Category: Stock Market News

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with privately-held Vir Biotechnology to develop and sell RNAi therapeutics for infectious diseases, including hepatitis B virus infection. As part of the agreement, Alnylam will receive an upfront payment of cash and Vir shares, and will be eligible for milestone payments of more than $1 billion. “We believe the innovative structure of this deal, including the right for Alnylam to opt into a profit-sharing arrangement prior to the start of Phase 3 for HBV, gives us both strategic flexibility in our committed spend and retention of significant product value,” said Alnylam Chief Executive John Maraganore. The stock, which was indicated up over 5% in premarket trade, has more than tripled year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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Anthem Inc. plans to launch its own pharmacy-benefits manager, IngenioRx, which will provide services to Anthem health plans and non-Anthem customers starting in 2020, which is when Anthem’s contract with Express Scripts Holding Co. ends. CVS Health Corp. will fill prescriptions and process claims for Anthem under a five-year contract starting in 2020, the company also announced Wednesday. CVS Health said it expects implementation costs will be part of the agreement, but that those costs will likely be immaterial to 2017 earnings. Express Scripts stock declined 0.3% in premarket trade Wednesday after the news, while CVS Health stock rose 2.4%. The announcement follows a contentious and very public battle between Anthem and Express Scriptsover pricing in April. Anthem is Express Scripts’ biggest client, and some investors had held out hope for a reconciliation. Pharmacy-benefit managers are a little-known facet of the complex U.S. pharmaceutical system that negotiate drug prices on behalf of health insurers and employers. The industry has become very concentrated in recent years, with just three players dominating the market. Anthem shares were not active in premarket trade. Shares have declined 1.2% over the last three months, Express Scripts stock has declined 8.7%and CVS Health stock declined 6.9%, compared with a 4% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Firefighters were battling a blaze late Tuesday at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, Calif., according to the Southern California city’s police department. “Fire departments are currently fighting a fire at the Chevron refinery. Residents in the nearby areas are advised to close their windows,” El Segundo Police said in a Twitter post at about 11 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, or 2 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. The blaze was a “major fire,” it was coming close to power lines, and firefighters were attempting to extinguish it with water and foam, a KTLA report said. Chevron’s stock was roughly unchanged in premarket action.

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Gordon Hayward, the biggest free-agent signing of the NBA offseason, suffered a horrific injury less than six minutes into the regular season Tuesday night, when the Boston Celtics’ star forward gruesomely snapped his ankle. Hayward landed awkwardly on an alley-oop play, and laid on the court for over five minutes before being carried off on a stretcher. The Celtics said Hayward suffered a fractured left ankle. Though the team did not estimate when he might return, the severity of the injury suggested he may miss most, of not all, of the season. Over the summer, Hayward signed a four-year, $128 million deal with Boston, as the Celtics bulked up in an effort to compete with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA’s Eastern Division.

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Hollywood producer Bob Weinstein, the brother of disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein, bullied employees and sexually harassed a female producer, according to separate reports Tuesday. Amanda Segel, an executive producer on the TV miniseries “The Mist,” which was produced by the Weinstein Co., told Variety that Bob Weinstein repeatedly sexually harassed her over a period of three months in 2016. Weinstein and his lawyer both strongly denied wrongdoing. In a separate report, the Wall Street Journal late Tuesday reported that Weinstein exhibited a pattern of bullying and abusive behavior toward employees, according to multiple sources, which would not have been tolerated at most other American companies. “Bob Weinstein was genuinely abusive to people in my company,” former Walt Disney Co. studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg said in an interview Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ D.Live technology conference in Southern California. Last week, Harvey Weinstein was ousted from his company after numerous reports of sexual misconduct and sexual abuse against him emerged. On Monday, the Weinstein Co. said it was in talks for a potential sale of the company.

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Two former top executives from mining conglomerate Rio Tinto PLC have been charged with fraud, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission announcement Tuesday. The SEC has accused former Chief Executive Thomas Albanese and former Chief Financial Officer Guy Elliott of inflating the value of coal assets acquired for $3.7 billion and sold several years later for $50 million. Rio Tinto stock is down less than 1% to $49.50 after hours. The two men failed to follow accounting standards and as a project suffered repeated setbacks, sought to hide or delay disclosure of the problems from the board of directors and investors, according to the SEC. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, as well as the return of any illegal gains and civil penalties for the defendants. Rio Tinto stock is up 29.5% this year, with the S&P 500 index up 14.2%.

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Fogo de Chão Inc. shares declined in the extended session Tuesday after the Brazilian steakhouse chain forecast quarterly results below the Wall Street view. Fogo shares declined 3.7% to $11.60 after hours. The company forecast unadjusted earnings of 8 cents to 10 cents a share, which included an estimated 3-cents-a-share impact from hurricanes. For the year, Fogo expects adjusted earnings of 77 cents to 80 cents a share on revenue of $306 million to $311 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 17 cents a share on revenue of $74.8 million for the quarter, and 91 cents on revenue of $317.8 million for the year.

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Amazon Studios head Roy Price has resigned, Amazon.com inc. confirmed Tuesday, days after being suspended over sexual harassment allegations. Deadline first reported his resignation. Price, who led Amazon Studios since 2014, was suspended last week following a Hollywood Reporter interview with a female Amazon TV producer who alleged lewd comments and unwelcome sexual advances by Price. Price’s departure follows the ouster of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was fired last week from his production company amid reports of sexual harassment, assault and rape, bringing the issue of sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry to center stage.

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MobileIron Inc. shares fell in the extended session Tuesday after the enterprise security company said Chief Executive Barry Mainz was leaving the company following a mutual decision, effective immediately, and forecast revenue below Wall Street estimates. MobileIron shares fell 11% to $3.40 after hours. Simon Biddiscombe, the chief financial officer, has been appointed CEO and president and will join the board, while Shawn Ayers, vice president of finance, will serve as interim CFO as the company searches for a new CFO. The company forecast third-quarter revenue of $42 million to $43 million, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expect $45.2 million.

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The American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies dropped by 7.1 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 13, according to sources. The API data, however, also showed that gasoline stockpiles rose by 1.9 million barrels, while inventories of distillates climbed by 1.6 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a drop of 3.9 barrels in crude inventories, along with declines of 340,000 barrels for gasoline and 2 million barrels for distillate supplies. November crude was at $52.02 a barrel in electronic trading, up from the settlement of $51.88 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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