Astrazeneca Share Discussion Threads

[montyhedge] 27/1/2021 10:15

Polymetal that's going down has well, sometimes best to be in cash waiting for opportunities.

[imastu pidgitaswell] 27/1/2021 10:13

But it's not going sub 70 anytime soon is it?

Anyway, I have sold them (all), not because of anything negative here, just some great opportunities that I couldn't let pass elsewhere - including POLY.

Wait until Friday and see. In my view.

[montyhedge] 27/1/2021 09:52

Spiked to 8000p for a second, your never see it close above that for quite sometime when the bid goes through. In my view.

[imastu pidgitaswell] 26/1/2021 09:26

I've no particular reason to think that's it. We'll see.

Not a lot else going up, in fact some significant pullbacks, so some good opportunities developing. As always, flexibility and liquidity is key - not good to get caught in illiquid shares going down - liquid ones going up are far more enjoyable...

[triple witcher] 26/1/2021 09:15

Okay target achieved of 8000 hope you made some money previous post and chart refers !

[sheunghim] 26/1/2021 09:13

Oh look ot touched 80 ;)

[johncasey] 26/1/2021 03:16

Controversy over possible use of iodine mouthwash in fight against Covid
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Published: Wednesday, 11 November 2020 07:51
Written by News Editor
Hits: 1986
Controversy over possible use of iodine mouthwash in fight against Covid
Helen Rumbelow, writing in The Times, has investigated the possible use of an iodine mouthwash as a way of combatting Covid-19. She interviewed Professor Stephen Challacombe who told her “I have no doubt that this should be used and had it been, it would have saved lives.” But questions have been raised about how significant its use would be.

Helen Rumbelow reports in The Times that Stephen Challacombe, professor of oral medicine at King’s College London, with a specialism in the immunology of the mucous membranes, says that if you’ve got people with extremely high values of Covid in the mouth and give them an iodine mouthwash “you will reduce that risk immediately,” When the pandemic struck, Challacombe and his colleagues wrote to the British Dental Journal reminding the scientific world of its potential.

Challacombe says that the priority are healthcare workers, especially those working with a lot of saliva, such as anaesthetists and dentists. The American Dental Association, and equivalent bodies in Australia and South Africa, have recommended that dentists ask their patients to mouthwash with iodine or chlorhexidine before procedures. The British Dental Association has refused to follow suit; Professor Damien Walmsley, its scientific adviser, says it is waiting to see results of larger trials.

Rumbelow reports that there have been ‘a flurry of studies showing the effectiveness of iodine mouthwash on Covid-19 in test tubes’. They repeatedly concluded that after 15 seconds in contact with a weak solution of this kind of iodine 99.99 per cent of the virus was killed. There soon followed several tests on humans with Covid-19, but in numbers too small to draw conclusions. They indicated that iodine mouthwash pretty much wiped out the Covid-19 for a time. What is needed is larger studies, especially into how long iodine keeps Covid-19 at bay. Sceptics say that the effect could last just a few useless minutes, and point to a mixed bag of results for iodine mouthwash against viruses such as colds.

Given that this mouthwash is safe, cheap and easy, should we be using it before we have robust evidence that it kills the virus in humans? This story becomes in a way a test case of how to balance risk and responsibility, Rumbelow says. On the one hand the government’s scientific advisers and the British Dental Association’s verdict is a conservative and cautious no. This mouthwash is well tolerated, but there may be unforeseen risks and little gain. As Ian Jones, a virology professor at the University of Reading said, the mouthwash may kill the virus, but it may be back in no time; it’s “the constant replacement of the virus that is the issue”.

Challacombe appreciates this reliance on the normal high standards of scientific proof, but he also thinks that these are extraordinary times. Given the strength of the test tube evidence, and “the low risk, minimal cost and global applicability”, Challacombe says, “we feel that there is little to lose and potentially much to gain [to use it] while we get that information”.

We think of Covid-19 as a coughing illness and assume that the well of infection is in the lungs. However, a study in the Journal of Dental Research in April found that actually it is more active in the salivary glands. This was a key shift in understanding: the mouth wasn’t just being contaminated by the lungs, it was likely to be the main swampy breeding ground of the disease. “The virus replicates in the salivary glands in the mouth, of which you have hundreds,” Challacombe says.

“This advice that I have just told you did go out to Nervtag [the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group], which is the scientific committee below Sage,” Challacombe says. “The question they asked is: how long did it last? And of course we didn’t have that evidence. That’s what has held it back.”

In September another joint American and German study, published in the Journal of Medical Virology, tested mouthwashes against test tube coronavirus. It led the study’s author, Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology at Penn State College of Medicine, to conclude: “I would say wear your mask, do your social distancing. Do what you’re supposed to be doing, but this could just be an extra help.”

What is the responsible course of action? In August the governor of Osaka in Japan looked at the limited but encouraging human studies of iodine mouthwash on Covid-19 and told the public: “It’s worth giving a try.” Japan already has an established culture of using iodine mouthwash against common infections, but within hours there was panic-buying across the country, leaving the shelves bare. The Osaka governor’s comments got a slap from the World Health Organisation Centre for Health Development, which responded: “There’s no scientific evidence that gargling medicine prevents the coronavirus.”

The Times article (Paywall but some free access available)

hxxps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/could-a-cheap-iodine-mouthwash-really-help-to-beat-covid-ntpp5mtv0

Challacombe letter to BDJ

British Dental Journal volume 228, pages656–657(2020)

Research article in SSRN

Kirk-Bailey J, Combes J, Sunkaraneni S, Challacombe S. The use of Povidone Iodine nasal spray and mouthwash during the current COVID-19 pandemic for the reduction of cross infection and protection of healthcare workers. Available at: hxxps://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3563092

[philanderer] 26/1/2021 00:16

Market report

... drug maker Astrazeneca was up 1.5 per cent, or 120p, to 7897p after the firm announced that cancer drug Calquence had won approval for use with more patients in Japan.

Results from further trials of the drug have also come back with positive results, paving the way for further regulatory submissions as well.

[donald t] 25/1/2021 22:14

8000p tomorrow

[bountyhunter] 25/1/2021 18:59

Sentiment appears to be turning Astra's way; after a shaky start the Oxford Astra vaccine looks like it is rapidly becoming the preferred option - especially with that 12 week gap not having been tested for the Pfizer vaccine and Pfizer supplies in particular being behind schedule. Ok the Astra vaccine is not for profit during the pandemic but there's plenty of free global publicity for AstraZeneca with potential profits to be made post pandemic. Think of the MMR vaccine for example, plenty of profits for that vaccine but how long ago was there a pandemic for any of those three diseases.

[montyhedge] 25/1/2021 18:04

I love Astra and GSK, Astra would be 8500p if not for bid, I just feel paying to much and will take time digest this takeover.

[montyhedge] 25/1/2021 16:52

Yes but you were not there.

[sami69] 25/1/2021 16:51

what's the closing price got to do with anything?

You predicted that we would not see £80 for two years a few days ago yet we were virtually there today..

Anyway, I'll let you argue this with yourself now. lol

I guarantee you we will see that extra 50p before two years!

[montyhedge] 25/1/2021 16:38

What they close at, oh 7897p

[sami69] 25/1/2021 16:33

monty

it hit around 7950p today.. lets not quibble about 50p

[montyhedge] 25/1/2021 16:27

sami
No you won't see for a couple of years, if the bid goes ahead. I think these would have been 8500p without a bid.

[montyhedge] 25/1/2021 16:26

Its a good jobs Astra turned down 55 pounds a share bid in 2014 from Pfizer, lol.

[sami69] 25/1/2021 15:33

Monty:

"I don’t think you’re see this back over 8000p for a couple of years"

was that a typo? You meant couple of days right?

[rogerrail] 25/1/2021 15:02

Had to look twice at that post, first glance read it as Merkel, now that would be bad news!

[philanderer] 25/1/2021 14:30

Markets fall as Merck abandons Covid vaccine

[imastu pidgitaswell] 25/1/2021 13:32

And a nice contrarian aspect to it as well - going up while the market falls (and vice versa), not unlike the precious metal miners.

[beckers2008] 25/1/2021 13:01

D,

The EU still haven't approved the vaccine yet so AZ will rightly concentrate on those that have, the UK is running apace.

[imastu pidgitaswell] 25/1/2021 09:50

One of the more obvious buys at the end of last year - as posted, higher low, etc.

But now we have a gap up from this morning...

Maybe time to enter the swing trading mode - or soon anyway.

[davius] 25/1/2021 09:41

SP seems to be having a nibble at £79 this morning. Another drug approval RNS, all looking good today. I had wondered whether the Italy situation regarding failure of AZN to provide enough vaccine to previously agreed timescales might cause a blip, but it seems not.

[beckers2008] 24/1/2021 12:33

T,

Totally agree, has formed a strong base and gaining momentum, forward PE around 21!