Merck Will Grant Royalty Free Licenses — To Its Monthly HIV Pill Candidate, In Various Still Emerging Economies, Globally. Excellent!

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From the go, alimatravir will be available as an “authorized generic” (most of the volume to be manufactured in India — by Cipla, and by Aspen) at a fraction of the US and EU list prices in certain geographies dotting most of the still emerging economy / globe.

[It seems this will not in any way materially impact the very high margin once a week combo pills, soon to come from Merck and Gilead — in the EU, US, Canada and Japan — and so on. That perhaps $100,000 per year regimen is safe from all this. Essentially no one in that income bracket will fly to sub-Saharan Africa, and then try to sneak a one month supply in. Not when insurers will cover the pricier and longer acting (once a week) version.]

And so, Condor predicts… this may well become the new era model, for launching high burden disease therapies — around the globe. Here’s the latest, this morning, from Reuters reporting:

…Merck said on Friday it signed seven voluntary licensing agreements with generic drug manufacturers to make and sell lower-cost versions of its ‌experimental once-monthly oral HIV pill in 129 low- and lower-middle-income countries.

The drug, alimatravir, is currently in late-stage development. Merck said it is investing early in its product manufacturing capacity as trials continue….

Merck said the agreements are with three sub-Saharan Africa manufacturers — Aspen Pharmacare, Quality Chemical Industries and UCL — and four ⁠Indian companies, which are Aurobindo, Cipla, Emcure and Viatris. The royalty-free agreements with these companies cover both the public and private sectors and will enable supply of generic alimatravir in these 129 countries that account for a substantial majority of new HIV diagnoses globally, the drugmaker said.

“This is the first time that sub-Saharan African manufacturers have been included in licenses from the very beginning.” said Gregg Szabo, head of Merck’s global vaccines and infectious diseases unit. Merck is still enrolling patients to test alimatravir, which is expected ‌to ⁠provide one month of protection from HIV-1 starting within one hour after dosing….

Excellent news for cutting-edge therapeutic access — where and when it is most needed. Onward, smiling after a great night out, last night.

नमस्ते

Likely The Last Word — From Abrego Garcia’s Lawyers — On Voluntarily Heading To Costa Rica (Until 2028)…

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This cannot be waved away, as incompetence and inattention, alone.

Mr. Lyons knows his boss is Mr. Mullin. But Lyons and Miller… don’t like the Secretary’s ruling. So they instruct the AUSAs / DoJ lawyers to ignore the Secretary’s orders. Crazy. Here’s that, in context:

…The Government concedes that Costa Rica remains willing to accept Abrego Garcia and even that, if the Government forcibly removes him to Liberia, he can “make his way to Costa R[i]ca.” Opp. 45–46.

The Government nevertheless asserts that removing Abrego Garcia directly to Costa Rica would be “prejudicial to the United States” and that the Lyons Memorandum — issued by Todd Lyons, who lacked authority to make that determination — constitutes a “formal, final determination” that ends judicial inquiry. Opp. 28–30. Yet the Government’s opposition entirely ignores that its own Secretary of Homeland Security testified before Congress that, if Abrego Garcia is willing to go to Costa Rica, “we’ll be happy to send him.” ECF No. 180 at 2.

The Government filed its opposition three weeks after that testimony, but never even acknowledges it, much less attempts to reconcile it with the Lyons Memorandum. The Government cannot ask this Court to treat the Lyons Memorandum as dispositive while ignoring the contrary public testimony of the official in whom Congress actually vested the relevant statutory authority.

Secretary Mullin’s testimony likewise reinforces the conclusion that the Government’s continued insistence on Liberia is punitive rather than directed toward the legitimate purpose of effectuating removal….

What an upside down world this is: minor paper-pushers in Trumpworld saying their authority exceeds that of his Homeland Security Secretary. Which explains why the far right rags say Mullin may be on his way to being… cashiered. Insane.

नमस्ते

New And Valuable Data, On The Solar System’s Most Extreme “Fire And Ice” Moon — Way Out, At Io — Courtesy Juno’s Extended Mission Fly-Bys…

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This all is due to the fact that the Biden administration authorized spending at NASA on an extended mission, for Juno. The speedy, twisty, copper colored craft was performing flawlessly, and so most of the added expense was just keeping great scientists on-board, here on Earth to direct operations, and monitor progress — remotely. Very… remotely (at 400 million to 600 million miles out there — into the night skies).

“Io provides a unique window into learning how tidal heating works throughout the cosmos, a fundamental process that provides energy and heat to worlds that are far from their parent star,” according to Scott Bolton, the study’s coauthor and Juno’s principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute — in San Antonio. Here’s the latest, from NASA/JPL:

…NASA’s Juno mission has provided the first measurements of the temperature below the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, revealing significant heating within the shallow subsurface of the most volcanically active world in the solar system. Collected during two close flybys, the data also shows that most of Io’s surface is remarkably smooth and composed of material of very low density.

Published Wednesday in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, these findings break new observational ground for both fiery and icy worlds beyond our planet.

Io’s extreme volcanism is powered by tidal heating. The moon is constantly stretched and squeezed by Jupiter’s immense gravity as it travels its slightly elliptical orbit, generating internal heat output many times greater than Earth’s. Until now, virtually everything known about that heat came from infrared observations, which sense only the temperature of the top surface. The latest findings are derived from data collected by the spacecraft’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument….

Juno’s Microwave Radiometer was designed by Bolton to peer beneath Jupiter’s cloud tops to investigate the dynamics and composition of the gas giant’s deep atmosphere. The MWR’s six microwave antennas serve as a single instrument, simultaneously detecting microwaves at a wide range of wavelengths, from about half an inch to 20 inches (1.3 to 51 centimeters). During the mission’s extended phase, the MWR instrument has provided the opportunity to observe three of the planet’s Galilean moons: Ganymede, Europa, and Io….

“The instrument measured Io’s thermal emission at depths ranging from a few inches down to tens of feet. Everywhere we looked, we found the temperature rising by more than 40 degrees Fahrenheit just several feet into the surface — a gradient far steeper than solar heating alone can explain,” said Shannon Brown, the paper’s lead author at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California….

While Io is not likely a good candidate for sub-surface ocean life, given these extremes — certainly elsewhere in the Universe, where a smaller but temperate moon is endlessly warmed / heated by the “smushing” of a large planet’s gravity — even if very far from its host star, the moonlet could be a decent candidate for sub-surface water oceans — and thus… life. Grinning widely, now — as life is likely happening in billions upon billions of settings, throughout the cosmos….

नमस्ते

Tangent: Oracle Laid Off 21,000 Workers Last Year; Dropped To Near Junk Status — Now Faces A ~$7 Billion “Bond Posting” Bill — In Port Washington, Wisconsin…

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From time to time, we may offer updates on Mr. Ellison’s company here — just as we do for Mr. Bezos’ and Mr. Musk’s.

It is hard to see where Mr. Ellison thinks he can find about $40 billion in new financing — to meet Oracle’s commitments to OpenAI, in building and energizing vast data centers, for that company. So the stock has fallen by about 50% in the last year or so.

Here’s more than a little bit of why I think that will be so.

[To be clear, I do not foresee any bankruptcy (or business cessations) for Oracle, but I do see it trimming its ambitious plans in the next two years — causing further stock price erosion in the US.]

…Oracle is involved in a planned nearly one-gigawatt data center in Port Washington, Wisconsin, that is expected to help the company fulfill its [~$100 billion] OpenAI contract.

But the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has declined to loosen financial safeguards designed to prevent residential electricity customers from bearing the costs if a massive data center fails or closes, according to the Financial Times.

Under We Energies’ “very large customer” tariff, data center operators with an S&P credit rating below A- must provide collateral covering the power plants and transmission infrastructure constructed to serve them.

Oracle was rated BBB, two notches below the threshold, when the requirements were considered. S&P subsequently downgraded the company to BBB-, leaving it one notch above junk status….

Onward into the warm sunshine — on a mountain bike. Smile.

नमस्ते

Arizona Has Seen Its First “International Travel” Related Case Of Mpox Clade 1b… Do Think About The Vax…

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This is what the US has signed up for, ever since Donald Trump ended USAID in Africa, over a year ago. That outreach provided immense amounts of relatively low cost preventative public health for people at risk. And, regardless of whether they get the public health they need… some of them will inevitably get on outbound flights to the US — and yes, Arizona.

That is the purely biological fact of the matter. And so, here we are — with tonight’s report, from Phoenix:

…Arizona health officials announced Wednesday that they are tracking the state’s first travel-associated case of a unique mpox strain.

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) said it was notified this month of a state resident who contracted Clade I mpox while traveling outside the country.

ADHS and other local public health officials are now monitoring and following up with people who may have been exposed. The department added that there is no evidence of local transmission at this time related to this case….

The department said Arizona has seen an increase in reported mpox cases this summer. As of July 21, the state had 34 reported cases — both strains included — this year….

Please — if you have sex with men, or if you are a paid sex worker — do strongly consider getting the Bavarian Nordic vax jab. Do.

And all of this was almost certainly… avoidable. Damn.

नमस्ते

A Rocky Exoplanet, Larger Than Earth, 49 Light Years Away, Tidally Locked — But With Liquid Water, And A Helium Rich Atmosphere… In The Habitable Zone.

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Where there is one… the universe-bound canons of physical laws say… there are many more. Billions upon billions more — now that we know there are two, for certain (Earth, and LHS 1140b). The Universe is just too vast, for that not to be true. We won’t get wild-eyed, but the conditions for our familiar forms of carbon based life are present out there, 49 light years, orbiting rapidly — on what would be a 25 day local solar year, there.

Tantalizing — and NASA revealed it whilst I was off-grid, last week. So here is the NYT’s “catch up”:

“…When there’s one, there’s more in exoplanets,” said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at M.I.T. who was not involved in the study. “Hopefully this is the start of something new.”

An atmosphere is vital for habitability because it helps a planet hold on to water, regulates the climate and protects the surface from space radiation. Scientists have found atmospheres on giant gas planets but have been uncertain whether rocky worlds, which are smaller and more difficult to detect, could retain their atmospheres, too.

“This is one clear, resounding yes,” said Dr. Cherubim, who spent years building a theoretical model of what the atmosphere around a rocky planet might look like. Under certain conditions, he found, lighter elements like helium would more readily escape the atmosphere. He identified LHS 1140b as a planet that could be actively losing helium to space.

LHS 1140b orbits around a red dwarf, the most common type of star in our galaxy. Because red dwarfs are smaller and cooler than other types of stars, it is easier to detect rocky planets around them. But red dwarfs are also energetic, spewing violent flares of radiation that can strip away the atmospheres of nearby planets….

Now you know. Smiling into a cool clear sunset — we may no longer desperately miss the now lost Arecibo ‘scope, afterall.

नमस्ते

Except That… This “Policy” Directly Violates The Geneva Convention, John.

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Today, John notes that Tangerine 2.0 at least claims he has adopted “a policy” of striking civilian targets (bridges and electrical power plants) inside Iran (including inside Tehran, the capital) immediately after any attempt to fire on any vessel in the Straight of Hormuz.

As we have written here many times before in the early stages of this war of choice, that directly contravenes Articles 54 and 55 of the Geneva Convention to which we are a party.

So now we will commit war crimes and Trump’s war of choice.

Charming.

There really is no bottom to the depravity here. Yes — the people who likely control Iran’s ability to make war are certainly evil people, as were the people before this war of choice. But none of that justifies violating our own principles.

Nor does it justify violating international law.

We are only achieving… a quagmire there — and our own debasement, here — with Tangerine and Whiskey Pete call the undeclared war shots.

Look how far we have fallen — in under an elapsed year.

Out.

The Able USDC Judge Cummings Is [Still] Doin’ The Right Thing (In A 2018 Era Class Action Settlement Case) — “Good Trouble” Edition In Chicago.

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The Tangerine 2.0 ICE agents and their lawyers are refusing to provide complete documentation, on all the people in the Chicagoland area being held, on allegations that they lack paperwork, to be here.

This 2018 class action suit in Chicago was settled by agreement, by Trump 1.0, and he agreed he would not try to detain or deport (on immigration related charges) anyone in the class.

But he has repeatedly done just the opposite — and dozens if not hundreds have been summarily released by the able USDC Judge Cummings — while wryly noting that he is simply complying with Trump’s own prior agreements.

The latest spat involves getting detailed lists of who all is being held, so that the plaintiffs’ lawyers may verify that ICE/DHS is not still holding people who are entitled to their freedom. This, Tangerine 2.0 forces have resisted for months now. But the motion to enforce is now upon us, thus (we cannot link the underlying filings as many contain identifying details of people Trump might target anew, were those details. . . public):

…MINUTE entry before the Honorable Jeffrey I Cummings:

[Tangerine 2.0] Defendants’ response to plaintiffs’ motion to enforce consent decree, [468], shall be filed on or before 7/28/26 and plaintiffs’ reply shall be filed on or before 8/3/26….

Onward, resolutely — to a warm, but cloud-covered bike ride… smile.

नमस्ते

The All-Oral Combo Of Gilead & Merck Pills Is Showing Nice HIV Efficacy In Once A Week Dosings, As Well…

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We had previously mentioned the encouraging twice a week dosings, back in June.

Additional clinical trials are now testing once-a-week dosings — and those are also quite promising. Here’s Reuters, on it all:

…The combination of Merck’s islatravir and Gilead’s lenacapavir was tested as a single-tablet regimen in adults whose HIV was already controlled with daily antiretroviral therapy….

In one trial, none of the patients who switched to the weekly pill had detectable viral levels at 48 weeks, compared with 0.3% of those who remained on Gilead’s daily Biktarvy [alone]….

In a second trial, 0.3% of patients taking the weekly pill had detectable HIV levels or higher at 48 weeks, compared with 1.3% of those who remained on standard ‌daily ⁠HIV regimens….

The death sentence days of the 1980s are long-gone — and this is now a very manageable diagnosis, with 40 or 50 years of life ahead. Thank bio-science for that.

[And (since I praised old “Saint Ronnie” just yesterday, on US/Canada trade policy approaches) a fairer historian would ALSO point out that AIDS research / treatments were delayed — in the 1980s — to the eternal shame of the same preznit Ronald Reagan, who forcefully delayed even any governmental acknowledgement of the AIDS epidemic, and did not allocate any research funding for the disease (at NIH) for nearly seven years, after the scourge was well-documented by ethical US and EU scientists.]

Onward, just the same — grinning into the sunshine.

नमस्ते

More (Intentional) Economic Illiteracy — From Hinderaker, Tonight.

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John — like so much of the frothy hard right — thinks that because cars are cheaper (relatively speaking) than they were in the year 2000… all of US life is sanguinely… affordable, for most.

Poppycock. And his own chart proves it.

Relatively speaking, buying a new car is a luxury purchase. But if one gets ill — John’s own chart shows that non-luxe / life-or-death spend is way up — nearly 3X, or 280 percent, compared to — year 2000 levels.

On top of all that, because Hinderaker has several million dollars in the bank — he arrogantly declares America is… largely affordable, for most Americans.

What a stupidly malignant putz.

Out.