Bright Future Suspected For Pfizer Cancer Drug, Ibrance
Positive result come out of Ibrance's Phase 3 PALOMA-2 trial and is now expected to make huge profit for Pfizer in the future.
Pfizer Incorporation's cancer treatment drug, Ibrance got positive results out of Phase 3 PALOMA-2 trial, the announcement on Tuesday. Ibrance is an oral first in class inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6. The study showed that this drug when taken with letrozole for menopause in women with estrogen receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative and breast cancer proved to work quite well.
The medicinal company drug once taken showed improvement in PFS in comparison to the placebos these women consumed. Ibrance has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration which in 2015, February which were based on the PALOMA-1 clinical trial . Now that the second trial has proved to be successful an approval for this is soon to come from the FDA. Pfizer Inc. hopes to gather more safety data and other information regarding the drug and later demonstrate it at the yearly meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The pharmaceutical company is expecting more information to come from the third trial of this drug that will help it get more approvals and certifications internationally and a complete approval in the United States. The investors were already pleased when the drug received the approval of the FDA and now are even more satisfied since the second clinical trial was a success. Ibrance was given approval in combination with Femara for breast cancer and postmenopausal women.
Ibrance has so far been going strong in terms of profits, approvals and clinical test, thus it will be soon seen more often in the market. Pfizer hopes attain not just approvals and marketing in the US but even Europe, it has already submitted an MAA(Marketing Authorization Application) to the European Medicines Agency, which was done in 2015, August. The recent development might help pace things up to get this approval.
According to the senior vice president of global product development of the pharma giant, Ibrance is the only CDK 4?6 inhibitor which has the phase 3 data in breast cancer and is the only drug approved so far in this category. This drug has even managed to show survival rates getting higher in patients who are diagnosed with breast cancer. Another drug might come up in the future that is going to compete with Ibrance, called abemaciclib made by Eli Lilly and Co.’s . However it is pending the approval of the FDA and is currently under review. Ibrance is a step ahead of its competitor so far and things are happening rapidly.
The US drug maker expects this drug to get it a huge amount of profit and is expecting it to become the company's major growth driver and sees strong potential in this product. The CEO of the medicinal giant, Ian Read said at the fourth quarter earning call, "We expect to deliver operational revenue growth in 2016. Our key growth drivers will continue to be Ibrance, Eliquis, and Xeljanz.”
Atlanta Offers 20-Year Lease To Delta
Delta Airlines receives an offer of a 20-year lease from the City Council of Atlanta.
Delta Airlines will be sticking around for a while at the airport of Atlanta as it has offered it a lease of 20 years. The air carrier has agreed upon this contract with the city and will be continuing its flight operations at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. A Councilman, C.T. Martin, announced the renewal for this proposal on Monday at the end of the first meeting of this month.
The air travelling company already has its headquarters situated in Atlanta which will stay there for at least the next decades according to this new contract. The airline has a strong presence in the area operating 1000 departures in one day and is the biggest airline hub. There are some changes in the contract which are in favor of the airport. The headquarters of the company is just 15 miles away from the airport of Atlanta.
This time Delta airlines has actually agreed on providing aid and help with the costs of public safety and reviewed the plans of the general manager to spend huge sums of money on major capital projects. The air carrier is not supportive of everything that the city says, only a few reasonable things. Most of the time airports manage to get profits via a fees paid to it by airlines and funds provided by the FAA.
The US air carrier is currently working under a contract with the city that will be expiring in September 2017 while the new lease is going to expire in 2036, June not just this but also the option to extend the contract for ten more years if it reaches the end of its expiry date.
This deal comes as the chief executive of the air traveling company, Richard Anderson has managed to build good relationships with the Mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, but he is going to retire on May 2 with the next meeting for the airports with the city Council to be held on 27 of this month. Delta will pay landing fees and lease rates to the airport according to the contract. A sixth runway will be added to the airport extending it to Concourse F. This will lead to the relocation of the cargo facilities from north of the airport to the south between the runways.
This lease contract is going to limit the airline competition and that will remain unaffected mostly because the airport will have a certain amount of control over the gates, if one company overuses them it can be taken back by the airport and offer it to another airline instead.
Grocery Pickup Services Expanded By Walmart
Walmart service of grocery pickups is seen in new markets indicating that it is expanding rapidly.
Walmart is rapidly expanding its grocery pickup services and stepping into different markets. This is the perfect time for the giant retail chain to conduct expansions because its competitors are doing the same; thus, it has to keep up.
New grocery pickup services are expected to start in approximately eight markets in the United States this month. Walmart Stores Inc. services will open in South Carolina, Virginia, Taxes, Utah, Alabama, Richmond and others. This will make up 30 pickup services of the grocery chain around the US, but it will not end here. The company has further plans of expanding this service even more in the future.
Walmart is not the only one trying to give customers home deliveries on the same day; Alphabet and Amazon are seeking to do that same, and have proved to be successful so far. The retailer does not only have plans of expanding the service but is also seeking to double it up.
Walmart Stores is different in this pickup service in comparison to its competitors – it is keeping its focus on its physical stores and customers can make their pickups from the stores in many locations around the US. Customers can choose what they would like to purchase and shop online through their electronic devices and can pick their grocery up from a store nearby them.
This is a smart move as regardless of where the customer’s shop, they will have to come to the stores to pick up their items. The chief operating officer, Michael Bender, said that more customers would be using this service in the country soon.
Wal-Mart’s parking lot is where these customers will have to go to pick up their groceries making it convenient for them when it comes to purchasing weekly groceries. Many companies deliver items at the doorstep of the customers, but the strategy that this multinational company is following is getting more customers to come to its stores. The service is more profitable this way, since it does not have to worry about more employees who will have to drive to customers houses, costing it fuel and labor.
It has not been easy for the grocery chain to compete efficiently with Amazon and other rivals, which have stronger foothold in the e-commerce business. For this to change, it is now constructing delivery drones and making its service similar to Amazon’s through expansions. The new markets are expected to be fully functional within this month and customers can go online to choose items they’d like to buy.
Reign FC To Make Use Of Microsoft Surface Pro
Microsoft has joined hands with Reign FC.
Microsoft Corporation is now joining hands with the Seattle Reign FC for the coming football season this year.
The company wishes to contribute to the sports fraternity where it wishes to become useful to the players by giving them a gateway to use its technology. The soccer team of women which will represent Seattle will make use of the Surface Pro 4 tablet by the software giant. The idea behind using the Surface devices while playing is to make the training sessions better via the analytics and sports science programs embedded in the devices. The Reign campaign by the company will begin from April 17, 2016.
This is not it, but the Windows giant wishes to entice from the soccer season thus the teams playing will also sport the jerseys engraved with the company’s logo. This clearly highlights that the company is one of the big names when it comes to sponsoring high profile jerseys during the National Women’s Soccer League. The themed Nike kits will have the logo of MSFT printed on the front and back with the slogan “Black, Blue, and Bold”.
The company is the presenting partner, thus it has the choice to regulate its software and hardware products like Office 365 and Azure Cloud accessible to the teams. This will thus be used for training purposes making it a fruitful bargain for both the parties. Laura Harvy, who is the General Manager of the club talked about how it will benefit the company and team. The idea behind this endeavor is to emerge with a “footballer’s perspective” allowing them to enrich the platform by offering data that will used to calculate the performance and fitness level of players.
Analytics is a great way to keep record of players. It helps in analyzing the short comings and performance trajectory allowing the team to make strategic decisions in the long run.
The tech behemoth has thus played quite strategically since by partnering with the Reign FC, the company will acknowledge the world about its influence in the sports fraternity. Tim Mallelieu, the group manager mentioned that technology can play an important role when it comes to making the on field performance of player’s betters.
Moreover, it is also a great way to acknowledge the entire sports fraternity about the potential of technology in the domain. Sports has been quite conventional when it comes to technology and by taking a stretch in this field, the company has the potential to lure a new audience.
This is not the first time Microsoft has come up with a partnership of this nature but it has earlier collaborated with the NASCAR, Seattle Sounds FC, Real Madrid and the initial Seattle Storm. This initiative can result in immense support for the propagation of women’s soccer in the United States. the Windows 10 maker is making investments in the sports industry and it is also assumed that by having Reign on board, the company will manage to get a promotional boost. The campaign will start in a day’s time.
Alibaba Removs The Paywall From SCMP
The online and mobile versions of SCMP will no longer have a paywall.
Late last year, it was reported that the Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding has agreed a $266 million deal to acquire Hong Kong’s leading English language newspaper South China Morning Post. The move came in as the company was looking to strengthen its media division. Many questions were raised by the analysts over the independence of editors etc. during the time of acquisition. But Alibaba managed to handle all of it quite well. And being one of the products of its media division, SCMP has been doing well in the market.
The Wall Street Journal now reported that Alibaba Group has decided to scrap the subscriber pay wall. This is one of the first moves of Alibaba as the owner of the newspaper South China Morning Post. The removal of the pay wall is done from the online and mobile versions of the news paper in order to emphasize more on generating traffic. Alibaba is not the first one to scrap the pay wall around its content but many media companies are doing it as well.
The Chinese tech giant previously said that it will do any and everything to preserve its independence and rights under the new leadership of Alibaba. However, the move was depicted as to satisfy the needs and appetite for more diversified news of China by providing free online content. The editor in chief of South China Morning Post, Tammy Tam, said in a statement when the acquisition was completed “A global community of China stakeholders will demand insightful and trusted news and commentaries from a within-the-region perspective.”
It was believed that Alibaba’s acquisition also meant to improve and strengthen its presence of online e-commerce market amongst the masses. Analysts reported that the Chinese e-commerce leader desires to use its assets from the media division that would help in boosting ads and bring more traffic on its e-commerce marketplaces along with improving its entertainment presence.
It is known that the SCMP.com currently has more than 2.5 million users on board that are using its online or mobile versions. The figure was disclosed by the company itself when it officially announced the removal of pay wall.
Alibaba’s acquisitions of media assets did not only limit to South China Morning Post but it succeeded in acquiring the Hong Kong versions of Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Esquire. Analysts believe that these moves would help the company in bringing in more high end consumers to its marketplaces. The SCMP Group Ltd. will soon be renamed to Armada Holdings Ltd. as a listing company.
According to Muzhi Li, who is an Arete Research Asia Ltd.’s analyst, he said “If you cannot access content, you cannot see ads. This move is all about driving traffic and helping sellers close more transactions.”
The revenue of SCMP Group for the year 2014 was $159.9 million (HK$ 1.24 billion) where its owner Alibaba’s revenue for the last fiscal year which ended March 2015 was $12.3 billion.
Boeing Found Now Seats Supplier For 737
Boeing is now going buy seats for its jets, 737, instead of manufacturing them itself, as announced on Monday.
Boeing has managed to find a seat supplier for its bestselling aircraft, the 737 and is no longer going to manufacturing the interior for the jet itself, it said on Monday. The aircrafts manufacturer is good in building engine. It is planning to stick to this only. This move will raise competition between seat makers such as B/E Aerospace and Zodiac Aerospace.
Boeing Co. is going to reveal the latest seat designs for its economy class at the Aircraft Interiors Expo, which is going to take place in Hamburg. The airplane maker is now directly planning to buy seats from its supplier, LIFT by EnCore, rather than building them itself, thanks to the agreement between these two signed on Tuesday at the Expo.
LIFT is happy to collaborate up with Boeing and is hoping to deliver the best and most compatible product possible for the company’s commercial airplanes that promise reliability and comfort simultaneously. The seat supplier is known for making it on time for all of its orders and hopes to keep up to its reputation. It has to make the delivery of it seat, LIFT, by the mid of next year which has been specifically designed for the aerospace giant’s Sky interior.
The aerospace company has approved 11 suppliers for economy class, LIFT being the first, and for now, the only one that is selling to the company directly for its 737 and 737 MAX. The other suppliers sell to airlines, which is not unknown or a new process and has been in the market for a while, enabling air-traveling companies to personalize their cabins as much as they please. This strategy will even help Boeing save time in production and deal with its clients when they want interior customizations.
The seat supplier, Zodiac, has been known to miss deadlines in the past which led to aerospace companies getting late in making the deliveries of their products. This is an indication that this cycle can sometimes prove to be fatal for the business, being dependent on other organizations. LIFT seats that will be installed in Boeing’s 737 is going to be 45.46cm, which is fairly wide made out of lightweight materials. It will have a headrest, holders, tablets, electronics, cushions and even power outlets.
Boeing has already warned seats suppliers that they cannot disappoint it with deliveries and will have to make it on time one way or another; it said that it was not satisfied with their performance in the market.
Postmates To Compete Amazon Prime Service
Postmates has launched a similar service to that of Prime in order to compete against Amazon in the market.
Amazon Inc. always has competitors right on its shoulders. It is the biggest online retailer in the United States and one of the biggest in the world, which is growing at 20 percent annually. The US retailer giant has surely become the reigning monarch of American online shopping and it is setting examples for the retail companies to follow in order to do business in the region. However, not all of it has been easy for the company to do.
Initially Amazon had competitors such as eBay, Wal-Mart and Best Buy etc. to challenge it for the market share but all these retailers have lost a bit of charm, and AMZN capitalized on it and took a major lead. Now new entries like Jet.com and Postmates are trying to give it a tough time. According to sources, Postmates has come up with an Amazon Prime like subscription service, which has received good response from the customers so far. It seeks to be completing 1 million package deliveries in a month as a part of making name in the e-commerce market.
The loyalty program of Postmates is known as Postmates Plus Unlimited which is a $9.99 per month subscription service. Members get free deliveries on all ‘Plus’ orders that exceed the minimum amount of $30 and the company will not service fees as well. American Apparel is one of the Plus merchants along with thousands of other partners on the platform. The company predicts and expects to have nearly 10,000 Plus merchants in 40 different US markets.
The service does sound like what Amazon offers to its customers through Prime membership. When Postmates officials were asked about competing with the US retailing giant, they replied that from the beginning Postmates has been ‘anti-Amazon’ and it seeks to compete Amazon for a market share in the market.
The Vice President of Growth at Postmates, Kristin Schaefer, said in a statement, “The goal is to make local inventory that’s offline and even online really accessible in every city. This is very counter to Amazon’s mission with warehouses. Over years, we’ve done a lot of time looking at Prime and trying to understand it and thinking about how the model can work for us. It’s been in the works for a long time.”
Postmates has managed to get sales valued at $350 million to the local economies in the past 15 months or so. This is a brilliant figure considering the tough competition in the market for an entirely new name in the industry. Schaefer added that Postmates does not follow the strategy of Amazon, as it is anti-Amazon whereas it considers that the US retailing giant is known for operating a brilliant business.
She added, “Over years, we’ve done a lot of time looking at Prime and trying to understand it and thinking about how the model can work for us. It’s been in the works for a long time.”
