U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Thursday that early data has helped it identify a drug candidate with the potential to help treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus. It also said it plans to support studies to determine whether existing Pfizer medicines, including its rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz, may provide benefits for those struggling with the COVID-19 respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. More than a dozen large drugmakers, including Pfizer, have announced plans in recent months to develop vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus, although few if any are likely to reach patients in time to stem the current outbreak....
(Bloomberg) -- The gold market is showing no signs of going back to normal.Spreads between New York and London have stayed around $40, a sign that traders are hesitant and liquidity is thin. It’s still difficult to ship gold around the world and traders have speculated that some dealers are pulling back given the logistical risks.“The market itself is not broken,” said Rhona O’Connell, head of market analysis for EMEA and Asia at INTL FCStone. But it’s “thin and dislocated.”To be sure, there’s plenty of gold available in New York, according to Comex. Total stockpiles tracked by the exchange almost doubled over the past week and are at record highs.Spot gold rose 1% to $1,662.68 an ounce as of 11:35 a.m. in London. On the Comex, futures were more expensive at $1,706.The gaps should be temporary as major refineries restart operations, Suki Cooper, precious metals analyst at Standard Chartered Bank, said...
A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine developed and approved in a rush may prove to be unsafe, according to International Vaccine Institute Director-General Jerome Kim.What Happened "We don't know that a vaccine that's developed in four months -- or I guess 12 to 18 months, which is the current estimate -- is really safe," Kim told CNBC, as reported Thursday.According to Kim, it takes anywhere between five to 10 years to roll out vaccines using typical procedures.Kim further told CNBC that there had been a special urgency to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, with a majority of countries suffering the outbreak, and that has resulted in a "significant amount of funding" for pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine.It's "really a remarkable thing," the IVI head said, but warned that 93% of the vaccines fail clinical trials.Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) was the first company to begin clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in...
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has accumulated stakes in four major European oil companies, a source familiar with the transaction said. The four are Royal Dutch Shell , France's Total , Norway's Equinor and Italy's Eni , the source said, confirming a Wall Street Journal report. The source did not confirm the combined value of the stakes, which the WSJ reported were worth $1 billion....
