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Our briefing for Tuesday, November 9, 2021:
Nov 9, 2021 3:49:38 PM
- In the United States, there is a growing gap in the amount of people dying from Covid-19. According to a new report by the New York Times, people in counties that primarily supported Donald Trump are three times as likely to die from the virus than those who live in counties that supported Joe Biden. Roughly 25 out 100,000 people are dying in red counties compared to 7.8 out of 100,000 in blue-backing counties. In September, 53 per cent of the population in counties that supported Biden were fully vaccinated compared to 40 per cent of the population in counties who had voted for Trump. According to White House statistics released last month, unvaccinated Americans are 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than their fully vaccinated counterparts. While people living in majority-Republican states may have developed a form of herd immunity to the virus, that immunity is still less effective than that of a vaccinated person.
- On Tuesday, Health Canada officially approved the Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot for anyone over the age of 18. The new shot is the same in composition as the previous vaccines and is intended to be used as continued protection for those who had received both doses of the original Pfizer vaccines. While the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has said that there is no increased risk of contracting severe symptoms from Covid-19 by already-vaccinated public, they have suggested that a booster shot may increase effectiveness in those who are at an increased risk, such as the immunocompromised, front-line health care workers and the elderly. Provinces across the country will have autonomy in how and when they roll out the booster shots in the coming months.
- British Health Secretary Sajid Javis says that health care workers in the country will be required to get vaccinated against Covid-19 by April 1st, 2022. It will now be considered a requirement of employment for frontline workers in the National Health Service. “We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS,” Javis said, “[we must] protect colleagues in the NHS and of course protect the NHS itself." The April deadline has been put in place with acknowledgement of the strain already put on health care workers and is intended to give them adequate time to book a vaccine, while also managing an increased workload. Countries such as France and Italy have already mandated that health care workers be vaccinated, as well as several U.S. states. There has been vocal opposition to the regulation from lobbyist groups who believe that the mandate will cause thousands of frontline workers to lose their jobs.
- Vaxine, an Australian pharmaceutical company has created a Covid-19 vaccine which has passed a phase III clinical trial in Iran and is looking to finally bring their product to market in its native country. The protein subunit SpikoGen has been developed by the Adelaide-based company and is now awaiting approval from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). A GoFundMe has been set up for the vaccine and has so far surpassed its goal of $400,000. In its phase III trial, the SpikoGen vaccine cleared the 60 per cent efficacy rate needed to be considered a viable option in combating the virus. The Australian application will take data from the trial, alongside outside data that will reveal if rarer side effects may occur when looking at a larger trial pool. There were no recorded deaths in either the placebo group or the vaccine group of the Iranian trials.
- Europe has become the epicenter of the global pandemic with Germany consistently recording its highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began. Experts are suggesting that Germany’s spike in infections is due to the comparatively low numbers of cases that the country experienced over the summer months, causing less of a general immunity within the population. The death toll in Germany remains lower than it was in January, with daily average deaths coming in at 118, a sharp contrast to its highest death rate, which was at one point averaging around 884 people per day. On Sunday there was 2500 people in intensive care units across the European Union’s most populous country, that has a total population of 83.2 million. Nearly 50 per cent of the nation’s health care workers are currently unvaccinated, said Health Minister Jens Spahn, who has suggested that he is not enacting mandatory vaccinations for fear that the surge in new cases could overwhelm an already stretched-thin healthcare system.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
Regeneron’s antibody drug cuts COVID-19 risk by nearly 82% for up to 8 months
Brief: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday a single dose of its antibody cocktail reduced the risk of contracting COVID-19 by 81.6 per cent in a late-stage trial, in the two to eight months period following the drug’s administration. Shares of the company were up about 1.2 per cent on the update as the data is expected to support the ongoing regulatory review to extend therapy’s use in preventing COVID-19 in people who are not exposed to the virus. The antibody therapy, REGEN-COV, is currently authorized in the United States to treat people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and for prevention of infection in those exposed to infected individuals, and others at high risk of exposure in settings such as nursing homes or prisons. The extended authorization could help boost sales of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail, in the face of competition from oral COVID-19 pills such as those being developed by Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co.
Private equity industry runs hot as pent-up demand is unleashed
Brief: Global law firm Dechert has published its annual Global Private Equity Outlook report in association with Mergermarket, a leading provider of M&A data and intelligence. The benchmark report, which examines how private equity (PE) firms continue to successfully navigate their way out of the pandemic, has found that the unprecedented deal activity within the sector shows no signs of letting up, with the industry on course to far exceed past previous records. Between January and September 2021 alone there has been USD1.17 trillion worth of deals recorded, already eclipsing every prior full-year total stretching back to 2015. In other words, the annual PE deal value is on course to more than double year-on-year as the industry heads into 2022, with capital still pouring in. Global PE and venture capital dry powder hit a record level of nearly USD2 trillion in 2020. "Record deal volumes, historically low interest rates and huge amounts of dry powder is a combination for explosive alternative asset industry growth, which is expected to continue for several years, and with our complementary practices, Dechert is well-positioned to take advantage of these extraordinary growth opportunities.
Pandemic Blows Up Old Business Habits, Opening Path to a Boom
Brief: Jon-Michial Carter was the biggest skeptic of remote work when one of his managers suggested they test the idea in 2019. “We had a 100,000 square-foot facility full of clinicians delivering remote virtual care,” said the founder and chief executive of ChartSpan, a chronic-care provider based in Greenville, South Carolina. “It seemed inconceivable that we could send them home.” When Covid-19 arrived in 2020, that’s what the firm did. As a direct result, it’s making more money. Employees say they’re happier, and the numbers say they’re more productive. Similar, potentially seismic shifts could be under way across the business world. The pandemic has killed more than 750,000 Americans and left millions more out of work. But something else has been happening too. The shock forced managers everywhere to try doing things differently, accelerating innovation. It “opens the door to this radical newness in the way businesses are configured,” said Jason Thomas, head of global research at Carlyle Group.
Health tech firm Color's valuation hits over $4 billion after latest funding
Brief: Health technology company Color said on Tuesday its valuation reached $4.6 billion after a recent $100 million investment, as venture firms continue to pour money into digital health businesses that saw service demand shoot up during the pandemic. The pandemic has supercharged the sector with healthcare moving to the virtual realm. While companies are looking to expand their scale and offerings, investors are betting on continued demand even after the pandemic for the convenience of the services. With the latest investment, Color plans to widen access to screening, diagnostics and initial treatments. It has more than 6,500 COVID-19 testing and 500 vaccination sites in the United States. Besides COVID-19 testing, the California-based company also conducts genetic testing. It has tied up with nearly 1,000 organizations, including public health departments, universities and employers. It has also partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific, Salesforce.com Inc and the State of California, among others.
BioNTech’s Success Offers Antidote to EU Biopharma Skittishness
Brief: Covid-19 vaccine maker BioNTech SE’s success is having a ripple effect for younger companies, drawing interest from investors who might previously have been skeptical about the biotechnology sector in Europe, one of the German company’s early backers said. “I expect more money flowing into the European, particularly German, biotechnology industry through this new excitement,” said Matthias Kromayer, a partner at Munich-based MIG Verwaltungs AG. MIG, a venture capital investor, was among the founding backers of BioNTech, providing 13.1 million euros ($15.2 million). It has returned 600 million euros on that investment in the biggest payout to investors in the firm’s history. BioNTech and partner Pfizer Inc. may reap $29 billion in sales next year for their Covid shot, the U.S. company said last week. The vaccine will most likely be this year’s best-selling drug. The race to bring it to the market has helped companies understand ways to speed up drug development, Kromayer said. Still, it may take at least a decade for enough critical mass to build for European biotechs to choose their home turf for public offerings instead of the U.S. market, Kromayer said.
