By Paresh
Dave
(Reuters)
- Facebook Inc took down a popular Wall Street discussion group, Robinhood
Stock Traders, in a move that its founder on Thursday described as backlash for
conversations buoying shares of GameStop Corp and other companies this week.
GameStop, AMC Entertainment Holdings
Inc and BlackBerry have been at the center of a market battle as individual
investors coordinating on social media including Reddit, and using trading apps
such as Robinhood, bought shares and squeezed hedge funds that had bet big on
those struggling companies to tank.
Allen Tran, a 23-year-old from
Chicago who created Robinhood Stock Traders, said he woke up on Wednesday to a
notification that Facebook had disabled the 157,000-member group. The
notification, seen by Reuters, said without detail that the group violated
policies on “adult sexual exploitation.”
“We were first on the picking tree
to be cut off because we are on Facebook, not a free platform like Reddit,”
said Tran, referring to the typically lighter moderation on the discussion
website.
Some of his group’s members made
tens of thousands of dollars in recent trades first popularized on Reddit’s
WallStreetBets forum, he said.
Tran, who also runs the
20,000-member HaiKhuu Trading group on chat app Discord, said he has never seen
adult content on the Facebook group.
Facebook spokeswoman Kristen Morea
said, “This group was removed for violating our Community Standards, unrelated
to the ongoing stock frenzy.” She did not respond to requests to elaborate.
---- “With all these major institutions
being frustrated with the success of retail, they are trying to target any
groups they can,” said Tran, who was featured in a Wall Street Journal article
in November and described his Facebook group as the largest of its kind.
Tran expressed concern that a
replacement group he formed to carry on discussions also will be taken down.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-retail-trading-facebook/facebook-shuts-popular-stock-trading-group-amid-gamestop-frenzy-idUSKBN29X34P
Silver Thursday Silver Thursday was an event that
occurred in the United States silver commodity
markets on Thursday, March 27, 1980, following the attempt by brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt , William Herbert Hunt and Lamar Hunt
to corner the silver market. A subsequent steep
fall in silver prices led to panic on commodity and futures
exchanges .
---- On January 7, 1980, in response to
the Hunts' accumulation, the exchange rules regarding leverage were changed; COMEX adopted "Silver Rule
7", which placed heavy restrictions on the purchase of commodities on margin .
The Hunt brothers had borrowed heavily to finance their purchases, and, as the
price began to fall again, dropping over 50% in just four days, they were
unable to meet their obligations, causing panic in the markets.
----- The Hunt brothers had invested heavily in futures
contracts through several brokers, including the brokerage firm Bache Halsey Stuart Shields , later Prudential-Bache Securities and Prudential Securities . When the price of
silver dropped below their minimum margin
requirement, they were issued a margin
call for $100 million. The Hunts were unable to meet the margin call, and, with
the brothers facing a potential $1.7 billion loss, the ensuing panic was felt
in the financial markets in general, as well as commodities and futures. Many
government officials feared that if the Hunts were unable to meet their debts,
some large Wall Street brokerage firms and banks might collapse.[2]
To save the situation, a consortium of US banks provided a
$1.1 billion line of credit to the brothers which allowed them to pay Bache
which, in turn, survived the ordeal. The U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) later launched an investigation into the Hunt brothers,
who had failed to disclose that they in fact held a 6.5% stake in Bache.[3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Thursday
This is the way things are, and the
Game has been so successful that, like everything, it will get more and more
successful until it stops being successful.
George Goodman, aka Adam Smith,
The Money Game. 1968.
Covid-19 Corner This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Lung, mobility problems plague
COVID-19 patients months after recovery Jan. 27, 2021 / 11:03 AM
Jan. 27 (UPI) -- More than half of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 had
diminished lung function four months after they have recovered and returned
home, a study published Wednesday by JAMA Network Open found.
A similar percentage of these patients also had mobility
problems, including difficulty walking. And just over 17% had symptoms of
post-traumatic stress disorder four months after hospital discharge, the data
showed.
The findings highlight the "long-lasting physical and
psychological" complications caused by the virus, the researchers said.
"Their real impact on public health is a major issue
that needs to be investigated and clarified in the next months," study
co-author Dr. Mattia Bellan told UPI.
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"Recovered patients often complain of persistent
symptoms for weeks or even months -- more specifically, fatigue and reduced
tolerance to physical exercise are particularly common and may be paralleled by
an objective reduction of physical performances," said Bellan, a professor
of translational medicine at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara,
Italy.
Although COVID-19 is "generally considered an acute
illness," according to Bellan, several studies have documented long-term
health complications among adults and children who have recovered from the
virus.
In adults, these complications may include brain inflammation , or encephalitis, as well as fatigue and lung, heart and mental health problems.
RELATED Study:
COVID-19 pneumonia more deadly because it spreads like 'wildfires'
Heart problems have also been observed in children infected with the new coronavirus.
For this study, Bellan and his colleagues followed 238
COVID-19 patients ranging in age from 50 to 71 years.
All of the patients in the study had been hospitalized with
the virus in Italy in spring 2020, when the country had one of the largest
outbreaks in the world, the researchers said.
More
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/01/27/Lung-mobility-problems-plague-COVID-19-patients-months-after-recovery/6301611756981/
Drugmakers jointly study combo
antibody treatment for mild COVID-19 Jan. 27, 2021 / 3:50 PM
Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Drugmakers Lilly, Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline on
Wednesday announced plans to conduct a clinical trial to evaluate a combination
of two drugs in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 .
The drugs are both monoclonal antibodies, which are
laboratory-made proteins designed to mimic the immune system's ability to fight
off viruses.
Similar combinations of these drugs can reduce levels of
virus in the blood of COVID-19 patients by up to 20%, according to recent research .
"With a virus like [COVID-19], it's expected that
variants could emerge that require new therapeutic options, which is why Lilly
is studying bamlanivimab together with other neutralizing antibodies,"
Lilly chief scientific officer Dr. Daniel Skovronsky said in a press release.
RELATED Eli
Lilly says 2 drugs lower death rate among high-risk COVID-19 patients
The companies expanded an ongoing clinical trial will
now evaluate the combination of Lilly's bamlanivimab, at a dose of 700
milligrams, and Vir's VIR-7831, at a dose of 500 mg., according to the
companies.
"Adding VIR-7831 to our study is an important part of
our commitment to develop therapies to treat current and future strains of
COVID-19 until vaccines are widely available and utilized," Skovronsky
said.
Bamlanivimab already has received an emergency use
authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the
treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in those who are at high risk for
progressing to severe illness, Lilly said.
RELATED Study:
Antibody combo offers benefit in mild, moderate COVID-19
VIR-7831, which has not been approved by the FDA, is being
evaluated in clinical trials as a standalone "early" treatment of
COVID-19 in adults at high risk for hospitalization from the disease, officials
said.
"We believe that VIR-7831 has significant potential as
a single agent," Vir CEO George Scangos said in a statement.
"As the virus continues to evolve, we, along with
Lilly and GSK, share the view that we should pursue all possibilities to help
end the pandemic and maximize the number of lives that can be saved," he
said.
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/01/27/Drugmakers-jointly-study-combo-antibody-treatment-for-mild-COVID-19/4231611768291/
Monoclonal antibodies may prevent
severe COVID-19, but there’s a catch By Rich Haridy January 27, 2021
Promising interim data from a unique Phase 3 trial testing
the efficacy of a monoclonal antibody cocktail developed to prevent SARS-CoV-2
infection has been announced by pharmaceutical company Regeneron. The
preliminary results suggest this novel treatment is 100 percent effective at
preventing symptomatic infection, but despite these positive signs there are
concerns the prohibitive cost of producing monoclonal antibody therapies will
severely limit widespread use.
Last week pharma company Eli
Lilly revealed its monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 is 80 percent
effective at preventing viral infection. Not to be outdone, Lilly’s major
monoclonal antibody competitor Regeneron is now announcing early results from
its ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial.
Monoclonal antibody treatments are a little different to
vaccines. Instead of teaching a body how to produce antibodies against a virus,
monoclonal antibodies are a single dose of lab-produced antibodies intended to
either prevent infection or reduce the severity of a disease for a short period
of time.
Regeneron’s therapy is called REGEN-COV and it comprises
two different but complimentary types of lab-engineered antibodies developed to
rapidly stop the virus from replicating inside an infected patient. These kinds
of monoclonal antibody therapies are designed to be administered to subjects at
high-risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, or given to patients at the very
earliest stage of COVID-19.
Because monoclonal antibodies only offer limited short-term
protection the trials testing them must be very focused. Eli
Lilly’s bamlanivimab treatment , for example, is being trialled in nursing
homes and aged care centers at the first sign of a localized outbreak.
Regeneron on the other hand is looking at how well its antibody cocktail can
prevent viral infection in subjects living in households with a confirmed
COVID-19 case.
To qualify for the trial subjects must be recruited and
dosed with the antibodies within four days of their household contact testing
positive for SARS-CoV-2. Regeneron plans to recruit 2,450 subjects in this
blinded, randomized and placebo-controlled Phase 3 trial.
Regeneron's interim data analysis comprises the first 409
subjects enrolled in the trial. The data has yet to be peer-reviewed or
published in a journal but complete results for the entire trial are hoped to
be delivered in the first half of 2021.
These early results reveal the antibody cocktail delivered
100 percent protection from symptomatic infection (8/223 placebo vs. 0/186
REGEN-COV). The trial is also testing for asymptomatic infections and found the
treatment effective on that measure (23/223 asymptomatic infections in placebo
group vs. 10/186 REGEN-COV).
The interim data also shows those in the REGEN-COV group
who did still get infected with SARS-CoV-2 displayed decreased peak viral
levels and significantly shorter durations of viral shedding. In other words,
those asymptomatic cases in the antibody group were potentially much less
contagious than similar cases in the placebo group.
"These data using REGEN-COV as a passive vaccine suggest
that it may both reduce transmission of the virus as well as reduce viral and
disease burden in those who still get infected," says Regeneron’s chief
scientific officer, George D. Yancopoulos.
Perhaps the most significant aspect
of this new announcement from Regeneron is the way the therapy was
administered. Traditionally monoclonal antibodies must be administered by
intravenous infusion. Eli Lilly’s competing therapy requires a 60 minute
infusion which severely limits how broadly these treatments can be deployed.
This new REGEN-COV trial, however,
tested the efficacy of administration by subcutaneous injection. This
essentially turns an onerous, medically supervised 60 minute infusion into a
swift single injection that can be delivered virtually anywhere. Considering
this kind of monoclonal antibody treatment may be most effective as a very
early preventative measure in communities at high-risk of infection, delivery
by injection is nothing short of a game-changer.
More
https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/monoclonal-antibodies-coronavirus-regeneron-phase3-data/
Next, some vaccine links
kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most
informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World
Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines . https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY
Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker . https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford
Website . https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
Regulatory
Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker . https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
https://rt.live/
Covid19info.live
https://wuflu.live/
Centers for Disease Control
Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator
https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
Updates as they get reported.
Approx. 6 minutes.
Aluminium - The Material That
Changed The World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn9qhQSMCRk
Another weekend, what
will President Biden tweet? How will Wall Street rig the casinos against the
punters? Have a great weekend everyone.
“Beyond
this, the problem is universal. It is that governments are now held responsible
for the welfare of the people. The aspirations of the people can outrun their
ability to pay for them, and nobody has yet found a way to create answers to
the aspirations out of thin air.”
George
Goodman, aka Adam Smith, The Money Game. 1968.
Until 2020.
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