Shares in biotech Equillium (EQ) have almost tripled in Monday’s pre-market trading after the company announced that a clinical trial conducted in India by its partner Biocon demonstrated that itolizumab significantly reduced mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.Equillium is currently developing itolizumab to treat severe autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. The stock is currently trading up 260% in the pre-market.Biocon also announced that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted restricted emergency use of itolizumab for the treatment of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in India.Based on the encouraging topline results and DCGI approval, Equillium revealed that it is now planning to conduct a global randomized controlled clinical trial of itolizumab in COVID-19 patients for which it will file a U.S. investigational new drug application (IND).Biocon conducted a randomized, controlled, open-label study at four hospitals in India, enrolling a total of 30 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe ARDS. Twenty patients were randomized to receive itolizumab plus best supportive care, while 10 patients received best supportive care alone. The primary endpoint was mortality at one month.As reported by Biocon: * In the itolizumab arm there were no deaths and all patients have recovered; in the control arm three patients died and the remainder have recovered * The mortality benefit observed in the itolizumab arm was statistically significant * Consistent with the observed clinical improvement, patients who received itolizumab also experienced significant reductions in inflammatory cytokines“The results of this clinical trial reported by Biocon are encouraging and support the hypothesis that itolizumab’s novel immune-modulating mechanism may have promise in addressing the severe immuno-inflammatory complications experienced by COVID-19 patients,” said Bruce Steel, CEO of Equillium.Itolizumab is a first-in-class immune-modulating antibody therapeutic with a novel mechanism of action that inhibits the activity and trafficking of pathogenic T cells that release pro-inflammatory cytokines in a range of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Equillium acquired rights to develop and commercialize itolizumab in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand through an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Biocon.Equillium is currently evaluating itolizumab under two open U.S. INDs for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease and lupus nephritis, as well as conducting a clinical study in uncontrolled asthma in Australia and New Zealand.In March due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, Equillium announced that it was pausing enrollment in the EQUIP trial for uncontrolled asthma and the EQUALISE trial for lupus nephritis. Equillium has now announced that patient enrollment in both these studies has resumed.Two analysts have recently published buy ratings on EQ. That’s with an average price target of $12. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Derek Archila reiterated his buy rating on the stock following the latest news.“We note the trial in hospitalized COVID-19 patients was small (n=30), open-label and on top of standard of care, and little data were shared but according the Biocon/EQ press releases, the itolizumab arm did demonstrate a statistically significant benefit on mortality at one-month (the primary endpoint)” he told investors.The current literature suggests approximately ~8% of COVID-19 patients develop ARDS and if itolizumab were to be priced in line with Gilead’s (GILD) remdesivir (~$2,500-$3,000 per course) this could be a meaningful market opportunity for EQ, Archila added. (See EQ stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Australia Provisionally Approves Gilead’s Covid-19 Treatment Gilead Reveals Covid-19 Treatment Remdesivir Reduces Mortality Risk Moderna Inks Deal With Rovi To Supply Potential Covid-19 Vaccine Outside US More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Disney World Reopens To Small Numbers, Analyst Optimistic On Outlook * Alibaba Co-Founder Jack Ma Reduces Stake To 4.8% * South Korea: 1 in 3 Covid-19 Patients Improved With Gilead’s Remdesivir * Amgen Pours A Further $421M Into China’s BeiGene

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The candidates, BNT162b1 and BNT162b2, are the most advanced of the at least four vaccines being assessed by the companies in ongoing trials in the United States and Germany. Pfizer’s shares were up about 2% and U.S.-listed shares of BioNTech were up about 6% before the bell. Earlier this month, the companies said BNT162b1 showed potential against the virus and was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials.

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Jensen Huang became the CEO of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in 1993, and we think it's a good time to look at the…

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Walt Disney Co. (DIS) reopened its popular theme park, Disney World on July 10 after closing nearly four months ago as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.The theme park reported attendance for its two areas, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom with a combined 16,000 visitors for the reopening. This falls well below the pre-COVID average of nearly 100,000 people per day. Disney plans to reopen the remainder of its park on July 15.Disney’s stock was up 2% at market close on July 10 at $119.32 per share.Disney is requiring everyone in the park to wear a mask except for swimming as well as eating and drinking. A limited number of restaurants and hotels are back in business and more are planning to open in the coming months.J.P. Morgan analyst Alexia Quadrani was optimistic on July 10 regarding Disney World saying that the “reopening of the parks globally is a critical sign of recovery as this removes the largest overhang at the company due to Covid-19.” She also highlighted Disney’s streaming platform known as Disney+, saying with “increasing conviction that the health of the company is returning throughout several of its segments, with a move toward profitability in fiscal 2023 at Disney+, the reopening of the parks, and the return of live sports.” The analyst reiterated a Buy rating on the shares and a price target of $135 (implying 13% upside potential).In May, Disney revealed a loss of $1.4 billion in its second-quarter earnings. The amount accounts for its theme parks, retail stores, TV operations, and other divisions.Disney said on May 5, “The impact of COVID-19 and measures to prevent its spread is affecting our segments in a number of ways, most significantly at Parks, Experiences and Products where we have closed our theme parks and retail stores, suspended cruise ship sailings and guided tours and experienced supply chain disruptions.”The result of the pandemic mainly impacted its theme parks in Florida, California, Paris, Tokyo, and Shanghai in addition to Disney’s cruise ships. Overall Disney earnings fell to $475 million which was a 91% loss compared to $5.4 billion reported earnings in the same period last year.On July 8, Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris lowered his Q3 and Q4 estimates for Disney’s theme parks and media as a result of the Q2 earnings. He maintains a Hold rating on the stock and raised the price target from $115 to $123, which implies a 3% upside potential.Disney’s stock is down 18% year-to-date. Overall, 8 analysts assign Buy ratings, 11 Hold ratings, and 2 Sell ratings, giving Disney a Moderate Buy Street consensus. The average analyst price target stands at $122.18 suggesting 2% upside potential in the coming months. (See Disney's stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Disney: Uncertainty Keeps This 5-Star Analyst on the Sidelines Electronic Arts CEO Wants More Star Wars Games With Disney Disney’s Long Road to Recovery Moves This Analyst on the Sidelines More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Equillium Explodes 260% On Positive Covid-19 Results; India Approval * Alibaba Co-Founder Jack Ma Reduces Stake To 4.8% * South Korea: 1 in 3 Covid-19 Patients Improved With Gilead’s Remdesivir * Amgen Pours A Further $421M Into China’s BeiGene

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(Bloomberg) — Moderna Inc.’s experimental vaccine for Covid-19 could generate sales of more than $5 billion a year, Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said, initiating the stock at a buy.A 220% surge for the stock since the start of the year has split Wall Street as to “what will happen or if the vaccine will even work, and is hugely divided on valuation,” Yee wrote in a note to clients.“We believe the Street will be surprised to the upside if the Covid-19 vaccine works, gets approved by early 2021, and there are multi-billion dollars of purchase orders from USA and around the world,” he said.With a 30,000 person late-stage study set to kick off sometime this month, Moderna’s shot leads the pack in the race to get a vaccine to the world at large as the pandemic continues to spread.Yee predicts mRNA-1273, as the inoculation is known, will get “at least” an emergency use authorization by early next year. There are more than 20 candidates in human testing, while at least another 130 vaccines are in even earlier stages of development, according to the World Health Organization.The analyst assigns the biotechnology company a $90 price target, which is largely in-line with the $88 average price target of analysts tracked by Bloomberg. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company has 12 other buys and a single hold rating, while no analyst followed by Bloomberg currently rates it a sell.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Coca-Cola whips up a way to save the soda machine.

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s (BABA) co-founder Jack Ma has reduced his stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant to 4.8% from 6.2% over the past year.The e-commerce platform’s 20-F annual filing released on Friday, did not provide any further details on the average selling price of the divested stake. Alibaba shares have appreciated about 40% since the company last disclosed its annual filing in June last year.Ma last year stepped down as Alibaba’s chairman to be replaced by CEO Daniel Zhang.In addition, Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai cut his stake in the company to 1.6% from 2.2% during the same period.Also on Friday, Alibaba’s Zhang presented an ambitious goal-based plan, which envisages serving more than 1 billion consumers in China and facilitating more than RMB10 trillion of consumption on the company’s platforms in the next five years.Longer-term, Zhang wants Alibaba to serve 2 billion consumers globally, create 100 million jobs and provide the necessary infrastructure to support 10 million small businesses to become profitable on the company’s platforms by 2036.Alibaba revenue soared 35% over the last fiscal year, with net income up 75%. The e-commerce company has already served investors well with its shares surging 23% so far this year as stay-at-home mandates during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic forced more and more people to shop online.Oppenheimer analyst Vincent Yu last week initiated the stock’s coverage with a Buy rating and a $275 price target, saying that Alibaba will remain the No.1 player in the e-commerce market as it strengthens efforts to attract customers from lower-tier cities, although competition looms.“We see the company's strengths as crucial competitive barriers to newer market entrants, such as Pinduoduo, who over the past two years has aggressively used subsidies to pursue customers,” Yu wrote in a note to investors. “The company's strategic position in the e-commerce value chain, and deep understanding of China's retail environment are not only competitive strengths in its primary business, but also keys to expanding its presence in adjacent industries such as offline retail, food delivery, and cloud computing.”Turning to other Wall Street analysts, the bulls have it. The Strong Buy consensus boasts 20 Buy ratings versus 1 Hold rating. The $266.90 average price target implies a modest 2.3% upside potential in the shares in the coming 12 months. (See Alibaba stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Qualcomm Buys Stake In Reliance’s Jio For $97.1M To Support 5G Rollout In India Alibaba’s CEO Sets Out Ambitious Goals; Sees 2B Customers By 2036 Analog Devices Is Said To Be In Talks To Snap Up Maxim For About $20B More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * South Korea: 1 in 3 Covid-19 Patients Improved With Gilead’s Remdesivir * Amgen Pours A Further $421M Into China’s BeiGene * Qualcomm Buys Stake In Reliance’s Jio For $97.1M To Support 5G Rollout In India * Analog Devices Is Said To Be In Talks To Snap Up Maxim For About $20B

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Restaurant bankruptcies are starting to pile up.

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When Netflix went public in 2002, its chief talent officer at the time, Patty McCord, helped strip the company of formal time off, travel and expense policies. WSJ caught up with McCord to learn how this unconventional move helped shape Netflix culture.

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(Bloomberg) — Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman likes the idea of OPEC+ acting as the central bank of oil. And he expresses admiration for Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve.The challenge now confronting the oil producers’ club is one that’s all too familiar to the Fed: how to avoid a “taper tantrum,” the market panic that ensued when the institution proposed tightening monetary policy in 2013.Having successfully doubled crude prices over the past few months through unprecedented output cuts, the OPEC+ alliance led by the Saudis and Russia is poised to begin unwinding these stimulus measures. As fuel demand recovers with the lifting of coronavirus lockdowns, the producers are about to open the taps a little.But as Greenspan’s successors discovered seven years ago, taking away the punch bowl carries its own risks.A second wave of the pandemic threatens another slump in oil consumption, while the billion-barrel mountain of inventories that piled up during the first outbreak still looms. If OPEC+ increases supply just as the market falters then prices could crash once again.“When they look at prices over the quarter, when they look at green shoots of demand pick-up, I think they feel good,” said Helima Croft, head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets LLC. “I do think they are cognizant though of some of the potential clouds on the horizon.”It’s a balancing act that Prince Abdulaziz and his counterparts must weigh on July 15, when they hold an online meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, the panel that reviews OPEC+’s progress.Easing the CutsThe JMMC will consider whether the 23-nation alliance should keep 9.6 million barrels of daily output off the market for another month, or restore some supplies as originally planned, tapering the cutback to 7.7 million barrels.As the demand recovery gains traction, members are leaning toward the latter option, according to several national delegates who asked not to be identified. Shipping schedules for August are already being set, so the course is more or less locked in, one said.In Russia, the most influential non-OPEC member of the alliance, major oil companies are preparing to increase production next month in the absence of other guidance from the Energy Ministry, according to two people from the industry who spoke on condition of anonymity.Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on July 2 that no position on an extension had been taken yet, but stressed that it’s better if OPEC+ sticks to its previous decisions.OPEC+ can go ahead with the designated increase without inundating the market, said Bob McNally, founder of consultant Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official. Global demand will rebound by 18% this quarter to 95.7 million barrels a day as economic activity resumes, he predicts. That will whittle away inventories at a brisk clip of 5.6 million barrels a day.“Our balances show hefty deficits in the third and fourth quarters, even with a tapering,” McNally said. “I think the market will handle it pretty well.”Fragile MarketYet the strategy is not without risks.While oil prices in London have more than doubled from a two-decade low of $15.98 in late April, trading near $43 a barrel on Monday, sentiment in the market remains fragile. The acceleration of the pandemic in the U.S., where infections hit a record last week, and its re-emergence in Asia is “casting a shadow over the outlook,” the International Energy Agency warned in a report on Friday. The Paris-based agency advises major economies on energy policy.There’s also still a price discount on prompt crude futures — known as a contango — in the U.S. and Europe, suggesting the wider market hasn’t yet tightened. Crude inventories in the U.S. and China are near record levels, government and satellite data show.“The kind of recovery that people would have expected maybe by now has not materialized,” said Mohammad Darwazah, an analyst at Medley Global Advisors. “There’s no doubt the consensus is we will get a tightening of the market, we’re just not quite there yet.”As a result, Riyadh is expected to insist that if output is restored, countries abide by their mandated limits — and that exporters who haven’t yet made their share of the cutbacks atone for it.Falling in LineIraq, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Angola are among laggards who have promised “compensation cuts” over the next few months to make up for cheating in May, which equate to about 420,000 barrels a day each month. That should offset some of the group’s scheduled 2 million-barrel surge, and the JMMC could impose further reparations for overproduction in June.How far the likes of Baghdad and Lagos, which have a poor track record of adhering to OPEC+ agreements, go in their atonement is debatable, but Prince Abdulaziz has scored a victory in pressing them to deliver a surprisingly strong performance last month. He is unlikely to relax his vigilance when the producers gather on Wednesday.“While relieved and satisfied so far, ministers realize they are not out of the woods yet,” Rapidan’s McNally said. “Compliance is the No. 1 priority.”(Updates oil prices in 15th paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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