Stockwinners Market Radar for September 30, 2019 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:34 EDT Chimerix enters up to $180M license deal with SymBio Pharma for Brincidofovir - Chimerix announces an exclusive global license agreement with SymBio Pharmaceuticals, under which SymBio has exclusively licensed the worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize brincidofovir in all human indications, excluding the prevention and treatment of smallpox. Moving forward, SymBio will be responsible for all future development and commercialization as well as manufacturing costs associated with brincidofovir in the licensed indications. Under the terms of the agreement, Chimerix will receive an upfront payment of $5M plus potential clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones of up to $180M. In addition, Chimerix is eligible to receive double digit royalties on net sales of brincidofovir worldwide.

19:26 EDT MSA Safety's SCBA gets NIOSH approval - MSA Safety announced that its next generation G1 Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, or SCBA, has received U.S. government approval from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH),and certification from the Safety Equipment Institute as compliant to the 2018 Edition of the National Fire Protection Association's 1981 performance standards. With this approval, the company can begin shipping the new NFPA-compliant SCBA immediately.

18:48 EDT Centrus Energy names Philip Strawbridge as CFO, CAO, Treasurer - Centrus Energy announced that Philip Strawbridge has been appointed Senior Vice President, CFO, Chief Administrative Officer, and Treasurer of the company effective September 30. From 2010 to 2013, he served as an executive adviser at Court Square Capital. Strawbridge served in various executive positions including CFO at EnergySolutions from 2006 to 2010.

18:24 EDT Embraer's Praetor 500 receives EASA and FAA approval - Embraer announces that the company's new Praetor 500 midsize business jet was granted its Type Certificate by EASA, or European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and by the FAA. The Praetor 500 received regulatory approval from Brazil's Civil Aviation Authority in August, less than a year after having been announced in October 2018 at NBAA-BACE.

18:11 EDT Tetra Tech names Leslie Shoemaker as President - Tetra Tech announced the promotion of Dr. Leslie Shoemaker to President. In this role she will lead our strategic planning and operating segments. Dr. Shoemaker joined Tetra Tech 28 years ago, and has held positions including project manager, chief strategy officer, and most recently executive vice president and business segment president.

17:48 EDT Lockheed Martin awarded $494.88M Navy contract modification - Lockheed Martin was awarded a $494.88M fixed-price-incentive, cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded and announced un-priced letter contract for TRIDENT II missile production and deployed systems support. Work is expected to be completed September 30, 2024. The maximum dollar value of the modification, including the base and all option items, if exercised, is $1.23B. FY19 weapons procurement funds in the amount of $38.34M and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $4.17M are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is being awarded to the contractor on a sole source basis under 10 U.S. Code 2304 and was previously synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Strategic Systems Programs is the contracting activity.

17:45 EDT SPDR Gold Shares holdings fall to 920.83MT from 922.88MT - This is the second consecutive decrease in holdings.

17:41 EDT SAIC director John Hamre sold over $864K in company shares - SAIC director John Hamre disclosed in a filing that he had sold 10,000 shares of company stock at an average price of $86.43 per share on September 27. The total transaction value of the sale was $864,263.

17:28 EDT AES Corp. announces approval from Vietnam to develop a CCGT power plant - AES Corp. announced it was granted approval by the government of Vietnam to develop a 2.2 GW combined cycle gas turbine, or CCGT, power plant, which will be located in the south-central province of Binh Thuan, Vietnam. The Son My 2 plant will have a 20-year contract with the government of Vietnam, and is expected to achieve financial close in 2021 and begin commercial operations in 2024. Son My 2 complements AES' investment plans in gas infrastructure in the country with its previously announced 450 TBtu Son My LNG terminal, which received approval from the government of Vietnam in August. Together, the plant and terminal will play a major role in shaping Vietnam's energy future by diversifying the energy mix with imported LNG as well as meeting the country's increasing demand for sustainable and affordable electricity. This approval represents a significant milestone in the development of the CCGT plant and the LNG terminal, enabling the company to move forward with the necessary permitting and associated project agreements.

17:00 EDT NewLink Genetics trading resumes

16:34 EDT Tallgrass Energy announces binding open season for Pony Express Pipeline - Tallgrass Energy, through its affiliate Tallgrass Pony Express Pipeline, announced a binding open season soliciting shipper commitments for crude oil transportation for near-term expansion on the Pony Express system from origin points in Wyoming to Cushing, Okla. The open season begins at noon on Oct. 1.

16:32 EDT Columbia Banking CEO CEO Hadley Robbins to retire - Columbia Banking System and Columbia Bank announced that president and CEO Hadley Robbins will retire on December 31 after nearly seven years of service with the company and nearly forty years in banking. Columbia's board has appointed Clint Stein, Columbia's current COO, to succeed Robbins as CEO.

16:23 EDT FDA grants Geron's imetelstat Fast Track designation in MF treatment - Geron announced that the FDA has granted Fast Track designation to imetelstat for the treatment of adult patients with Intermediate-2 or High-risk myelofibrosis, or MF, whose disease has relapsed after or is refractory to janus kinase inhibitor treatment, or relapsed/refractory MF. The Fast Track designation includes patients with primary MF and MF developed after essential thrombocythemia or polycythemia vera. This is the same patient population that was studied in Geron's IMbark Phase 2 clinical trial. There are currently no marketed drugs specifically approved for relapsed/refractory MF, representing a significant unmet medical need. Geron plans to conduct an End of Phase 2 meeting with the FDA by the end of the first quarter of 2020 to determine if there is a regulatory path forward for imetelstat in relapsed/refractory MF.

16:18 EDT Net 1 UEPS says SCA of South Africa rules against SASSA, CPS - Net1 UEPS Technologies announced that the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa has dismissed the Cash Paymaster Services Ltd application. CPS petitioned the SCA to grant it leave to appeal the March 2018 High Court order, which set aside the agreement between CPS and SASSA and the subsequent payment of ZAR317M, and ordered CPS to refund the amount with interest from June 2014 to date of payment. As previously disclosed by the company in June 2014, CPS received approximately ZAR277M from SASSA related to the recovery of additional implementation costs it incurred during the beneficiary bulk re-registration process in fiscal 2012 and 2013. After the award of the tender in January 2012, SASSA requested CPS to biometrically register all social grant beneficiaries and collect additional information for each child grant recipient, materially higher than what was originally cited in the Request For Proposal. CPS agreed to SASSA's request, and as a result CPS performed approximately 11M additional registrations beyond those that it tendered to register for as part of the quoted service fee. Accordingly, CPS claimed a cost recovery from SASSA, supported by a factual findings certificate from an independent auditing firm. SASSA agreed to pay CPS the ZAR277M as full settlement of the additional costs incurred by CPS. "We are disappointed with the SCA judgment and will study the judgment to determine our next course of action," said Herman Kotze, CEO of Net1. "We reiterate our view that the additional registrations we performed based on SASSA's specific request, resulted in the identification and removal of a significant number of ghost beneficiaries and duplicate grants, and had the direct result of saving the South African government more than ZAR 2 billion per year. The cost incurred for the additional registrations was recovered without any profit component. CPS performed the work requested by SASSA on a bona-fide basis, and it is unfortunate that it once again finds itself being prejudiced by apparent shortcomings in SASSA's procurement processes," he concluded. This ruling is expected to temporarily delay the filing of the company's Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2019, which was originally scheduled to be filed today, as the company has to assess the potential impact, if any, of this ruling on the company's financial statements.

16:17 EDT Pacific Coast Oil says there will be no October cash distribution - Pacific Coast Oil Trust, a royalty trust formed by Pacific Coast Energy Company, announced that there will be no cash distribution to the holders of its units of beneficial interest in October 2019. The trust's distribution calculation relates to net profits and overriding royalties generated during August 2019 as provided in the conveyance of net profits and overriding royalty interest.

16:15 EDT AssetMark Financial to acquire OBS Financial - AssetMark Financial Holdings announced that it has reached an agreement, through its subsidiary AssetMark Financial, with Canandaigua National Corporation to acquire OBS Financial, an established turnkey asset management platform delivering academically constructed, structured investment strategies to independent advisors, bank Trust officers and their clients, in an all-cash transaction. The transaction is expected to close in early 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

16:10 EDT Diamondback Energy announces resignation of COO Hollis - In a regulatory filing, Diamondback Energy disclosed that Michael Hollis resigned from his positions as President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of Diamondback Energy, effective immediately. "Hollis' resignation was due to personal reasons and not because of a disagreement on any matter relating to Diamondback's operations, policies or practices," the company stated. Daniel Wesson, who has been with Diamondback since February 2012, will continue to oversee Diamondback's operations in his current position as Senior Vice President of Operations, the company noted.

16:08 EDT Qiagen launches enhanced GeneGlobe Design & Analysis Hub - Qiagen announced the launch of its newly enhanced GeneGlobe Design & Analysis Hub, bringing next-level experiment planning, execution and follow-up to life science researchers. GeneGlobe integrates Qiagen's knowledge base on over 10,000 biological entities with the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of tools for next-generation sequencing, polymerase chain reaction and functional analysis. GeneGlobe users can quickly explore pathways and targets of interest in their scientific context and order the right tools. User-friendly custom product builders enable experiment design with full flexibility on target regions, configuration and format. Embedded analysis pipelines provide quick insights and support the planning of follow-up studies.

16:07 EDT Senseonics completes U.S. patient enrollment in PROMISE 180-day clinical study - Senseonics Holdings announced the completion of patient enrollment in the Eversense PROMISE 180-day sensor Clinical Study. The PROMISE Clinical Study is intended to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Eversense CGM System in people with diabetes over a 180-day period for the pre-market application submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This system has previously received its CE Mark and is currently commercially available across Europe. The 181 study participants at 8 sites across the United States had the Eversense CGM System inserted subcutaneously as part of the study. "I am thrilled to be able to offer a long-term implantable sensor to my patients through the Eversense 180-day clinical study," said Satish Garg, MD, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Barbara Davis Center, University of Colorado Health. "This long-term CGM could be a game changer for people with diabetes. At the Barbara Davis Center, we actively participate in clinical trials that bring the latest diabetes technology and treatments to patients which change the way they manage their diabetes - now and in the future. The PROMISE study promises to do so."

16:06 EDT Citi Trends names Lisa Powell as new CMO - Citi Trends announced that it has hired Lisa Powell as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer. Ms. Powell will oversee the merchandising, planning and allocation functions of the company. She has extensive off-price retail experience, serving TJX, Inc. for 20 years in various merchandising and planning/allocation positions.

16:03 EDT Sotherly Hotels acquires hotel commercial unit in Florida - Sotherly Hotels announced that the company has acquired the hotel commercial unit of the Hyde Beach House Resort & Residences located in Hollywood, Florida for $5.35M. In connection with the closing, the company acquired the hotel commercial unit, which consists of the designated lobby and front desk area, offices, and other spaces. The company also entered into a 20-year management agreement for the parking garage and poolside cabanas of the resort, as well as an agreement to operate and manage the condominium association. Pursuant to a pre-opening services agreement, the company received a fee of $1.0M in connection with certain pre-opening preparations. Also in connection with the closing, the company's DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hollywood Beach received a construction disruption fee of $1.2M and the company acquired commercial unit 3 of the Resort, a +/- 3,000 square foot ballroom that was constructed and conveyed as required pursuant to an existing covenant and easement agreement.

16:01 EDT Neurocrine names David Boyer as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer - Neurocrine Biosciences announced that David Boyer has joined the company's executive management team as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. Boyer joins Neurocrine Biosciences from BGR Group, where he served as a Principal and Head of the Health & Lifesciences Practice, leading the firm's healthcare advocacy, policy and strategy development, and strategic consulting team. In his new role at Neurocrine Biosciences, Boyer will be responsible for patient advocacy and engagement, corporate communications, government relations, and public policy.

15:05 EDT Alphabet hires former FDA commissioner to supervise health strategy and policy - Duke Forge Director Robert M. Califf, MD, will be stepping down from his leadership roles at Duke University in November to accept a full-time position as Head of Strategy and Policy for Verily Life Sciences and Google Health, divisions of Google's parent company Alphabet. "Dr. Califf has deep roots at Duke, where he first arrived as a student 50 years ago. A graduate of Duke University and Duke Medical School, he returned to the university for a cardiology fellowship after completing a residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. As a Duke faculty cardiologist and clinical investigator, he helped create the Duke Clinical Research Institute, which would grow into the nation's largest academic clinical research organization under Califf's leadership," said Duke Forge in a blog post. Reference Link

14:01 EDT Intel appoints Karen Walker Chief Marketing Officer - Karen Walker will join Intel (INTC) as senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer, effective October 23. Walker will oversee Intel's global marketing group and be responsible for building and strengthening Intel's brand, supporting growth strategies, cultivating opportunities in new and existing markets, and increasing demand for Intel's products and solutions globally. Walker joins Intel from Cisco (CSCO), where she was Chief Marketing Officer since 2015.

13:40 EDT Netflix renews Stranger Things, signs deal with Duffer brothers - Netflix announced that it has renewed the series "Stranger Things" for a fourth season and signed series creators and showrunners The Duffer Brothers to a multi-year film and series overall deal. "The Duffer Brothers have captivated viewers around the world with Stranger Things and we're thrilled to expand our relationship with them to bring their vivid imaginations to other film and series projects our members will love. We can't wait to see what The Duffer Brothers have in store when they step outside the world of The Upside Down," said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix. Reference Link

13:37 EDT Duke Energy announces request for rate review in North Carolina - Duke Energy Carolinas asked North Carolina regulators in a filing to review its rates as the company continues working to reduce carbon emissions, strengthen the grid and improve the customer experience, the Duke Energy subsidiary announced. The filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission requests to increase annual revenues by about $291M, for an overall average rate increase across all customer groups of 6.0%. The company's request has been reduced by customer savings of 3.2% resulting from federal and state tax reform, the company said.

13:03 EDT Discovery, Comcast's FreeWheel announce multiyear partnership agreement - Discovery (DISCA) and FreeWheel, a Comcast company (CMCSA), announced a multiyear agreement under which FreeWheel will provide their unified decisioning platform to enable holistic advertising management for Discovery's full roster of cable networks. "As we are building the advertising solutions of the future, the industry needs to accelerate the innovation around technology, measurement and targeting. There is too much value being left on the table and Discovery is committed to supporting the next generation of innovators across the industry. FreeWheel has been a strong partner over the years, and their work to integrate the tech stacks of our expanded portfolio, while complicated, has been seamless," said Keith Kazerman, EVP Digital Sales, Advanced Advertising and Research, Discovery, Inc. "The resulting, combined Discovery platform offers advertisers the necessary scale and intelligence to reach their customers across the array of data-enabled delivery channels that are redefining the way television is bought and sold."

12:34 EDT Boeing CEO says 737 MAX accidents 'will always weigh heavily on us' - "Safety is at the core of who we are at Boeing, and the recent 737 MAX accidents will always weigh heavily on us. They have reminded us again of the importance of our work and have only intensified our commitment to continuously improve the safety of our products and services," said President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg. "My team and I embrace our board's recommendations and are taking immediate steps to implement them across the company in partnership with our people, while continuing and expanding our ongoing efforts to strengthen safety across Boeing and the broader aerospace industry. We thank our board and the committee members for their thorough work and ongoing support. Boeing is committed to always being at the forefront, proactively leading and advocating for continuous improvements in global aerospace safety."

12:32 EDT Boeing establishing design requirements program - The company also is establishing a Design Requirements Program to strengthen a culture of continuous improvement, learning and innovation; enhancing the Continued Operation Safety Program to raise visibility and transparency of all safety and potential safety reports; partnering with commercial and defense customers, and other stakeholders, to ensure flight deck designs continue to anticipate the needs of future pilot populations; and expanding the role and reach of the company's Safety Promotion Center to reinforce Boeing's long-standing safety culture. Concurrently and in addition to the board's recommendations, Muilenburg announced further steps Boeing is taking to strengthen how it manages safety across the company and its supply chain, focusing on operational excellence, investing in its people and, in partnership with others across the aerospace community, working to improve global aviation safety. That includes expanding companywide use of a comprehensive safety management system and safety review boards to standardize safety policy and objectives, share best practices, manage risk, assess performance, increase visibility and further strengthen the company's safety culture. An anonymous reporting system, born in Commercial Airplanes and expanded across the company, is encouraging employees to bring forward potential safety issues that will be reviewed by the Product and Services Safety organization. Also, safety review boards have been expanded and are now led by senior company leadership, including Boeing's chief engineer and business unit CEOs, resulting in enhanced visibility. Early gains and lessons learned are being applied-today-across a range of development and established programs. Additionally, investments in enhanced flight simulation and computing capabilities have increased the company's ability to proactively test a wide range of scenarios, resulting in improved product safety. For example, over the past several weeks, software engineers have run 390,000 flight hours on the 737 MAX-the equivalent of flying 45 years. Advanced R&D efforts in future flight decks also are underway, leveraging leading-edge work in human factors science and design.

12:30 EDT Boeing announces changes to sharpen company focus on products, services safety

12:04 EDT Verizon acquires Jaunt XR's technology - Jaunt XR announced the acquisition of its software, technology, and certain other assets by Verizon Communications for an undisclosed amount. Jaunt XR is a player in the immersive industry with a focus on the scalable creation and distribution of volumetric video of humans. "We are thrilled with Verizon's acquisition of Jaunt's technology," said Mitzi Reaugh, President & CEO of Jaunt XR. "The Jaunt team has built leading-edge software and we are excited for its next chapter with Verizon." Jaunt will be assisting Verizon with the transition of select portions of the software and technology for a brief period of time.

12:00 EDT Direxion Daily Jr Gld Mnrs Bull 3X Shrs falls -10.7% - Direxion Daily Jr Gld Mnrs Bull 3X Shrs is down -10.7%, or -$6.84 to $57.17.

12:00 EDT Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3x Shares rises 11.6% - Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3x Shares is up 11.6%, or $1.84 to $17.75.

12:00 EDT Thor Industries rises 20.3% - Thor Industries is up 20.3%, or $9.93 to $58.85.

11:11 EDT J&J's Acuvue introduces brand's first contact lens solution - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Vision earlier today announced what it called "the first-ever extension of the Acuvue brand name beyond contact lenses" with the launch of Acuvue RevitaLens Multi-Purpose Disinfecting Solution, which the company said "delivers exceptional disinfection and all-day comfort for reusable contact lens wearers." Thomas Swinnen, President, North America, Johnson & Johnson Vision, said, "I believe it's a pivotal time in the eye health space, and we have amazing potential as we boldly innovate to expand our best-in-class portfolio of products and services. The addition of Acuvue RevitaLens MPDS to our portfolio is an exciting advancement. It's the first contact lens solution progressive enough to carry the Acuvue brand name." Other companies that market contact lenses and related products include Alcon (ALC) and Cooper Companies (COO).

11:03 EDT AstraZeneca, Merck present detailed results from Phase 3 PROfound trial - AstraZeneca (AZN) and Merck (MRK) presented detailed results from the Phase 3 PROfound trial in 387 men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, or mCRPC, who have a mutation in their homologous recombination repair genes and whose disease had progressed on prior treatment with new hormonal agent treatments. Results showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement with LYNPARZA in the primary endpoint of radiographic progression-free survival, or rPFS, improving the time men with BRCA1/2- or ATM-mutated mCRPC lived without disease progression or death to a median of 7.4 months vs. 3.6 months for those treated with abiraterone or enzalutamide. LYNPARZA reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 66% for these men. The trial also met the key secondary endpoint of rPFS in the overall HRRm population, where LYNPARZA reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 51% and improved rPFS to a median of 5.8 months vs. 3.5 months for abiraterone or enzalutamide. The results were presented during the Presidential Symposium at the 2019 European Society of Medical Oncology congress, or ESMO.

10:36 EDT Sanofi reports CARD study results presented at ESMO, published in NEJM - Data published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, mCRPC, previously treated with docetaxel and who progressed within 12 months on an androgen receptor-targeted agent experienced significantly longer radiographic progression free survival, or rPFS, with Jevtana plus prednisone compared with abiraterone plus prednisone or enzalutamide, Sanofi announced. Overall survival with Jevtana was also significantly longer, the company said. These findings from the CARD study were presented today in the Presidential Symposium of the 2019 European Society of Medical Oncology Congress, or ESMO. The study's primary endpoint was rPFS, which more than doubled with Jevtana treatment compared to abiraterone or enzalutamide. Patients treated with Jevtana experienced an improvement in rPFS in all pre-specified subgroups, irrespective of the timing of the previous alternative AR-targeted agent, before or after docetaxel. Jevtana also significantly improved a key secondary endpoint, OS, reducing the risk of death from any cause by 36% compared with abiraterone or enzalutamide. Other key secondary endpoints all favored Jevtana, the company said.

10:33 EDT Royal Gold names William Heissenbuttel to succeed Tony Jensen as CEO - Royal Gold announced that William Heissenbuttel, CFO and VP, Strategy, has been named as president and CEO and a member of the Board of Directors. Heissenbuttel's appointments will be effective upon the retirement of Tony Jensen from the role of president and CEO, and member of the Board of Directors, on January 2, 2020 after 16 years of service to the Company, 13 of which were as president and CEO. An announcement on the replacement for the CFO will be made in due course.

10:32 EDT Genentech says Tecentriq, chemotherapy shows improvement in PFS in trial - Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, presented results from the Phase III IMvigor130 study evaluating Tecentriq plus platinum-based chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone for the first-line treatment of people with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma eligible and ineligible for cisplatin chemotherapy. In the study, Tecentriq plus chemotherapy showed a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with platinum-based chemotherapy alone. Encouraging overall survival results were observed for Tecentriq plus chemotherapy compared with chemotherapy alone in the intention-to-treat population, however these data did not reach statistical significance at this interim analysis. Safety in the Tecentriq plus chemotherapy arm appeared consistent with the known safety profiles of the individual medicines, and no new safety signals were identified with the combination. "We are pleased with these positive results from the IMvigor130 study, which show Tecentriq plus chemotherapy may provide a meaningful benefit for people newly diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer," said Sandra Horning, M.D., chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. "There remains a high unmet need for people with advanced bladder cancer, where chemotherapy alone is the current standard of care. These results reinforce the role of immunotherapy in treating this aggressive disease."

10:18 EDT Fitch downgrades Saudi Arabia to A; outlook Stable - Fitch Ratings has downgraded Saudi Arabia's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating to 'A' from 'A+'. The Outlook is Stable. The downgrade reflects rising geopolitical and military tensions in the Gulf region, Fitch's revised assessment of the vulnerability of Saudi Arabia's economic infrastructure and continued deterioration in Saudi Arabia's fiscal and external balance sheets.

10:10 EDT Shell sees Q3 Integrated Gas production of 930-960K boepd - Royal Dutch Shell plc introduced earlier the publication of a quarterly update, starting with the third quarter. Jessica Uhl, CFO of Royal Dutch Shell said: "In response to feedback from our investor community we are introducing this new quarterly process. This is a further step in Shell's ongoing journey to enhance disclosures and increase transparency". In Integrated Gas, production is expected to be between 930 and 960 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. LNG liquefaction volumes are expected to be between 9.00 and 9.30 million tonnes. "For the third quarter, we expect to deliver strong trading and optimisation performance," Shell said. In Upstream, production is expected to be between 2,600 and 2,650 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. "During the third quarter there have been additional well write-offs in the range of $250-$350M compared to Q3 2018, for which no cash impact is expected," Shell said. In Downstream, refinery availability is expected to be between 90% and 92%. Oil Products sales volumes are expected to be between 6,700 and 7,350 thousand barrels per day. Chemicals manufacturing plant availability is expected to be between 90% and 92%. Chemicals sales volumes are expected to be between 3,900 and 4,000 thousand tonnes. "We expect chemicals cracker and intermediate margins to be materially unchanged from Q2 2019," Shell said. Corporate earnings excluding identified items are expected to be a net charge between $700M-$850M, which excludes the impact of currency exchange rate effects. Currency exchange rate movements, including a weakening of the Brazilian Real, is expected to have a negative earnings impact on top of the provided range. As per previous disclosures, price sensitivity at Shell group level is $6B per annum per $10 per barrel Brent price movement.

10:00 EDT Tegna shareholder Standard General to become actively engaged, plans talks - In a regulatory filing, Standard General disclosed a 9.8% stake in Tegna and noted that the firm originally acquired, and continues to hold, the securities for investment purposes. Standard General said in the filing that it has "continually reviewed" the investment "in light of the [company's] published financial results and disclosures, changes in the trading price of shares of common stock, conditions in the securities market, and general economic and industry conditions and other factors." Standard filed a Schedule 13G on August 14 but is now filing a Schedule 13D to supersede their previously filed Schedule 13G, indicating the firm's intent to be actively engaged. Standard has "experience as significant shareholders and directors of publicly-listed television broadcasting companies [and] a successful track-record of overseeing acquisitions, mergers, and sales processes of publicly-listed television broadcasting companies. Accordingly, the [investors] now intend to become actively engaged with the [company]. These activities may include speaking with management, the board, other shareholders, and third parties to gather information and share the Reporting Persons' views on the Issuer's strategic alternatives, including the previously disclosed offers for the Issuer as well any other proposals that may be made to the [company]."

10:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN rises 6.2% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is up 6.2%, or $7.74 to $132.28.

09:52 EDT Janssen licenses oncology multispecific product from Teneobio - Teneobio, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing engineered bispecific antibodies for the treatment of cancer, announced that as a result of its work with scientists from Janssen Research & Development, LLC, Janssen Biotech, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, has elected to exercise a commercial option to license and advance an undisclosed multispecific product for development in an oncology indication. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, which was first announced in Q3 of 2018, Janssen will receive exclusive global licensing rights to the multispecific product for clinical development and commercialization. Teneobio will receive a milestone payment from Janssen for the commercial license and is eligible for additional development and commercial milestones as well as royalties on world-wide net sales of the multispecific product.

09:48 EDT Uxin to divest loan facilitation related business in cash and stock deal - Uxin Limited announced it entered into definitive agreements with Golden Pacer, a financial technology platform in China, to divest its loan facilitation related business. Previously on July 12, the company announced that it had entered into a binding term sheet with Golden Pacer relating to the divestiture. Pursuant to the definitive agreements, the Company will divest its entire 2C intra-regional business to Golden Pacer, and cease to provide guarantee services in connection with its 2C cross-regional business going forward, and thus divest the corresponding assets and liabilities. In return, the company will receive an aggregate of $100M cash from Golden Pacer and certain preferred shares of Golden Pacer representing approximately 18.4% of the share capital of Golden Pacer on a fully diluted basis. The company will have the right to appoint one director on Golden Pacer's board of directors. The transactions contemplated under the definitive agreements are subject to certain closing conditions, and are currently expected to close by the end of 2019.The company's board of directors, acting upon the unanimous recommendation of its Audit Committee consisting of independent and disinterested directors, approved the definitive agreements and the transactions contemplated thereunder. The Audit Committee reviewed and considered the terms of the definitive agreements and the transactions with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors.

09:47 EDT VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN falls -7.5% - VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN is down -7.5%, or -$1.21 to $14.85.

09:47 EDT Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3x Shares rises 7.0% - Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3x Shares is up 7.0%, or $1.11 to $17.02.

09:47 EDT Thor Industries rises 13.3% - Thor Industries is up 13.3%, or $6.49 to $55.41.

09:31 EDT AVITA Medical announces listing on Nasdaq - AVITA Medical announced that its American Depositary Shares have been approved to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Trading is to begin on Tuesday, October 1, under the ticker symbol "RCEL." "Our listing on Nasdaq is an exciting next step for AVITA Medical. It builds on our established ASX shareholder base and provides broader access to investors in the United States and worldwide," said Dr. Michael Perry, AVITA Medical's CEO. "Following the robust uptake and adoption of our RECEL System by U.S. burn centers, we view the trading of our American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq as a natural extension of our growth plan."

09:18 EDT Northstar Realty Europe announces completion of AXA acquisition, shares delisted - Northstar Realty Europe announced the completion of the previously announced acquisition of NRE by AXA Investment Managers, acting as manager of one of its funds, through a merger of NRE with and into a wholly-owned subsidiary of such fund. The merger was approved at a special meeting of NRE stockholders. Each share of NRE common stock outstanding as of the merger was cancelled and converted automatically into the right to receive an amount in cash equal to the sum of $1.68 plus the U.S. dollar equivalent of EUR9.26 plus the U.S. dollar equivalent of GBP3.82. After the settlement of the previously disclosed forward exchange contracts to hedge the non-U.S. dollar portions of the merger consideration, the U.S. dollar consideration to be paid for each share of NRE common stock is approximately $17.01. In connection with the completion of the merger, NRE's common stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

09:12 EDT Euroseas announces charter for container vessel M/V Akinada Bridge - Euroseas announced its container vessel, M/V "Akinada Bridge", with capacity of about 5,600 teu and built in 2001, has entered into a charter contract of minimum duration of ten months and maximum duration of thirteen months at a daily rate of $16,500. The charter will commence upon completion of the vessel's special survey and drydocking and the installation of a water ballast treatment plant at a total cost of about $2.5M. The Company expects to fully recover the above-mentioned cost over the duration of the charter and will finance it via a loan from an entity affiliated with the Company's CEO. The loan ranks below the other indebtedness of the Company, is convertible to equity under certain conditions at the option of the Company or the lender, and will be repaid within a year after the completion of the drydocking. The terms of the loan have been approved by an independent committee of the Board of Directors of the Company.

09:09 EDT Regency Centers acquires Circle Marina Center in Long Beach, California - Regency Centers Corporation announced the off-market acquisition of 120,000-square feet of premier retail located in the heart of Long Beach, CA known as Circle Marina Center. It is currently 95% leased and includes 33,000-square feet of a three-story office building and above-retail office. Originally built in 1959, this property sits on the Pacific Coast Highway in a high density submarket in close proximity to three other Regency shopping centers, and has become the fifth property Regency owns in Long Beach. The surrounding demographics consist of a population of nearly 250,000 with an average home value of $952,000.

09:08 EDT Apollo Medical names Brandon Sim as Interim Chief Technology Officer - Apollo Medical announced the appointment of Matthew Mazdyasni to its Board of Directors and Brandon Sim as its Interim Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining ApolloMed, Sim served as Quantitative Researcher at Citadel Securities since 2015. From 2012 to 2014, Sim served as Chief Technology Officer at Theratech, a medical device company focused on developing a low-cost, simple-to-use patch for automated drug delivery.

09:08 EDT Tilly's appoints Tricia Smith as CMO - Tilly's (TLYS) announced that Tricia Smith has been appointed to serve as the company's executive VP, chief merchandising officer, or CMO, effective September 30. Smith will oversee all aspects of the company's merchandising operations, including buying, sourcing and product development, along with coordinating consistency in merchandising experiences both in-store and online. Prior to joining the company, Smith served as executive VP, general merchandise manager of women's, young contemporary, designer and specialized apparel at Nordstrom (JWN) since 2016.

09:05 EDT Northstar Realty Europe Corp. trading halted, news dissemination

09:03 EDT Barfresh Food Group adds 45 U.S. Armed Forces dining facilities - Barfresh Food Group announced that it has approval for international expansion into an initial 26 U.S. Armed Forces Locations in South Korea and Turkey. The Company will be serving multiple product offerings in dining facilities in 25 South Korean facilities and 1 facility located in Turkey. In addition, the Company increased its domestic U.S. Armed Forces Dining Facility locations to 169 from 150 locations at end of second quarter, 2019. Barfresh is well positioned to continue international and domestic expansion beyond the current 195 dining facilities which include today's newly announced locations. The Company's smoothies will be available in military food service programs supporting dining facilities and its solutions for all meal periods are designed to support a large number of personnel in a short period of time. The Company expects these new 45 locations announced today will be pouring product within 60-90 days. There are multiple facilities at each military base location creating many expansion opportunities at current and new bases. The Company is actively pursuing engagement with all U.S. military facilities and expects to gain greater penetration throughout the remainder of 2019 across the United States' 800 bases, which serve 1.3 million active troops.

08:58 EDT Jaguar Health unit receives notice of allowance from CIPO for patent application - Jaguar Health announced that the company's wholly-owned, human-health focused subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, has received a Notice of Allowance from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for Canadian Patent Application No. 2,816,416, titled Methods and Compositions for Treating HIV-Associated Diarrhea. "We are very pleased to receive this Notice of Allowance from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for this patent," Steven King, PhD, Jaguar's executive vice president of sustainable supply, ethnobotanical research and intellectual property, commented. "Jaguar, through Napo, holds extensive global rights for crofelemer, comprising a valuable and significant barrier to entry. At the present time we hold approximately 141 issued worldwide patents, with coverage in many cases that extends until 2031. These issued patents cover multiple indications including HIV-AIDS diarrhea, IBS, IBD, manufacturing, enteric protection from gastric juices, among others. We also have approximately 24 pending patent applications worldwide in the human health areas that are being prosecuted." The patent covers methods for treating diarrhea by administering to a patient in need thereof, an inhibitor of chloride-ion transport in an amount sufficient to treat diarrhea. Treatment of diarrhea includes the treatment of the diarrhea as well as the pain, abdominal discomfort and other symptoms associated with diarrhea. In one embodiment, the inhibitor of chloride-ion transport is crofelemer.

08:51 EDT Esco Technologies announces new credit facility - ESCO Technologies announced that it has finalized a commitment with its lenders to enter into a new, extended and increased credit facility. The new five-year agreement, which replaces the previous credit facility dated December 21, 2015, extends the maturity date through September 27, 2024, and lowers the total costs by reducing the outstanding borrowing rates and commitment fees. The new facility includes a $500M revolving line of credit as well as provisions allowing for the increase of the credit facility commitment amount by an additional $250M, if necessary, with the consent of the lenders. Proceeds from the new facility will be used to provide liquidity for general corporate purposes, including working capital, research and development spending, capital expenditures, and acquisitions.

08:49 EDT LabCorp publishes study of cfDNA screenings in multifetal pregnancies - LabCorp recently published results of the largest study to date of cell-free DNA, or cfDNA, screenings in multifetal pregnancies. The study, published in PLOS ONE, determined that non-invasive cfDNA screening using the MaterniT21 PLUS test offered by LabCorp's Integrated Genetics provided results that compare favorably to those for singleton pregnancies. A woman's age-related risk for aneuploidy in most multifetal pregnancies is elevated compared to that of a woman of the same maternal age carrying a singleton pregnancy, and reliable cfDNA screening can provide valuable information to help guide care decisions. The study, conducted by leading LabCorp geneticists, assesses the reliability and accuracy of cfDNA screening in multifetal pregnancies by examining four areas: current experiences with biochemical screening in twins, the observed performance of cfDNA screening in multiples, the cfDNA screening positivity rate and total non-reportable rate in all multifetal gestations. Of the 750,000 samples received by LabCorp for MaterniT21 PLUS screening during the study period of October 2011 to December 2017, 4% were from multifetal pregnancies. Previous clinical validation studies in singleton pregnancies have established the high sensitivity and specificity of cfDNA screening, as well as increased detection rates, lower false-positive rates and higher positive-predictive values over that of conventional prenatal screening methods. This study found that cfDNA screening in patients with multifetal gestations meets or exceeds performance from original clinical validation studies on singleton pregnancies. The collective positivity rate of resulted samples in the study was 2.19%. Positive rates for trisomy 21, 18 and 13 were 1.5%, 0.48% and 0.21% respectively. The average fetal fraction was 12.33% in twins and 13.20% in triplets. The quantity-not-sufficient, or QNS, non-reportable rate was higher in multifetal vs singleton pregnancies, which is related to more stringent fetal fraction requirements for multiple gestations as compared to singletons. The study is the largest published sample of the use of non-invasive prenatal cfDNA screening on twins, triplets and higher-order multiples. The data on 709 triplets is particularly significant because there are currently no other non-invasive prenatal laboratory screening options available in these pregnancies. In addition, current clinical practice guidelines do not recommend the use of cfDNA in aneuploidy screening in women with multiple gestations. This study increases the body of evidence supporting cfDNA as an alternative to traditional prenatal screening methodologies in multifetal pregnancies.

08:47 EDT Acasti Pharma 'on track' to report topline results for TRILOGY 1 in December - Acasti Pharma reported additional milestones reached and provided a business update on its clinical trials. COO and CSO Pierre Lemieux commented, "Our TRILOGY Phase 3 trials in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia continue to progress, and we remain on track to report topline TRILOGY 1 results in December 2019, and topline TRILOGY 2 results in January 2020. Importantly, both of our TRILOGY studies have achieved 100% patient randomization, and nearly 80% of the patients in both studies combined have now completed their 6-month plan. It is important to note that data clean up is approximately 90% complete in TRILOGY 1, bringing us closer to database lock. We have also progressed TRILOGY 2 and anticipate database lock as planned in January 2020." Jan D'Alvise, president and CEO of Acasti, further noted, "Given the positive results we saw from our Phase 2 trials in a total of 675 patients, we eagerly await the completion of the results from our two TRILOGY clinical studies. It is also important to note: patients enrolled in the Phase 3 TRILOGY trials have higher baseline triglyceride levels versus our Phase 2 studies, where most had baseline triglycerides significantly below 500 mg/dl; patients randomized to CaPre in the Phase 3 TRILOGY trials all received 4 grams per day and will remain on drug for 6 months, while our Phase 2 studies included patients receiving a range of doses from 1 gram, 2 grams and 4 grams per day for only 8 to 12 weeks with a favorable dose response; the Phase 2 trials also indicated that CaPre may have a positive effect on other major lipid markers such as VLDL, LDL-C, and HDL-C, as well as HbA1c in patients with diabetes." As previously disclosed, topline results will include a readout of the primary endpoint, which is intended to show CaPre's overall impact on lowering triglycerides after 12 weeks compared to placebo. The placebo used in the TRILOGY trials is cornstarch, which is inert, and consequently is expected to have a neutral effect on key biomarkers of patients in the placebo group. The TRILOGY studies are designed to provide at least 90% statistical power to detect a difference of at least a 20% decrease from baseline in TGs between CaPre and placebo. The Company has shared the statistical analysis plan for the analysis and reporting of the TRILOGY results with the FDA, and expects to finalize the SAP prior to final database lock. Subject to any input from the FDA, Acasti is currently planning that the topline TRILOGY results will include the primary endpoint of TG reduction at Week 12 compared to placebo. Safety and tolerability will also be reported. The Company currently expects that topline results will not include any secondary or exploratory endpoints. The important secondary and exploratory endpoint results are expected to follow shortly after the release of the topline results of TRILOGY 2, currently anticipated in late January, 2020. According to the SAP, the primary endpoint must first be positive with statistical significance prior to analyzing the secondary and exploratory endpoints. These endpoints will then be analyzed in the following order: 1) additional TG secondary endpoints, including TG reduction at Week 26, which is intended to show CaPre's persistence of effect, TG reduction in various subgroups to show consistency of effect (such as patients stratified with baseline qualifying TG levels of less than or equal to750 mg/dL vs. greater than750 mg/dL), and a comparison of TG reduction in patients using and not using statins at baseline; 2) Non-HDL-C; 3) VLDL-C; 4) HDL-C; 5) LDL-C and HbA1c. Physician investigators determined if patients with high LDL-C and/or high HbA1c levels at screening needed to be put on standard therapy, and if so, they were stabilized prior to being randomized into TRILOGY. Results for both LDL-C and HbA1c will then require subgroup analyses, which are done by combining diabetic patients and separately patients with high LDL-C from both studies at baseline to reach adequate statistical power to detect a difference if one exists, and therefore potentially show any incremental benefit of CaPre above and beyond the standard of care. Acasti expects that the remaining secondary and exploratory endpoints along with various additional subgroup analyses should be completed before the end of March 2020. In addition to the preliminary topline data, the Company will seek to present the full data set, which will include results for key secondary and exploratory endpoints of interest such as Non-HDL-C, LDL-C, VLDL, HDL-C and HbA1c at key scientific meetings in 2020. The Company will communicate more information in the months ahead on how and when all of the TRILOGY results will be reported once the SAP is finalized.

08:43 EDT Kandi Technologies completes equity transfer of JV company - Kandi Technologies Group announced that to accelerate the growth of Kandi Electric Vehicles Group, Kandi's wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhejiang Kandi Vehicles signed an Equity Transfer Agreement in March of 2019 with Geely Technologies Group to transfer certain equity interests. The equity transfer was for the JV Company to utilize Geely's competitive strength and recognition in the automotive industry to unlock the JV Company's potentials in branding, manufacturing capability, sales & marketing network, and after-sales service to enhance its competitiveness for greater success. Pursuant to the Transfer Agreement, the parties have agreed that Kandi Vehicles shall sell 21.47% of its equity interests in the JV Company to Geely for a total amount of RMB516M. Upon the completion of the transfer, Kandi Vehicles shall own 22% of the equity interests of the JV Company while Geely shall own 78%. The JV Company has completed the transfer of 21.74% of its equity interests in the JV Company to Geely on September 29, 2019. Following the modifications of the JV Company's business development plan in the past six months, the two parties have renegotiated and agreed the payment method of RMB516M for the equity transfer. As of September 29, Kandi Vehicles received cash payment of RMB220M and the remaining RMB296M in commercial acceptance notes, of which RMB140M's note maturity date is January 20, 2020 and RMB156M's note maturity date is March 29, 2020. Additionally, the two parties also agreed on the payment installments of the accounts receivable and accounts payable between Kandi Vehicles and the JV Company. The JV Company has the total amount of RMB311.5M in accounts payable to Kandi Vehicles which will be paid in three installments. The first payment of RMB150M was received on September 10, 2019; the second payment of RMB80M is expected to be received by December 10, 2019, and the remaining RMB81.5M is expected to be received after the JV Company receives its 2017/2018 national subsidy payment.

08:37 EDT Ultragenyx, Kyowa Kirin announce FDA approval for label update for Crysvita - Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical and Kyowa Kirin announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a label expansion for Crysvita. The label has been updated to include new clinical data demonstrating superiority of treatment with Crysvita versus oral phosphate and active vitamin D in pediatric patients with XLH, and improvement in stiffness, and maintenance of efficacy of Crysvita in adult patients with longer-term treatment. The indication has also been expanded to include infants as young as six months of age. Crysvita is an antibody that binds to and inhibits the biological activity of fibroblast growth factor 23, restoring renal phosphate reabsorption and increasing the serum concentration of 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin D. It was first approved in the U.S. in April 2018 for the treatment of XLH in adult and pediatric patients one year of age and older. For the pediatric XLH population, the U.S. label update is based on 64-week efficacy and safety data from the randomized active-controlled Phase 3 study of Crysvita compared with oral phosphate and active vitamin D in 61 children with XLH. The results showed that Crysvita was superior to conventional therapy for all key efficacy endpoints, showing a meaningful improvement in rickets severity, lower limb deformity and growth. The 64-week safety profile was similar to that observed at 40 weeks and in other Crysvita pediatric XLH studies. For the adult XLH population, the label update incorporates results from the open-label treatment period of the Phase 3 study in 134 adult patients with XLH through week 48, demonstrating that serum phosphorus levels were maintained with no evidence of loss of effect. The updated label also includes results demonstrating the continued healing of fractures and pseudofractures at week 48 and improvement in the patient-reported outcome of stiffness at week 24. The safety profile is consistent with what has been previously observed in this study, with no new adverse reactions identified during the extended treatment period.

08:35 EDT Myers Industries announces Tom Harmon as CHRO - Myers Industries announced that Tom Harmon has joined the company as VP, chief human resources officer, or CHRO. In this role, he will be responsible for leading all aspects of human resources, including talent acquisition, talent development and learning, business partnerships, compensation and benefits, employee engagement and culture. Harmon joins Myers from Gryphon Investors where he was managing director, human resources.

08:33 EDT 8x8, Inc. awarded NASPO ValuePoint contract - 8x8, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a place on a cooperative government contract by the National Association of State Procurement Officers, or NASPO, ValuePoint for state, local, education and special district, or SLED, agencies, becoming the only UCaaS provider to be directly listed on the contract. A consortium of procurement professionals from across the public sector, NASPO assesses and evaluates potential vendors on behalf of government agencies. By awarding 8x8 a cooperative contract, NASPO confirms that 8x8 meets the stringent regulatory and systems standards for agencies looking to replace their legacy, on-premises technology with a single cloud contact center and communications solution such as the 8x8 X Series.

08:32 EDT Turning Point announces FDA clearance of IND application for TPX-0046 - Turning Point Therapeutics announced clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of its investigational new drug application for TPX-0046, a novel therapy targeting solid tumors with abnormal RET genes by inhibiting RET and SRC kinases. Under the IND, the company plans to initiate a Phase 1/2 first-in-human, open-label clinical study later this year. The phase 1 portion will have a dose-finding design, including intra-patient dose escalation to assess the safety, tolerability, and preliminary clinical activity of TPX-0046 in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors harboring oncogenic RET fusions or mutations. The phase 2 portion will evaluate the preliminary efficacy of TPX-0046 in multiple cohorts of patients with advanced or metastatic sold tumors harboring oncogenic RET fusions or mutations. Preclinical studies of TPX-0046 demonstrate potent inhibition of wildtype and mutated RET kinases as compared to proxy chemical compounds for investigational RET inhibitors, LOXO-292 and BLU-667. In cellular assays, TPX-0046 showed comparable potency against wildtype KIF5B-RET and stronger potency against the G810R solvent front mutation. These studies were presented on Sept. 28 at the 2019 congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology. TPX-0046 is a multi-targeted RET and SRC kinase inhibitor with a novel three-dimensional macrocyclic structure. Activation of RET-- a receptor tyrosine kinase --through gain-of-function mutations and fusions has been found in multiple tumor types, including lung and thyroid cancers. Dual inhibitor of RET and SRC represents a novel therapeutic strategy to target abnormal RET signaling in cancers. Inhibition of SRC family kinases has the potential to reduce recruitment of multiple receptor tyrosine kinases involved in bypass resistance and therefore has the potential to increase the therapeutic effect of TPX-0046.

08:32 EDT Capstone Turbine partner lands 1 MW 10-year service contract - Capstone Turbine announced that Supernova, Capstone's exclusive distributor for Colombia and Venezuela, sold a new 1.0 megawatt 10-year Capstone Factory Protection Plan while concurrently reporting that their Capstone microturbine fleet has exceeded 1,000,000 successful hours of operation in Colombia.

08:26 EDT Florida County Election Boards select BIO-key solutions for security - BIO-key International announced two additional County Election Boards in Florida have selected BIO-key solutions to enhance the security of their identification and authentication process for staff members and volunteers involved in managing the voting process. The Election Boards are acting to enhance security for the upcoming 2019 regional elections and the 2020 presidential election.

08:18 EDT Telefonica Deutschland selects Infinera DRX Series to modernize network - Infinera (INFN) announced that Telefonica Deutschland (TELDF) selected the Infinera DRX Series to modernize its nationwide mobile transport network. The Infinera DRX Series, a disaggregated router family that combines a carrier-class white box portfolio with the field-proven and scalable Infinera CNOS software, enables Telefonica Deutschland to prepare its nationwide mobile transport network for 5G mobile services with scale, efficiency, and automation.

08:17 EDT Trovagene: Positive data from Phase 1b/2 study of onvansertib presented at ESMO - Trovagene announced that results from the company's Phase 1b/2 study of onvansertib in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia were presented in an oral plenary session at the 2019 European Society for Medical Oncology Conference in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday, September 28th. The presentation highlighted the favorable safety profile and clinical efficacy of onvansertib, as well as correlative biomarker data from the recently completed Phase 1b trial. "These data from this ongoing clinical trial in patients with relapsed/refractory AML support that the combination of onvansertib with either low dose cytarabine or decitabine appear to be feasible, safe and well tolerated up through the 60mg/m2 dose of onvansertib," said Dr. Amer Zeidan, lead investigator and assistant professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, and Hematology expert at Yale Cancer Center. "While the recently completed dose escalation part of the study focused on evaluating the safety of the combinations, we see evidence of clinical activity, particularly with onvansertib in combination with decitabine. We hope to better understand the efficacy profile of this combination as we go into the Phase 2 expansion part of the trial."

08:13 EDT Sportsman's Warehouse to acquire 8 Field & Stream stores for $28M - Sportsman's Warehouse (SPWH) announced that it has entered into agreements with DICK'S Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS) to acquire 8 Field & Stream locations. The acquired stores will be operated as Sportsman's Warehouse stores and are located in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina and Michigan. The total purchase price of $28M for inventory and assets will be funded through borrowings under Sportsman's revolving credit facility. Sportsman's will sublease the eight locations from DICK'S. The transaction is expected to close on October 11, 2019 subject to customary closing conditions. This acquisition is consistent with Sportsman's strategy to return to a more typical store growth pattern, following a period of investment in omni-channel capabilities, technology, and debt reduction over the last two years. Excluding non-recurring costs and non-cash purchase accounting adjustments, this transaction is expected to be neutral to EPS in fiscal year 2019, and accretive to EPS in fiscal year 2020. The acquired stores, both individually and collectively, meet or exceed the investment hurdle rates that Sportsman's has established for opening any new store.

08:13 EDT Moderna announces FDA allowance of mRNA-3927 IND to proceed to clinic - Moderna announced the FDA has completed their review of the investigational new drug, or IND, application for mRNA-3927, its investigational mRNA therapeutic for propionic acidemia, or PA, and allowed it to proceed to clinic. Moderna plans to initiate an open-label, multi-center, dose escalation Phase 1/2 study of multiple ascending doses of mRNA-3927 in primarily pediatric patients with PA in the United States and Europe. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of mRNA-3927 administered via IV infusion, characterize the pharmacokinetic profile of mRNA-3927 and assess the pharmacodynamic response as assessed by changes in plasma biomarkers.

08:11 EDT Flir Systems awarded $35.1M contract by U.S. Army - FLIR Systems announced it has won an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, or IDIQ, contract worth up to $35.1M with the United States Army to deliver a new version of the company's Agentase C2 chemical agent disclosure spray to detect sulfur mustard, a highly toxic chemical warfare agent. FLIR Agentase C2 spray quickly changes color on a surface if a chemical warfare agent is present. With faster and more targeted detection, military decontamination experts can locate trace levels of contamination on surfaces and precisely mitigate the threat. The IDIQ award consists of a 30-month engineering and manufacturing development phase, followed by an 18-month low-rate initial production phase, and a 72-month full-rate production phase. Shipments are expected to begin in Q1 of FY20. This is the second award issued to FLIR by JPEO-CBRND to support fielding of the Agentase C2 product line to the Joint Services under CIDAS. FLIR already is engaged on a $30M contract to deliver its disclosure spray formulated for nerve agents such as VX and sarin. That effort is scheduled to enter full-rate production in Q1 of FY20.

08:09 EDT Fate Therapeutics announces opening of cGMP manufacturing facility - Fate Therapeutics announced that the company has opened its current Good Manufacturing Process compliant manufacturing facility for the clinical production of its off-the-shelf natural killer cell and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell product candidates. The Company's cGMP facility, located in San Diego, California, is custom designed for the manufacture of off-the-shelf allogeneic cell products using clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell lines as a starting cell source. The new state-of-the-art facility has been commissioned and qualified, and the Company has been issued a drug manufacturing license by the State of California, Department of Health Services, Food and Drug Branch.

08:08 EDT Altaba shares to halt trading on Nasdaq - Altaba announced that Nasdaq has advised the fund that it intends to halt trading in the fund's shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, on Nasdaq following the close of regular trading in anticipation of the fund's filing of a certificate of dissolution with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on October 4. Nasdaq has further advised the fund that it intends to maintain the halt in trading in the shares until confirmation of the filing of the certificate of dissolution, and that upon confirmation, Nasdaq intends to indefinitely suspend trading in the shares prior to the opening of trading on Nasdaq. The fund previously announced that it plans to file the certificate of dissolution immediately following the close of regular trading on Nasdaq on October 4 and that, upon the filing of the certificate of dissolution, the fund will close its stock transfer books, after which record holders of the fund's shares will be prohibited from transferring record ownership of their shares, except by will, intestate succession or operation of law.

08:04 EDT Total Energy Services plans to repurchase shares - Total Energy Services announced that it has filed a Notice with the Toronto Stock Exchange to undertake a normal course issuer bid that will expire on October 1, 2020. Total Energy has been informed that the TSX has accepted its notice to make the normal course issuer bid. All purchases of common shares will be effected through the facilities of the TSX and one or more of the Canadian alternative trading systems and all Shares purchased will be cancelled by Total Energy. As of September 23rd, there are 45,436,000 Shares issued and outstanding. In connection with the normal course issuer bid, which will commence on October 2, 2019, Total Energy may purchase up to 1,000,000 Shares, being 2.2% of the total number of outstanding Shares, during the period from October 2, 2019 to October 1, 2020, subject to a maximum daily purchase limit of 8,531 Shares based on an average daily trading volume for the last six calendar months of 34,124 Shares. From time to time, purchases of Shares may be undertaken at prices that represent an attractive investment opportunity for Total Energy. Total Energy expects that the purchase of Shares will benefit the remaining shareholders of Total Energy by increasing their proportionate equity investment in Total Energy. On September 28, 2018, Total Energy announced its intention to undertake a normal course issuer bid, which remains in effect during the 12-month period ending October 1, 2019. Under that normal course issuer bid, as of the date hereof, Total Energy purchased a total of 650,000 Shares, at an average price of $8.72 per Share.

08:03 EDT Celanese updates status of Clear Lake operations - Celanese is progressing in restarting on-site production units after experiencing an emergency incident on Saturday, September 21, at its Clear Lake facility in Pasadena, Texas. The Fairway Methanol unit has restarted and is approaching full operating rates. The acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer production units are planned for restart at reduced rates during October, with full operating rates expected for all production units at Clear Lake within the fourth quarter of 2019. Shipping operations at Clear Lake and associated terminals continue to operate without interruption. Celanese is assessing the potential impact of the incident on available product volumes. As part of its ongoing commitment to provide reliable supply, Celanese is utilizing its global network capabilities to provide product to its contract customers and will keep its customers updated on any developments. The company will provide further updates on the status of its Clear Lake operations as well as financial impact to 2019 when it reports third quarter results.

08:02 EDT ViaSat awarded sole-source contract by Navy - Viasat announced it was awarded an ID/IQ contract by the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command for the purchase of supplemental units for Viasat's KOR-24A Small Tactical Terminal. The KOR-24A STT is the world's only multi-channel radio capable of performing Link 16 communications in a small form factor, and includes interoperable functionality to improve communications between U.S. and international coalition partners' military agencies requiring critical information from multiple networks.

07:48 EDT Checkpoint Therapeutics announces interim results for anti-PD-L1 cosibelimab - Checkpoint Therapeutics announced that positive interim results for cosibelimab, a potentially differentiated high affinity anti-PD-L1 antibody with functional Fc domain, were presented on Saturday, September 28th, at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. The poster presentation provided updated interim efficacy and safety results from Checkpoint's ongoing multicenter Phase 1 clinical trial, including expansion cohorts in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Checkpoint continues to enroll CSCC patients to support an initial Biologics License Application submission for cosibelimab based on this ongoing clinical trial. The Phase 1, open-label, multicenter trial is evaluating the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of cosibelimab in checkpoint therapy-naive patients with selected recurrent or metastatic cancers. Following dose escalation, the trial initiated multiple disease-specific expansion cohorts, including in CSCC and NSCLC, evaluating a fixed dose of 800 mg cosibelimab dosed intravenously every two weeks. As of August 5, 2019, 81 patients with diverse tumor types have been treated with cosibelimab. Sixty-eight patients were evaluable for efficacy at the time of data cutoff, having at least two tumor assessments or discontinued treatment prior. Key efficacy results were as follows: 50% objective response rate in CSCC patients per RECIST v1.1. One patient achieved a complete response and six patients achieved partial responses. All seven responses are confirmed and ongoing with the longest duration at 11.4 months at the time of analysis. 40% ORR in first-line NSCLC patients with high expression of PD-L1 per RECIST v1.1. Ten patients achieved partial responses. Nine of 10 responses are ongoing with the longest duration at 11 months at the time of analysis. Cosibelimab appeared to be safe and well-tolerated with a potentially favorable safety profile as compared to the currently available anti-PD-1 therapies. Treatment-related adverse events occurred in 48/81 patients, most commonly rash, fatigue, hypothyroidism, anemia, alanine aminotransferase increase, diarrhea, and infusion-related reaction. Treatment-related grade greater than or equal to3 AEs occurred in 5/81 patients, with only two patients discontinuing treatment due to a treatment-related AE.

07:38 EDT Idera Pharmaceuticals announces initiation of ILLUMINATE-206 trial - Idera Pharmaceuticals announced the initiation of a phase 2 trial, ILLUMINATE-206 which will evaluate tilsotolimod, a toll-like receptor 9 agonist, in combination with nivolumab, a programmed death receptor-1 blocking antibody, and ipilimumab, a human cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 blocking antibody for the treatment of solid tumors. The primary objective of this phase 2, open-label, global, study is to demonstrate efficacy. Secondary and exploratory objectives include safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and translational data evaluations. The initial cohort of the trial will be patients with immunotherapy-naive Microsatellite Stable Colorectal Cancer. The second planned cohort of ILLUMINATE-206 will focus on treating patients with anti-PD-1 refractory Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck, which will initiate in the fourth quarter of this year. The basis for this trial is supported by data generated from the ILLUMINATE-101 trial, which studied intratumoral tilsotolimod monotherapy in 45 evaluable patients with a variety of solid tumor types in which 33% achieved stable disease. Translational research in ILLUMINATE-101, demonstrated that tilsotolimod increased dendritic cell activation and upregulated MHC class II and IFN-alpha signaling which suggests improved antigen presentation. These findings are consistent with those observed in the ILLUMINATE-204 trial in anti-PD-1 refractory metastatic melanoma patients. Therefore, the mechanism of action for tilsotolimod may be tumor-type agnostic and potentially beneficial in combination with checkpoint modulation in a variety of tumor types.

07:35 EDT TG Therapeutics announces publication of data from Phase I/Ib trial of U2 - TG Therapeutics announced the publication of results from the multicenter first-in-human Phase I/Ib combination trial of ublituximab, the Company's anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, and umbralisib, the Company's oral once-daily PI3K delta inhibitor in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology. The paper includes safety and efficacy information from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, including 22 patients with CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma and 53 patients with NHL treated with the combination of ublituximab and umbralisib, referred to as "U2". Dose-escalation was performed with a 3+3 design evaluating fixed doses of ublituximab and escalating doses of umbralisib to establish the maximum tolerated dose. Safety data was available from all 75 patients and demonstrated that the U2 combination was well tolerated with the majority of adverse events being grade 1 or 2 in severity and no maximum tolerated dose achieved in either CLL or NHL. Importantly, U2 exhibited low rates of immune-mediated toxicities typically associated with other PI3K-delta inhibitors including colitis, pneumonia/pneumonitis, or hepatic toxicity, and discontinuations due to AEs were limited. Efficacy data was available from 69 patients and showed the combination to be highly active with a 72.5% clinical benefit rate across all subtypes of B-cell cancers enrolled in the study. Of note, a median PFS of 27.57 months was observed in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL treated at therapeutic dose levels of umbralisib and a 65% overall response rate was observed in patients relapsed/refractory indolent NHL, including a 100% ORR amongst MZL patients.

07:33 EDT Monro appoints Robert Rajkowski as COO - Monro announced that Robert Rajkowski has been appointed to the position of COO, effective immediately. In his role as COO, Rajkowski will oversee and spearhead the integration of Monro's operations, marketing and merchandising functions. In addition, he will be responsible for all aspects of the Company's store operations, including the ongoing execution of its Monro.Forward operational excellence initiatives. Rajkowski will report to Brett Ponton, President and CEO. Rajkowski most recently serving as the COO of AAMCO Transmission and Total Car Care.

07:31 EDT Colony Capital to sell Colony Industrial to Blackstone for $5.9B

07:24 EDT Akoustis ships pre-production BAW filters to tier-1 SoC customer - Akoustis Technologies announced it has shipped pre-production 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz tandem BAW filters to a multi-billion dollar, tier-1 SoC customer, targeting tri-band WiFi customer premise equipment. This customer is the third announced SoC maker evaluating use of the 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz coexistence XBAW filters for MU-MIMO reference designs in tri-band WiFi applications. Akoustis' 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz filters operate in tandem to create the world's first BAW coexistence solution for tri-band WiFi equipment, offering a significant size advantage over existing dielectric resonator filters with up to 23 times smaller footprint. The filters provide low insertion loss, meet the demanding coexistence rejection specifications and can be surface mounted.

07:19 EDT Hutchison China MediTech offers 1.3% of Chi-Med's share capital - Hutchison China MediTech Limited announces that its shareholder CK Hutchison Holdings is launching an offering to sell approximately 1.3% of the total outstanding share capital in Chi-Med's through an underwritten public offering, which would reduce its stake in Chi-Med from 51.1% to 49.9%. CK Hutchison has announced that, upon completion of the Offering, it has no intention of selling additional Chi-Med shares for the foreseeable future. CK Hutchison plans to maintain its shareholding in Chi-Med as a strategic investment for the long term as it continues to strive to become a global biopharmaceutical company.

07:11 EDT Aquestive Therapeutics announces completion of Phase 1 trial for AQST-108 - Aquestive Therapeutics announced the completion of its Phase 1 dose escalation proof-of-concept study in healthy subjects for AQST-108. AQST-108 is an oral sublingual film formulation delivering systemic epinephrine that is in development for the treatment of anaphylaxis using Aquestive's proprietary PharmFilm technologies. Importantly, the data demonstrated that AQST-108: achieved similar ranges of mean values of maximum concentration and time to reach maximum concentration to that reported for injectables EpiPen and Auvi-Q; provided a greater total exposure than that reported for EpiPen and Auvi-Q; had less interpatient variability when compared to degree of variation data reported for EpiPen and Auvi-Q ; was well tolerated, with no study participants discontinuing participation due to an adverse event. Based on the results of this proof-of-concept study, Aquestive is in the process of scheduling a pre-IND meeting with the U.S. FDA.

07:06 EDT Eidos Therapeutics to present interim analysis of Phase 2 OLE study of AG10 - Eidos Therapeutics announced that an interim analysis of its ongoing Phase 2 open-label extension study of AG10 in subjects with symptomatic ATTR cardiomyopathy will be presented in a late-breaking featured science oral presentation at this year's American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Daniel Judge, M.D., professor in the division of cardiology at the Medical University of South Carolina, will discuss the data in a presentation entitled "Long-term Safety and Efficacy of AG10 in Patients with Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy: Interim Analysis of the Ongoing Phase 2 Open-Label Extension Study" at 5:30 PM ET on November 16, 2019 as part of the Early Phase Science oral session. In addition, Eidos will present several posters at AHA. The following summarizes Eidos' presentations at the conference: Long-term Safety and Efficacy of AG10 in Patients with Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy: Interim Analysis of the Ongoing Phase 2 Open-Label Extension Study. ATTRibute-CM: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multi-Center, Global Phase 3 Study of AG10 in Patients with Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy. Differential Transthyretin Binding, Kinetic Stability and Additive Ex Vivo Stabilization by AG10 Compared to Tafamidis. Differential Ex Vivo Stabilization of Transthyretin by AG10 and Tafamidis in Samples from Patients with Moderate or Severely Destabilizing Mutations. AG10 is an investigational, orally-administered small molecule designed to potently stabilize tetrameric transthyretin, or TTR, thereby halting at its outset the series of molecular events that give rise to TTR amyloidosis, or ATTR. In a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with symptomatic ATTR-CM, AG10 was generally well tolerated, demonstrated greater than 90 percent average TTR stabilization at Day 28, and increased serum TTR concentrations, a prognostic indicator of survival in a retrospective study of ATTR-CM patients, in a dose-dependent manner. AG10 was designed to mimic a naturally-occurring variant of the TTR gene that is considered a rescue mutation because co-inheritance has been shown to prevent or ameliorate ATTR in individuals also inheriting a pathogenic, or disease-causing, mutation in the TTR gene. To our knowledge, AG10 is the only TTR stabilizer in development that has been observed to mimic the stabilizing structure of this rescue mutation. The Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM study of AG10 in patients with ATTR-CM is underway. Part A of the study will assess the change from baseline in 6-minute walk distance at 12 months. Part B of the study will evaluate reduction in all-cause mortality and frequency of cardiovascular-related hospitalizations at 30 months. In addition, Eidos plans to initiate a Phase 3 study of AG10 in ATTR polyneuropathy by the end of 2019.

07:03 EDT Obsidian Energy provides Phase 2 Cardium program update - The 13 well Willesden Green Cardium development program planned for the second half of the year is progressing as planned, with six wells rig released. Four of those wells have been completed and are expected to be on stream by mid-October. The company has seven additional wells planned in the fourth quarter. All locations are expected to be onstream before the end of the year. The company is on target to deliver its $120M capital program, with $75M of the total spending planned for the second half of the year. Recent oil price volatility allowed the company to build on its fourth quarter hedge position, adding 2,663 barrels per day with an average strike price of $79.62 per barrel, on a Canadian dollar basis.

07:01 EDT 58.com to acquire certain number of shares of Golden Pacer - 58.com announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire a certain number of shares of Golden Pacer, a leading financial technology platform in China, by converting its profit participation right with respect to the financial services and other finance related business disposed by the company in 2017 to equity stake in Golden Pacer. Golden Pacer is the ultimate holding company of the Disposed Business. In parallel, Golden Pacer entered into definitive agreements with Uxin Limited, a leading national online used car dealer in China, pursuant to which Golden Pacer will acquire the loan facilitation related business from Uxin and Uxin will receive a certain number of shares of Golden Pacer as part of the consideration. As a result, upon the completion of these transactions, the company will hold approximately 32.6% of the share capital of Golden Pacer on a fully diluted basis. The transactions contemplated under the definitive agreements are subject to certain closing conditions, and are currently expected to close by the end of 2019.

06:58 EDT MSG Networks announces preliminary results of modified Dutch auction tender - MSG Networks announced the preliminary results of its modified Dutch auction tender offer, which expired at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on September 27. Based on the preliminary count by Equiniti Trust Company, the depositary for the tender offer, a total of 14,980,092 shares of MSG Networks' Class A common stock, par value 1c per share, were properly tendered and not properly withdrawn at or below the purchase price of $16.70 per Class A Share, including 7,515,909 Class A Shares that were tendered by notice of guaranteed delivery. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the tender offer and based on the preliminary count by the Depositary, MSG Networks expects to accept for purchase, at a price of $16.70 per Class A Share, approximately 14,980,092 Class A Shares properly tendered at or below the purchase price and not properly withdrawn before the expiration date, for an aggregate cost of approximately $250,167,536, excluding fees and expenses relating to the tender offer. Included in the 14,980,092 Class A Shares MSG Networks expects to accept for purchase in the tender offer are approximately 10,032 Class A Shares that MSG Networks has elected to purchase pursuant to its right to purchase up to an additional 2% of its outstanding Class A Shares. As MSG Networks expects to accept for purchase all the Class A Shares that were properly tendered and not properly withdrawn at a price at or below $16.70, MSG Networks expects there to be no proration factor. The Class A Shares expected to be purchased represent approximately 24.3% of the Class A Shares issued and outstanding as of September 26, 2019. The company will pay for the Class A Share repurchases with a combination of available cash and borrowings under its existing revolving credit facility.

06:56 EDT Interpace Diagnostics announces new contracts with Blue Cross Blue Shield - Interpace Diagnostics announced that it has contracted with 3 independent Blue Cross Blue Shield plans totaling nearly 5M covered lives across Alabama, Arkansas, and Arizona. These members of the BCBS Association are the largest payers in their respective states and each affiliate's customers now have access to both the ThyGeNEXT and ThyraMIR tests for assessing indeterminate thyroid biopsies on an in-network basis.

06:50 EDT Charles River, Tradeweb expand multi-asset trading collaboration - Charles River Development, a State Street (STT) company, and Tradeweb Markets (TW) announced an expansion of their collaboration to provide mutual clients with direct access to fixed income inventory and streamlined workflows from the Charles River Investment Management Solution. The collaboration enables institutional and retail investment firms to seamlessly source cross product liquidity available on Tradeweb from the Charles River Inventory Hub and Order and Execution Management System for global fixed income securities.

06:38 EDT Cabot Oil & Gas to divest 20% interest in Mead Pipeline for $256M - Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its 20% ownership interest in Meade Pipeline to a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Partners (NEP) for $256M, or over 13 times expected 2019 EBITDAX. Meade owns approximately 39% of the Central Penn Line, the greenfield pipeline segment of the Atlantic Sunrise project. This transaction is expected to close during Q4, subject to customary closing conditions and adjustments. Proceeds from this transaction, in addition to the company's ongoing operating free cash flow, will allow Cabot to continue to enhance shareholder value by returning capital to shareholders through a combination of a growing dividend and a share repurchase program.

06:34 EDT AZZ Inc. acquires all assets of Preferred Industries, sees accretion - AZZ Inc. announced that it has acquired all the assets of Preferred Industries, a privately held powder coating company in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Preferred provides powder and e-coating services to the automotive, HVAC, marine, transportation, medical, industrial and plastics industries. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. AZZ expects the acquisition will be accretive to earnings within the first year of operation. Through the acquisition, AZZ gains the powder and e-coating operations as well as employees of Preferred, which operates a 155,000 square foot facility in Terrell and an 89,600 square foot facility in Rowlett, Texas. Going forward, AZZ intends to operate the facilities as AZZ Surface Technologies - Terrell and AZZ Surface Technologies - Rowlett. AZZ will integrate them with six existing powder coating and plating operations the company operates in the area.

06:32 EDT NextEra Energy Partners to acquire Meade Pipeline in deal valued at $1.37B

06:21 EDT Roche again extends Spark Therapeutics tender offer to October 30 - Roche (RHHBY) and Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) announced that Roche has extended the offering period of its previously announced tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Spark for $114.50 per Share, net to the seller thereof in cash, without interest and subject to any withholding taxes required by applicable law and upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase dated March 7, 2019. Pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 22, 2019, by and among Roche Holdings, Inc., 022019 Merger Subsidiary, Inc., and Spark, the Offer, which was previously scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Tuesday, October 1, 2019, has been extended until 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, unless it is extended further under the circumstances set forth in the Merger Agreement. All terms and conditions of the Offer shall remain unchanged during the extended period. The Offer was extended to provide additional time for the U.S. FTC and the UK Competition and Markets Authority to complete their previously disclosed reviews of Roche's pending acquisition of Spark. The parties remain committed to the transaction and are working cooperatively and expeditiously with the FTC and the CMA. Citibank, N.A., the depository for the Offer, has advised Roche that, as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 27, 2019, approximately 8,251,571 Shares of Spark had been validly tendered and received, and not validly withdrawn, pursuant to the Offer, representing approximately 21.4% of Spark's outstanding Shares.

06:03 EDT China Automotive enters new supply contract with SAIC Maxus - China Automotive announced it has entered into a new supply contract with SAIC Maxus, an SUV and commercial vehicle subsidiary of SAIC Motor. SAIC is one of the largest auto makers in China. Pursuant to the agreement, CAAS will become a Type A supplier to SAIC's Maxus' SV63 model starting in 2019. The mass production of CAAS' steering systems for the SV63 model has started.

06:02 EDT Yirendai announces name change to 'Yiren Digital Ltd' - Yiren Digital, previously named as Yirendai Ltd., announced that in an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the company held in 10/F, Tower B, Gemdale Plaza, 91 Jianguo Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, the People's Republic of China on September 30, the shareholders approved the proposed change of the company's name from "Yirendai Ltd." to "Yiren Digital Ltd."

05:53 EDT Aridis Pharmaceuticals executes license agreement with Serum Institute of India - Aridis Pharmaceuticals announced that it has consummated a licensing agreement with Serum AMR, an affiliate of Serum International BV, or SIBV, and the Serum Institute of India, Ltd. The agreement grants Serum AMR a license to multiple programs from Aridis for certain limited territories and access the Company's MabIgX platform technology for asset identification and selection. As part of the agreement, Aridis will receive the remaining upfront cash payment of $10M, which is in addition to the $5M that was initially received when the companies signed an option agreement on July 30. Moving forward, Aridis is eligible for future milestone payments for achieving product development and commercial objectives, along with royalties on net sales.

05:40 EDT X4 Pharmaceuticals reports data from Phase 2A trial of mavorixafor - X4 Pharmaceuticals announced "positive results" from the Phase 2a portion of its open-label Phase 1/2 clinical trial of mavorixafor in combination with axitinib in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma, or ccRCC. Data were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2019 Congress today in Barcelona. Combination therapy with mavorixafor and approved tyrosine kinase inhibitor, or TKI, axitinib was generally well tolerated with a manageable safety profile and demonstrated clinical improvement with encouraging median progression free survival, or mPFS, in a heavily pretreated advanced ccRCC patient population. Of the 65 patients in the trial, 49 patients received mavorixafor + axitinib as a third- to ninth-line therapy, having received between two and eight prior therapies with a TKI, immuno-oncology, or IO, agent, or other systemic therapy. Fifty-seven of the 65 patients in the trial had an intermediate or poor prognosis. Overall mPFS across clinically evaluable patients receiving mavorixafor + axitinib was 7.4 months. Predefined subpopulations examined patients with immediate prior TKI and IO treatment. Patients treated in the subgroup with immediate prior TKI therapy demonstrated an objective response rate, or ORR, of 18% and an increased mPFS of 7.4 months. This is a greater than 50% improvement from the 4.8-month historical mPFS with axitinib alone.1 Patients treated with mavorixafor + axitinib in the subgroup with immediate prior IO therapy had an ORR of 61% and an increased mPFS of 11.6 months. In addition, eight of the 65 patients remain on the combination therapy today, with durations of treatment of 17 months or longer. Results suggest mavorixafor may enhance clinical response to axitinib and other TKIs that target tumor angiogenesis, as well as immunotherapy agents. "In recent years a growing number of vascular endothelial growth factor TKI-based therapies, have improved outcomes for patients with ccRCC. Despite these advances, most patients eventually develop resistance to therapy, and new treatment options are necessary to meet this unmet medical need," commented David McDermott, M.D., Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and lead investigator of the study. "In this trial of mavorixafor, a novel CXCR4 pathway inhibitor, and axitinib in patients with metastatic ccRCC who had failed prior therapy, the combination was well tolerated and the anti-tumor activity was encouraging. We look forward to confirming the efficacy of mavorixafor in a randomized trial."

05:25 EDT Aslan Pharmaceuticals, Bukwang Pharmaceutical establish JV - Aslan Pharmaceuticals and Bukwang Pharmaceutical announced that they have established a new joint venture to develop preclinical aryl hydrocarbon receptor, or AhR, antagonists from ASLAN's early stage pipeline. The independent company, JAGUAHR Therapeutics, will focus on developing new immuno-oncology therapeutics for global markets targeting the AhR pathway and will be based in Singapore. Under the terms of the agreement, ASLAN will transfer the global rights to all of the assets related to AhR technology, originally discovered and developed by ASLAN and its collaborator Dr Mark Graham, into JAGUAHR. Bukwang will invest $5M in JAGUAHR in two tranches to fund the development of the assets, identify a lead development compound and file an Investigational New Drug application.

05:20 EDT Occidental Petroleum provides update on divestiture, deleveraging initiatives - Occidental Petroleum provided an update on its divestiture and deleveraging initiatives following the recent close of its acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum on August 8. Occidental's progress includes: Sale of Anadarko's Mozambique LNG Stake to Total: Occidental has completed the sale of Anadarko's Mozambique LNG stake to Total S.A. (TOT), for $3.9B. As previously announced, Occidental entered into a binding agreement to sell Anadarko's African assets to Total for $8.8B. Following the completion of the Mozambique transaction, Occidental and Total continue to work towards closing the remaining Africa transactions in Algeria, Ghana and South Africa pursuant to the definitive agreement signed in August. Sale of the Plains Stake: Occidental completed the sale of its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (PAA) and Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (PAGP) for $650M. Ecopetrol Joint Venture: In conjunction with Occidental's Q2 earnings, Occidental announced a strategic partnership with Ecopetrol (EC) to develop Midland Basin acreage for $750M in cash plus $750M in carried capital. The transaction is expected to close before year end. Occidental remains on track to deliver $10B-$15Bof planned asset sales and remains confident in its deleveraging strategy. Occidental will continue to take actions to drive value for all of the company's stakeholders.