The narrative surrounding COVID-19-focused pharma companies is developing a new tone. While none of the players involved in the race to bring a vaccine to market have reached the final regulatory hurdles just yet, progress is being made with several Phase 3 trials already taking place.The talk is now centered around the issue of pricing – how much each company plans to sell its vaccine for.On the clinical trial front, mRNA vaccine maker Moderna (MRNA) is among the pack’s leaders. A Phase 3 clinical trial for mRNA-1273, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, kicked off last week and data should be published before the year is over, or best-case scenario, by as early as October.Moderna has several small volume agreements in place to supply $400 million-worth of the potential vaccine, which price the vaccine in the $32-$37 range. Per a recent presentation, Moderna implied it values the vaccination at roughly $300 per course. So, this pricing is far lower than what Moderna would like to sell mRNA-1273 for.However, given the current climate and the public’s desperate need for a vaccine taken into account, Chardan analyst Geulah Livshits believes the pricing plan “would place Moderna towards the top end among other recently-announced government agreements.”For 100 million doses, BNTX/Pfizer’s candidate is priced at $1.95 billion, Johnson & Johnson’s at $1 billion, Sanofi/GSK’s at $2.1 billion, and Novavax’s at $1.6 billion. AstraZeneca’s candidate is priced at $1.2 billion for 300 million doses. So, at the bottom end of Moderna’s pricing plan, mRNA-1273 would cost $3.2 billion per 100 million doses.For Livshits, the implications of such a premium are clear.“We believe it might be challenging for Moderna to negotiate higher pricing relative to other players given what have thus far been (to us) overall similar clinical and preclinical profiles, and therefore see a high likelihood of pricing large-volume contracts in the mid-high teens per dose range," the 5-star analyst said.All in all, Livshits keeps her Buy rating on MRNA as is, while the price target stays put too. At $95, the upside potential is 32%. (To watch Livshits’ track record, click here)Among Livshits’ colleagues, Moderna remains a popular pick. MRNA's Strong Buy consensus rating is based on 12 Buys and 3 Holds. The average price target is only a touch below the Chardan analyst’s, and at $93.67, could provide gains in the shape of 30% in the year ahead. (See Moderna stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for healthcare stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Eastman Kodak’s $765 million dollar deal was halted after a report from the Wall Street Journal sparked an SEC investigation into how the company disclosed the deal with the government to the public. Yahoo Finance’s The Final Round panel discuss the details of the probe and what will happen to Kodak’s deal.

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Investors who owned stocks in the 2010s generally experienced some big gains. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500's (NYSE: SPY) total return for the decade was 250.5%. But there's no question some big-name stocks did much better than others along the way.Berkshire's Difficult Decade: One underperformer of the last decade was Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B).Berkshire struggled throughout the past decade to keep pace with a bull market that was led by high-growth, high-valuation tech stocks. Buffett is one of the most iconic value investors of all time, but value stocks have underperformed in a climate of historically low interest rates and skyrocketing corporate debt.One of Buffett's best moves of the past 10 years was his decision to go all-in on Apple, Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) in May 2016. At the time, Apple shares were trading at around $110 per share. Roughly five years later, Apple is now trading at $444 and it's by far Berkshire's largest holding, worth around $111.5 billion.But Buffett also had plenty of missteps in the past decade as well. Buffett invested in airline stocks in 2016 only to sell them all in early 2020 near the market bottom during the COVID-19 sell-off.Berkshire's Class B shares started the 2010s trading at around $70 after a 50-to-1 stock split in early 2010. Berkshire hit its decade low of $65.35 in late 2011. Berkshire shares then began a steady march higher over the next three years, peaking at $152.94 in late 2014.From there, Berkshire spent most of the next two years trading sideways in a wide range of between $125 and $150. The stock finally broke out to the upside in late 2016.2020 And Beyond: Berkshire ultimately peaked at $231.61 in early 2020, its high point of the last 10 years. However, Berkshire shares were hammered in early 2020 during the broad market COVID-19 sell-off, and the stock dropped to as low as $159.50, its lowest point since 2017. While the stock has since rebounded to around $210, it has still delivered underwhelming overall performance over the past 10 years.In fact, $1,000 worth of Berkshire stock in 2010 would be worth about $2,614 today, assuming reinvested dividends.Looking ahead, analysts expect Berkshire's climb to resume in the coming months. The average price target among the three analysts covering the stock is $223.45, suggesting 6.7% upside from current levels.President Barack Obama meets with Warren Buffett in the Oval Office in 2011. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.See more from Benzinga * Why Warren Buffett May Have Changed His Tune On Berkshire Buybacks * Exclusive: Genius Brands CEO Sees Profitability 'By The End Of The Year'(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Vuzix Smart Glasses revenues for the second quarter increased 183% year-over-yearOverall revenues for the second quarter increased 98% sequentially compared to the first quarterROCHESTER, N., Aug.

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(Bloomberg) — David Chen left his native China as a teenager to attend school in Singapore. Little did he know that his adopted city would help him reach the ranks of the ultra-rich.The co-founder of Sea Ltd. is now worth $1.3 billion, joining fellow co-founders Forrest Li and Gang Ye among Singapore’s wealthiest individuals. Their company has thrived during the pandemic thanks to the popularity of battle royale mobile game Free Fire and e-commerce platform Shopee.By far the city-state’s biggest company by market value, Sea didn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of the island’s approach to lure foreign talent at a young age to a market with easy access to capital. Chen and Ye both moved with scholarships for their studies, while Li, who was born and raised in China’s port city of Tianjin, followed his wife to Singapore after finishing an MBA at Stanford University.“Attracting the right foreign talent is essential to allow progressive development of successful Singapore brands and enterprises,” said Daniel Wong Hwee Boon, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore. “As a small country, it is imperative to not only stay relevant but also ahead. Our next generation will see how other talents are managing around the world.”Both Chen and Ye arrived in Singapore as teenagers under a government effort to recruit foreign talent through scholarship programs that began in the 1990s. Chen studied computer engineering at the National University of Singapore, while Ye, also originally from China, went to Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Junior College, and later got bachelor degrees in computer science and economics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.Touchy SubjectThe lives of Sea’s three founders are now deeply rooted in Singapore. They’ve all become citizens, and Chief Executive Officer Li is a board member of the Economic Development Board, the government agency charged with promoting growth and positioning the city-state as a global center for business.With Singapore’s economy now mired in a record slump, the government is pulling several levers — including attracting foreign talent — to get it back on track. Immigration policies have become a touchy subject, though, and public spending on scholarships and tuition grants for international students has fallen over the past decade. The ruling People’s Action Party recently dealt with opposition claims that it was attempting to increase the population by boosting the number of foreigners, saying it could result in fewer jobs for locals.Yet the city-state’s appeal has been growing for entrepreneurs, just as the Trump administration has been working to tighten immigration in the U.S. The number of startups in Singapore has more than doubled in the last decade to an estimated 55,000, according to the Economic Development Board. While that mirrors an explosion seen in many countries around the world, official support for areas such as fintech has helped entice entrepreneurs from places like protest-wracked Hong Kong.Founded in 2009 and backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., Sea is heading for another spectacular year, thanks in part to Free Fire and Shopee, which was the third-most downloaded shopping app globally across iOS and Google Play in the first quarter. While based in Singapore, the company is listed in New York, and its American depositary receipts have more than tripled in 2020, sending Sea’s market value to $61 billion. They surged 255% in 2019.Soccer ClubThat’s pushed Li’s wealth to $7.1 billion, making him Singapore’s sixth-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ye, who serves as the company’s chief operating officer, is worth $4 billion. Chen, Shopee’s chief product officer, owns 2.6% of the shares as well as options, according to a company filing.“These guys are the very product of meritocracy,” said Alan Hellawell, a venture partner at Alpha JWC Ventures, who formerly served as Sea’s chief strategy officer.With about 3,000 employees in Singapore, Sea is one of the largest homegrown tech companies by workforce. It’s also the owner of the city’s Lion City Sailors Football Club.But the best way to manage wealth is to continuously grow the company, according to Sea’s founders.“We’re all very committed,” Li said in a video interview. “Other things don’t matter.”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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Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ: OMER) shares were galloping higher Monday after the biopharma announced results from a compassionate use study of its lead investigational human monoclonal antibody.What Happened: Seattle-based Omeros said its narsoplimab, when administered to six COVID-19 patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome who initially required mechanical ventilation, led to recovery, survival and discharge from the hospital.Mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2, or MASP-2, binds the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus responsible for COVID-19 — resulting in complement activation and lung injury.Narsoplimab targets MASP-2, alleviating symptoms of COVID-19, including ARDS and thrombotic events, according to Omeros. Narsoplimab is being evaluated as a treatment option for hematopoietic stem cell transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy, or HSCT-TMA.Rolling BLA submission is underway for the indication, Omeros said.The study of narsoplimab in COVID-19 was initiated following a request from treating physicians at the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, Italy, the company said.The uniformly successful outcomes of the study are impressive, Alessandro Rambaldi, head of the department of hematology and oncology at Papa Giovanni, said in a statement. Rambaldi also served as the lead investigator for the HSCT-TMA trial. "Also of importance in this terribly sick population studied, the drug was well-tolerated, showing no adverse effects," Rambaldi said. Benzinga is covering every angle of how the coronavirus affects the financial world. For daily updates, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.What's Next: Omeros said a manuscript detailing the results of the study has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed journal Immunobiology.OMER Price Action: At last check, Omeros shares were surging higher by 49.89% to $21.18. Related Links:The Week Ahead In Biotech: Bausch Health, Fennec Pharma FDA Decisions And Smid-cap Earning Attention Biotech Investors: Mark Your Calendar For August PDUFA Dates See more from Benzinga * Seres Therapeutics Skyrockets On Positive Pivotal Study Results For Microbiome Therapeutic * Why BofA Has The Street's Highest Nvidia Price Target Ahead Of The Q2 Print * Why iPhone 12 Will Be Another 'Defining Chapter' In Apple's Growth Story(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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