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☆ Ovidio Guzmán's arrest may be the start of a campaign against El Chapo's sons and the Sinaloa cartel
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Chris Dalby | Insight Crime | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Mexican authorities arrested Ovidio Guzmán, son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, earlier this month. The US has demanded action on fentanyl, and Ovidio's arrest may prompt Mexico to continue a targeted campaign. Ovidio Guzmán López is one of the four sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias "El Chapo," who is seeking to continue their father's legacy. Vehicles torched during a January 5 operation to arrest Ovidio Guzman in Culiacan on January 7. In the last couple of years alone, they have mounted targeted operations at rivals within the Sinaloa Cartel and beyond.

☆ Mark Cuban's pharmaceuticals startup ties up with RxPreferred
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 11 (Reuters) - Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban's pharmaceuticals startup has tied up with pharmacy benefits manager RxPreferred Benefits, the companies said on Wednesday, in a move to offer lower priced drugs through some employer-backed health insurance plans. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs provides generic drugs through direct contracts with manufacturers and charges a standard markup on every drug it sells. Under the partnership, RxPreferred Benefits' customers will have the option to use Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs as part of their health insurance plans. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs in December partnered with EmsanaRx, a nonprofit coalition of nearly 40 companies including U.S. retailers Walmart (WMT.N) and Costco (COST.O), that operates a PBM service for employers. PBMs serve as intermediaries between drug manufacturers, health insurance plans and pharmacies to negotiate prescription drug prices.

☆ 'We threw ourselves to the floor': Mexican passenger plane caught in cartel crossfire
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Sarah Morland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - "That's an attack plane, Dad," said one of David Tellez's young children as they spotted Mexican military aircraft touching down alongside their Aeromexico passenger plane early on Thursday. "As we were accelerating for take-off, we heard gunshots very close to the plane, and that's when we all threw ourselves to the floor," Tellez said after the incident in the northern city of Culiacan. He told Reuters he had reached the airport for his 8:24 a.m. flight without incident, despite encountering road blockades set up after overnight shootouts. Yet, just as flight AM165 to Mexico City was about to take off, a succession of military planes landed on the airstrip. Reporting by Sarah Morland and Carolina Ruiz in Mexico City; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Q1 earnings 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Walgreens Boots Alliance on Thursday reported fiscal first quarter earnings beat Wall Street's estimates Thursday after an early flu season boosted demand for cough and cold medicine. The company said it also raised its full-year revenue outlook due in part to its U.S. health care segment's just-sealed acquisition of Summit Health. The company is in the process of acquiring CareCentrix, which coordinates home care for patients after they're discharged from the hospital, and Shields Health Solutions, a specialty pharmacy company. The acquisition led Walgreens to increase its full year sales guidance to $133.5 billion to $137.5 billion. The company is also maintaining its full-year earnings per share guidance of $4.45 to $4.65, compared to estimates of $4.50.

His image can be found on T-shirts at California markets, and fans still listen to his raspy voice singing the corridos, or Mexican ballads, that made Chalino Sánchez famous. The podcast "Ídolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez." A plaque says, "You have died to the world but for us you will always live in our hearts," at a memorial to Chalino Sánchez in Culiacán, Sinaloa. A newspaper clipping announcing the concert by Chalino Sánchez in Coachella on Jan. 26, 1992. newspapers.comAfter the artist's involvement in the Coachella shooting while he was on stage, he catapulted to fame. Chalino Sánchez merchandise at the Paramount Swap Meet in Paramount, Calif. Eulimar Núñez / Noticias TelemundoAs Galindo narrates in the podcast, Sánchez's death seemed like the foregone conclusion of his Wild West kind of life.

☆ India inspects drug factories as Gambia controversy lingers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

India is known as the "pharmacy of the world" and its pharmaceuticals exports have more than doubled over the past decade to $24.5 billion in the past fiscal year. The deaths of at least 70 children in Gambia has dented the industry's image, though India says the drugs made by New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd were not at fault. "Joint inspections are being conducted all over the country as per standard operating procedures," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement. Some health experts say India's drug regulations are lax, especially at the level of states where thousands of factories operate. But India's main drugs officer told the World Health Organization this month that tests of samples from the same batches of syrups that Maiden sent to Gambia were compliant with government specifications.

☆ A global drug cartel used Binance to launder millions, the DEA says. Here's how the world's largest crypto exchange is reportedly working with investigators to track them down.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A global drug cartel allegedly used Binance to launder tens of millions, an ongoing DEA investigation alleges. Roughly $15 million to $40 million in illicit profits could have been funneled through Binance, according to Forbes, which obtained a search warrant. Here's how the largest crypto exchange in the world is reportedly working with investigators. Between $15 million to $40 million has been laundered through the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, according to Forbes, citing a search warrant it obtained. Binance, which announced plans earlier this year to buy a minority stake in Forbes, is working with investigators to help track down suspects.

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company negotiates directly with drugmakers. So far, that's been the strategy for the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. In October, Cost Plus Drug Company announced a partnership with Capital Blue Cross. Cuban said he wanted Cost Plus Drug Company to be as transparent as possible on pricing. Cost Plus Drug Company is considering a test program for insulin that would offer a 90-day supply of insulin, or a total of 12 vials, for $170.

☆ The DEA is alleging Truepill, Cerebral's former pharmacy partner, broke the law in filling prescriptions for highly regulated drugs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Blake Dodge | Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The agency alleges that the pharmacy startup unlawfully dispensed stimulants used to treat ADHD. Truepill partnered with the mental-health startup Cerebral to send prescriptions to its patients. The Order to Show Cause requires that Truepill show evidence to justify its prescribing practices for controlled substances, which are highly regulated drugs. If the evidence isn't convincing, the pharmacy startup could have its DEA license revoked, which would leave the company unable to fill prescriptions for controlled substances. In "numerous instances," the startup dispensed prescriptions that weren't issued for a legitimate medical purpose, the DEA alleges.

Timothy York knows what works to treat his decadeslong opioid addiction: Suboxone, a medication that effectively quiets cravings. Since York arrived in federal prison in 2008, he has been held in a series of facilities awash with contraband drugs and violence. Yet the federal prisons are treating only a fraction — less than 10% — of the roughly 15,000 prisoners who need it, according to the bureau’s estimates. Some say the issues stem from a culture at the bureau that is skeptical of addiction medication and pits staff against prisoners. He was using an underground supply of Suboxone at USP-Coleman, the federal prison in Florida where he was incarcerated, but it was erratic.

☆ High demand for children's medications shines a light on fragile US drug supplies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Even when demand is not sky-high, drugs shortages happen regularly – but usually more quietly – in the US. At any time, the reasons why shelves may be empty vary from place to place and from drug to drug. With children’s medications, drug manufacturers say they are running full-tilt, and they planned for some increase in sales over the winter months. The FDA tracks drug shortages too, taking reports directly from manufacturers, but it defines them differently than the pharmacists’ group. The White House says drug shortages are a priority for President Biden’s administration, too.

☆ Newly freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said he 'wholeheartedly' supports Russia's war in Ukraine and would 'certainly' volunteer: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said he would "certainly" volunteer to fight in Russia's war against Ukraine. Bout is newly free after being swapped for Brittney Griner, who was detained in Moscow for nine months. Bout was imprisoned in the US on a 25-year sentence for conspiring with a terrorist organization. "If I could, I would share the skills I have and I would readily volunteer," Bout said on the Russian state television network RT, formerly known as Russia Today. While he was in prison, he said he had a portrait of Russian President Putin displayed in his cell, according to CNN.

☆ Senior officials argued that Viktor Bout's release in exchange for Brittney Griner would be a mistake, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

WNBA star Brittney Griner was swapped for arms dealer Viktor Bout on Thursday. Her release marked the end of prolonged and agonizing negotiations for Biden, CNN reported. Some senior officials told Biden they thought Russia was getting the better deal, the outlet said. But some senior law enforcement officials told Biden prior to his decision that Bout was too notorious of a figure to release in exchange for Griner, whose offense was only minor, one official told CNN. Her release marked the end of prolonged and agonizing negotiations for Biden, CNN reported.

☆ Video shows Brittney Griner touching down on US soil after being released from Russian custody
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from Russia on Thursday after nine months in custody. Griner was released from Russian custody in exchange for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyA video shows the moment WNBA star Brittney Griner touched down on US soil after nine months in Russian custody. US officials who met Griner upon her arrival told CNN that she was "in good spirits and incredibly gracious." Roger Carstens, a State Department official who was traveling with Griner, tweeted on Friday morning: "So happy to have Brittney back on US soil.

☆ Viktor Bout: The Russian arms dealer swapped for Brittney Griner
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Eliza Mackintosh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Brittney Griner’s freedom ultimately hinged on the release of a convicted Russian arms dealer whose life story inspired a Hollywood film. On Thursday, a source told CNN that the US basketball star had been released from Russian detention in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death” by his accuser. Viktor Bout is pictured in a temporary cell ahead of a hearing at a court in Bangkok in August 2010. Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images“His early days are a mystery,” Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center who co-authored a book on Bout, told CNN in 2010. He said that Bout graduated from the Military Institute on Foreign Languages, a well-known feeder school for Russian military intelligence.

On the surface, Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout are accused of ludicrously different crimes. Bout’s outsized importance to Russia has always been the bigger puzzle. I have seen videos of Bout in the Congo and across Africa, where he was pretty close to the conflicts there. There were suggestions too that he had served alongside senior Russians who are now close to President Vladimir Putin. This is a man who many ordinary Russians may have heard of, and he certainly is of mythological importance to the Russian elite.

BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Chinese residents have rushed to snap up COVID-19 antigen kits and medicines for fevers and colds, as the country's recent easing of prevention measures triggered widespread concern among the public that they could now catch the virus. "People around me are all buying antigen kits and I also bought 50," said 40-year-old Beijing resident Huang Yuqi, working for an entertainment company. "Now the country is entering a new phase in terms of pandemic policy and I'm unsure about what will happen next. Shandong-based pharmaceutical company Buchang Pharma (603858.SS) told local news outlet Cailianshe that its factory making a Chinese medicine for lung disease was working around the clock due to "huge demand". The rush to stock up on COVID treatments drew scorn in state media.

☆ Merck could keep its patent edge by shifting Keytruda cancer drug to a simple shot
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Michael Erman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

If successful, Merck could begin marketing the new formulation within a few years, a top Merck executive told Reuters. "The clock for that patent would start ticking from the time we would get that patent approved." Drug patents have a guaranteed term of exclusivity for 20 years after receiving a patent under U.S. law, but sometimes the companies are able to add additional patents that extend their exclusivity. Merck's patents on the subcutaneous version of Keytruda could protect that formulation until at least 2040, according to Tahir Amin, co-founder of drug patents watchdog group Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK). Northwell's Mulloy said moving patients to subcutaneous versions of drugs also opens up spots in infusion centers for additional patients.

☆ What increasing confidence in Biogen's latest Alzheimer's drug means for Eli Lilly
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Donanemab is the name of Eli Lilly's Alzheimer's drug in its own late-stage trials. JPMorgan has a neutral (hold) rating on Biogen shares and an overweight (buy) rating on Eli Lilly shares. What it means for Eli Lilly Eli Lilly has a phase three trial underway for its donanemab Alzheimer's drug that is similar to lecanemab, which is why the Biogen-Eisai data has been interpreted as favorable for the Club holding. Clumps of the protein, known as amyloid plaques, are one of the key markers of Alzheimer's disease. Previous drugs developed around the a-beta hypothesis — including those from Eli Lilly — have failed to meaningfully delay the disease's progression.

☆ Eisai shares plunge 10% in Tokyo after report of death in Alzheimer's trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Shares in Japanese drugmaker Eisai Co (4523.T) headed for their biggest plunge in more than a year on Tuesday after a report that a woman in a trial of the company's Alzheimer's disease treatment died. Eisai's shares sank 10% to 8,595 yen, leading decliners on the benchmark Nikkei index (.N225), which slid 0.5% in the morning session. Shares in Biogen sank 4.3% on Monday. Eisai and Biogen shares have been on a roller coaster in recent years on prospects for their candidates to battle dementia. Lecanemab was shown to slow cognitive and functional decline in a large trial of patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, Eisai and Biogen said in September.

☆ Japan's Shionogi shares jump after report of COVID drug gaining efficacy approval
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Regulators in Japan previously denied emergency approval for the Shionogi pill, saying they wanted to see more data on its effectiveness. There were also concerns the drug could pose risk to pregnancies, based on results from animal studies. If approved, it would become the first domestically developed oral drug for COVID patients with mild symptoms. Despite the delay in approving the treatment, Shionogi last month raised its full-year sales forecast on expectations it would win regulatory approval. The company has signed an agreement to sell about a million doses to the government, pending the drug's approval.

☆ $450,000 worth of cocaine seized from wheelchair wheels at JFK airport, customs officials say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Zoe Sottile | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A traveler at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was arrested after $450,000 worth of cocaine was discovered hidden in the wheels of her wheelchair. The traveler arrived in New York City from the Dominican Republic on November 10, according to a news release from US Customs and Border Protection. Officers noticed the wheels on her wheelchair were not turning and X-rayed the wheelchair. They discovered a white powder, which later tested positive for cocaine in all four wheels, the news release stated. It amounted to a total of 28 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of around $450,000.

☆ The DEA says drug cartels are putting fentanyl in candy to sell to kids. Cartel operatives say it's 'actually the opposite.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Luis Chaparro | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Two operatives in the Sinaloa Cartel told Insider they're actually trying to do the opposite. But operatives in the Sinaloa Cartel, the Mexican criminal organization behind the biggest shipments of fentanyl to the US, told Insider their intention is actually the opposite. US authorities began their campaign several months before Halloween, warning of alleged attempts by Mexican drug cartels to entice kids into drugs by selling rainbow-colored fentanyl pills and adding fentanyl to Halloween candies. "Rainbow fentanyl — fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes — is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults," Milgram said. The Sinaloa Cartel operative denied that his organization is targeting kids or young adults in the US as their final users.

☆ U.S. Argonne National Lab scales up startup SambaNova's latest AI system
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Jane Lanhee Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Silicon Valley artificial intelligence (AI) computing startup SambaNova Systems said on Monday it delivered eight units of its latest AI system to the U.S. Argonne National Laboratory, which is expanding its AI offering to researchers. With AI work taking center stage in research, Argonne National Laboratory has been testing out various AI chips and systems, Rick Stevens, associate lab director for computing, environment and life sciences at Argonne lab told Reuters. In addition to SambaNova, AI systems from startups including Cerebras Systems, Groq Inc, Graphcore, and Intel Corp (INTC.O) owned Habana Labs have been tested. "We're working with new emerging AI hardware architectures, and we get early hardware and then we play with it, we use it on our science applications," said Stevens. Steven said the lab was evaluating AI hardware for its next supercomputer to see if SambaNova and others can be included.

☆ El Chapo's hometown in Mexico considers drug-trafficking museum
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The home town of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is considering housing a drug trafficking museum, the mayor was quoted as saying on Thursday, in the hope of attracting tourists to the area. Badiraguato's mayor, Jose Lopez, is reported to have earmarked close to $1 million for the project, according to Reforma. "We can't deny our history... it's possible we'll have a museum dedicated to drug trafficking," Lopez said told Milenio, adding the local government's priority was to encourage economic development in the region. Avigail Lopez, assistant to the municipal presidency, told Reuters that a museum is under construction, though its content and subject matter has not yet been finalised. Reporting by Isabel Woodford and Raul Cortes Editing by Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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