• Data Leak Shows No Benefit from Gilead’s “Coronavirus” Drug
• House Passes $484 Billion Relief Package
• It’s Getting Pretty Great Depressiony Out There
• Podcast: One Last Free Barrel of Oil

 BIOTECH 

Data Leak Shows No Benefit from Gilead’s “Coronavirus” Drug

Shares of Gilead Sciences fell after a random Drug it had lying around the lab failed to magically cure the coronavirus.

According to a report accidentally posted to the World Health Organization’s website (WHOops), the antiviral drug Remdesivir did not improve COVID–19 patients’ condition or reduce the likelihood of death.

It would have been cool if Remdesivir (which was made in 2017 to treat Ebola but wasn’t very effective) just so happened to be the cure for the coronavirus. Like a magical sword waiting to be pulled from a stone, which would return beaucoup profits to the company that put the sword in the stone.

Unfortunately, it’s more likely Gilead is just throwing this drug at any respiratory virus that comes along in the hope of recouping some of the dough it spent developing this pharmaceutical flop.

In a “gold standard” trial of 237 patients, with a control group of 79 patients who did not receive the drug, Remdesivir did not work, according to the report which has since been removed from the WHO website.

Just under 14% of the patients taking Remdesivir died, compared to less than 13% of those not taking the treatment. It’s unclear if the higher number of deaths in those taking the drug is due to a margin of error or caused by side effects of the drug.

Did I not mention there were side effects? Well, I’d hate to completey salt your watermelon, but there were side effects, folks! The report did not specifically detail what the side effects were, but they were notable enough to halt the trial before it was completed.

“In this study of hospitalised adult patients with severe Covid–19, [which] was terminated prematurely, Remdesivir was not associated with clinical or virological benefits,” said the report.

“Remdesivir was stopped early in 18 (11.6%) patients because of adverse effects, compared with 4 (5.1%) in the control group.” 

Last week, shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD) surged after details from another coronavirus study leaked, showing promising results for Remdesivir.

(I’m pretty sure Remdesivir was the name of a wizard from Lord of the Rings, right? There was Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White, and Remdesivir the Ineffective. Side effects of the council of wizards include hobbits, convoluted world building, and diarrhea.)

After the Financial Times reported on the study accidentally posted to the WHO’s website yesterday, the biotech’s stock plunged 4.34% and continued to tumble when the markets opened this morning.

Gilead Scientists refuted the findings in the report saying it contained “inappropriate characterizations” of the study and the WHO didn’t have permission to publish the report, so “nyaaaaah.”

 ECONOMY 

House Passes $484 Billion Relief Package

The House passed a $484 billion relief package yesterday to top up the depleted small business loans program and make sure my favorite place to get black out drunk and eat sausages has the much–needed funds to weather this crisis.

The measure replenishes the depleted Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) with another $320 billion, and also includes $75 billion in emergency funding for hospitals and $25 billion for testing. (And if Medium Tony’s Sausage Lounge and Cigar Bar does not get it’s cut, I’m doing some crimes and moving to South America.)

PPP V1 was depleted overnight, as big businesses muscled their way to the front of the queue and gobbled up almost half the funds before thousands of mom–and–pop businesses had even finished their applications. (It’s hard to run a combination hot dog restaurant/bar/cigar lounge/baseball collectibles stand and do paperwork, ok?)

According to the Small Business Association’s (SBA) website, 45% of the program’s funds went to just 4% of applicants, who sucked up forgivable loans of $1 million to $20 million each.

Though the loans were technically only available to small businesses with less than 50 employees on staff and off–brand ketchup, a loophole in the bill allowed enormous Publicly Traded Companies like Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse to get in on the action.

Yesterday, the SBA closed the loophole and told publicly traded companies to “Go on, git! Git out of here, you mid–to–large–sized food chain! Hyah!”

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department issued a statement, asking public companies to return their loans before May 7 or face charges for being a bunch of incorrigible bing bongs.

 ECONOMY 

It’s Getting Pretty Great Depressiony Out There

I hope you haven’t had your fill of “worst X since the Great Depression,” yet.

Because I got a big old bowl of “worst X since the Great Depression” here for ya, and you’re not going to Janey Stripoli’s Midsummer Night’s Birthday Jamboree until you’ve eaten the whole thing.

According to data released by the government yesterday, unemployment is reaching levels not seen since the Great Depression, a period almost everybody agrees was generally not a fun time for anyone.

As of last week’s figures, one in six Americans have lost their jobs as a result of the economic fallout from the world spinning out of control and flying into the sun.

More than 4.4 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the not–so–grand total to 26 million jobs lost since the start of the pandemic.

The government opened the doors today to millions of self–employed Americans and gig workers to apply for unemployment aid, for the first time ever.

But even though the doors are open, most folks have been unable to squeeze through those doors thanks to an overwhelming number of applications bringing this system to a deadlock.

“Right now, the traditional unemployment benefit programs in each state are incredibly overwhelmed with claims just from employees,” Cheryl Sabnis, a partner at law firm King & Spalding, told CNBC.

“Now you have a lot of work to do in a short period of time and to figure out a way for individuals to actually access the benefits.”

To explain it another way:

In Other News

ONE LAST THING

Podcast: One Last Free Barrel of Oil

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In this episode, the price of oil goes negative, big corporations give their small business loans back, and the president condemns a governor’s decision to do a very dumb thing.

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MARKET MOVEMENTS

Closing Data for Today

• The maker of Lysol and Dettol, health experts, and the EPA warn consumers not to inject or drink bleach because, y’know, you’ll die.
• The state of Georgia reopened some businesses today including gyms, salons, and bowling alleys.
• Gap Inc. will not be paying April rent on its temporarily closed stores.

Cheers,

Shane Ormond
Editor, One Last Thing

The post Remdesivir the Ineffective appeared first on Laissez Faire.