1. Gilead Sciences (GILD) said it is donating 1.5M doses of its experimental anti-coronavirus drug remdesivir, which could treat 140,000 patients. In an open letter, Chairman and CEO Daniel O’Day said that the drug will be offered for compassionate use, expanded access and clinical trials, and will treat patients with severe symptoms. “Our existing supply, including finished product ready for distribution as well as investigational medicine in the final stages of production, amounts to 1.5 million individual doses.
Depending on the optimal duration of treatment, which is something we are studying in clinical trials, this supply could equate to well over 140,000 treatment courses for patients. (…) Gilead is providing the entirety of this existing supply at no cost, to treat patients with the most severe symptoms of COVID-19. The 1.5 million individual doses are available for compassionate use, expanded access and clinical trials and will be donated for broader distribution following any potential future regulatory authorizations.
These doses are for treating patients with severe symptoms, through daily intravenous infusions in a hospital setting. Having a potential treatment in our hands comes with significant responsibility.”
2. Boeing (BA) announced that it is extending the temporary suspension of production operations at all Puget Sound area and Moses Lake sites until further notice. “These actions are being taken in light of the company’s continuing focus on the health and safety of employees, current assessment of the spread of COVID-19 in Washington state, the reliability of the supply chain and additional recommendations from government health authorities,” the plane maker said in a statement Sunday night.
3. Across the media landscape, advertising is disappearing, one more casualty of the global economic shutdown, and new technology won’t be a savior as this is an equal-opportunity problem across print, TV, digital, radio, and outdoor advertising, Eric Savitz wrote in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Even the most prominent ad buyers lack reasons, and often the means, to buy ads, the author notes, while many of the small and medium-size businesses that buy online ads are struggling to stay solvent. Both Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR) have already warned that they will take a hit from the downturn, and Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) no doubt is seeing the same effects, but so far hasn’t discussed the matter, the publication adds.
4. United Airlines (UAL) is cutting nearly 90% of its New York-area flying, as public health officials predicted that the city will reach the peak of its novel coronavirus outbreak in the coming days, The Wall Street Journal’s Alison Sider reported. The airline said the reductions set to remain in place for at least three weeks will mean substantially fewer employees will need to show up each day, though workers will continue to receive pay and benefits, the author noted.
5. Comcast (CMCSA), AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Chevron (CVX), Hormel Foods (HRL), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Medtronic (MDT), Procter & Gamble (PG), and T. Rowe Price (TROW) saw positive mentions in this week’s edition of Barron’s.