Katalyst Space Tech Team Last Updated Its Orbital Spacecraft’s Status On July 15… Hmm.

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Of course, as we noted here two days ago — NASA itself, since it is responsible for the Swift space ‘scope — updated its status, on July 28, 2026.

To be fair, the news was fairly ominous — and doubtful, for the prospects of “boosting” the aging Swift — up, to a higher, safer orbit.

Yet, the commercial venture tasked with grappling the ‘scope — and then powering it up to a higher altitude… has fallen silent, for 15 long days.

The company’s last word was that “all was well“ — on July 15. [And, yes — I do understand “for profit” market dynamics. . . but in truth, it pains me to have to write this — about a Colorado front range company.]

So — we continue to wait. We wait to hear from NASA, if it still independently thinks the craft will be safe to try an approach toward Swift — and then to grapple it — and then, to try to boost it… with its Xenon-fired engines.

The waiting… is often… the hardest part.

But Katalyst leadership would behoove themselves to be candid, magnanimous, forthright and timely — and at least cop to what NASA has already shared with the planet.

We are all on the same team here, people — and we all well know… space is… a mug. It. is. HARD. But let’s at least own up to the facts (as now known).

Onward.

नमस्ते

Congo Approaches Famine-Like Conditions, In Resettlement Camps — Due To Ebola’s Ongoing Waves, In Ituri Province.

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Collectively, we all know how to end this outbreak.

But now, with USAID off-grid — we lack the resources, where and when they are needed — to do so. Dammit. Here’s the latest, from boots on the ground reporting:

…The U.N. is sounding the alarm about a growing hunger crisis in eastern Congo that is exacerbated by the Ebola outbreak. In the DRC, the ongoing Ebola outbreak has recorded over 3,300 confirmed cases, including more than 1,400 deaths. According to the U.N.’s senior Ebola coordinator, 50 people died of Ebola just in the last 24 hours. This is the acting director of the World Food Programme.

Carl Skau said “Some 10 million people — I mean, 10 million people, that’s the population of Sweden, the country I come from — are acutely food insecure in the eastern DRC. And 3 million of those are in IPC-4 — as you know, emergency level of food insecurity. That is one step away from famine. That means they go to bed every night hungry. They wake up hungry every morning….”

This is truly going to be near the worst Ebola outbreak, in recorded history — because we in the US have decided to turn our collective backs on our fellow humans. Damnation.

To be clear, during the one outbreak during the Biden Administration (with USAID) — the dying stopped at four humans. FOUR. We are over 1,400, in a few months. Ponder that — onward.

नमस्ते