Astrazeneca Share Discussion Threads

[stewart64] 03/4/2019 11:55

This is more springy than Zebedee..what's spooking it today?

[buywell3] 01/4/2019 07:03

A Dozen Dolphins Have Beached Themselves, Showing The Deadly Hallmark of Alzheimer's

31 MAR 2019

Over a dozen dolphins, stranded on the beaches of Florida and Massachusetts, have been found with brains full of amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

The scientists who made the discovery think it may be a warning to us all: alongside the Alzheimer's-like plaques, the team also found the environmental toxin BMAA.


What these Dolphins have is a prion disease

[buywell3] 01/4/2019 07:01

'Harmless' prion protein linked to Alzheimer's disease
Non-infectious form of prion protein could cause brain degeneration.


Prion proteins may react with amyloid-β peptides inside the brain cells of Alzheimer's patients.Thomas Deerinck NCMIR/Science Photo Library
Non-infectious prion proteins found in the brain may contribute to Alzheimer's disease, researchers have found.

The surprising new results, reported this week in Nature1, show that normal prion proteins produced naturally in the brain interact with the amyloid-β peptides that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Blocking this interaction in preparations made from mouse brains halted some neurological defects caused by the accumulation of amyloid-β peptide. It was previously thought that only infectious prion proteins, rather than their normal, non-infectious counterparts, played a role in brain degeneration.

The results have yet to be confirmed in humans, but suggest that targeting the non-infectious prion protein (PrPc) could provide an alternative route to treating Alzheimer's disease. "The need is huge," says Paul Aisen, an Alzheimer's researcher based at the neurosciences department of the University of California, San Diego. "And it's great news for the field when a new idea is brought forth with strong evidence that can lead to new therapeutic strategies."

Proteins misbehaving
Alzheimer's disease has long been linked to the build-up of amyloid-β peptides, first into relatively short chains known as oligomers, and then eventually into the long, sticky fibrils that form plaques in the brain. The oligomeric form of the peptide is thought to be toxic, but exactly how it acts in the brain is unknown.

Stephen Strittmatter and his colleagues at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut searched for brain cell proteins that interact with amyloid-β oligomers. To their surprise, they found PrPc, the normal, non-infectious prion protein.

Normal prion proteins are produced naturally in the brain, but can cause disease when they come into contact with an infectious form of the protein (PrPSc) that folds into an unusual conformation. These infectious prions convert innocuous prion proteins into the infectious form, which forms clumps and leads to neurodegenerative diseases, such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease.

[steeplejack] 29/3/2019 17:26

"The Placing Shares being issued represent approximately 3.5 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company.The Placing Price of GBP60.50 each represents a discount of 1.5 per cent. to the middle market price at the time at which the Company, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley agreed the Placing Price ....."They might of got it away at a slightly higher price if they'd adjusted for recent strength.Hey ho,done and dusted,onwards and upwards.

[bountyhunter] 29/3/2019 17:25

At around the lowest price on the chart today.

[bountyhunter] 29/3/2019 17:24

Correct!

GBP60.50 per Placing Share (the "Placing Price"), raising proceeds of approximately GBP2.69 billion ($3.5 billion at a GBP:USD average exchange rate of 1.3034) (before expenses). The Placing Shares being issued represent approximately 3.5 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company.

[steeplejack] 29/3/2019 15:33

I'd guess after hours today.

[bountyhunter] 29/3/2019 13:18

when will they announce the placing price obtained following the bookbuilding, after the close or maybe 7am tomorrow?

[stewart64] 29/3/2019 12:47

Back in at 60.55..been support at 60.50 but watch that go now I'm in. Sod's law. (Yep gone straight away)

[stewart64] 29/3/2019 10:03

A chance for me to get back on board where I exited at £62 after a profitable run. Still looks toppy for me at a p/e of 24 off adjusted EPS. Don't get me wrong I like AZN, more focused than GSK; but quality comes at a rich price for an otherwise cheap UK equity market.

[steeplejack] 29/3/2019 09:38

3.37% new equity.Not a large percentage issue in itself but a substantial amount of money.A very timely and strategic placing.

Acquisition forecast to be earnings neutral initially but progressively earnings accretive post 2020 and significantly earnings enhancing by 2023.For now,placing price is a key barometer of investor enthusiasm.

[holts] 29/3/2019 09:22

Just as it looked we were going to get the momentum to hit 70

[jack jebb] 28/3/2019 23:40

Thats one large share placing.

[buywell3] 14/3/2019 20:44

Alzheimer's is the number one Dementia Disease

[buywell3] 13/3/2019 03:17

Eye news re Alzheimer's ( see last post )



ALZHEIMERSPublished 10 hours ago
Eye exam could soon detect Alzheimer's, new study suggests


Now read this



Eyes may be portal for prions to enter the body finds study
Nov 23 2018

[buywell3] 13/3/2019 03:16

Eye news re Alzheimer's ( see last post )



ALZHEIMERSPublished 10 hours ago
Eye exam could soon detect Alzheimer's, new study suggests

[buywell3] 10/3/2019 17:59

Connect the dots on these four developments involving Alzheimer's and Prions


1 Firstly Camels have recently been identified in Algeria with a form of TSE like BSE in cattle which caused vCJD. This form of Camel TSE is also a prion disease and is thought to have been around in the 1980's.
hTps://arstechnica.com/science/2018/04/mad-camel-disease-researchers-discover-new-prion-disease-spreading-in-africa/

2 Recently prions have been identified in the eyes of people that died of vCJD


3 In Algeria a NEW form of Alzheimer's was identified involving the EYES of a patient
P3-062 VISUAL VARIANT OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE IN AN ALGERIAN PATIENT

[buywell3] 02/3/2019 18:22

Three subsets of Sporadic CJD (sCJD) have recently been identified , these add to the other types of CJD identified such as Variant CJD (vCJD) , Iatrogenic CJD (iCJD) and
Familial or inherited CJD (fCJD).

The Familial or inherited type of CJD (fCJD) is directly linked to a persons genetic makeup and the genetic mutations associated with that. These run in families.



.... NEW GENETIC DISCOVERY UNCOVERS 5 NEW ALZHEIMER's GENES ....

Note that TAU and AMYLOID proteins get talked about in this new data which now has positively identified 25 Genes that are associated with Alzheimer's

February 28, 2019

Data sharing uncovers five new risk genes for Alzheimers' disease
NIH-funded project includes largest sample to date for Alzheimers' gene association.

Newly identified (red) and known (blue) genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease spike in this table plotting results from genome-wide association analysis of 94,437 individuals with late onset Alzheimers'.Kunkle et al and Nature Genetics.
Newly identified (red) and known (blue) genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease spike in this table plotting results from genome-wide association analysis of 94,437 individuals with late onset Alzheimer’s.Kunkle et al and Nature Genetics.
Analysis of genetic data from more than 94,000 individuals has revealed five new risk genes for Alzheimer’s disease, and confirmed 20 known others. An international team of researchers also reports for the first time that mutations in genes specific to tau, a hallmark protein of Alzheimer’s disease, may play an earlier role in the development of the disease than originally thought. These new findings support developing evidence that groups of genes associated with specific biological processes, such as cell trafficking, lipid transport, inflammation and the immune response, are “genetic hubs” that are an important part of the disease process. The study, which was funded in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and other components of the National Institutes of Health, follows results from 2013. It will be published online February 28, 2019 in the journal Nature Genetics .

“This continuing collaborative research into the genetic underpinnings of Alzheimer’s is allowing us to dig deeper into the complexities of this devastating disease,” said Richard J. Hodes, M.D., director of the NIA. “The size of this study provides additional clarity on the genes to prioritize as we continue to better understand and target ways to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s.”

The researchers, members of the International Genomic Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP), analyzed both rare and common gene variants in 94,437 individuals with late onset Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia in older adults. IGAP is made up of four consortia in the United States and Europe that have been working together since 2011 on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) involving thousands of DNA samples and shared datasets. GWAS are aimed at detecting variations in the genome that are associated with Alzheimer’s. Understanding genetic variants is helping researchers define the molecular mechanisms that influence disease onset and progression.

In addition to confirming the known association of 20 genes with risk of Alzheimer’s and identifying five additional Alzheimer’s-associated genes, these genes were analyzed to see what cellular pathways might be implicated in the disease process. The pathway analysis implicated the immune system, lipid metabolism and amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism. Mutations in the APP gene have been shown to be directly related to early onset Alzheimer’s. The present study, done in late onset Alzheimer’s subjects, suggests that variants affecting APP and amyloid beta protein processing are associated with both early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s and with late onset Alzheimer’s. In addition, for the first time, the study implicated a genetic link to tau binding proteins. Taken together, data suggest that therapies developed by studying subjects with early-onset disease could also be applied to the late-onset form of Alzheimer’s.

The research was led by an international team of experts including Brian Kunkle, Ph.D. and Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., from the Miller School of Medicine’s John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics at the University of Miami, and Benjamin Grenier-Boley, Ph.D. and Jean-Charles Lambert, Ph.D., from INSERM, Lille, France.

Once the functions of the five genes newly associated with Alzheimer’s—IQCK, ACE, ADAM10, ADAMTS1 and WWOX—are understood and examined in conjunction with the functions of the 20 known genes, researchers will be in a better position to identify where the genetic hubs of Alzheimer’s are clustering. Armed with these findings, researchers can look more deeply into these genetic hubs to reveal disease mechanisms and potential drug targets.

A key to these discoveries was the sample size, the largest to date for this kind of Alzheimer’s study. A large sample is especially important to find rare genes that might be involved with a disease.

“Having more and more samples in GWAS data sets is like adding more and more pixels to a photograph—it helps researchers see details that they otherwise wouldn’t and helps them decide where to focus further study,” explained Marilyn Miller, Ph.D., director of the Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease program in the Division of Neuroscience at NIA. “If the genes only appear in one out of ten thousand people, you need to find several samples containing those genes for results to be statistically significant.”

Miller also emphasized the collaborative resources that made these discoveries possible. In addition to IGAP, the study resulted from open data sharing and coordination among Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (funded under a variety of awards), the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center, the NIA Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease Data Storage Site (link is external), the National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (link is external), Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (link is external), the CHARGE Consortium (link is external), and the Late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease Family Study.

The research was funded by multiple NIH grants, including AG032984, AG036528, AG21886, AG041689, AG016976, AG049505 and AG056270 from NIA. Other NIH institutes involved were the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

This press release describes a basic research finding. Basic research increases our understanding of human behavior and biology, which is foundational to advancing new and better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Science is an unpredictable and incremental process — each research advance builds on past discoveries, often in unexpected ways. Most clinical advances would not be possible without the knowledge of fundamental basic research.

About the National Institute on Aging (NIA): The NIA leads the federal government effort conducting and supporting research on aging and the health and well-being of older people. The NIA provides information on age-related cognitive change and neurodegenerative disease specifically at its Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center at www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers. For more on health and on aging generally, go to www.nia.nih.gov. To sign up for e-mail alerts about new findings or publications, please visit either website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.





Alzheimer's is a prion disease just like all forms of CJD are also.

Two names for the same thing along with Parkinson's and Pick's disease.

All of them are just genetic variants of Dementia

The worst types of Dementia are all forms of Prion Diseases variants of which exist due to the differing combination of the 25 genes identified in the above article.

[steeplejack] 28/2/2019 14:19

XD 190cents today,around 143p equivalent at current xrate.

[ayl30] 26/2/2019 07:16

More good new drug news for 2nd day running

[la forge] 25/2/2019 20:32

Pharmaceutical Industry CEOs Face Senate Hearing on Drug Prices
25/02/2019 8:20pm
Dow Jones News

AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN)
Intraday Stock Chart

Today : Monday 25 February 2019
Click Here for more AstraZeneca Charts.

By Jared S. Hopkins and Peter Loftus

Executives for some the biggest pharmaceutical companies will visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to face tough questions in a Senate hearing on the rising cost of medicines.

The executives lead companies with some of the highest-grossing drugs in the world, and have routinely raised prices on many of their products. Scheduled to testify are chief executives from AbbVie Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.; Merck & Co.; Pfizer Inc.; AstraZeneca PLC; and Sanofi SA. Johnson & Johnson, the world's largest health-care company, is sending an executive who oversees its drug division.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), are expected to question the executives on their pricing practices and how the companies can reduce costs for patients, according to people familiar with the matter. They are also likely to face questions about their strategies to fight off cheaper generic alternatives, according to the people.

The hearing could inform bipartisan legislation this year to target high drug prices. Sen. Grassley and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) have introduced bills to legalize personal importation of lower-priced medicines from Canada, and to curtail patent-infringement-litigation settlements in which makers of brand-name drugs pay generic manufacturers to delay competition.

Americans continue to grapple with the rising cost of health care, including out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. In Washington, drug pricing may be one of the few issues that President Donald Trump and the Democrats could find common ground. While the pharmaceutical industry has for years been a major lobbying player, its critics are also spending millions of dollars to influence lawmakers.

On Tuesday, when senators ask about high list prices for drugs, expect the companies to respond by saying the prices aren't meaningful because they don't include discounts and rebates that companies give to pharmacy-benefit managers in order to gain plan coverage, said Ira Loss, senior health-care analyst at research firm Washington Analysis.

"The drug industry is going to come in and blame the pharmacy-benefit managers for the problems and say, 'It's not our fault,' " Mr. Loss said.

Industrywide, net prices have been falling as list prices rise, according to data from SSR Health. Few patients pay "list" prices, which don't take into account rebates, discounts and insurance payments, but some pay the full price at times, such as when they haven't met their deductible.

AbbVie's rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira is the top-selling drug in the world, and the company said that both volume and pricing fueled the drug's growth during the fourth quarter. AbbVie raised the drug's list price by 9.7% in January 2018 and then 6.2% more last month.

AbbVie has pledged to limit its overall drug-price increases to less than 10% annually, and only once a year, which the company says would be offset by rebates and discounts paid to insurers and other industry middlemen.

AbbVie Chief Executive Richard Gonzalez also may face questions about the company's patent strategy. Humira's main U.S. patent expired in 2016, but the company has fought off generic competition with a series of other patents and is expected to hold exclusive U.S. marketing rights until 2023.

New York-based Pfizer, which had regularly increased prices over the years, temporarily put off raising prices last year amid pressure from President Trump, but resumed increases on about 10% of its portfolio this year. Chief Executive Albert Bourla, who began leading the company in January, said on its fourth-quarter earnings call that Pfizer's growth won't be driven by price.

Bristol-Myers Squibb has been heavily criticized for how it prices its drugs. It will acquire costly multiple myeloma drug Revlimid, should it close its January agreement to acquire rival Celgene Corp. for $74 billion. Revlimid is Celgene's top-selling drug, and has regularly gone up in price. In 2007, a 10-milligram dose cost $247.28. This year, on the day of the planned deal between the two companies, the price went up 3.5% to $719.82.

The hearing comes as the Trump administration pursues its own proposals aimed at drug prices. One, opposed by the industry, would tie the price of some Medicare drugs to prices in foreign countries where drugs are cheaper. However, the drug industry has supported the administration's proposal limiting the rebates that drug companies pay to middlemen in federal pharmacy programs. The move doesn't directly limit drug manufacturers' pricing power, although the administration hopes list prices will fall and savings will be steered to consumers.

The drug industry has been proactive the past few years amid criticism of prices. Some including Allergan PLChave pledged to take just one price increase each year, and by less than 10%, while others have made similar proclamations. Companies increasingly are touting how their net prices are staying the same or falling. Last year, Merck cut the cost for some of its medicines and promised to limit its net price increases. Nevertheless, the drug industry continues to raise list prices on many of its medicines.

Senators may also ask about the growing cost of insulin. Sanofi's chief executive, Olivier Brandicourt, could be questioned on the rising cost of insulin, a treatment for diabetic patients. The drugmaker sells the world's top-selling insulin, Lantus.

While the hearings might not lead to substantive legislation, they will allow the senators to showcase themselves, Mr. Loss said. "Get your popcorn," he said.

Sen. Grassley hasn't always sided with the pharmaceutical industry. He has long supported re-importing drugs from other countries, such as Canada, which the industry opposes. He also helped write legislation that requires disclosure of gifts from drugmakers to doctors and hospitals.

Last year, Sen. Grassley introduced bipartisan legislation mandating that television commercials for drugs include list prices. The measure didn't pass the House, but the industry's lobbying group said companies would voluntarily include price-related information in television ads by directing consumers to websites where they can find information on list prices and costs. This month J&J included its list price in a television ad for blood thinner Xarelto.

Write to Jared S. Hopkins at [e-mail] and Peter Loftus at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2019 15:05 ET (20:05 GMT)

[steeplejack] 25/2/2019 11:40

Indeed,which is further complicated by currency considerations with supply and demand for sterling assets oscillating with the ever sickening Brexit saga.There's also the transfer stamp consideration,payable in the UK,not in the US.At the end of the day,I'm sure calculations of converting ordinary into ADRs are just as relevant as these.

[buywell3] 24/2/2019 19:07

Alzheimer's is now reaching epidemic proportions .... why is that ?


1.6 M Indians affected by Alzheimer's; number set to triple by 2050




The true number of Indian people with AD is way higher than this

The population is very widespread with many people living off the land in smaller communities where medical facilities are next to non existent

Unlike the UK and USA ... the Indian people care for their elderly. Thus a large proportion of AD sufferers never even see a doctor let alone visit a hospital.

[nisbet] 20/2/2019 17:32

The 1.5% is the one-off cost of converting plc into ADR's and is determined by the balance of ADR's relative to plc and is further determined by the extent of US demand/supply.

[nisbet] 20/2/2019 17:27

Steeplejack, you've got to take 1.5% from the dollar price before converting. This is the arithmetic:- (dollar price divided by 1.015 divided by Sterling/dollar rate) x 2.