Guido Rasi, the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), has suggested that Gilead’s (GILD) Covid-19 treatment remdesivir could be conditionally approved in Europe as soon as this week.“It might be that a conditional market authorization can be issued in the coming days,” Rasi revealed to an EU Parliament hearing in Brussels on May 18.Conditional marketing authorizations are valid for one year and can be renewed annually. They are granted by the EMA for medicines where the benefit of immediate availability outweighs the risk of less comprehensive data than normally required.Indeed, remdesivir has already received the green light from the EMA for compassionate use for patients during this pre-authorization phase.GILD also received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the United States for the drug on May 1.Since then Gilead has signed non-exclusive licensing agreements with five generic pharmaceutical manufacturers to produce and sell remdesivir in 127 countries, including India and Pakistan.Nonetheless JP Morgan’s Cory Kasimov recently maintained his Hold rating on the stock with an $85 price target. Given the stock’s 17% year-to-date climb, the analyst’s price target indicates upside potential of 11% from current levels.“Although we’re impressed by the company’s intensive work with remdesivir, we believe that GILD received ample market credit for it and remdesivir is unlikely to result in tangible long-term cash flows,” Kasimov told investors. “A short-term $5 billion boost sales has marginal impact on our overall valuation and other opportunities for growth will take time to play out.”Overall TipRanks data shows that out of the 28 analysts covering Gilead in the past three months, 15 have a Hold rating on the stock, 8 say Buy and 5 say Sell, adding up to a Hold consensus. The $79.39 average price target suggests 4% upside potential lies ahead. (See Gilead stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Gilead Signs Remdesivir Licensing Agreements With Five Drugmakers AstraZeneca Aiming For 30M UK Covid-19 Vaccine Doses By September Pfizer Plans To Test Covid-19 Vaccine On Thousands Of Patients By September- Report More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Ryanair Cuts Traffic Target By Almost 50% For Coming Year, Seeks To Reduce Boeing Plane Deliveries   * AstraZeneca Aiming For 30M UK Covid-19 Vaccine Doses By September * Uber’s Latest Takeover Offer Said To be Rejected By GrubHub * Melvin Capital Bets On AutoZone With Sizable New Investment

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UK-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZN) has revealed that it is hoping to make up to 30 million Covid-19 vaccine doses available by September for people in the UK, as part of an agreement to deliver 100 million doses in total.“Our scientists are at the forefront of vaccine development. This deal with AstraZeneca means that if the Oxford University vaccine works, people in the UK will get the first access to it, helping to protect thousands of lives” commented Business Secretary Alok Sharma.Oxford University has agreed a global licensing agreement with AstraZeneca for the commercialization and manufacturing of their potential recombinant adenovirus vaccine. Business Secretary Sharma also took the opportunity to announce that the project will benefit from £84 million of new government funding.“The agreement will deliver 100 million doses in total, ensuring that in addition to supporting our own people, we are able to make the vaccines available to developing countries at the lowest possible cost” he said.The vaccine in question, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, uses a viral vector based on a weakened version of the common cold (adenovirus) containing the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, which primes the immune system to attack COVID-19 if it later infects the body.In April, the potential vaccine entered Phase I clinical trials to study safety and efficacy in healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years, across five trial centers in Southern England. Data from the Phase I trial could be available as soon as this month, and advancement to late-stage trials should take place by the middle of this year, says AstraZeneca.AZN currently shows a Strong Buy Street consensus, with three recent buy ratings. The average analyst price target of $58 indicates upside potential of 8%, with shares currently trading up 7% on a year-to-date basis. (See AstraZeneca stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Gilead Signs Remdesivir Licensing Agreements With Five Drugmakers Novavax Spikes 31% on $384 Million Cash Injection for Vaccine Production Pfizer Plans To Test Covid-19 Vaccine On Thousands Of Patients By September- Report More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Uber’s Latest Takeover Offer Said To be Rejected By GrubHub * Melvin Capital Bets On AutoZone With Sizable New Investment * Ubisoft Sues Google, Apple For Game Copyright Infringement * Williams Co Gives Up On $1B New-York Energy Pipeline

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The latest U.S. sanctions on tech giant Huawei threaten to devastate the company and escalate a feud with China that could disrupt technology industries worldwide. Huawei Technologies Ltd. is one of the biggest makers of smartphones and network equipment, but that $123 billion-a-year business is in jeopardy after Washington announced further restrictions on use of American technology by foreign companies that make its processor chips. Huawei spent the past year scrambling to preserve its business after an earlier round of U.S. restrictions imposed last May cut off access to American components and software.

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