AZ News From The Street 2016

ASCO certainly didn't produce news that would send the stock higher. A big disappointment as far as shareholders go. Oncology focus is in the future perhaps, but it certainly isn't happening right now. Nothing to replace even a portion of Crestor sales was announced that's for sure.

 

AZ is desperate to raise cash. Frenchie is selling off everything. Can't believe he has;t sold off the U.S. rights to Movantik yet like he did in Europe. The AZ people that were involved in AZ's anesthetics division, 360 in all, can go to Aspen to work.

ASCO was ho-hum for AZ. We are always late to the party. Competitors for everything we have. I can't understand how we can get by with such a small layoff. More to come I suspect.

 

I'd say you're probably right about that

 

When does Medimmune get sold off?

 

July 1 should be compared to an appetizer, only a little blip. The main entree will be next. And it'll be akin to a large feast. No way possible to lay off so few relatively speaking and expect to change,or make up for, lost revenue from blockbusters. When blockbusters are being replaced by "lacklusters" within. Get ready, the feast is cooking.

 

They might be disappointed in the end, but then again the street does like layoff announcements. Could that be it? It's not very likely to be great earnings news is it?


Call buyers take a dose of AstraZeneca
By optionMONSTER Staff (media-support-team@optionmonster.com) 1 hour ago

Traders are looking for AstraZeneca to gain in coming weeks.

optionMONSTER's monitoring system detected the purchase of 3,200 July 27.50 calls for $0.75 to $0.91 today. This represents fresh buying, as volume far surpassed the strike's open interest of 268 contracts.

Long calls lock in the price where investors can buy stock, allowing them to profit from a rally with limited capital at risk. Their cheap cost can also generate significant leverage on a percentage basis if shares move in the right direction.

AZN is off 1.85 percent to $27.26 in afternoon trading and is down 8 percent in the last week. The U.K.-based drug developer is scheduled to announce its next quarterly results before the market opens on July 28.

Overall option volume is 5 times greater than average so far today. Calls outnumber puts by a bullish 3-to-1 ratio.

 

another merger possibly?

 

Stock is up today for no apparent reason? Something in the works?

 

Bad news for Farxiga.

http://www.biopharmadive.com/news/fda_warning_diabetes_invokana_farxiga/420912/

 

This looks like a class effect, so maybe its not a big market mover.

 

Looks like many hedge funds might have already bailed on AZ:

AstraZeneca Loses Support as Stock Tumbles

Let’s start with AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN), which saw the number of hedge funds in our database long its stock decline by 10% to 18 over the last fully reported quarter – the first quarter of 2016. Moreover, these firms’ combined stakes accounted for only 0.6% of the company’s total shares outstanding as of March 31. In fact, very few 13F-filing institutional investors had large stakes in the company. Among the most valuable positions was that of billionaire Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which last disclosed ownership of 5.68 million shares, worth roughly $160 million by the end of March.

AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN) has had a tough year, and is ultimately down by more than 11.6%. However, it has gained 6.5% over the second quarter of 2016. Most recently, the stock was helped by a license deal inked with privately held Grunenthal GmbH, for the rights to AstraZeneca’s gout medicine Zurampic (lesinurad) in Europe and Latin America.

 

Stock up today on a an apparent Brexit vote failure relief rally

 

• The CDC recommends that FluMist vaccine not be used during the upcoming flu season

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/health/cdc-flumist-nasal-spray-flu-vaccine/

 

More on FluMist, MedImmune's money maker:

FluMist Nose Spray Vaccine Doesn't Work This Year, Experts Say
by Maggie Fox



The popular, needle-free FluMist influenza vaccine has not protected kids or adults against flu for years and should not be used this coming flu season, experts said Wednesday.

The surprise decision, sure to dismay children and needle-phobes, could also leave pediatricians short of vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Flu vaccines are different from most other vaccines. Their effectiveness varies from year to year and they must be made fresh each flu season to match circulating strains of influenza, which also change.

FluMist, made by MedImmune, uses live but weakened strains of flu virus to stimulate the immune system. It's sprayed up the nose and in some seasons it had been reported to be more effective than some injected vaccines.

"Nasal spray flu vaccine accounts for about one-third of all flu vaccines given to children."
But the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reviewed the data from the past few flu seasons and found it didn't work in recent years. In fact, FluMist was only 3 percent effective last flu season, CDC said.

"This 3 percent estimate means no protective benefit could be measured," the CDC said. It says it's not clear why it hasn't worked well.

"In comparison, inactivated influenza vaccine (flu shots) had a vaccine effectiveness estimate of 63 percent against any flu virus among children 2 years through 17 years."

AstraZeneca, which owns MedImmune, said other research contradicts ACIP's and the CDC's findings.

"These findings demonstrate FluMist Quadrivalentwas 46-58 percent effective overall against the circulating influenza strains during the 2015-2016 season," the company said in a statement.

The CDC recommends that just about everyone should be vaccinated against influenza every year. Even when the vaccines on the market do not work perfectly, vaccinated people are less likely to get severely ill and die from flu.

"How well the flu vaccine works (or its ability to prevent flu illness) can range widely from season to season and can be affected by a number of factors, including characteristics of the person being vaccinated, the similarity between vaccine viruses and circulating viruses, and even which vaccine is used," the CDC said.

"CDC will be working with manufacturers throughout the summer to ensure there is enough vaccine supply to meet the demand," it added.

"Vaccine manufacturers had projected that as many as 171 million to 176 million doses of flu vaccine, in all forms, would be available for the United States during the 2016-2017 season. The makers of (FluMist) had projected a supply of as many as 14 million doses of nasal spray flu vaccine, or about 8 percent of the total projected supply."

AstraZeneca said it would continue making and distributing FluMist in other countries. "AstraZeneca is working with the CDC to better understand its data to help ensure eligible patients continue to receive the vaccine in future seasons in the U.S.," it said.

Flu usually hits the very young and the very old the hardest. Depending on the season, it kills anywhere between 4,000 and 50,000 people a year in the United States.

The flu vaccines on the market deliver a cocktail to protect against three or four strains of flu. It takes months to make flu vaccines and they have to be formulated freshly every year.

Six companies make flu vaccines for the U.S. market. They include shots with either three of four flu strains.

 

This is embarrasing. Flumist missed.

 

They don't care one iota, their guidance is left unchanged:

AstraZeneca takes $80 mln hit as U.S. spurns nasal flu vaccine
10 hours ago

• 
  LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca said it would take an $80 million writedown on stocks of its flu vaccine Flumist Quadrivalent, which is sprayed into the nose, after U.S. health authorities decided they would not use the product.
  
  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ruled the vaccine should not be used in any setting, based on U.S. data indicating it did not demonstrate statistically significant effectiveness in children.
  
  Despite the setback, AstraZeneca said it maintained its financial guidance for 2016. U.S. sales of the product in 2015 totalled $206 million.
  
  The company said the CDC data contrasted with its own studies as well as preliminary independent findings by public health authorities in other countries suggesting the vaccine was 46 to 58 percent effective overall against flu strains during the 2015-2016 season.
  
  "The distribution and use of the vaccine in other countries are progressing as planned for the forthcoming influenza season, pending the annual release process from relevant regulatory authorities," AstraZeneca said in a statement on Thursday.

 

but they will take a tax write off for the FluMist debacle!!

Also on Thursday, AstraZeneca said it would take an $80 million write-down associated with stock of its flu vaccine Flumist Quadrivalent, which is sprayed into the nose, after Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the vaccine not be used for the 2016-17 influenza season. The updated guidance was based on CDC vaccine effectiveness data from the last three influenza seasons in the United States, which indicated FluMist Quadrivalent — developed by the company’s Maryland-based MedImmune subsidiary — did not demonstrate statistically significant effectiveness in children 2-to-17 years of age.

 

The Brexit polls were completely wrong, the Brexit relief rally is now obviously over. Down, down, down for now anyway for all markets, but especially so for those companies that are UK operation intensive, like AZ

 

Don't forget some basics that, incredibly, can be lost on the masses:

If you own a stock worth $100.00 and it falls by 50% you have a stock worth $50.00. If that stock gains 50%, you have a stock worth $75.00. You have lost 25%. Can I crunch some more numbers for you?