Gilead Makes Galapagos Move
AIDS and hepatitis C giant Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) is making another move on Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) to gain rights outside Europe for certain treatments. Gilead agreed to pay nearly $4 billion plus another $1.1 billion in shares at $158.49 per share, increasing its stake in the company to 22% from 12.3%. The drugs it will gain marketing rights to are GLPG1690, an autotoxin inhibitor for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, currently in Phase III, and option rights for a Phase 2b osteoarthritis drug right now called GLPG1972, and rights on all current and future clinical programs excluding Europe. “We chose to partner with Galapagos because of its pioneering target and drug discovery platform, proven scientific capabilities and outstanding team. Gilead also gains exclusive access to all current and future compounds in Galapagos’ rich pipeline while Galapagos is able to expand its research activities and build commercial infrastructure,” in the words of Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day.
SEE: Cannabis Stock News Daily Roundup July 12
Walmart Seeks to Out-Prime Amazon
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) has begun its summer sale event yesterday, ending Wednesday, one day before Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime Day, which starts today and ends Thursday. So there are going to be a bunch of sales everywhere, which might take some pressure off of Black Friday in about 4 months, and cyber Monday. Walmart is offering free two-day shipping on orders over $35. Almost everything will be on sale at Walmart. Prime Day last year was the biggest in Amazon’s history, which isn’t that long, because Prime Day only started in 2015. Sales for Prime Day 2018 grew more than 60% compared to Prime Day 2017, surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales combined. Target (NYSE:TGT) will also try its own sales called “deal days” on Monday and Tuesday. Whip out those credit cards, people.
Hong Kong Keeps Duking it Out with Xi, Lam, Mao, Deng, Lenin, Stalin, Etcetera
Hong Kongers aren’t backing down even after unelected Beijing-named “Chief Executive” Carrie Lam has declared the extradition bill to China, which would have allowed Beijing to ferry over anyone from the semiautonomous island over to very very just Chinese communist party courts on a whim, dead. Tens of thousands more rallied last night, hurling umbrellas and bottles at police who fired pepper spray inside a shopping mall. Outside, in another island called Sha Tin, protesters were marching in 90oF heat. Others were singing a hymn entitled “Sing Halleluyah to the Lord,” as opposed to Xi Jinping. Lam still has not resigned, possibly for fear of her health if Beijing calls her back and gives her a verbal bashing for capitulating, and possibly other bashings.
Trump Tweets Again, Wants Socialists To Go To Somalia
Somalia has it rough these days. It’s the place where opponents of both libertarians and socialist suggest that both groups should go to, being that it has no functioning government. In what passes for news these days but probably can’t be written by a single journalist without severe eye-rolling, the Presidential President and Stable Genius Donald “The Donald” Trump, has tweeted that certain congresswomen go back to the countries from which they came, one of them being Somalia. Since the Somali congresswoman happens to be not very white at all, this is going to be the main news story for the next several weeks, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. Trump has sought to exploit a feud between Nancy Pelosi, ruling Democrat in the House, and the socialist congresswomen, suggesting that Pelosi was on his side. Now though, the Democrats will be united against Trump instead of feuding with themselves, so the plan seems to have backfired. Unless the plan is to give the socialist congresswomen more power for being victims of racism and pull more of the Democratic party towards full socialism and see if the Democrats can survive such a shift intact, in which case maybe it will work.
Volkswagen, Ford, Team Up in “Biggest Event” in Modern Auto Industry
Volkswagen (NYSEMKTS:VLKAF), and Ford (NYSE:F) are teaming up on electric and self-driving cars. Both CEOs have appeared together last week on Wall Street in a show that the two are prepared to work together for the long haul. Both will invest in Argo AI, a self-driving platform valued at $7 billion. The carmakers intend to own, together, a majority of the platform. Ford will be using Volkswagen’s electric car architecture in order to manufacture electric cars starting in 2023.The two had big words about the future. “We stand at the precipice of biggest shift in transportation since [the one] Henry Ford initiated over 116 years ago. Our industry and the world is being upended by technology and innovation,” said Ford CEO Jim Hackett. The Autoblog is calling it one of the biggest events in the car industry in modern times. As opposed to pre-modern times, like the 1600s, when cars did not yet have self-driving capabilities. Or air bags. Or wheels, for that matter. It’s a good thing World War II ended, or this partnership would have been impossible.