Stockwinners Market Radar for December 09, 2021 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:38 EST Tesla CEO Musk sells $963M in common stock - In a regulatory filing, Tesla disclosed that its CEO Musk sold $963M in common stock after exercising option for 2.17M shares.

19:30 EST Nuance CEO sells $18M in common stock - In a regulatory filing, Nuance disclosed that its CEO Mark Benjamin sold 328K shares of common stock in a total transaction size if $18.0M on December 8th, reducing his stake by about 47%.

18:35 EST Edison International raises quarterly dividend to 70c per share - Edison International declared a quarterly common stock dividend of 70c per share, payable on Jan. 31, 2022, to shareholders of record on Dec. 31, 2021. This action increases the annual dividend by 15c per share. The 2022 annual dividend rate will be $2.80 per share, an increase of 5.66% from the current annual dividend rate of $2.65 per share.

18:20 EST Copa Holdings reports preliminary November traffic down 17.3% - Reports preliminary November capacity down 16.3%; Load factor was down 1 p.p. All figures compared to November 2019 levels. The company said, "Given the irregular nature of the company's operations starting in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will compare this and future traffic reports to 2019 statistics."

18:03 EST Synaptics CEO sells $3.2M in common stock - In a regulatory filing, Synaptics disclosed that its CEO Michael Hurlston sold 11K shares of common stock in a total transaction size of $3.2M on December 8th, reducing his stake by about 4%.

17:47 EST SWK Holdings' Enteris BioPharma receives $5M milestone payment from Cara Therapeutics - SWK Holdings (SWKH) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Enteris BioPharma, received a $5M milestone payment from Cara Therapeutics (CARA) related to the license agreement for Peptelligence oral formulation technology utilized in Oral KORSUVA, the oral formulation of Cara's first-in-class KOR agonist, CR845/difelikefalin. Enteris is entitled to retain $3M of this payment per the contractual splits agreed to in the Enteris acquisition agreement. This milestone payment was triggered by confirmation from Cara of the successful completion of the process technology transfer. Since license inception, Enteris has received $28M of payments from Cara. Of the $20M of payments received subsequent to SWK's acquisition of Enteris in 2019, $9.9M was retained by Enteris. Enteris is eligible to receive additional potential milestone payments over the next several quarters, subject to the achievement of certain development milestones for Oral KORSUVA, of which Enteris will retain half. Cara has publicly guided towards initiating a Phase 3 program in the first quarter of 2022 investigating Oral KORSUVA as a treatment for pruritis in patients with atopic dermatitis, as well as initiating a registration program in the first quarter of 2022 consisting of two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials investigating Oral KORSUVA for the treatment of non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease. Additionally, Cara stated that it expects to report top line data from an ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating Oral KORSUVA as a treatment for pruritis in patients with hepatic impairment due to primary biliary cholangitis

17:30 EST AAR Corp. awarded $365M Air Force contract - AAR has been awarded a $365M firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for F-16 systems program office support at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. This contract provides for F-16 depot work as well as Service Life Extension Program overhauls for Air Force F-16s. Work is expected to be completed by December 9, 2032. This award is the result of a competitive source selection. FY21 procurement funds in the amount of $766,495 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center is the contracting activity.

17:22 EST Sun Life Financial names Scott Powers as new board Chair - Sun Life Financial announced that Bill Anderson will retire as Chair and from the Board of Directors following the company's Annual Meeting on May 11, 2022. He will be succeeded as Chair by Scott Powers following his re-election as a Director at that meeting. Mr. Powers has been a Sun Life Director since 2015 and currently chairs the Governance, Investment & Conduct Review Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee.

17:14 EST C3.ai awarded $500M Department of Defense contract - C3.ai has established a new five-year Production-Other Transaction agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense. The agreement allows for an accelerated timeline to acquire C3 AI's suite of Enterprise AI products and allows any DoD agency to acquire C3 AI products and services for modelling and simulation.

17:13 EST AppLovin CAO Arutunian sells 100,000 class A common shares - In a regulatory filing, AppLovin chief accounting officer Elena Arutunian disclosed the sale of 100,000 class A common shares of the company on December 7 at a price of $80.51 per share.

17:07 EST Lululemon lowers FY21 gross margin expansion view - CFO Meghan Frank states: "For the full year, we are forecasting gross margin to expand between 100 to 150 basis points compared to the modest increase we saw in 2020. The reduction relative to our prior guidance of an increase of 150 to 200 basis points is driven by an increase in air freight expense to 200 to 250 basis points for the year. Despite the increase in air freight expense year-over-year, we continue to anticipate gross margin expansion in excess of our Power of Three growth plan, which assumes modest gross margin expansion annually." Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.

17:04 EST Titan International sees FY21 adjusted EBITDA over $130M - Titan International (TWI) released a statement from chairman of the board Morry Taylor: "This past quarter on our earnings call a question was asked in reference to John Deere's (DE) strike and how it would affect Titan. John Deere is one of TWI's largest customers. During the strike TWI kept John Deere supplied with wheels and tires, but while the strike was taking place (it is now over), Titan was able to supply more product to our other customers. So the strike did not have any negative, only positive, financial effect on Titan. TWI is in its best financial shape in recent years. Everything is moving upward and our adjusted EBITDA is expected to be over $130 million for 2021. Titan's CEO, Paul Reitz, and his team have done an excellent job this past year for all shareholders. The only area that is lagging is TWI's share price which remains below where it should be given that we expect our earnings to reach an even higher level in 2022. As one of our Board members stated, TWI should be much higher based on our results. If investors like farming, home building and construction, they have got to love TWI. I happen to agree with this statement. In the near future, Paul Reitz will be setting up more meetings with investors going through what the future of TWI looks like. I should also mention that even though TWI is the world's largest manufacturer of wheels for agriculture and construction, we also have the greatest capacity of Ag tires in the world. There are potential acquisitions that could be interesting for us, so it is a very exciting time at Titan heading into 2022."

17:01 EST Weave Communications appoints Chris Baird as Chief Marketing Officer - Weave announced the appointment of Chris Baird as Chief Marketing Officer, the company's first-ever CMO. Baird joins Weave most recently from ObservePoint, where he has served as CMO and VP of Marketing for the past seven years.

16:58 EST Chatham Asset raises offer to acquire R.R. Donnelley to $10.85 per share in cash - Chatham Asset Managemen, a private investment firm which manages funds that beneficially own approximately 14.9% of the outstanding common stock of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) and which is the largest bondholder of the company, responded to a press release issued today by RRD regarding its acceptance of a revised proposal from affiliates of Atlas Holdings to acquire the company for $10.35 per share in cash. In a letter sent to RRD's Board of Directors, Chatham submitted an increased binding, fully financed offer to acquire all the common stock of the company not already owned by Chatham for $10.85 per share in cash. Chatham's increased offer will expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on December 13, 2021 unless it receives a countersigned merger agreement from the company. Chatham said, "RRD's Board has once again shirked its fiduciary duties and deprived stockholders of receiving a higher price for their shares by refusing to meaningfully engage with Chatham and agreeing to an inferior transaction with a higher, entirely avoidable termination fee and expense reimbursement. We urge the Board to act in the best interest of its stakeholders, declare our increased offer superior and proceed quickly to finalizing our proposed transaction."

16:51 EST Lululemon lowers revenue forecast for MIRROR to $125M-$130M - CEO Calvin McDonald states: "Let me now move on to MIRROR. Our core lululemon business continues to be strong. Driving innovation and growth in our core remains our primary focus, and our results demonstrate the ongoing effectiveness of our initiatives. This success allows us to invest in new opportunities to enable future growth, and MIRROR is one of those examples. Our vision for MIRROR is to assist in building and extending our lululemon community and helping us drive both retention and spend. It's an evolution of our membership program to propel our core business at lululemon, for lululemon. We have only just begun our journey with MIRROR, and we will continue to roll out initiatives that deliver on this goal. As you know, 2021 has been a challenging year for digital fitness. And as I mentioned on our last earnings call, we have seen increasing pressures on CAC that are impacting the entire industry. One of the unique advantages we bring to the space is the many ways we can build brand awareness for MIRROR. As we unlock these synergies, we see a clear path to engage with the more than 10 million lululemon guests who live the sweat life. We will not chase growth at any cost. We simply don't need to, but we will invest to define our unique proposition and to bring MIRROR to market through our owned marketing channels. We demonstrated this with our recent launch in Canada and the introduction of our innovative connected weights, both of which are off to a great start. We can and will stand out in a crowded space and leverage all that's unique about lululemon. With this context, we are lowering our revenue guidance for MIRROR for the year to $125 million to $130 million. Given the seasonality of their business, which skews heavily to quarter 4, the timing of this revision is appropriate given the line of sight we have on its performance. Importantly, we are maintaining our dilution estimate of 3% to 5%. With this said, I'm pleased that we will have grown our subscribers by 40% year-over-year and will end 2021 with a meaningful subscription base to build upon. MIRROR represents less than 3% of our revenue this year." Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.

16:38 EST Energous names Cesar Johnston as new CEO - Energous announced that Cesar Johnston has been appointed CEO effective Dec. 6, 2021. Johnston has been with the company for the past seven years, first serving as chief operating officer and executive vice president of engineering, and as acting CEO since July 2021.

16:38 EST Texas Capital appoints Matt Scurlock as new CFO - Texas Capital announced that Matt Scurlock, Executive Vice President, Corporate Treasurer, will transition into the role of Executive Vice President, CFO, effective January 1, 2022. Mr. Scurlock will replace Julie Anderson as the CFO of Texas Capital Bank and Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc.

16:34 EST In8bio promotes Kate Rochlin to COO - IN8bio announced the promotion of Kate Rochlin to COO. Rochlin previously served as VP, operations and innovation. Rochlin will be responsible for multiple functional areas, including chemistry, manufacturing and controls, or CMC, technical operations, laboratory operations as well as collaborative development of our preclinical pipeline and clinical translational programs. Rochlin will also continue to work with early innovation programs and partners.

16:32 EST CarGurus names Matt Quinn as Chief Technology Officer - CarGurus announced it has hired Matt Quinn as its Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Quinn will report to CEO Jason Trevisan, and will oversee the company's entire engineering organization. He will focus on scaling the team and guiding the evolution of the company's technology platform as CarGurus fulfills its strategy of creating an end-to-end automotive transaction platform.

16:30 EST PHX Minerals announces acquisition in the Haynesville - PHX has entered into purchase and sale agreements to acquire 426 total net royalty acres in Caddo Parish, La., for $5,787,272 in cash from two private sellers, subject to customary closing adjustments. The acquisition will be funded with a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under the company's Credit Facility. Pro forma the Acquisition, the company's total debt drawn on the Credit Facility will be approximately $20M. The Board of Directors of PHX unanimously approved the acquisition, which is expected to close by Dec. 15, 2021.

16:26 EST Saul Centers raises quarterly dividend to 57c from 55c per share - To be paid on January 31, 2022, to holders of record on January 14, 2022.

16:25 EST AllianceBernstein reports preliminary AUM $759B as of November 30 - Down from $765B at the end of October. Firmwide net inflows were outweighed by market depreciation, resulting in a 1% decrease. By channel, net inflows to Retail and slight inflows to Private Wealth were partially offset by net outflows from Institutions.

16:24 EST Invesco reports preliminary AUM $1.573T as of November 30 - A decrease of 1.3% versus previous month-end. The firm achieved net long-term inflows of $6B this month.

16:23 EST Diamondback Energy EVP Pantermuehl sells 10,000 common shares - In a regulatory filing, Diamondback Energy executive VP and chief engineer Russell Pantermuehl disclosed the sale of 10,000 common shares of the company on December 7 at a price of $114.9305 per share.

16:21 EST Oracle reports short-term deferred revenues $7.9B - Operating cash flow was $10.3B during the trailing twelve months.

16:20 EST Eneti president purchases 90,000 common shares at $7.45 per share - Eneti announced that the president of the company, Robert Bugbee, has recently purchased 90,000 common shares of the company at an average price of $7.45 per share in the open market.

16:19 EST C.H. Robinson raises quarterly dividend to 55c per share from 51c - C.H. Robinson Worldwide announced that its Board of Directors today declared an increase to its regular quarterly cash dividend to 55c per share from 51c per share, payable on January 3, 2022, to shareholders of record on December 13, 2021. C.H. Robinson has distributed uninterrupted dividends without decline for more than twenty years. As of December 9, 2021, there were approximately 129,471,210 shares outstanding.

16:19 EST Oracle reports Q2 total cloud revenue up 22% to $2.7B - Reports Q2 Fusion ERP cloud revenue up 35%, NetSuite ERP cloud revenue up 29%.

16:18 EST AIG names Rose Marie Glazer chief HR officer - American International Group announced that Rose Marie E. Glazer, currently Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, has been promoted to Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, effective January 1, 2022. Ms. Glazer will report to Peter Zaffino, President & Chief Executive Officer, and will join AIG's Executive Leadership Team. Zaffino said: "Since joining AIG almost five years ago, Rose Marie has added tremendous value in her role as a Deputy General Counsel and the Corporate Secretary to the company and its Board of Directors. As we continue to build momentum on our journey to become a top performing company, it is critical that we invest in a diverse team with the expertise to tackle complex matters. Rose Marie is a consummate team player and proven leader, and her deep knowledge of the company and our culture make her ideally suited to lead our global Human Resources team during this pivotal time. I look forward to continue working closely with Rose Marie as we build on our achievements and keep shaping AIG into a global industry leader."

16:18 EST Broadcom raises quarterly dividend 14% to $4.10 per share - The company's Board of Directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of $4.10 per share. The common stock dividend is payable on December 31 to common stockholders of record at the close of business on December 22.

16:16 EST Broadcom announces $10B share repurchase program - Broadcom announced its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $10B of its common stock under a new share repurchase program. The authorization is effective until December 31, 2022.

16:14 EST Angion Biomedica, Vifor Pharma announce GUARD trial misses primary endpoint - Angion Biomedica (ANGN) and Vifor Pharma (GNHAF) announced results from the exploratory Phase 2 GUARD trial of Angion's ANG-3777 in patients undergoing cardiac surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass at risk for developing acute kidney injury, or CSA-AKI. The trial did not meet its primary endpoint of percentage increase in serum creatinine based upon the area under the curve, or AUC. However, Angion and Vifor Pharma continue to review the data based on the signal demonstrated in the clinically relevant MAKE90 secondary endpoint. The GUARD trial was designed as a signal-finding trial with a primary objective of determining the feasibility of advancing ANG-3777 into a global Phase 3 trial based upon activity and safety of ANG-3777 in patients at risk for CSA-AKI, as there are no approved therapies for these patients. The primary endpoint was percentage increase in serum creatinine based upon AUC as measured between 24 hours after the end of surgery through day 6, and indicated there was no significant difference in this short-term endpoint between ANG-3777 and placebo. The secondary endpoint of MAKE90, which has historically been acceptable to global regulatory agencies as an approvable endpoint, indicated a potential benefit in patients receiving ANG-3777, with fewer patients in the ANG-3777 arm having a MAKE90 event compared to those in the placebo arm. MAKE90 is a composite endpoint combining death, initiation of renal replacement therapy, or a greater than 25% decline in Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate present 90 days after the surgery. The GUARD trial was not powered to demonstrate a statistically significant result on this endpoint. The number of patients who experienced a decline in kidney function as measured by a 25% decrease in eGFR at Day 90 was fewer in the group treated with ANG-3777. Other secondary endpoints did not show a clinical benefit, including endpoints on MAKE30 and the incidence of AKI through Day 6. The overall safety profile of ANG-3777 in this trial was consistent with the overall experience in its clinical development program and comparable to placebo.

16:12 EST Crown Holdings announces $3B share repurchase program - Crown Holdings announced that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of an aggregate amount of up to $3B of company stock through the end of 2024. The new authorization, which supersedes the previous authorization announced on February 25, 2021, reflects the company's strong balance sheet and cash from operations, allowing investment in the business and return of cash to its shareholders.

16:09 EST American Outdoor Brands announces $15M share repurchase program - American Outdoor Brands announced that its Board of Directors has approved the repurchase of up to $15M of the company's outstanding common stock through December 2023. The share repurchase program is effective immediately.

16:06 EST Utz Brands raises quarterly dividend to 5.4c per share from 5.0c - Dividend to be paid on January 10, 2022 to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 20, 2021.

16:02 EST Halozyme announces $750M three-year share repurchase program - Halozyme announced that its Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program effective immediately, which authorizes the company to purchase up to $750M of the company's outstanding common stock over the next three years. The company plans to enter into an accelerated share repurchase program transaction with a financial institution in the coming week, subject to market conditions. The company plans to purchase up to $250M worth of shares by the end of 2022, including the $150M ASR, pending market conditions and other factors.

15:42 EST DTE Energy approved by MPSC to further modernize natural gas infrastructure - DTE Energy will receive $84M primarily to support the company's ongoing programs to modernize its natural gas infrastructure, which delivers safe and reliable gas to 1.3M customers. This amount was approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission. The MPSC decision comes with a rate increase of $3.18 per month for the average residential customer's bill. Yet, with the help of the company's buying strategy, heating bills for DTE Gas customers not using an alternative gas supplier will remain manageable and protected from the recent natural gas market price increases. DTE Gas contracted and stored natural gas earlier this year before the global run up in natural gas prices and is passing that savings directly to customers. As a result, the average customer will save nearly $20 per month this winter when compared to current natural gas prices.

14:31 EST CDC encourages everyone 16 and older to get booster shot - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is "encouraging everyone 16 and older to receive a booster shot." It added, "Although we don't have all the answers on the Omicron variant, initial data suggests that COVID-19 boosters help broaden and strengthen the protection against Omicron and other variants. We know that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and I strongly encourage adolescents ages 16 and 17 to get their booster if they are at least 6 months post their initial Pfizer vaccination series." At this time, only the Pfizer -BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and recommended for adolescents aged 16 and 17. Reference Link

14:19 EST Tyson Foods targeting volume growth ahead of market in every segment - Tyson Foods issued a press release in conjunction with its virtual Investor Day, in which the company noted that global protein consumption across beef, pork, and chicken is forecast to rise by close to 95 billion pounds over the next 10 years and that Tyson is targeting volume growth ahead of the market in every segment. "The company expects to open 12 new plants over the next two years, increasing capacity by about 1.3 billion pounds. It is also targeting having 50% of its volume as value-added by the end of fiscal 2024. The company expects a recovery of its chicken business to a 5 to 7% operating margin by mid-fiscal 2022 and expects to deliver stronger margins through fiscal 2024... As part of the new productivity initiative, Tyson Foods plans to invest over $1.3B in capital in new automation capabilities over the next three years to increase yields, reduce labor costs and associated risks, and ultimately deliver cumulative savings. This initiative is designed to help the company's facilities improve production capacity and efficiency and continue to unlock value. The company expects to deliver more than $250M in savings by leveraging new digital solutions like artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to drive efficiency in operations, supply chain planning, logistics, and warehousing. Each Tyson Foods business segment has a compelling financial path forward. The company expects adjusted earnings per share growth over time, especially in prepared foods, chicken and international. Volume growth is expected to outpace the market at 2% per year, which will help support adjusted earnings per share growth. The company is also focused on ensuring deployed capital delivers strong returns and is targeting approximately 12% return on invested capital," Tyson stated.

14:14 EST Greenwich LifeSciences Inc trading halted, volatility trading pause

13:58 EST AbbVie's Allergan says Vuity 1.25% now available by prescription in pharmacies - Earlier, Allergan, an AbbVie company, announced that Vuity 1.25%, which it calls "the first and only eye drop approved by the U.S. FDA to treat presbyopia," is now available by prescription in pharmacies nationwide. Presbyopia, or age-related blurry near vision, can be diagnosed through a basic eye exam by an eye doctor and is a common and progressive eye condition that affects 128M Americans, or nearly half of the U.S. adult population, the company stated.

13:57 EST RR Donnelley and Sons trading resumes

13:55 EST Union declares 'Victory at Elmwood' in Starbucks unionization vote - SBWorkersUnited, the Twitter account for Starbucks Partners from the Buffalo area, tweeted: "Victory at Elmwood, the first unionized Starbucks store in the United States-history made!!!" SBWorkersUnited has said other stores at Sheridan & Bailey, Walden & Anderson, and Depew, have also filed for union elections with the NLRB. Reference Link

13:40 EST Datto sees path to 20% sustainable growth

13:36 EST Datto sees long-term gross margin ~75%, adjusted EBITDA margin 30%+ - Sees long-term CapEx as a percentage of revenue about 5%.

13:33 EST Datto sees 'clear path' to $1B+ revenue - Comments taken from the company's Investor Day presentation slides.

13:28 EST Datto Holdings trading resumes

13:06 EST Amazon settles false advertising lawsuit with industry organization CCMI - The Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute said Wednesday that its false advertising and unfair competition action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, entitled CCMI v. Amazon.com, Inc. and CS Accessories LLC, Case No. 1:21-cv-11872-WGY, has been resolved. CCMI's legal action, filed in the U.S. federal court on November 18, 2021, had challenged the advertising and sale of purported "100% Cashmere" garments on Amazon websites in the U.S. and abroad that CCMI had tested and found to be 100% Acrylic, Polyester, and other synthetic materials. As part of the resolution of the action, a major supplier of many of the garments, defendant CS Accessories, agreed to the entry of a Final Judgment permanently enjoining it from advertising or selling garments of any kind falsely labeled as "Cashmere." Fabio Garzena, President of CCMI, said that "CCMI and Amazon have resolved their dispute and look forward to collaborating to protect the interests of Cashmere customers, manufacturers, and sellers." Reference Link

12:41 EST Datto Holdings trading halted, news pending

12:34 EST VW says CEO Diess to oversee software division CARIAD - Volkswagen said it is "strengthening" its Group Board of Management to deal with the next phase of the transformation. As part of this, the structure of the management body and its functions will be reorganised to make the company even more effective in tackling the challenges of the years ahead. The Group's Supervisory Board adopted the corresponding resolutions at its meeting in Wolfsburg on Thursday. The Chairman of the Board of Management, Herbert Diess, will take over responsibility for the automotive software division CARIAD within the Group Board of Management from Markus Duesmann at the beginning of 2022. The CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand, Ralf Brandstatter, will join the Group Board of Management at the same time and will be responsible for the activities of the core brand. Herbert Diess will continue as the Board of Management member with responsibility for the Volume Brand Group. On February 1, 2022, Manfred Doss will take over "Integrity and Legal Affairs" from Hiltrud Werner. Hauke Stars will take up the position of Group Board of Management member responsible for "IT" on the same day. In addition to being the member of the Board of Management of Audi for Sales, Hildegard Wortmann will assume the same role on the Group Board of Management as from February 1, 2022 as well. "With the resolutions adopted today, we are putting the Group Board of Management on an even broader footing. At the same time, all areas of central strategic importance are being strengthened with the key focus being on having the right people for the job. This gives the Group Board of Management even more clout to successfully tackle the strategic tasks of the years ahead," said the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Hans Dieter Potsch. Reference Link

12:32 EST EU proposes to give more labor rights to Uber, Deliveroo workers - The European Commission has proposed a set of measures to improve the working conditions in platform work and to support the sustainable growth of digital labour platforms in the EU, such as Uber (UBER) and Deliveroo (DROOF). The new rules will ensure that people working through digital labour platforms can enjoy the labour rights and social benefits they are entitled to. They will also receive additional protection as regards the use of algorithmic management, as in automated systems that support or replace managerial functions at work. A common set of EU rules will provide increased legal certainty, therefore enabling digital labour platforms to benefit fully from the economic potential of the Single Market and a level playing field. Reference Link

12:10 EST Coinbase says 'making DeFi more accessible' to customers - Rhea Kaw, Senior Product Manager at Coinbase, stated in a blog post: "Today we're introducing a new way for Coinbase's global customers to put their crypto to work and earn yield. We are making DeFi more accessible, enabling eligible customers in more than 70 countries to access the attractive yields of DeFi from their Dai with no fees, lockups, or set-up hassle... Starting today, you'll be able to earn DeFi yield on Dai, a stablecoin that is designed to be pegged to the US Dollar... When you opt in to earn DeFi yield, your Dai is deposited into Compound Finance, an industry-leading DeFi protocol. The offered APY varies based on the rates from Compound and will automatically update to reflect changes in the market. Compound's rates are variable - as an example, during the month of October, the APY for supplying DAI fluctuated between 2.83% and 5.39%. These higher rates reflect both the unique access to global liquidity and increased risk that can come with DeFi." Reference Link

12:03 EST United Natural Foods appoints Mark Bushway as CSCO - United Natural Foods announced that it has appointed Mark Bushway as its new Chief Supply Chain Officer effective January 3, 2022. Bushway, who currently serves as President of UNFI's Atlantic Region, will take on leadership of the Company's fulfillment network across North America, consisting of 56 distributions centers serving more than 30,000 customer locations. Bushway's immediate focus will be on UNFI's existing fulfillment network strategy, while continuing to build out cross-selling capabilities, identifying distribution center expansions and accelerating network optimization & automation initiatives. He'll also continue working closely with his peers in UNFI's sales organization to ensure customer insights and feedback are considered in all fulfillment network day to day activities. Bushway will report to Eric Dorne, UNFI's Chief Operating Officer.

12:00 EST Torrid falls -22.6% - Torrid is down -22.6%, or -$3.54 to $12.11.

12:00 EST Hovnanian rises 11.7% - Hovnanian is up 11.7%, or $12.59 to $120.14.

12:00 EST Boxed rises 45.1% - Boxed is up 45.1%, or $4.01 to $12.91.

11:37 EST MicroStrategy bought 1,434 more bitcoins for $82.4M in cash - MicroStrategy announced that, during the period between November 29 and December 8, it purchased approximately 1,434 bitcoins for approximately $82.4M in cash, at an average price of approximately $57,477 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. As of December 8, the company held 122,478 bitcoins that were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of $3.66B and an average purchase price of approximately $29,861 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. MicroStrategy also announced that, during the period between November 29 and December 8, it issued and sold an aggregate of 119,828 shares under its open market sale agreement, at an average gross price per share of $693.10, for aggregate net proceeds of $82.4M.

11:03 EST Neogen buys companion animal genetic testing company Genetic Veterinary Sciences - Neogen announced that it has acquired Spokane, Washington-based companion animal genetic testing company Genetic Veterinary Sciences, Inc. Their brands include Paw Print Genetics, Canine HealthCheck, My CatScan, and AvianDx. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Marylinn Munson, Neogen's Vice President of Genomics, said: "With the growth in pet parenting globally over the past five years, and particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this acquisition will further expand the opportunities for our global genomics business. As a global leader in animal genomic testing, it is important for NEOGEN to continue expanding our portfolio of genomic tests and diversify our offerings in agriculture and food production to include enhanced testing for companion animals. The NEOGEN and GVS teams will be able to combine our experiences and expertise to work synergistically, as we help meet the demands of the growing market."

10:44 EST Pioneer Power trading halted, volatility trading pause

10:36 EST Tabula Rasa announces results of two studies on opioid-related drug interactions - Tabula Rasa HealthCare announced the results of two peer-reviewed studies that explore the potential for drug interactions among those who use opioids and take multiple medications. The studies used TRHC's MedWise Science to assess the risk of drug interactions and identify potential interventions among those who take opioids. In a study published in the November issue of the Journal of Personalized Medicine, researchers examined what happens when common opioids such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, and tramadol, which need a particular enzyme to activate pain relief, are taken with other medications that require the same enzyme. People who took at least one of these opioids and at least one other drug that competes for that enzyme had higher average yearly medical expenses and a greater average daily opioid intake than people who took at least one of these opioids but no interacting drugs. Additionally, researchers found that individuals who took at least one of these opioids and at least one interacting drug generally had a greater risk of other adverse drug events, based on TRHC's MedWise Science, which considers a patient's entire medication list when assessing for drug-related problems. A separate study in the Journal of Palliative Medicine used MedWise Science and its clinical decision support tools to evaluate genetic data related to opioid metabolism. The study demonstrates that pharmacists who use pharmacogenomic data can help clinicians enhance medication safety. According to the study, 85% of clinicians indicated that the decision support tools improved patient quality of care for patients who took opioids.

10:32 EST Eli Lilly announced results from CONFIDE study - Eli Lilly and Company announced results from the CONFIDE Study that show bowel urgency - defined as the sudden or immediate need for a bowel movement - is the second most commonly reported symptom suffered by study respondents living with moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis, regardless of whether or not they were receiving an advanced therapy. In this study, only one in four healthcare providers perceived bowel urgency as one of the top three most reported symptoms by their patients. The CONFIDE Study examines the experience of those living with moderately-to-severely active UC and Crohn's disease and aims to advance the understanding of the burden, barriers and care experience of individuals with inflammatory bowel disease and how they communicate with their healthcare providers. These U.S.-specific data were collected from a cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals and adults with moderately-to-severely active UC and Crohn's disease in the U.S., Europe and Japan. In the CONFIDE Study, respondents living with moderately-to-severely active UC were asked which symptoms they experienced in the last month, as well as symptoms they had ever experienced, respectively. Diarrhea, bowel urgency and increased stool frequency were reported as the top three symptoms suffered among respondents. When asked to rank the top three symptoms they felt were most reported by their patients, three out of four healthcare providers did not identify bowel urgency, noting instead that the top three symptoms reported to them included diarrhea, blood in stool and increased stool frequency. Of the respondents living with moderately-to-severely active UC who experienced bowel urgency, only two out of five felt completely comfortable reporting bowel urgency to their healthcare provider. For those who were not comfortable discussing bowel urgency with their healthcare provider, more than 60 percent reported that the top reason for not doing so was they were embarrassed to talk about it. Notably, when respondents with moderately-to-severely active UC were asked about their perceived disease severity, bowel urgency was significantly associated with those who considered their disease activity to be severe when compared with those that reported mild-to-moderately active disease. Among the overall patient population surveyed, three-quarters of people were receiving advanced therapies, however; bowel urgency was still being currently experienced by almost one-half of respondents.

10:13 EST AVCtechnologies sees revenue from Kandy unit in excess of $37M in 2022 - American Virtual Cloud Technologies earlier announced that it projects revenues of its Kandy Business Unit to grow from $14.3M in 2020 to approximately $18.8M in 2021 and in excess of $37M in 2022. The significant projected growth is driven by 505% year-over-year subscriber growth from January 2019 to today, the company said in a statement.

10:03 EST GE Digital, UK Power Networks partner on smart substation project - GE Digital announced that it is partnering with its valued customer UK Power Networks on a world-first smart substation project. The project, known as Constellation, is designed to optimize utilization of the distribution network to facilitate the rise of renewable energy generation across the United Kingdom. Constellation is a world-first innovation project that will see powerful computers installed in a series of substations, turning them into smart substations. To do this, Constellation will leverage advances in software engineering, machine learning, and system optimization to make substations interoperable and secure. The project aims to release 1.4 GW of capacity and save consumers more than GBP750 million by 2050. It is also forecast to save more than 17.8m tons of harmful greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

10:01 EST Audacy announces multi-faceted partnership with Hard Rock International - Audacy announced a multi-faceted partnership with Hard Rock International. As part of the deal, Audacy and HRI will partner on live events at a new performance space in New York City, as well as music festivals and Hard Rock Cafe events around the country.

10:00 EST Bakkt falls -13.1% - Bakkt is down -13.1%, or -$2.24 to $14.90.

10:00 EST RH rises 12.9% - RH is up 12.9%, or $74.30 to $651.26.

10:00 EST Hovnanian rises 15.4% - Hovnanian is up 15.4%, or $16.58 to $124.13.

09:52 EST Vivendi to acquire Amber Capital's stake in Lagardere, file tender offer - Vivendi announced the acquisition in the coming days of the Lagardere shares owned by Amber Capital following the agreements made public on September 15, 2021. The 24,685,108 shares concerned, representing 17.5% of the Lagardere share capital, will be acquired at a price of EUR 24.10 per share. As a result, Vivendi will own 45.1% of the Lagardere capital. This transaction will not imply any cash transfers from either party since Amber Capital will keep the funds received as cash collateral from Vivendi. The completion of this transaction was due to be take place by December 15, 2022, once the required regulatory approvals had been received. Recent analyses carried out by Vivendi have led the company to consider that this acquisition could take place now since, in accordance with applicable rules on the control of concentrations, Vivendi will not exercise the voting rights attached to all the Lagardere shares acquired from Amber Capital, or that will be tendered to its mandatory tender offer, until the approvals required for the acquisition of the control of Lagardere have been received from the competition authorities. As a result, the Vivendi Management Board has decided to authorize the immediate acquisition of the Lagardere shares owned by Amber Capital. The authorizations to acquire the control of Lagardere will be applied for by Vivendi with the European Commission and other relevant competition authorities during the course of 2022. Vivendi will file with the French Market Authority a public tender offer for all Lagardere shares not yet owned at EUR 24.10 per share, the same price paid to Amber Capital, in accordance with current regulation.

09:51 EST Daiichi Sankyo, AstraZeneca announce data from additional analyses of ENHERTU - New results from the DESTINY-Breast03 phase 3 trial showed that ENHERTU demonstrated higher progression-free survival and objective response rate in prespecified patient subgroups compared to trastuzumab emtansine in patients with HER2 positive unresectable and/or metastatic breast cancer previously treated with trastuzumab and a taxane. ENHERTU is a HER2 directed antibody drug conjugate being jointly developed by Daiichi Sankyo Company (DSNKY) and AstraZeneca (AZN). Results were presented as an oral presentation at the San Antonio Breast Cancer 2021 Symposium. A similar PFS and ORR benefit was observed in exploratory analyses in patients defined by presence of stable brain metastases, hormone receptor status, number of prior lines of therapy, prior treatment with pertuzumab or status of visceral metastasis. In patients with stable brain metastases at baseline, treatment with ENHERTU resulted in higher PFS compared to T-DM1. Additionally, in this subgroup at data cut off on May 21, 2021, ENHERTU improved PFS to a median of 15.0 months versus 3.0 months for T-DM1. In the primary data analysis recently presented at the 2021 European Society of Medical Oncology virtual conference, ENHERTU demonstrated a 72% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared to T-DM1. Confirmed ORR for patients with stable brain metastases at baseline was 67.4% in the ENHERTU arm compared to 20.5% in the T-DM1 arm. There were two confirmed responses and 27 partial responses in patients with stable brain metastases treated with ENHERTU compared to zero CRs and eight PRs in those treated with T-DM1. At data cutoff, one patient with brain metastases treated with ENHERTU had progressive disease versus seven of those treated with T-DM1. A retrospective non-prespecified evaluation of intracranial response, evaluated using BICR, among 72 patients with stable brain metastases showed that treatment with ENHERTU resulted in 10 CRs and 13 PRs, compared to one CR and 11 PRs in those treated with T-DM1, providing preliminary evidence that treatment with ENHERTU is associated with intracranial tumor response and reduction in CNS disease. The safety profile of the most common adverse events with ENHERTU in DESTINY-Breast03 remains consistent with previous clinical trials of ENHERTU in breast cancer with no new safety concerns identified. The most common grade 3 or higher treatment emergent adverse events were neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, nausea, leukopenia, anemia, fatigue, vomiting, increase in ALT, decreased appetite, increase in AST, diarrhea and alopecia. Overall, 10.5% of patients had confirmed interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis related to treatment as determined by an independent adjudication committee. The majority of ILD events were primarily low grade with two grade 3 events reported. No grade 4 or grade 5 ILD or pneumonitis events occurred. All patients in DESTINY-Breast03 received at least one prior cancer therapy, including trastuzumab or pertuzumab. Fifty percent of patients in the ENHERTU arm had received one prior line of therapy. At the start of the trial, 16.5% of patients in the ENHERTU arm and 14.8% of patients in the T-DM1 arm had a history of brain metastases. As of data cut-off on May 21, 2021, 136 patients remained on treatment with ENHERTU and 49 patients on T-DM1. Based on the primary results of DESTINY-Breast03, ENHERTU received its fourth Breakthrough Therapy Designation in the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer who have received one or more prior anti-HER2 based regimens in September 2021.

09:47 EST Phreesia falls -12.3% - Phreesia is down -12.3%, or -$6.66 to $47.34.

09:47 EST RH rises 9.4% - RH is up 9.4%, or $54.04 to $631.00.

09:47 EST Ciena rises 13.0% - Ciena is up 13.0%, or $8.10 to $70.30.

09:43 EST Telephone and Data CFO Peter Serada to retire, Vicki Villacrez to succeed - Telephone and Data Systems announced a series of planned finance leadership transitions expected to take place through May 2022. Peter Sereda, currently EVP and CFO of TDS plans to retire in May 2022 and will be replaced by Vicki Villacrez, currently SVP - Finance and CFO of TDS Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TDS. Replacing Villacrez as CFO of TDS Telecom will be Michelle Brukwicki, currently VP - Financial Analysis and Strategic Planning at TDS.

09:36 EST Tecnoglass trading resumes

09:33 EST Insignia Systems trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:32 EST MP Materials to build RE facility in Fort Worth, enter deal with General Motors - MP Materials (MP) announced that it will build its initial rare earth, or RE, metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The company also announced that it has entered a binding, long-term agreement with General Motors (GM) to supply U.S.-sourced and manufactured rare earth materials, alloy and finished magnets for the electric motors in more than a dozen models using GM's Ultium Platform, with a gradual production ramp that begins in 2023. In Fort Worth, MP Materials will develop a 200,000 square feet greenfield metal, alloy and neodymium-iron-boron magnet manufacturing facility, which will also serve as the business and engineering headquarters for its growing magnetics division, MP Magnetics. The facility will create more than 100 skilled jobs and be located in the AllianceTexas development owned and operated by Hillwood, a Perot company. MP's initial magnetics facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 1,000 tons of finished NdFeB magnets per year with the potential to power approximately 500,000 EV motors annually. The NdFeB alloy and magnets produced will also support other key markets, including clean energy, electronic and defense technologies. The facility will also supply NdFeB alloy flake to other magnet producers to help develop a diverse and resilient U.S. magnet supply chain. In Fort Worth, MP Materials will develop a 200,000 sq. ft. greenfield metal, alloy and neodymium-iron-boron magnet manufacturing facility, which will also serve as the business and engineering headquarters for its growing magnetics division, MP Magnetics. The facility will create more than 100 skilled jobs and be located in the AllianceTexas development owned and operated by Hillwood, a Perot company. MP's initial magnetics facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 1,000 tonnes of finished NdFeB magnets per year with the potential to power approximately 500,000 EV motors annually. The NdFeB alloy and magnets produced will also support other key markets, including clean energy, electronic and defense technologies. The facility will also supply NdFeB alloy flake to other magnet producers to help develop a diverse and resilient U.S. magnet supply chain.

09:31 EST Tecnoglass trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:24 EST SuperCom announces new government electronic monitoring contract in Idaho - SuperCom announced that it has secured a new GPS monitoring contract in Idaho. The contracting agency is a Juvenile Probation Office and will use SuperCom's PureTrack GPS smartphone products to monitor their case load for location compliance. SuperCom will provide their proprietary software and hardware while the agency will handle equipment installation and monitor their own clients The contract is structured as a per unit per day lease model, with billing at the end of each month. The agency has already placed an initial order for units.

09:21 EST FuboTV, Professional Fighters League announce multi-year partnership - The Professional Fighters League announced an exclusive multi-year partnership for its new PFL Challenger Series with fuboTV. The PFL Challenger Series debuts live on Friday, February 18, 2022, and will stream on consecutive Friday nights exclusively on fuboTV and its linear network, Fubo Sports Network, in February, March, and April.

09:19 EST Nano Dimension receives ISO 9000 certiification for quality management - Nano Dimension announced that it is now ISO 9001:2015 certified. ISO 9001 sets out the criteria for a quality management system and is used globally by any organization, large or small, regardless of its field of activity. There are over one million companies and organizations in over 170 countries certified to ISO 9001. This standard is based on several quality management principles including a strong customer focus, outstanding support, and the motivation and focus of senior management to empower people at all levels of the organization to enhance its capability and deliver value.

09:16 EST Avalon advances AI-enhanced protein product for cellular therapy development - Avalon GloboCare announced further advancement of the Company's sponsored research and licensing agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. Avalon and MIT have combined their artificial intelligence-enhanced protein design "QTY Code" technology with Google's (GOOG;GOOGL) AlphaFold2, a DeepMind AI program developed to predict 3-dimensional protein structures of previously difficult to work with drug targets. This new system is designed to accelerate and advance Avalon's capabilities in developing novel targets for immuno-oncology and cellular medicine. The "QTY Code" breakthrough technology, developed by Avalon and the laboratory of Dr. Shuguang Zhang, Ph.D., of MIT's Media lab in Boston, MA, is a protein-design platform that can turn water-insoluble transmembrane receptor proteins into water-soluble proteins, enabling their use in many clinical applications, including drug development. This program has already successfully generated a series of decoy receptors. The newly published study demonstrated the utility and efficiency of combining the two AI-based technologies. Combining the "QTY code" with AlphaFold2, provides Avalon with a novel, accurate, and efficient in-silico tool to improve knowledge about important potential therapeutic targets such as transmembrane receptors and other proteins to better understand their biology and facilitate the development of novel cellular therapies.

09:15 EST SurgePays expands MVNO customers, revenue - SurgePays provides update on the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program rollout through the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, SurgePhone Wireless. As of November 30, 2021, EBB Program enrollments were over 19,000 with total revenue of over $4.2 million since launching the program in late August 2021. These enrollments were generated primarily in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. SurgePhone has begun activating additional teams in California, Illinois and Missouri and plans to ramp sales aggressively in these markets before the end of the year. "At the time of this announcement, we have surpassed the 22,000 customers goal, representing over $1,100,000 in relatively higher-margin recurring revenue every month. This is extremely exciting and thrusts SurgePays daily operations to positive cash flow. Having available capital from our recent up-list to the Nasdaq Capital Market will allow us to continue to accelerate enrollments nationwide and I expect to double our customer base in the next 60 days. We have revised our internal model from 5,000 monthly enrollments to 15,000 in January and 20,000 enrollments in February," commented SurgePays CEO Brian Cox. The EBB Program provides SurgePhone up to a $90 reimbursement for the cost of each tablet distributed and a $50 per customer, per month (i.e., recurring) subsidy for data services. Additionally, the EBB Program allows one monthly service discount plan and one device discount per household. Eligible consumers need to enroll in the EBB Program through their participating retailer offering the connected devices. SurgePhone has received approval to offer customers these discounted services in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas. SurgePhone is a mobile virtual network operator and operates both the SurgePhone wireless and Loco Rabbit wireless brands.

09:11 EST Verizon exceeds 5G Ultra Wideband build plan for the year - Verizon announced the company has exceeded its year-end target of 14,000 new 5G Ultra Wideband cells sites, providing phone service to parts of 87 U.S. cities, 5G Home to parts of 65 cities and 5G Business Internet to parts of 62 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and, launching today, Athens, GA; Knoxville, TN and Tacoma, WA. This aggressive expansion has supported an increase in 5G Ultra Wideband data use of more than 750% year to date in advance of its C-Band spectrum commercial deployment, which will cover 100 million additional customers before the end of March 2022. In addition to 5G Ultra Wideband smartphone service, Verizon is accelerating its broadband roll-out across the nation. Verizon now has 5G Home available in five times the number of markets compared to 2020, and 5G Business Internet in nearly three times the number of cities originally projected for 2021. Providing customers with more, high-quality Internet choices is resonating with new 5G Home customers using the same amount of data as customers that have long used Verizon's award-winning FIOS fiber broadband connection.

09:11 EST CleanSpark announce new 20 MW immersion cooling initiative at Norcross facility - CleanSpark (CLSK) announced purchase of immersion cooling infrastructure for its Norcross bitcoin (BTC;BITCOIN;$BTC) mining facility. Phased installation starts immediately, with the first 8 MW expected to go live in February. The new data center's immersion cooling technology is expected to increase bitcoin mining efficiency by 20% or more, according to industry standards and the manufacturer. It is also expected to reduce operational expenses, enhancing CleanSpark's competitive advantage that comes from the Company's background in energy technology. A datacenter with such technology does not require regular re-outfitting, further improving the efficiency of a large mining operation and reducing operational expense. Upon completion, the 20 MW project will consist of 180 liquid-filled tanks, with each tank holding 33 units of the Antminer S19j Pro machines-the newest generation series of bitcoin miners on the market-fully immersed in a proprietary cooling liquid. The liquid is a synthetic hydrocarbon compound that has no electrical conductivity, is fully biodegradable and safe.

09:09 EST Albireo Pharma CMO Pat Horn to depart - Albireo Pharma announced the upcoming departure of Pat Horn, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, who will be leaving at the end of the year after almost three and a half years with the Company. Jan Mattsson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Albireo, will be taking over as the interim head of R&D, leading research and development of early and late-stage assets and programs. As one of the co-founders of the Company with deep experience in drug development and approvals, Dr. Mattsson is primed to lead the R&D organization with his institutional knowledge, vision for the pipeline and products, and ability to deliver against corporate objectives.

09:08 EST Pioneer State Mutual integrates Verisk's fire protection data - Pioneer State Mutual Insurance Company is transforming its property underwriting with advanced analytics from Verisk on the fire protection capabilities of local communities throughout Michigan. By integrating data from Verisk's Public Protection Classification program, Pioneer State Mutual will leverage multifactor grading of properties based on fire department response effectiveness, emergency communications capabilities, water supply adequacy and community fire mitigation efforts. The PPC data is being delivered through Verisk's LOCATION suite of solutions, which provides address-level information on a variety of risks and includes the only national database of recognized hydrants and alternative sources of firefighting water.

09:06 EST Goeasy surpasses $2B consumer loan portfolio - Goeasy announced that it has surpassed a $2 billion consumer loan portfolio. The Company began consumer lending in 2006 with the launch of its easyfinancial division, after opening the first test kiosk at an easyhome leasing store in Edmonton, Alberta. goeasy has since grown to become one of the country's largest non-prime consumer lenders, with over 400 locations coast-to-coast, a fully digital lending platform and point-of-sale financing offered in the retail, power sports, automotive, home improvement and healthcare verticals, through more than 4,000 merchants across Canada. The lending division has proudly served nearly 750,000 Canadians, with 1 out of 3 graduating back to prime credit and over 60% improving their credit score within 12 months of borrowing. goeasy continues to pursue a long-term strategy that includes expanding its product range, developing its channels of distribution, broadening the geography in which it operates, and improving the financial wellness of its customers, by helping them improve their credit score and graduate back to prime. The company remains well positioned to achieve its long-term growth objectives, including a consumer loan portfolio of between $2.8 billion and $3.0 billion by the end of 2023.

09:04 EST STMicroelectronics introduces STPOWER silicon-carbide MOSFETs - STMicroelectronics is introducing its third generation of STPOWER silicon-carbide MOSFETs1, advancing the state-of-the-art in power devices for electric-vehicle powertrains and other applications where power density, energy efficiency, and reliability are important target criteria. ST has incorporated new and advanced design know-how to open up even more of SiC's energy-saving potential. The effort continues to drive the transformation of the EV and industrial markets. With the acceleration of the EV market many car makers and automotive suppliers are now embracing 800V drive systems to achieve much faster charging and help reduce EV weight. These new systems allow the car makers to produce vehicles with longer driving ranges. ST's new SiC devices are specifically optimized for these high-end automotive applications including EV traction inverters, on-board chargers, and DC/DC converters, as well as e-climate compressors. The new generation also suits industrial applications by boosting the efficiency of motor drives, renewable-energy converters and storage systems, as well as telecom and data-center power supplies.

09:03 EST Clover Health launches new clinical program for chronic kidney disease - Clover Health announced that it will provide clinicians using the Clover Assistant with access to comprehensive renal care coordination and services to support disease management among their patients who have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. As part of the program, Clover is partnering with value-based kidney care provider Cricket Health to offer patients comprehensive, personalized kidney care. The CKD data model within the Clover Assistant analyzes longitudinal patient data to understand an individual's stage of CKD and risk for disease progression, then raises the information directly to physicians to help them develop an appropriate care plan. Within the Clover Assistant, physicians will be able to recommend and enroll these patients into Cricket Health's personalized kidney care program at no additional cost to patients. This collaboration adds a supplemental layer of support and further personalizes the patient experience while minimizing the time between diagnosis and treatment. Through the MyCricket patient support program, enrolled Clover patients will have access to multidisciplinary care teams, including nurses, dietitians, social workers, and trained peer mentors to help them stay on an individualized care plan to help manage their CKD. The virtual program, available 24/7, also includes stage-specific educational resources and access to a peer community for support along the way.

09:02 EST Blucora increases share repurchase program - Blucora announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of an additional $28.3M of shares under its repurchase program, bringing the total authorized repurchases under the program to $100M of its shares of common stock. "The expanded stock repurchase program reflects Blucora's strong balance sheet and cash flow generation, as well as our commitment to allocating capital to maximize long-term shareholder value," commented Chris Walters, Blucora's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have attractive investment opportunities in the business to create further profitable growth. But, given the positive outlook and momentum of both our wealth management and tax software businesses, we believe that repurchasing Blucora shares also represents an attractive use of capital. The expanded share repurchase program allows us to return capital to our shareholders while retiring a substantial number of outstanding shares. Given our forecasts and opportunities, we believe buying shares is a terrific investment for the Company and will enhance shareholder value." The Company has repurchased 1,305,807 million shares for $28.3M to date under its share repurchase program.

09:02 EST Inspira Technologies signs summary distribution agreement with Innovimed - Inspira Technologies (IINN) announced that it has signed an exclusive summary distribution agreement with Innovimed, a master distributor specializing in state-of-the-art medical solutions in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. The Innovimed leadership team, have decades of experience with sales, marketing and distribution with medical devices in global healthcare industry companies including Baxter (BAX). The summary distribution agreement will be followed by a more comprehensive agreement, follows the distribution agreement signed last month with WAAS Group for potential $66M in Spain & Portugal. The agreement entered has an initial term of 7 years, subject to completion of product development and regulatory approval. The parties will collaborate on the marketing and deployment of the ART device, designed to treat deteriorating respiratory failure patients, while they are awake and breathing. The ART, an early extracorporeal respiratory support system, has the potential to minimize the need for invasive mechanical ventilation across Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. According to the agreement, and in order to maintain exclusivity in the territory, Innovimed has committed to purchase minimum orders of 1,552 ART devices and 59,040 disposable units for deployment at hospitals and medical centers, subject to regulatory approvals for the sale and marketing of the ART devices in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

08:54 EST Qorvo announces proposed senior notes offering - Qorvo announced that it proposes to offer, subject to market conditions and other factors, senior notes to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and to certain non-U.S. persons in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. Qorvo expects to use the net proceeds of the offering to repay all, or a portion of, its term loan and for general corporate purposes. The Notes will be senior unsecured obligations of Qorvo and will be initially guaranteed, jointly and severally, by each of Qorvo's existing and future direct and indirect wholly-owned U.S. subsidiaries that guarantee Qorvo's obligations under its credit facility.

08:49 EST Ciena sees FY22 adjusted operating margin 15%-16%

08:48 EST Ciena sees FY22 gross margin 43%-46%

08:44 EST ABVC BioPharma introduces dietary supplement based maitake mushroom - ABVC Biopharma announced that BioKey, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company based in Fremont, California, will produce dietary supplements derived from the maitake mushroom in both tablet and liquid forms. In addition, BioKey has entered into a three-year distribution agreement with Define Biotech, a Taiwan-based pharmaceutical marketing company that focuses on sales of drugs, dietary supplements and medical products in the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement grants Define Biotech the exclusive right to distribute this new dietary supplement in China and Taiwan in exchange for the commitment to purchase $3.0M worth of the new product over the three-year period. BioKey will manufacture the supplements at its GMP manufacturing facility in Fremont, California. Further, the company entered into a contract to grow maitake mushrooms in a humid, temperature-controlled environment free of pesticides and chemicals. "Although dietary supplements are not key to our strategic business model, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global demand for immunity-boosting products has increased significantly," said Dr. Howard Doong, Chief Executive Officer of ABVC BioPharma. "Taking advantage of our existing technology and manufacturing expertise, we have produced a superior immune strengthening dietary supplement product using the maitake mushroom. Based on the distribution agreement with Define Biotech alone, we expect our subsidiary in California to achieve financial profitability by the end of 2022."

08:43 EST Zymeworks announces BeiGene doses first patient in HERIZON-GEA-01 trial - Zymeworks (ZYME) announced that its collaborator BeiGene (BGNE) has dosed the first patient in South Korea in the HERIZON-GEA-01 trial. As a result of this development milestone, Zymeworks will receive a $8M payment under its zanidatamab collaboration agreement with BeiGene. Zymeworks and BeiGene continue to work to expedite the opening of approximately 300 clinical trial sites across 38 countries in support of the global Phase 3 pivotal trial. With a 24-month projected enrollment period, this study may enable the submission of a supplemental biologics license application by Zymeworks in the United States as early as 2024.

08:42 EST Corning appoints Schlesinger as Chief Financial Officer - Corning announced the appointment of Edward Schlesinger to executive vice president and chief financial officer, CFO, effective Feb. 18, 2022. Schlesinger will report to Wendell Weeks, chairman and chief executive officer, and will succeed retiring CFO Tony Tripeny. Schlesinger will oversee Finance and Investor Relations. "His transition reflects a broader plan to develop top talent across Corning globally, best positioning the company to capture an attractive set of long-term opportunities and deliver ongoing value to its stakeholders," the company said. Schlesinger has led the company's Corporate Accounting, Compliance, Financial Planning & Analysis, Shared Services, and External Reporting functions since 2015. He was appointed senior vice president in 2019 and became a member of the Senior Leadership Team in 2020. Tripeny has elected to retire in the first quarter of 2022. He was appointed executive vice president in 2018 and has served as Corning's CFO since September 2015.

08:41 EST Beyond Air no longer expects U.S. commercial launch of Lungfit PH before Dec. 31 - Beyond Air announced an update to the expectations for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of LungFit PH for the treatment of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, or PPHN. Based upon our ongoing communications with the FDA, the Company no longer believes that the U.S. commercial launch of LungFit PH will take place prior to December 31, 2021. Beyond Air remains on track to receive CE Mark for LungFit PH in Europe in the first half of calendar year 2022.

08:39 EST Ciena added 34 new customers for WaveLogic 5 Extreme in Q4, CEO says - Comments taken from Q4 earnings conference call.

08:39 EST Phunware purchases additional 100 bitcoin for $4.975M - Phunware announced it has purchased an additional 100 bitcoin for approximately $4,975,000 in cash at an average price of approximately $49,750 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. As of December 9, 2021, Phunware holds an aggregate of approximately 630 bitcoin, which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $36.8 million and an average purchase price of approximately $58,513 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses.

08:38 EST Harbor Custom Development closes $3.8M sale of 20 lots to Nofke Homes - Harbor Custom Development announced it has closed on the sale of 20 developed lots in its Horizon at Semiahmoo subdivision in Blaine, Washington to Noffke Homes for $3.8M. "We welcome Noffke Homes to the Horizon at Semiahmoo project and look forward to working with them as one of our select builders in this beautiful Horizon subdivision," stated Sterling Griffin, President and CEO of Harbor Custom Development, Inc. "As a first-time partner with the Noffke Homes team, we believe their unique home designs, along with their thoughtful floor plans, meticulous level of quality and standard of luxury, makes them a wonderful addition to Horizon and to the greater community of Blaine and Whatcom County." Noffke Homes is the first builder to close in Phase 1 of Horizon and anticipates pre-sales to begin in the first quarter of 2022.

08:37 EST Mustang Bio to host KOL webinar on MB-106 - Mustang Bio announced that it will host a key opinion leader webinar on MB-106, the Company's CD20-targeted, autologous CAR T cell therapy for the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, on Thursday, December 16, 2021, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The webinar will feature a presentation by Mazyar Shadman, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a physician at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, who will discuss updated interim results from the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of MB-106 for patients with relapsed or refractory B-NHLs and CLL. These data were selected for presentation at the the 63rd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, which is being held December 11-14, 2021. Dr. Shadman, along with colleague Brian Till, M.D., also an Associate Professor at Fred Hutch and physician at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, will be available to answer questions following the formal presentations. Mustang Bio's management team will provide additional details on the planned MB-106 Phase 1/2 clinical trial to be conducted under Mustang's Investigational New Drug application. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted Mustang's IND to initiate a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial investigating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of MB-106 for relapsed or refractory B-NHLs and CLL.

08:37 EST Hindenburg says 'no faith' in Tecnoglass financials, sees 'serious red flags' - In a recently published report titled "Tecnoglass: Cocaine Cartel Connections, Undisclosed Family Deals, And Accounting Irregularities All In One Nasdaq SPAC," Hindenburg Research said that, " Our months-long investigation has included review of US and Colombian court records, securities filings, corporate registrations, property records, export records and media reports going back decades. We have identified serious red flags regarding management and numerous undisclosed related party transactions that call the company's reported financial results into question... we strongly suspect Tecnoglass has faked a significant portion of its revenue. The company has consistently had a difficult time collecting revenue, with its Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) nearly 2x peers. All told, we have no faith in the company's financials given management's background and the irregularities we have uncovered. We encourage its auditor to do a full review of its customer transactions and outstanding balances." Reference Link

08:35 EST Ford chief government relations officer Mitch Bainwol to retire - Mitch Bainwol, Ford's chief government relations officer for nearly three years, is retiring from the company effective Dec. 31. Bainwol, a corporate officer, joined Ford in the role in March 2019 after having served as president and CEO for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers for eight years. "Partnering with governments is critical to constantly simplifying, advancing and accelerating what we do, so that we're always giving customers and society the value they deserve," said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. "Mitch and his team have done a great job making those relationships possible and productive, putting Ford in the middle of important policy discussions." Farley said that Steven Croley, who oversees Ford's legal, government relations, sustainability, environment and safety-engineering functions as chief policy officer and general counsel, will directly guide the Government Relations team on an interim basis following Bainwol's departure and until his successor is announced.

08:34 EST WisdomTree launches Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Fund - WisdomTree Investments announced the launch of the WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Fund on the CBOE. WTAI is a passively managed ETF that seeks to track the price and performance, before fees and expenses, of the WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence & Innovation Index. WTAI has an expense ratio of 0.45%. WTAI seeks to track the performance of the WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence & Innovation Index, which identifies companies that are primarily involved in the investment theme of AI and Innovation.

08:34 EST CytoDyn files request for expanded access use of leronlimab with FDA - CytoDyn filed a request with the FDA for approval of expanded access use of leronlimab for multi-drug resistance HIV patients. The company has also previously sought FDA approval for CytoDyn to charge for leronlimab used in this patient population and is preparing to file the last portion of this request.

08:33 EST System1 MapQuest agrees to acquire RoadWarrior - System1, owners of MapQuest, announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire RoadWarrior, a subscription app focused on route planning for today's ever-growing gig economy drivers. The acquisition will enable System1 to continue expanding their subscription offerings, while delivering more robust route planning product features to MapQuest's users. RoadWarrior's subscription apo leverages proprietary algorithms to streamline complex routing problems faced by delivery drivers who have complicated multi-stop route itineraries. In addition to traffic, the RoadWarrior app factors drop-off priorities, school zones, tolls, one-way trips and more while delivering an optimized route. The RoadWarrior app also offers additional functionality for fleet managers with tools that include driver management, route assigning and progress tracking. In June 2021, System1 announced plans to list on the NYSE through a business combination with Trebia Acquisition (TREB), which also includes the acquisition of Protected.net Group. Upon the closing of the business combination with Trebia, expected in early 2022, the parent company will be known as System1 and will trade under the new ticker symbol "SST."

08:33 EST Biocept presents study demonstrating ability of its CNSide assay - Biocept presented a study demonstrating the ability of its CNSide assay to identify HER2 and other actionable tumor alterations in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with breast cancer and leptomeningeal disease, or LMD. The poster was chosen for a Spotlight Presentation at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium on December 8. In this analysis, cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, of 63 patients with stage IV breast cancer and LMD was collected, and CSF tumor cells were captured and characterized using CNSide. HER2 amplification was detected in 56% of all patients. HER2 status differed between the primary tumor and LMD in 38% of cases, with more than 80% of those patients exhibiting a switch from a HER2-negative primary tumor to HER2-positive LMD.

08:32 EST Digital Brands to launch exclusive branded offer on Google Pay App - Digital Brands Group (DBGI) announces that it is launching an exclusive branded offer on the Google Pay App (GOOG, GOOGL); which was just recently relaunched with all new features just this past year. Laura Dowling, Chief Marketing Officer of Digital Brands Group, stated that "we are working with a dedicated Google Pay onboarding team right now to launch our exclusive DSTLD offer within the coming days. The compelling nature of this first initiative, focused on denim, should entice many of the payment app users to visit our site, engage with the product and convert just in time to receive their product before the holiday if they like! We are excited to not only partner with Google on an exclusive offer, but to more importantly have exposure to a new very large addressable market that represents significant spending power in addition to their appreciation of quality denim."

08:24 EST Bionano Genomics announces 2022 symposium - Bionano Genomics announced its 2022 Symposium featuring four consecutive days of OGM presentations delivered by 25 different customers worldwide across a wide range of genetic diseases and cancer applications. The Symposium will take place virtually from January 10 to 13, 2022. During these four days, customers will showcase their latest research findings using OGM in constitutional cytogenomics, hematologic malignancies, solid tumors, and in combination with next-generation sequencing. Each day will feature oral customer presentations, a live panel with Q&A and a scientific poster exhibit within the virtual exhibition hall.

08:21 EST Stryker board increases quarterly dividend 10.3% to 69.5c per share - Stryker announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 69.5c per share payable January 31, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 31, 2021, representing an increase of 10.3% versus the prior year and previous quarter. "Despite a challenging environment, we continue to deliver strong sales growth and drive solid financial results, and consistent with our stated capital allocation philosophy, we are raising our dividend 10.3%," said Kevin Lobo, Chair and Chief Executive Officer.

08:19 EST SomaLogic SomaScan used in deCODE genetics proteomic study - In a new study published in Nature Genetics, scientists at deCODE genetics, a subsidiary of Amgen (AMGN), used SomaLogic's (SLGC) SomaScan Assay to measure blood proteins in 35,559 Icelanders and mapped them to 27 million genetic sequence variants. Using this vast amount of proteomic data, these researchers hope to demonstrate that combining protein measurements at population scale with genetic data on disease will dramatically impact understanding of human diseases and potential drug targets. This new study was the largest proteomic study published to date with 170 million protein measurements. In this study, the plasma levels of 4,719 blood proteins were tested for genetic associations with 373 diseases and traits, producing 257,490 of these associations. In the study, 94% of the proteins measured using the SomaScan Assay showed an associated pQTL, resulting in more than 18,000 pQTLs. Ninety-three percent of these pQTLs are considered novel. "Our SomaScan Assay offers the ability to measure and identify the largest percentage of the human proteome at commercial scale on the market today and it proved to be exquisitely specific in this study," said SomaLogic Chief Executive Officer Roy Smythe, M.D. "We hope that this study, and more like it, will help to provide the vital information that can be added to genetic data to create a more comprehensive understanding of human biology, and increasingly power more effective treatments for human disease."

08:17 EST Reservoir Media signs publishing deal with band Los Bitchos - Reservoir Media announced a publishing deal with the pan-continental, instrumental band, Los Bitchos. The London-based band is comprised of Serra Petale, Augustina Ruiz, Josefine Jonsson and Nicola Crawshaw. Hailing from all across the globe, each member contributes distinctive musical influences to the group's self-named genre of "instrumental psychedelic sunshine Cumbia," a folkloric genre and dance from Colombia. Los Bitchos have been capturing fans and impressing critics with their infectious sound, being dubbed by Ones to Watch as "the party band ready to set your heart ablaze."

08:15 EST Aligos Therapeutics begins dosing NASH drug candidate, ALG-055009-301 - Aligos Therapeutics announced that the company has started dosing in the first cohort of healthy volunteers in Study ALG-055009-301. The trial is evaluating Aligos' thyroid hormone receptor beta, THR-b, agonist drug candidate, ALG-055009, for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH. "There are no approved treatments for the millions of people in the United States and around the world who suffer from NASH and its serious complications," said Lawrence Blatt, Ph.D., MBA, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aligos. "We believe the enhanced pharmacologic properties of ALG-055009 compared to other THR-b drug candidates in development, which have demonstrated promising pharmacodynamic and histologic improvements, bodes well for ALG-055009. We look forward to seeing the results from this important Phase 1 proof of concept study." Study ALG-055009-301 is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of single and multiple oral doses of ALG-055009 in healthy volunteers and in subjects with hyperlipidemia, respectively. Dosing in subjects with mild hyperlipidemia is projected to begin in Q1 2022 with topline data in this population expected by Q3 2022.

08:14 EST Augmedix announces partnership with American Rheumatology Network - American Rheumatology Network announced that they have partnered with Augmedix, a digital health platform that offers virtual medical documentation and live clinical support. The Augmedix partnership provides ARN members with access to Augmedix's Ambient Automation Platform, AAP. The AAP converts the natural conversation between physicians and patients into timely and comprehensive medical notes and provides a suite of related services. "From day one, we've been committed to complex specialty care,'' said Manny Krakaris, Chief Executive Officer at Augmedix. "We're truly excited by this new partnership as it will provide us a direct pathway into a national network of rheumatology practices. Furthermore, we are especially eager to partner with ARN due to their unique focus on innovation. Together, we are working on a rich innovation roadmap to deploy Augmedix in custom ways so that Augmedix-generated documentation and data structuring can improve clinical outcomes."

08:12 EST Fat Brands, Buffalo's Express makes debut in Arkansas - FAT Brands company of Fatburger, Buffalo's Express, and 13 other restaurant concepts, announces the opening of a new co-branded Fatburger and Buffalo's Express in Greenbrier, Ark. "We've been eagerly awaiting the opening of the first Arkansas Fatburger and Buffalo's Express since we finalized this deal in early 2021," said FAT Brands CEO Andy Wiederhorn. "The new Fatburger and Buffalo's Express locations in Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas have shown strong sales since they opened, which shows how the co-branded concept has quickly become a fan favorite in the South. We're excited to bring our burgers, wings, shakes, and fries to a new state as we continue to grow the Fatburger and Buffalo's Express footprint across the U.S."

08:11 EST Freshworks used by Multichoice Group to deliver support systems faster - Freshworks announced that African broadcasting and pay television company, MultiChoice Group, uses Freshservice and Freshdesk to create faster omnichannel customer support across IT and support teams for South African MultiChoice subscribers. MultiChoice is the leading video entertainment company in Africa, with more than 21 million subscribers on the continent, and 8.9 million subscribers in South Africa. MultiChoice selected Freshworks' customer engagement software to build unified customer records across all communication channels. Using Freshdesk, MultiChoice can bring together disparate customer touch points such as walk-ins, call, chat, email, and social media to be visible within a single help desk system. This has resulted in increased first call resolution and helped improve customer satisfaction scores. By using Freshworks products, the company estimated a savings of $2.8M dollars.

08:10 EST Just Energy announces ERCOT's caculations of recovery amounts - Just Energy Groupannounced an update of the expected recovery by Just Energy from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas of certain costs incurred during the extreme weather event in Texas in February 2021 as previously disclosed, which is expected to be approximately $147.5 million. On December 7, 2021, ERCOT filed its calculation with the Public Utility Commission of Texas in accordance with the PUCT final order implementing Texas House Bill 4492. ERCOT's calculations are subject to a 15-day verification period and accordingly, remain subject to change. As previously reported, FTI Consulting Canada is overseeing the proceedings of Just Energy under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act as the court-appointed monitor.

08:09 EST VBI Vaccines files NDS to Health Canada for hepatitis B vaccine candidate - VBI Vaccines announced the filing of a new drug submission, or NDS, to Health Canada for the company's three-antigen prophylactic hepatitis B vaccine candidate, seeking approval in Canada for the prevention of infection caused by all known subtypes of the hepatitis B virus in adults.

08:08 EST UMH Properties enters into joint venture agreement with Nuveen Real Estate - UMH Properties announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate, a TIAA company. The purpose of the joint venture is the greenfield development or acquisition of new manufactured housing communities with an initial capital commitment of up to $170 million. UMH will have a 40% stake in the Joint Venture and serve as the managing member and operating member of the joint venture. UMH will earn customary fees associated with property and asset management. UMH has entered into agreements to acquire three to-be-built communities that will contain 804 sites in Florida for a total purchase price of approximately $90 million. These three communities will all be considered for the Joint Venture. The first community contains 219 sites and has an approximate purchase price of $23 million. This acquisition is expected to close by January 2022. UMH is also looking at several other deals that fits the Joint Venture's investment criteria that will be considered as potential acquisition opportunities for the Joint Venture.

08:07 EST Universal Technical. NAPA Auto Parts form new strategic alliance - Universal Technical Institute and NAPA Auto Parts have joined forces to support the future of those seeking careers in the transportation and aftermarket auto repair industries. NAPA has become the preferred UTI auto parts supplier, which includes its best-in-class NAPA Autotech training program that will be available to faculty. NAPA will supply essential parts for hands-on labs, including brake kits, rotors, bulbs, bearing kits, wheel weights and more. The initial stage of the partnership will impact UTI, MMI and NTI-branded campuses and may be expanded to MIAT-branded campuses in the future.

08:06 EST Fast Radius announces Custom Microfactory Solution - Fast Radius has announced that its Custom Microfactory Solution is now available to all manufacturers. The solution allows companies to partner with Fast Radius to design and stand up advanced microfactories. Each factory is designed to meet a customer's specific component manufacturing and technology needs, along with giving them access to proprietary software tools that provide visibility and insight into factory and supply chain operations.

08:05 EST ManTech wins $136M U.S. Marine Corps warfighting laboratory contract - ManTech announced that it has been awarded a $136 million contract to support science and technology research and development for the United States Marine Corps. ManTech was awarded this contract under the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center's Multiple Award Contract. DoD IAC MAC task orders are competitively awarded by the U.S. Air Force Installation Contracting Center for work at various U.S. military organizations. The contract directly supports the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in its work to identify and develop emerging and new capabilities that support Force Design 2030. The contract is for five years. ManTech is Bringing Digital to the Mission with research, development, testing and evaluation support that applies its expertise in analytics, automation, AI, Cognitive Cyber and Space Operations.

08:04 EST Costamare announces end of two shipbuilding contracts, six container contracts - Costamare announced: The execution of two shipbuilding contracts for containerships; The exercise of options, under a legally binding option agreement, for six additional containership new buildings; Long term charters for all eight new buildings with a leading liner company, and The acquisition of 7 dry bulk vessels. Executed Shipbuilding Contacts for Two 13,000 TEU and Exercised Legally Binding Options for Two More 13,000 TEU and Four 15,000 TEU Newbuild Containerships: The Company has concluded contracts with an Asian shipyard for two new buildings each of 13,000 TEU capacity and has exercised options under a legally binding option agreement for two more new buildings of the same capacity and four new buildings each of 15,000 TEU capacity. Delivery of the vessels under the executed contracts is expected between Q3 2023 and Q1 2024. All eight new building vessels will commence long term charters with a leading liner company upon their deliveries. Acquisition of seven dry bulk vessels: The Company has already taken delivery of m/v Soho Trader, 2015-built, 63,473 dwt and has agreed to acquire the following secondhand dry bulk vessels: m/v Soho Merchant, 2015-built, 63,800 dwt; m/v Star Damon, 2012-built, 63,227 dwt; m/v George P, 2012-built, 81,569 dwt; m/v Egyptian Mike, 2011-built, 81,601 dwt; m/v Belnor, 2010-built, 58,018 dwt; and m/v Belstar, 2009-built, 57,970 dwt. The ships are expected to be delivered between December 2021 and January 2022. Gregory Zikos, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, said: "During the year we chartered in total 47 container vessels adding contracted revenues of $1.8B...At the same time we are expanding our dry bulk fleet, bringing the total number of owned dry bulk vessels to 44, executing on our decision to invest in a liquid sector where supply is limited by a low orderbook and demand is being driven by increased infrastructure spending and commodity consumption."

08:03 EST Hino Motors to join Ree Automotive at CES 2022 - REE Automotive and Hino Motors expand their shared vision on future electric mobility to data-as-a-service and charging infrastructure solutions development. Companies on track for hardware prototypes by FY2022. Concept model of Hino and REE's joint EV platform, the FlatFormer, makes U.S. debut on display in REE's booth at CES in Las Vegas Jan. 5-8. The companies' joint exhibit at CES reinforces the strength of Hino and REE's enduring partnership. REE and Hino teams will be available together for business meetings and media interviews. REE and Hino are working together to bring to market their shared vision of providing new value to society through next-generation commercial mobility. Through their joint business alliance, the companies plan to bring to market their solution through the ideal next-generation commercial vehicles, with additional prototype development underway.

08:02 EST SAIC awarded $99M Air Force contract for WESTAR - SAIC was awarded a contract valued at $99M by the U.S. Air Force. The Weapon Engagement Simulation Technology for Advanced Research, or WESTAR, program, within the Air Force Research Laboratory, will continue developing modeling capabilities to assist in the research, development and transition of Air Force weapon systems. Under the five-year, single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, SAIC will help the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory develop multi-spectral and multi-modal phenomenology modeling capabilities, advance the software/hardware-in-the-loop test technology, and perform a role in the research, development and transition of Air Force munitions. Use of simulation at all levels of munition development will serve as a component of this research.

08:01 EST Iris Energy reports 113 bitcoin mined in November - Iris Energy published a monthly investor update for November 2021, containing its results from operations as well as construction and development updates. Key highlights: Successful completion of a $232 million Nasdaq IPO. J.P. Morgan, Canaccord Genuity and Citigroup acted as lead book-running managers. 15.2 EH/s of miners secured: 0.7 EH/s currently operating; 0.8 EH/s to be shipped in 2021; 5.7 EH/s to be shipped in 2022; 8.0 EH/s to be shipped in 2023. Operations: 657 PH/s average operating hashrate in November, powered by 98% renewable energy; 113 Bitcoin mined during the month, generating monthly operating revenue of $6.6 million; Welcomed Lindsay Ward and Mike Alfred. Construction & Development: Construction continues to progress at Mackenzie, expected to deliver capacity of 1.5 EH/s in 2022; Broke ground at Prince George, expected to deliver capacity of 1.4 EH/s in 2022 and expansion to 2.4 EH/s in 2023; Development works continued on a range of additional sites which have been secured across Canada, USA and Asia-Pacific. Development of those sites is expected to support up to 1GW of aggregate power capacity to install the Company's 15.2 EH/s of miners.

07:41 EST Vitalhub announces OHTN licenses TREAT EHR for Aids Service Organizations - VitalHub announces the 5-year licensing of the TREAT EHR to the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, OHTN. The OHTN has acquired the TREAT software to support its partner AIDS Service Organizations, ASO, who will utilize TREAT as a record management tool. This will allow each ASO to record client information and record services delivered to each client. It will be branded as The Ontario Community-Based AIDS Service and Evaluation system or "OCASE". OHTN provides technical and data support for 29 AIDS service organizations and other community-based organizations that provide a range of support services to people in Ontario living with or are at-risk of HIV. "TREAT is one of our flagship Case Management solutions and is a product that has consistently improved our customer's support of their clients. The partnership with OHTN is important to us because it replaces a digital solution that they've been using for some time, further validating the investment we continue to make to support innovation. This investment benefits all of our customers and demonstrates the competitiveness of our EHR and Case Management solutions," said Dan Matlow, CEO of VitalHub Corp.

07:39 EST Genetic Technologies announces new parternship, geneType Test patent allowance - Genetic Technologies confirms that the Company's US patent application for its novel geneType COVID-19 Risk Test has been accepted. GENE confirms patent attorneys received a USPTO Notice of Allowance on December 8, 2021, in connection with the referenced application. Formalities will be reviewed and a formal report provided within the next 10 days which will include the US patent number for the Granted Patent. The Company also announces a new partnership to expand access to the COVID-19 Risk Test in the US through GENE's agreement with IBX and 1health on their 'Vitagene' platform directly. 1health's services will be managed in partnership with IBX under our three-year co-exclusive license agreement announced on March 3, 2021. GENE has continued to expand and develop the geneType COVID-19 Risk Test, having recently completed a cross-validation study on a European data set confirming the test performance metrics. A paper describing the study has now been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and will be released upon publication. GENE's CEO, Simon Morriss, noted, "The geneType COVID-19 Risk Test is now available through our US partners, IBX and 1Health, and customers should consider this as an optional 'add on' request for a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test. Genomics is commonly used to determine the various COVID strains and origins but here at GENE we are harnessing the power of genomics to manage the risk of serious disease. This will greatly enhance the understanding of the disease status of patients and equip them with actionable insight to understand their individual risk. There remains a significant market for COVID-19 PCR tests in the US with over 900,000 tests performed daily in early December 20211."

07:35 EST The Very Good Food Company Kamini Hitkari departs, Ana Silva named interim CFO - The Very Good Food Company announced the departure of Kamini Hitkari as the company's CFO and corporate secretary to pursue other opportunities. During this transitionary period, Ana Silva, the company's president, has assumed the role of CFO and corporate secretary on an interim basis. Prior to joining Very Good in January, Ana served as CFO of Daiya Foods for five years and oversaw a period. A search by Very Good is currently underway for a new CFO.

07:35 EST Brainsway announces publication of Deep TMS trial for reducing AUD - BrainsWay announced the publication in the scientific journal Biological Psychiatry of a new randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial assessing the safety and efficacy of the Company's proprietary Deep TMS System for adults with alcohol use disorder, AUD. The pilot study analyzed data from 46 subjects and revealed encouraging efficacy data relative to placebo in adults with AUD. The primary endpoint of the trial was the reduction in percentage of heavy drinking days over the twelve-week period after the Deep TMS treatment. A heavy drinking day was defined as a day during which four or more drinks were consumed for women, or five or more drinks for men. Subjects in the active Deep TMS group had an average of 2.9 pHDD during the three-month follow-up period compared to 10.6 pHDD in the placebo, a clinically meaningful and statistically significant difference. "We are excited about the results of this feasibility study of Deep TMS for patients suffering from alcohol use disorder," said Christopher Boyer, Vice President of Global Marketing for BrainsWay. "Like many other mental health disorders, there have been a number of reports showing that the global pandemic has exacerbated the prevalence of the alcohol use disorder. With limited treatment options for this life-altering disorder, it is promising to see that Deep TMS therapy may have a meaningful role in addressing this serious worldwide health issue."

07:33 EST MindMed announces pre-submission meeting with FDA for MSMS - Mind Medicine recently met with the United States FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health with consultation from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research concerning several key points for ongoing development of the MindMed Session Monitoring System in a device pre-submission meeting that took place on October 25. MindMed presented FDA with a working Indications for Use statement, and a development roadmap. These describe technology and infrastructure for the collection of precise, multimodal, multivalent data that can be processed via machine learning, artificial intelligence, signal processes, and other statistical methods to yield clinically meaningful output to satisfy the requirements of the IFU. FDA provided key feedback regarding the draft IFU and the research methods that will lay the foundation for regulatory submissions.

07:32 EST Frequency Therapeutics shares results from FX-322-113 study - Frequency Therapeutics shared the results from its FX-322-113 study, a placebo-controlled trial evaluating the administration of FX-322 in subjects with severe sensorineural hearing loss, or SNHL. In the study, FX-322 was associated with a hearing signal as shown by improvements by four subjects in a sentence-in-noise test. FX-322-113 is a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1b study designed to assess the local and systemic safety of a single dose of FX-322, and to evaluate hearing responses in a cohort of individuals with severe SNHL, a patient population that may have considerable damage to their inner ears and where cochlear implants may be the only potential intervention to improve hearing. Subjects were randomized 4:1 and received either FX-322 or placebo in one ear. Safety, otologic and audiologic assessments were conducted at days 30 and 90 following administration of FX-322 or placebo. The company evaluated hearing function using multiple tests of speech perception in both quiet and noisy backgrounds, including the Bamford-Kowal-Bench Sentence-in-Noise exam, or BKB-SIN. BKB-SIN is a validated test designed for severe SNHL populations, measuring the change in signal-to-noise ratios required for a subject to correctly repeat words in a sentence. In the FX-322-113 study, BKB-SIN test improvements were observed in four subjects, all of whom exceeded the 95% critical difference of 3.1 dB SNR, with two subjects showing a 6 dB response. A single placebo patient had a 3.6 dB change. In the study, subjects did not show substantial changes in speech perception measures in quiet, the safety profile in the study was favorable and there were no treatment-related serious adverse events reported.

07:31 EST Ocugen announces FDA acceptance of IND application for Phase 1/2 trial of OCU400 - Ocugen announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted the company's Investigational New Drug application to initiate a first-in-human clinical trial of OCU400, a modifier gene therapy candidate for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa resulting from genetic mutations found in NR2E3 and Rhodopsin. Ocugen's modifier gene therapy platform aims to target nuclear hormone receptors that regulate multiple functions within the retina, giving it the potential to address many different gene mutations - and, in turn, multiple retinal diseases - with a single product. Traditional gene therapy, which transfers a functional version of a non-functional gene into target cells, targets only one individual gene mutation at a time.

07:21 EST AIM ImmunoTech presents safety data on Ampligen - AIM ImmunoTech announced that safety data on its drug Ampligen was recently presented at the Eighth European Scientific Working Group on Influenza virtual conference in Salzburg, Austria, on December 4-7, 2021. The conference also included research on COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus. The Centre for Human Drug Research presented previously announced data from a Phase 1 clinical study to assess the safety, tolerability and biological activity of Ampligen as a potential intranasal therapy. A total of 40 healthy subjects received either Ampligen or a placebo in the trial, with the Ampligen given at four escalating dosages across four cohorts, to a maximum level of 1,250 micrograms. The study reported no Severe Adverse Events at any dosage level. AIM expects to receive the full study report from CHDR in January 2022.

07:18 EST Bitfarms appoints Geoff Morphy as COO - Bitfarms appointed Geoff Morphy as COO of Bitfarms in addition to his role as President. In addition, the Company granted stock options to officers, directors, employees, and consultants of the Company. Options to purchase an aggregate of 2,750,000 common shares were granted to officers, directors, employees and consultants pursuant to the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan. The Options are exercisable into common shares of the Company at a price of C$8.13 per share for a period of five years from the date of grant and are subject to vesting conditions

07:16 EST uniQure, CSL Behring announce primary endpoint reached in HOPE-B trial - CSL Behring and uniQure announced that etranacogene dezaparvovec, an investigational adeno-associated virus five. AAV5,-based gene therapy for the treatment of patients with severe to moderately severe hemophilia B, achieved the pre-specified primary endpoint of non-inferiority in annualized bleeding rate, ABR, 18-months following administration compared to baseline Factor IX, FIX, prophylactic therapy in the pivotal Phase III HOPE-B gene therapy trial. The study also successfully achieved a secondary endpoint demonstrating statistical superiority in reduction of ABR compared to baseline FIX prophylactic therapy. The primary endpoint in the study was 52-week ABR after achievement of stable FIX expression compared with the six-month lead-in period, considering all bleeds regardless of investigator adjudication as true bleeds. For this endpoint, ABR was measured from month seven to month 18 after infusion, ensuring the observation period represented likely steady-state FIX transgene expression. Secondary endpoints included assessment of FIX activity and statistical superiority of ABR after dosing. Ricardo Dolmetsch, Ph.D., president of research and development at uniQure said, "The HOPE-B data not only achieved the pre-specified primary endpoint of non-inferiority in annualized bleeding rate following 12 months or more of stable FIX expression, but also the secondary endpoint of superiority in reduction of annualized bleeding, while continuing to demonstrate durability and stability in FIX levels and other benefits to this point in the study." A total of 54 patients received a single dose of etranacogene dezaparvovec in the trial, with 53 patients completing at least 18 months of follow-up. ABR for all bleeds after stable FIX expression, assessed at 18 months, was 1.51 compared with the ABR of 4.19 for the lead-in period of at least six months, achieving the primary non-inferiority endpoint and a secondary superiority endpoint in the HOPE-B trial. Data from the HOPE-B pivotal trial showed that patients continued to demonstrate durable, sustained increases in FIX activity at 18 months post-infusion. Etranacogene dezaparvovec was generally well-tolerated with over 80% of adverse events considered mild. No inhibitors to FIX were reported.

07:10 EST Achilles Therapeutics to present data at ESMO I-O Congress on VELOS - Achilles Therapeutics presented positive data at the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2021, ESMO I-O, that further demonstrate that Achilles' VELOS Process 2 manufacturing increases clonal neoantigen-reactive T cell doses by more than 10-fold over Process 1 at GMP scale and maintains a highly potent polyclonal phenotype. "We are extremely pleased to have demonstrated the ability to generate a significant boost in cNeT dose over Process 1 in clinical-scale runs and to have successfully completed the technology transfer of Process 2 into clinical manufacture," said Dr Ed Samuel, SVP Technical Operations of Achilles. "These Process 2 GMP data validate our previously reported R&D data and confirm retention of critical phenotypic characteristics and the ability to identify the active drug component of our products without adding to end-to-end manufacturing time. We anticipate dosing patients with high-dose Process 2 cNeT in the first half of 2022, with 6-week clinical and translational science data available in the second half 2022." Key highlights from the presentation entitled "Achilles VELOS Process 2 generates a greater than10-fold improvement in cNeT dose over Process 1 with a highly potent polyclonal phenotype and has been successfully validated at GMP scale for clinical use in solid cancer," include: Reporting that GMP validation of VELOS Process 2 has successfully been completed and transferred into clinical manufacture in Achilles' ongoing Phase I/IIa CHIRON and THETIS clinical trials; Showing that VELOS Process 2 generates a cell product that retains both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets and maintains polyclonal cNeT reactivity with a favorable cell fitness phenotype; and Demonstrating the quantification of the active cNeT drug component with Achilles' proprietary potency assay which further underlines the strength of the Achilles platform

07:06 EST Lee Enterprises board of directors rejects proposal from Alden - Lee Enterprises announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously rejected the unsolicited, nonbinding proposal received from Alden Global Capital on November 22, 2021 to purchase the Company for $24.00 per share in cash. "The Alden proposal grossly undervalues Lee and fails to recognize the strength of our business today, as the fastest-growing digital subscription platform in local media, and our compelling future prospects," said Lee Chairman Mary Junck. "We remain confident in our ability to create significant value as an independent company and are focused on our Three Pillar Digital Growth Strategy, detailed earlier this year. We have demonstrated accelerating momentum across our platforms as we execute our plan." Junck added, "The core of Lee's strength and competitive advantage is steadfast commitment to high-quality local news that is deeply valued in the communities we serve. With a nimble, digital-first mindset, we are leveraging our brands and attractive market position, solid balance sheet, established digital infrastructure and digital marketing expertise, and talented team to drive recurring revenue growth and strong cash flow performance. Our digital transformation is well underway with strong momentum, as shown in our fourth quarter fiscal 2021 results reported today."

07:06 EST ADT Inc. completes acquisition of Sunpro Solar - ADT announced it has completed its acquisition of Sunpro Solar. With the acquisition of Sunpro Solar, ADT is introducing ADT Solar, which will provide customers with rooftop solar and energy storage solutions to increase their energy independence and help them save money on their energy expenses. Sunpro currently operates in 22 states, and ADT Solar plans to expand to more markets across the U.S. As previously announced, Sunpro Solar founder Marc Jones and the Sunpro management team will now lead ADT Solar, with Jones serving as ADT Executive Vice President, Solar.

07:05 EST Embark Technology expands operations into Texas - Embark Trucks announced its expansion into Texas and the launch of a new autonomous trucking lane between Houston and San Antonio. Embark also unveiled its new autonomous trucking facility and plans to hire aggressively in the greater Houston area in 2022. To support the expansion, Embark announced a partnership with the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station to utilize their state-of-the-art test track, and plans to work closely with the Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems and faculty in the J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University to perform research and testing as it prepares for its driver-out pilot in 2023. Embark expects to begin hauling freight for its partners between San Antonio and Houston as early as 2022. "Texas is the center of America's trucking industry, and it's the perfect home for Embark's expanded operations. We're excited by the talent and entrepreneurial spirit that Houston has to offer," said Stephen Houghton, Chief Operations and Fleet Officer at Embark. "Our new footprint in Texas will support our growing network of partners and fuel our rapid growth across the Sunbelt. As we scale our operations, we will continue to work closely with local and state governments and other organizations so that we improve the safety, sustainability, and efficiency of trucking with autonomous technology."

07:03 EST Criteo enters negotiations to acquire IPONWEB for $380M - Criteo announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire IPONWEB, a market-leading AdTech company with world-class media trading capabilities, for $380M in a combination of cash and CRTO treasury shares. With this acquisition, Criteo accelerates its strategic plans to shape the future of commerce media and deliver the best commerce audiences at scale to both marketers and media owners across the open internet. The proposed transaction is expected to be accretive to Criteo's revenue growth, Adjusted EBITDA, EPS and Free Cash Flow, adding over $100 million in annual Revenue ex-TAC as well as positive Adjusted EBITDA contribution and cash flows from day one, accelerating Criteo's New Solutions growth and further diversifying revenue to drive long-term sustainable growth. The $380M purchase price is expected to be funded through $305M paid in cash and $75M paid in CRTO treasury shares. At closing, Criteo would be paying approximately 20% of the acquisition price in treasury shares. Based on Criteo's closing stock price as of December 7, 2021, the treasury shares that Criteo intends to utilize would have been repurchased at an average price of $25.2 and generate a 168% return-on-investment. Utilization of these treasury shares for the proposed acquisition would also enable Criteo to accelerate its share buy-back program after closing. As the funding structure requires no additional debt financing or use of existing credit facilities, the proposed acquisition would preserve Criteo's full financial flexibility after completion. Closing of the transaction is expected in the first quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals and consultation of Criteo's French Works Council. Criteo also reaffirms its 2021 financial guidance as provided on November 3rd, 2021.

07:02 EST Ziff Davis appoints Bret Richter as CFO - Ziff Davis announced the appointment of Bret Richter as CFO. He will report to Vivek Shah, CEO of Ziff Davis, and will be part of Ziff Davis' executive leadership team, leading Ziff Davis' worldwide finance and accounting organization. His first day at Ziff Davis will be January 3, 2022. Richter comes to Ziff Davis from MSG Networks, where he served as executive VP, CFO and treasurer.

06:58 EST Ecopetrol announces $4.8B-$5.8B organic investment plan for 2022 - Ecopetrol informed that its board of directors approved the 2022 organic investment plan for the company, for an estimated amount between $4.8B-$5.8B. The plan for the oil and gas business aims at the continuation of profitable growth in production within the framework of the company's energy transition strategy. The plan is based on an average Brent price of $63 per barrel for 2022 and a breakeven cash price close to $36 per barrel. With the aforementioned return on average capital employed will generate positive value for shareholders, standing above 8.5% in 2022. About 70% of the investment is expected to be allocated to projects in Colombia, while the remaining 30% to investments in the United States at 14%, Brazil at 8%, Peru at 5% and Chile.

06:52 EST Liquidity Services approves new $20M share repurchase plan

06:48 EST Johnson & Johnson chief communication officer Michael Sneed to retire - Johnson & Johnson announced the appointment of several senior leaders to the company's executive committee. Johnson & Johnson also announced that Michael Sneed, executive VP, global corporate affairs and chief communication officer, will be retiring on April 1, 2022. As previously announced, Alex Gorsky will serve as executive chairman of Johnson & Johnson and transition the CEO role to Joaquin Duato, currently vice chairman of the company's executive committee, effective January 3, 2022. From that time, all members of the executive committee will report to Duato. Bill Hait, global head of Johnson & Johnson external innovation, has been appointed executive VP, chief external innovation, medical safety and global public health officer. As previously announced, Paul Stoffels, vice chairman of the executive committee and chief scientific officer, will retire from the Company effective December 31, 2021.

06:46 EST Booz Allen announces spin out of Modzy, terms not disclosed - Booz Allen Hamilton announced it has completed a transaction to spin out its commercial artificial intelligence platform Modzy into a new company, Modzy, Inc. The spinout follows a similar recent transaction with the cyber threat hunting and detection platform SnapAttack. Booz Allen will maintain a minority ownership stake in Modzy, Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed.

06:35 EST Greenwich LifeSciences reports five-year data for GP2 Phase IIb clinical trial - Greenwich LifeSciences announced the publication of a poster for the GP2 Phase IIb clinical trial at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2021. The poster data can be summarized as follows: It was observed that 22.8% or 33 patients of the 145 patients reacted to GP2 at baseline with a positive immune response, which is defined as an induration of 5 mm or greater in the baseline DTH test. Of the 33 patients who did have a positive baseline DTH immune response to GP2, 8 patients recurred, which is a recurrence rate of 24.2% over 5 years of follow up, with a median time to recurrence of 99 days. Of the 77.2% or 112 patients who did not have a positive DTH baseline immune response to GP2, 14 patients recurred, which is a recurrence rate of 12.5% over 5 years of follow up, with a median time to recurrence of 438 days.

06:17 EST Aurinia Pharmaceuticals reports 'positive' results from AURORA 2 study - Aurinia Pharmaceuticals announced positive topline results from the AURORA 2 continuation study evaluating the long-term safety and tolerability of LUPKYNIS for the treatment of adults with active lupus nephritis, a serious complication in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. In combination with background immunosuppressive therapy, LUPKYNIS is the first and only FDA-approved medicine with three years of pivotal trial results, including long-term safety data, within LN. Highlights of topline results from AURORA 2: In the 116 subjects in the voclosporin-treated group who enrolled in AURORA 2, mean estimated glomerular filtration rate was stable over 36 months. Compared to the active control group, the voclosporin-treated group showed an increase from baseline eGFR at the end of the studies of +2.7 mL/min. The drug was well tolerated with no unexpected safety signals observed. There were comparable serious adverse events rates in both arms. The active control group had a higher percentage of withdrawals compared to the voclosporin-treated group, 15.0% vs. 12.9% respectively. There were four deaths during AURORA 2 in the active control group, none in the voclosporin-treated group. The mean Urine Protein Creatinine Ratio was lower in the voclosporin-treated groups at all time points during the three years.

06:05 EST U.S. Steel, Norfolk Southern and Greenbrier unveil sustainable steel railcar - Three of America's industrial and transportation companies - United States Steel Corporation (X), Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Greenbrier (GBX) - jointly announced a new, more sustainable steel gondola railcar. Using an innovative formula for high-strength, lighter-weight steel developed by U. S. Steel, each gondola's unloaded weight is reduced by up to 15,000 pounds. Gondola railcars transport loose bulk material such as metal scraps, coils, wood chips, steel slabs and ore. Norfolk Southern will initially acquire 800 of the Greenbrier engineered gondolas. The partnership between supplier, builder and end-user is rooted in the recognition that North America's aging gondola fleet will soon require substantial replacement with a more sustainable design.

06:04 EST Adobe confirms plans to acquire U.K. social media marketing startup ContentCal - To expand the social media capabilities of Adobe's creative tools, the company has entered into an agreement to acquire ContentCal, a social media and content marketing solution, the company said in a blog post. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 pending closing conditions, Adobe added. Reference Link

06:01 EST Amazon fined EUR 1.1B in Italy for abusing market position - Amazon has been fined EUR 1.1B by antitrust regulators in Italy. The company is accused of using its dominance in the online shopping world to steer Italian sellers into using its logistics service, Fulfillment by Amazon. "The investigation has ascertained that these are functions of the Amazon.it platform that are crucial for the success of sellers and for increasing their sales," said the ACGM in a statement. "In doing so, Amazon has harmed competing e-commerce logistics operators by preventing them from proposing themselves to online sellers as providers of services of a quality comparable to that of Amazon's fulfillment. These conducts have thus widened the gap between Amazon's power and that of the competition also in the e-commerce order delivery business." Reference Link

05:33 EST Qiagen, Denovo Biopharma enter pact to develop CDx test - Qiagen and Denovo Biopharma announced a collaboration to develop a blood-based companion diagnostic, or CDx, test to identify patients expressing Denovo Genomic Marker 1 who are likely to respond to Denovo's investigational cancer drug DB102TM for treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, or DLBCL, one of the most common lymphoid cancers. Under the agreement, Qiagen will develop a diagnostic assay that can detect the Denovo Genomic Marker 1 in DLBCL patients, a biomarker discovered by Denovo that predicts the responsiveness to DB102. Also known as enzastaurin, Denovo's drug is an investigational small molecule inhibitor of PKC-beta, a protein whose presence has been compellingly linked to DLBCL cases.

05:27 EST Thomson Reuters receives binding offer from Karnov to buy Spain legal business - Thomson Reuters announced that it has received a binding offer from Karnov Group to purchase Editorial Aranzadi SAU, or legal business in Spain. As part of the offer, Thomson Reuters Legal Business Spain is intended to be combined with and sold in conjunction with Wolters Kluwer France and Wolters Kluwer Spain. While the proposed sale includes Thomson Reuters' legal products and solutions specific to Spain, Thomson Reuters will continue to serve the Spanish market through its global content-driven technology solutions, including Westlaw International, Practical Law, Contract Express, ONESOURCE, Confirmation and HighQ, among others. Upon receipt of the offer, Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Reuters have granted Karnov an exclusive period of discussions. A transaction would be conditional upon antitrust approval in Spain.

05:21 EST Illumina to support precision medicine study IMPRESS in Norway - Illumina announced that it is supporting a national precision medicine study in Norway to assess the efficacy of blood-based comprehensive genomic profiling, or CGP, in cancer therapy selection testing. The study will also evaluate the cost-effectiveness of implementing blood-based CGP in the public healthcare system. The overarching study is called IMPRESS-Norway and is designed to match already-approved cancer medicines with other tumors, depending on their molecular profile, to drive a precision medicine approach to cancer therapy selection across the country. Within IMPRESS-Norway, Illumina is supporting a sub-study of 500 patients comparing solid tissue biopsies with easier-to-obtain blood samples to see if regular blood testing can provide additional information on the genetic changes within a patient's cancer which may be relevant to the choice of treatment. If so, less invasive CGP testing of blood samples could potentially replace tissue sampling, substantially increasing the number of patients able to have their tumors profiled and be included in clinical trials for cancer therapy selection. The CGP analysis will be done using Illumina's DRAGEN software.

05:09 EST Innate reports data from cohort of monalizumab, cetuximab and durvalumab study - Innate Pharma announced that data from the Phase 2 expansion cohort, exploring the triplet combination of monalizumab, cetuximab and durvalumab in the first-line treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer, will be presented virtually at the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2021. Monalizumab, Innate's lead partnered asset, is a potentially first-in-class immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting NKG2A receptors expressed on tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and NK cells. After a median follow-up of 16.3 months, preliminary data suggest anti-tumor activity in the triplet of monalizumab, cetuximab and durvalumab in first-line treatment of R/M HNSCC. As of August 1, 40 patients were enrolled. Thirteen patients had a confirmed response with a 32.5% overall response rate, including three complete responses. Seven out of 13 responders were still on treatment. Median duration of response was not yet reached. The survival rate at 12 months was 58.6% and the median overall survival was 15 months.. In addition, Innate performed an exploratory subgroup analyses according to Combined Positive Score, or CPS, which is a PD-L1 scoring method that helps predict response to anti-PD-(L)1 therapy. In this analysis, CPS greater than one the subset that had the greatest number of patients, showed a 40% overall response rate and median overall survival of 17.3 months. There were five patients with CPS less than one, and CPS was unavailable for 10 patients. The safety of this chemotherapy free regimen was acceptable with a low rate of discontinuation.