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Chimerix down 79% at all time low premarket after brincidofovir misses primary endpoint of preventing CMV infection after HCT
Chimerix down 79% at all time low premarket after brincidofovir misses primary endpoint of preventing CMV infection after HCT
- Phase 3 SUPPRESS trial of brincidofovir in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) did not achieve its primary endpoint for the prevention of clinically significant cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection through Week 24 after transplant.
- Mgmt does not yet understand the difference between Phase 2 and SUPPRESS data.
- Chimerix plans to continue the programs testing brincidofovir in serious adenovirus infections and in smallpox.
- Pending the availability of complete data from SUPPRESS, including secondary endpoints in other dsDNA viral infections (full data will be presented Feb 18-22), Chimerix has elected to pause further enrollment in the Phase 3 SUSTAIN and SURPASS trials in kidney transplant recipients -- out of caution.
- CMRX is down 78% at an all-time low as brincidofovir is CMRX's lead product candidate.
--> indicated unchanged pre open
GoPro started working on drones a few months ago in order to stake a claim in this multibillion-dollar market. This is a natural for them, as they will be able to offer the best flying immersive camera on the market — completely autonomous, no pilot required. We explain here why they could be the next big player in the emerging drone market.
Even though we’ve seen GoPro non-event videos appearing on the web, it’s probably when there is no communication that the best technological innovation will emerge.
A few months ago, GoPro announced buying Kolor, a 360-degree video software vendor company in France. Kolor is developing a platform for stitching together 360-degree videos coming from, for example, different GoPro units attached to a specific mast. The company has become a dedicated business unit for 360-degree spherical applications.
Kolor’s founder is now Senior Director of Immersive Media Solutions at GoPro. With this acquisition, GoPro is entering the market for 360-degree drone images/videos applications. Even though there are some 360-degree camera players on the market (like Bublcam, Panono and Giroptic), none will be able to natively integrate the camera on the drone for perfect image quality and stabilization.
Immersive video and images applications are the next big thing coming on the market. Anyone who has ever tried to set up a drone gimbal to catch perfect quality and stabilized video on three axes knows it’s a nightmare.
Immersive video without any camera/drone movement allows you to benefit immediately from a panoramic and 360-degree spherical view to offer interactive exploration directly inside the image, to see the real world in your VR gear. This is what Kolor is doing in this field with Chrome for 360-degree view.
One of GoPro’s latest acquisitions is in Zürich, Switzerland. GoPro is now entering GPS-denied navigation space. In fact, they have taken the opportunity to establish their Swiss subsidiary after buying Skybotix in September (a small company of five engineers coming from ETH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich).
Skybotix has five years of experience in autonomous drone technology. ETH also is well-known for having spun-off several companies. For example, senseFly became a Parrot company (the worldwide leader in professional drone mapping systems).
The Skybotix team was able to send a drone inside a building, with no pilot, by reconstructing real-time 3D space and constraints. Their technology is providing a visual navigation application that replaces GPS with much more accurate, camera-based positioning. Their multi-camera sensors used industrial-grade visual odometry and real-time 3D reconstruction in unstructured indoor and outdoor environments.
This is not only a strategic acquisition for GoPro, but they also take root at the same time with this new team: Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) and Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Technology, the two departments belonging to ETH, one of the most advanced labs in the world. Here is an example of what they have achieved so far with their drone:
Now the team is directly integrated as a GoPro product division. With this acquisition, GoPro is taking a strategic advantage for advanced SLAM applications (simultaneous localization and mapping), where 3D representation of the environment is used for automatic collision avoidance, improved user interaction and helping operators in terms of orientation and flight planning. Remember, sense-and-avoid is one of the key issues for the FAA to allow drone systems to evolve autonomously without pilot line of sight.
But behind the scenes, a strategic battle for software and hardware is also playing out. Hardware is a core component in the size/consumption of drones, as is building more and more intelligent applications with data power calculation coming from integrated multiple sensors, like the former Skybotix.
Qualcomm will certainly be a major player for drone hardware platforms in the next few years. They have vast field robotics experience and now run a robotic accelerator with a promising drone startup.
Qualcomm recently announced a partnership with Yuneec, the second Chinese ready-to-fly platform (their Snapdragon advanced processing power and real-time flight control has a leading global navigation satellite system [GNSS] optimized to support highly accurate location positioning). The Computer Vision and Geometry Group from ETH has also been involved in the advanced development of their onboard computer.
Then, there’s the software. The intelligence of drones lies in the DOS (Drone Operating System); in other words, the autopilot: the command-and-control central nervous system.
In this space, we have players aiming to become the platform leaders. One is Airware, which is licensing an end-to-end open aerial platform to simplify the development and integration of drone applications, sensors, remote control systems and cloud data analysis. Airware has raised $40 million so far, and has closed another round to reinvest in building the emerging drone ecosystem.
On the other side are the open-source autopilot platform projects, such as the Linux Foundation Dronecode project. It is supported by many companies (Parrot, Intel, Yuneec) and led by 3DRobotics with the PX4 Project of the Computer Vision and Geometry Lab of ETH Zürich again.
Today, the 3D robotics ecosystem has hundreds of contributors in the world, as well as international distributors.
In addition to the U.S. players, we have DJI coming from China. DJI is a ready-to-fly drone products manufacturer. Its core model was, until now, a proprietary technology (which has provided success since 2009).
DJI now understands they must open their platform (their SDK is still limited to education and simple development) if they want to continue to lead the market. To develop a DJI ecosystem like Airware, they have closed a $75 million round with Accel.
Among those big players, GoPro certainly has the assets to make the best flying camera on the market for B2C applications, and maybe take part in the construction of new professional applications for the B2B market. And it would not be a surprise if they joined the Linux Foundation Dronecode project in the next few months.
Iraq reportedly soliticiting bids for its southern oil fields; projects expected to be worth multiple billions of dollars - press - Discussions being held with Exxon, Petrochina and others
Gapping down
Metals and mining stocks/ETFs trading lower: GFI -3.8%, MT -3.7%, FCX -2.8% (announces that Chairman and co-founder James Moffett will step down; Gerald Ford elected as Non-Executive Chairman), AU -2.8%, SLV -2.1%, GDX -1.5%, SLW -1.3%, NEM -1%, AA -0.9%, GLD -0.5%.
Oil/gas related names showing early weakness: WFT -10% (light volume), OAS -4.5%, CJES -3.1%, SNP -2.9% (ticking lower), MEMP -2.6%, SLB -2.2%, COP -2.2%, DVN -1.8%, MRO -1.7%, BP -1.6%, APC -1.6%, RIG -1.5% (announces that Shell has elected to terminate the contract for the harsh environment semisubmersible Polar Pioneer prior to its expiration in July 2017), CLR -1.4%, OXY-1.2%, TOT -1.1%, XOM -0.8%.
Other news: CMRX -75.3% (announces top-line results from its Phase 3 Suppress trial of Brincidofovir; did not achieve primary endpoint for prevention of significant CMV infection after HCT), ICON -7.4% (Iconix Brand announces it received a formal order of investigation from the Staff of the SEC; co intends to fully cooperate with the SEC), VRX -6.7% (confirmed J. Michael Pearson Medical Leave), NFLX -1.1% (Barron's suggests YouTube 2x more valuable than Netflix) SCTY -0.7% (lower despite Barron's positive view), BABA -0.6% (reports out indicate the company is still attempting to turnaround its reputation in relation with counterfeiter sales; also plans additional Ele.me investment), QIHU -0.5% (Qualcomm enters into a Chinese Patent License Agreement with QiKu Internet Network Scientific, a JV between Qihu and Coolpad), DB -0.4% (Deutsche Bank to sell entire 19.99% stake in Hua Xia Bank to PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited), AXP -0.4% (mentioned cautiously in Autonomous Research survey on Fintech winners/losers).
Oil/gas related names showing early weakness: WFT -10% (light volume), OAS -4.5%, CJES -3.1%, SNP -2.9% (ticking lower), MEMP -2.6%, SLB -2.2%, COP -2.2%, DVN -1.8%, MRO -1.7%, BP -1.6%, APC -1.6%, RIG -1.5% (announces that Shell has elected to terminate the contract for the harsh environment semisubmersible Polar Pioneer prior to its expiration in July 2017), CLR -1.4%, OXY-1.2%, TOT -1.1%, XOM -0.8%.
Other news: CMRX -75.3% (announces top-line results from its Phase 3 Suppress trial of Brincidofovir; did not achieve primary endpoint for prevention of significant CMV infection after HCT), ICON -7.4% (Iconix Brand announces it received a formal order of investigation from the Staff of the SEC; co intends to fully cooperate with the SEC), VRX -6.7% (confirmed J. Michael Pearson Medical Leave), NFLX -1.1% (Barron's suggests YouTube 2x more valuable than Netflix) SCTY -0.7% (lower despite Barron's positive view), BABA -0.6% (reports out indicate the company is still attempting to turnaround its reputation in relation with counterfeiter sales; also plans additional Ele.me investment), QIHU -0.5% (Qualcomm enters into a Chinese Patent License Agreement with QiKu Internet Network Scientific, a JV between Qihu and Coolpad), DB -0.4% (Deutsche Bank to sell entire 19.99% stake in Hua Xia Bank to PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited), AXP -0.4% (mentioned cautiously in Autonomous Research survey on Fintech winners/losers).
Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: n/a.
In the news: PSDV +11% (plans to file for EU marketing approval of Medidur, for chronic non-infectious uveitis of the posterior segment of the eye), BSI +7.5% (annoounces appointment of Tzachi Otsar as director effective immediately; Dan Weiss resigns as director), ROVI +3.4% (following last week's ~50% move higher), SUNE +3% (SunEdison provides December business update: Successfully renegotiated the Vivint Solar (VSLR) acquisition; key assumptions include EBITDA of $1.186 bln), EOX +2.5% (discloses Angelus will acquire a portion of the Company's undeveloped leaseholds in Montana and North Dakota for ~$9.75 mln), WTW +2.2% (still checking), REXI +2% (after last week's boost from Leon G. Cooperman stake), PN +2% (continued strength), PSEC +1.2% (insider buy disclosures), AIXG +1.1% (still checking), FIT +1% (Fitbit's iOS app jumps to number one on Apple's top downloaded list over Christmas holiday), QCOM +0.9% (Qualcomm enters into a Chinese Patent License Agreement with QiKu Internet Network Scientific, a JV between Qihu and Coolpad), SIG +0.8% (positive Barron's mention; The WSJ's Heard on the Street column out positive on Signet),NPTN +0.8% (after last Thursday's 10% move higher), DIS +0.6% (The Force Awakens sets record as fastest movie to surpass $1 bln in worldwide box office sales ), ATNM +0.4% (ticking higher; Actinum Pharma and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center sign an agreement regarding donated common shares).
Apple: Add'l iPhone-related data points leave firm confident in 74.7M F1Q16 est; Buy, $140 tgt -- Stifel
Stifel notes while investor focus is clearly on the March and June quarter dynamics, firm views the monthly data they have tracked thus far during C4Q15 to be supportive of their 74.7 mln est. Mobile phone export data for both provinces (Henan and Shanghai) show a notable slowdown during Nov.; however, firm would emphasize that this follows extremely strong monthly data in Sept and Oct -- firm believes indicative of a change in the velocity of Apple's iPhone product cycle. Based on their est that Oct + Nov account for 70% of total C4Q15 exports, firm would arrive at a +9.5% y/y growth est. Using the historically high quarterly correlation firm would arrive at an iPhone (ex-China) est in the mid-60 mln range, slightly ahead of their current 61.3 mln est.