ASL pushes for board shakeup at Avadel over handling of sleep drug rollout
The hedge fund said Avadel was unable to convert patients to its drug Lumryz from its rivals, despite the treatment being what it called "best-in-class", leaving hundreds of millions in potential revenue unrealized.
Lumryz, which competes with Jazz Pharmaceuticals' (JAZZ.O), opens new tab treatments, is approved in the United States to treat certain symptoms of narcolepsy by using a central nervous system depressant drug called sodium oxybate.
ASL said "constant mis-steps" with the launch of Lumryz and miscommunication over the last several years with investors had destroyed significant shareholder value along with the management's credibility.
ASL said Avadel should have converted 40% to 50% of sodium oxybate users within two years of launching Lumryz, an opportunity that could have generated an additional $600 million to $800 million in revenue.
"The status quo at Avadel is unacceptable," ASL told shareholders in its letter. The election for the directors will be held at the company's annual meeting on July 29.
ASL also asked Avadel to hire an investment bank to monetize the value in Lumryz, adding that the drug could bring $500 million to $1 billion in revenue if approved for idiopathic hypersomnia, a condition that causes excessive sleepiness.
The fund holds shares worth about $15 million in Avadel according to a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday.
Avadel told Reuters on Monday that its board has "consistently engaged with its largest shareholders and proactively sought their perspectives". The company said it remains focused on unlocking the full value of Lumryz in narcolepsy and in future indications.
Separately, Avadel said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit gave a favorable, opens new tab ruling in a suit brought by Jazz regarding the FDA's approval of Lumryz.
The ruling affirms FDA's decision to state that Lumryz's once-nightly dosing is clinically superior to other similar treatments.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
Republicans look to make a U-turn on federal commitment to electric vehicles for the Postal Service
A year after being lauded for its plan to replace thousands of aging, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip billions in federal EV funding. In June, the Senate parliamentarian blocked a Republican proposal in a major tax-and-spending bill to sell off the agency's new electric vehicles and infrastructure and revoke remaining federal money. But efforts to halt the fleet's shift to clean energy continue in the name of cost savings. Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, said canceling the program now would have the opposite effect, squandering millions of dollars. 'I think it would be shortsighted for Congress to now suddenly decide they're going to try to go backwards and take the money away for the EVs or stop that process because that's just going to be a bunch of money on infrastructure that's been wasted," he said. Beyond that, many in the scientific community fear the government could pass on an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming when urgent action is needed. Electrified vehicles reduce emissions A 2022 University of Michigan study found the new electric postal vehicles could cut total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million tons over the predicted, cumulative 20-year lifetime of the trucks. That's a fraction of the more than 6,000 million metric tons emitted annually in the United States, said professor Gregory A. Keoleian, co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Systems. But he said the push toward electric vehicles is critical and needs to accelerate, given the intensifying impacts of climate change. 'We're already falling short of goals for reducing emissions,' Keoleian said. 'We've been making progress, but the actions being taken or proposed will really reverse decarbonization progress that has been made to date.' Many GOP lawmakers share President Donald Trump's criticism of the Biden-era green energy push and say the Postal Service should stick to delivering mail. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said 'it didn't make sense for the Postal Service to invest so heavily in an all-electric force." She said she will pursue legislation to rescind what is left of the $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act allocated to help cover the $10 billion cost of new postal vehicles. Ernst has called the EV initiative a 'boondoggle' and "a textbook example of waste,' citing delays, high costs and concerns over cold-weather performance. 'You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate at which the company that's providing those vehicles is able to produce them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract," Ernst said during a recent appearance at the Iowa State Fair, referring to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense. 'For now,' she added, "gas-powered vehicles — use some ethanol in them — I think is wonderful.' Corn-based ethanol is a boon to Iowa's farmers, but the effort to reverse course has other Republican support. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a co-sponsor of the rollback effort, has said the EV order should be canceled because the project "has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs.' The Postal Service maintains that the production delay of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, or NGDVs, was 'very modest" and not unexpected. 'The production quantity ramp-up was planned for and intended to be very gradual in the early months to allow time for potential modest production or supplier issues to be successfully resolved,' spokesperson Kim Frum said. EVs help in modernization effort The independent, self-funded federal agency, which is paid for mostly by postage and product sales, is in the middle of a $40 billion, 10-year modernization and financial stabilization plan. The EV effort had the full backing of Democratic President Joe Biden, who pledged to move toward an all-electric federal fleet of car and trucks. The 'Deliver for America' plan calls for modernizing the ground fleet, notably the Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which dates back to 1987 and is fuel-inefficient at 9 mpg. The vehicles are well past their projected 24-year lifespan and are prone to breakdowns and even fires. 'Our mechanics are miracle workers,' said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. 'The parts are not available. They fabricate them. They do the best they can.' The Postal Service announced in 2022 it would deploy at least 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028, including commercial off-the-shelf models, after years of deliberation and criticism it was moving too slowly to reduce emissions. By 2024, the agency was awarded a Presidential Sustainability Award for its efforts to electrify the largest fleet in the federal government. Building new postal trucks In 2021, Oshkosh Defense was awarded a contract for up to 165,000 battery electric and internal combustion engine Next Generation vehicles over 10 years. The first of the odd-looking trucks, with hoods resembling a duck's bill, began service in Georgia last year. Designed for greater package capacity, the trucks are equipped with airbags, blind-spot monitoring, collision sensors, 360-degree cameras and antilock brakes. There's also a new creature comfort: air conditioning. Douglas Lape, special assistant to the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers and a former carrier, is among numerous postal employees who have had a say in the new design. He marvels at how Oshkosh designed and built a new vehicle, transforming an old North Carolina warehouse into a factory along the way. 'I was in that building when it was nothing but shelving,' he said. 'And now, being a completely functioning plant where everything is built in-house — they press the bodies in there, they do all of the assembly — it's really amazing in my opinion.' Where things stand now The agency has so far ordered 51,500 NGDVs, including 35,000 battery-powered vehicles. To date, it has received 300 battery vehicles and 1,000 gas-powered ones. Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in 2022 the agency expected to purchase chiefly zero-emissions delivery vehicles by 2026. It still needs some internal combustion engine vehicles that travel longer distances. Frum, the Postal Service spokesperson, said the planned NGDV purchases were "carefully considered from a business perspective' and are being deployed to routes and facilities where they will save money. The agency has also received more than 8,200 of 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vehicles it has ordered, she said. Ernst said it's fine for the Postal Service to use EVs already purchased. 'But you know what? We need to be smart about the way we are providing services through the federal government,' she said. 'And that was not a smart move.' Maxwell Woody, lead author of the University of Michigan study, made the opposite case. Postal vehicles, he said, have low average speeds and a high number of stops and starts that enable regenerative braking. Routes average under 30 miles and are known in advance, making planning easier. 'It's the perfect application for an electric vehicle," he said, 'and it's a particularly inefficient application for an internal combustion engine vehicle.' ____
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Government orders striking Air Canada flight attendants to return to work
The Canadian government has forced flight attendants at Air Canada back to work, less than 12 hours after they began striking, and ordered binding arbitration over a dispute that has left more than 100,000 travellers stranded around the world during the peak summer travel season. Since March, Canada's largest airline and the union representing its flight attendants have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute over what the union has described as 'poverty wages' and unpaid labour. Flight attendants are currently not paid for any work before or after the plane takes off. On Saturday, Canada's federal jobs minister, Patty Hajdu, said it was clear the talks had reached an impasse and that the impact was being felt by Canadians and visitors across the country. 'The talks broke down,' said Hajdu as she told reporters that she had asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order an immediate end to the strike and to impose binding arbitration. 'It is clear that the parties are not any closer to resolving some of the key issues that remain and they will need help with the arbitrator.' She appeared to link her actions to the toll that US tariff hikes had taken on the Canadian economy. 'In a year in which Canadian families and businesses have already experienced too much disruption and uncertainty, this is not the time to add additional challenges and disruptions to their lives and our economy,' she said in a statement. The union representing the flight attendants decried the Liberal government for stepping in within hours, accusing it of violating their right to job action. Air Canada had reportedly previously requested that the government intervene to impose binding arbitration. The government, said Wesley Lesosky of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, was giving 'Air Canada exactly what they want – hours and hours of unpaid labour from underpaid flight attendants, while the company pulls in sky-high profits and extraordinary executive compensation'. After issuing a strike notice earlier this week, flight attendants stopped work in the early hours of Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada, which operates about 700 flights a day, said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports. According to the aviation analytics firm Cirium, the airline had cancelled 671 flights by Saturday afternoon, leaving some travellers stranded overseas and others scrambling to find alternatives during the busy summer travel season. About 130,000 customers a day could be affected by a disruption, according to the airline. Air Canada has previously said it could take up to a week to resume full operations, meaning it was likely that travellers would continue to experience disruptions in the coming days. On Saturday, Air Canada said it had cancelled all flights, except those operated by regional third-party carriers, until at least Sunday afternoon. The airline said earlier it had offered its flight attendants 'an increase of more than 38% on global compensation', but the union said the figure failed to fully account for inflation. Air Canada also said it was willing to pay flight attendants 50% of their wage for work done before planes take off, leading the union to reply that its members should be fully compensated for their labour. About 70% of the airline's flight attendants are women, said Natasha Stea, a local union president and flight attendant. She questioned whether they were being treated fairly, given that Air Canada pilots, the vast majority of whom are men, received a significant raise last year. 'We are heartbroken for our passengers,' she told the Associated Press late last week. 'Nobody wants to see Canadians stranded or anxious about their travel plans, but we cannot work for free.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
$80 bill for six beers lays bare rip-off Vegas prices as Sin City battles to restore tanking tourism sector
A six-pack of beers for nearly $80 has shed a shameful light on the tanking tourism industry in Las Vegas. A horrified visitor posted the staggering $76.99 bill for a bucket of six Coors Light while partying at the Flamingo pool in the middle of the city's famed Strip For 24 cold ones the bill was an extortionate $290.00 - a markup of nearly 15 times its usual $20. 'I can't keep going here,' the partier who filmed his menu said as he listed off the pricey options. Cases of Topo Chico or Truly hard seltzers, which typically cost around $30 to $35, were also sold for almost $300. For drinkers who want a mixed cocktail, a large Bloody Mary would set them back $40 per drink. And six shots, a total of just nine fluid ounces, costs $99.99 in the party hub on the Vegas strip. Food options at the pool weren't any more reasonable, with a chicken tender platter or a cheeseburger slider plate running up to $89.99. 'Get ready to spend if you want to go to the Go Pool,' the shocked partier added. It comes after a new report to Las Vegas's Convention and Visitors Authority warned the number of airline passengers arriving at the city will continue to plummet in the coming months. The tourism body was told in the report by Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting that capacity rates at the gambling hotspot's Harry Reid International Airport are forecast to drop dramatically in the second half of 2025. They warned the number of inbound passengers will plunge to around 95,000 seats per day for the rest of the year - a worrying prediction that represents a 2.3 per cent fall from 2024 numbers. The decline is largely fueled by an 18.5 per cent drop in traffic from Canada, which typically provides the largest share of international visitors to the Nevada city, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. The loss of Canadian tourists has canceled out gains from other continents, including a 31.7 per cent increase in airline capacity from Asia and a 21.6 per cent increase jump from Europe excluding the United Kingdom. The report cemented a steep decline in tourism to Las Vegas, with previous statistics from April showing it was losing upwards of 300,000 visitors per month since the start of 2025. The number of Canadian passengers flying to Las Vegas fell to an average of 2,412 per day this year, according to the report. This has been blamed by some on the election in January of Donald Trump and his threats to make Canada the 51st state. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and chief executive Steve Hill told the Journal he was hearing from many angry Canadians about the president. 'There's an awful lot of the anecdotal conversation around Canadians being angry and upset about tariffs and talk around annexing the country,' he said. 'We've seen consumer confidence numbers drop pretty significantly over the past couple of months.' In May, the World Travel & Tourism Council reported that the U.S. was set to lose $12.5 billion in international visitor spending this year. 'While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the "closed" sign,' Julia Simpson, the council's president and chief executive, said in a news release at the time. Another reason for the recent drop in Las Vegas is due to a maintenance issue with Spirit Airlines, the second busiest carrier at Reid International Airport. The maintenance issues have grounded 50 planes in Spirit's fleet, which has significantly reduced its capacity, according to Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting senior director Joel Van Over. 'They have an issue with their (jet) engines,' Van Over said. 'They have to pull that engine off the plane, fix the cracks, put it back on the plane, and that whole process takes about 300 days. 'So obviously they can't just do a plane a year because it would take them 100 years to get that done.'
