Latest news with #pharmaceuticals
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Another Bodybuilder Just Died a Horrible Death
After quitting the bizarre injections that puffed up his muscles, a Russian bodybuilder has become the latest in a long and unfortunate line of pro weightlifters to meet untimely demises. As The Sun reports, 35-year-old Nikita Tkachuk hadn't injected synthol — a so-called "site enhancement oil" primarily made up of oils like paraffin or sesame alongside a local anesthetic and benzoyl alcohol that makes muscles appear bulkier without actually causing any strength or fitness benefits — before he died of a heart attack in a St. Petersburg hospital last week. The story of how he got there is tragic, even for the morbid world of weightlifting. After winning "Master of Sports" in Russia at 21, Tkachuk began injecting synthol to appear beefier. That practice is known as "fluffing," and it produces muscles that appear, as Iron Man magazine put it back in 2013, "comically inflated." Eventually, Tkachuk signed a deal with a pharmaceutical company that contractually obligated him to keep taking the shots — a deal that turned out to be deadly. After initially being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a disorder involving tiny granules of immune cells forming on his organs, the strain from all that "fluffing" ultimately led to kidney and lung failure, and then a heart attack, his widow, Maria Tkachuk, said, per The Sun. "There were many trials over the years," said the widow Tkachuk, who is also a bodybuilder. "[His] resources ran out." Though a lot remains unclear about the man's death, including why he finally succumbed years after quitting the injections, his regret over the use of synthol — which in a 2022 video he called his "biggest mistake" — is plain as day. "If your arm is 18 inches or 20 inches, what will it change in your life?" Tkachuk said ahead of his death, per The Sun. "You're going to lose a lot of health. It's not worth it." "If I could back to 2015-2016, I would not do it," he continued. "I basically ruined my whole sporting career." Though he's joined in death by a long line of young bodybuilders who died too soon after taking various substances to either lose weight or get swole, Tkachuk's story is especially tragic because he spoke out against the injections that ultimately killed him. Now, his wife is left to pick up the pieces. "There are no other words for now," his widow said. "Only shock." More on bodybuilder deaths: If You Still Think Bodybuilding Is Healthy, This Woman Just Died at Age 20
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (WST): A Bull Case Theory
We came across a bullish thesis on West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (WST) on Swiss Transparent Portfolio's Substack. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on WST. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (WST)'s share was trading at $208.49 as of 22nd May. WST's trailing and forward P/E were 32.73 and 34.36respectively according to Yahoo Finance. A close-up of a technician working on a liquid injectable in a modern industrial lab. West Pharmaceutical Services stands out as a durable, underappreciated leader in the critical niche of injectable drug packaging. Despite recent headwinds from a post-Covid inventory glut and short-term earnings softness, the company's fundamentals remain strong. West holds a near-monopoly in a mission-critical industry with high switching costs, secular growth drivers like biologics and GLP-1 therapies, and a conservative, high-quality management team. Its financial turbulence appears transient, offering long-term investors an opportunity to accumulate shares at a fair price. While the current ~32x forward P/E may appear elevated, it's based on temporarily depressed earnings; normalized multiples suggest a more reasonable valuation. West's strategic investments during the downturn — including capacity expansion and share repurchases — reinforce its long-term potential. Risks such as customer concentration, technological disruption, execution missteps, regulatory issues, and macroeconomic volatility are real but manageable. The company's embedded role in drug delivery makes sudden disruptions unlikely, and its century-long record of quality execution offers confidence. Scenario analysis shows a compelling risk/reward balance: the bull case projects a ~15% CAGR, while even the bear case requires a confluence of major setbacks to yield sustained losses. West is not a flashy growth story but rather a compounder built on operational excellence, customer entrenchment, and resilient demand. For investors comfortable with a mid-30s P/E as a reflection of quality, West offers a rare blend of safety and growth. It's a Rolls-Royce business at a Bentley price — a quiet engine of compounding that, barring major failure, should keep running reliably for years to come. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (WST) is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 35 hedge fund portfolios held WST at the end of the fourth quarter which was 31 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of WST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WST but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
China targets a new frontier in its bid to eclipse the West
For the world's leading cancer doctors and scientists, few events in the calendar are more prestigious than the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco). Each year, tens of thousands of top researchers gather to unveil pivotal scientific breakthroughs and new therapies that will shape the future of cancer care across the globe. The event has changed the way scientists view breast cancer, challenged views on colorectal cancer and offered novel ideas on how to help seriously ill patients. The discovery which everyone was speaking about last year was one made by a little-known biotech firm called Akeso. Its new lung cancer drug had achieved something 'unprecedented', its US partner Summit Therapeutics said on the eve of Asco. The new experimental drug 'decisively beat' Merck's blockbuster lung cancer treatment in clinical trials. The news came as a shock – not just because it challenged Merck's well-known dominance in lung cancer drugs, but because Akeso was Chinese. For years, Asco's annual meeting has been dominated by American scientists. However, last year was different. It marked a watershed moment for the pharmaceutical sector, which had long written off China as a nation that excelled in drug manufacturing and 'copycat' treatments but not medicine discovery. Akeso's debut on the world stage has been described as a 'DeepSeek' moment for the industry – a reference to the sudden emergence of a highly advanced AI chatbot out of China earlier this year, which took US tech giants by surprise and wiped close to $1 trillion (£740bn) off global stock markets. Summit's shares are up more than 600pc since first announcing the lung cancer trial results. 'The two large innovators in our industry today are the US and China,' Sir Pascal Soriot, the boss of AstraZeneca, said in March. 'China is, I think over the next five to 10 years, going to emerge as really a driving force for innovation in our sector.' It sets the stage for a growing tussle between the US and China over the future of drug development. Donald Trump has been clear that he wants pharmaceutical giants to be investing more in America. Biopharmaceutical companies and their suppliers account for 4.9m jobs and are worth around $1.65 trillion to the US. However, drug companies are increasingly turning east when it comes to investing in new drugs and clinical trials. Not only is China becoming an easier place to research and create new drugs, but the Trump administration is also shaking faith in the US. Vaccine sceptic health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has prompted much anxiety in the industry. By contrast, China is 'very business friendly and stable' Novartis boss Vas Narasimhan said in May. Beijing has been attempting to win more pharma investment for years – and specifically attempting to boost funding for drug innovation. Drug discovery was a key pillar of the 'Healthy China 2030' strategy unveiled in 2016, aimed at helping the country cope with its ageing population. The focus has already paid dividends. Over the past three years alone, the number of Chinese drugs in development has doubled to 4,391. Almost half are either novel drugs or something known as a 'fast-follower', where treatments are quickly developed on the back of breakthroughs by rivals. According to Barclays, the number of so-called 'first-in-class' drugs under development in China rose to around 120 last year, having been in the single digits in 2015. First-in-class essentially measures the level of innovation by looking at the highest development stage a drug has reached and the earliest time it reached that stage. The growth in China is unmatched. While the US, which has long been regarded as the world leader in drug discovery, has more first-in-class drugs in development, at 151, the growth rate has been much slower. 'The shift isn't incremental, it's tectonic,' says Abhishek Jha, the founder of life sciences data company Elucidata. One crucial part of Beijing's push to drive more drug discovery has been speeding up clinical trials. In China, regulators allow businesses to get studies up and running quicker, and then update them as they progress. This can provide early data on new drugs, which is a major draw for multinational companies looking for novel treatments that show signs of working well. It has sparked a boom in studies taking place in China. According to figures from the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), China accounted for around 18pc of clinical trials sponsored by companies in 2023 compared to just 5pc in 2013. Meanwhile, the US proportion has dipped from 28pc to 23pc. Clinical trial enrolment in China is surging, with around 40pc now having more than 100 participants. Fewer regulatory barriers are just one of a number of reasons pharma companies are turning to China. Workers, too, are less averse to working unsociable hours than they would be in Western nations. Shirley Chen, a Barclays analyst, says: 'Chinese scientists may be happier to accept very long work hours and people like hospital personnel [where trials take place] are actually okay to do night shifts.' Major drug giants are now scouring China for potential deals. The likes of GSK, AstraZeneca and Merck have all struck deals worth more than $1bn to get the rights to develop and sell Chinese drugs outside the country. The rise of China's pharmaceutical industry has started to raise alarm bells in the US. Trump may be focused on returning manufacturing jobs to the US, yet some say he should be concerned that more high-quality jobs and research posts are starting to drift to China. 'Five years ago, US pharmaceutical companies didn't license any new drugs from China,' Scott Gottlied, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, wrote earlier this month. 'By 2024, one third of their new compounds were coming from Chinese biotechnology firms.' He warned that the shift of clinical trials to Asia could undermine innovation in the US as companies choose to 'divert funds that might otherwise bolster innovation hubs such as Boston's Kendall Square or North Carolina's Research Triangle'. 'The US biotechnology industry was the world's envy, but if we're not careful, every drug could be made in China.' While Trump exempted most countries' pharmaceutical industries from tariffs in his 'liberation day' blitz, China was not spared. That means physically manufacturing drugs for the US in China is out of the question, for now at least. However, unless the US rights the ship, many of its treatments may well be designed in China in future. As pharmaceutical leaders made their way to the annual Asco meeting this week, the shifting power balance will no doubt be on attendees' minds. Industry chiefs may be congregating at a US research conference, but attention is turning to the east. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ipca Laboratories Ltd (BOM:524494) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Domestic Growth and ...
Domestic Business Growth (Q4): 11% Domestic Business Growth (FY25): 12% Market Share Improvement (Q4): Increased by 9 basis points to 2.07% Overall Market Growth (IQVIA): 8% IPCA Overall Growth (IQVIA): 13.2% Acute Segment Growth (Market): 6.9% IPCA Acute Segment Growth: 10.9% Chronic Segment Growth (Market): 9.8% IPCA Chronic Segment Growth: 17.9% Branded Formulation Business Growth (FY25): 10% (from INR527 crores to INR582 crores) Branded Formulation Business Growth (Q4): 3% Generic Business Growth (Q4): 15% (from INR312 crores to INR357 crores) Generic Business Growth (FY25): 7% (from INR1,248 crores to INR1,336 crores) API Business Growth (Q4): 2% API Business Growth (FY25): 1% Stand-alone EBITDA Margin (Q4): 21.19% (up from 18.5%) Stand-alone EBITDA Margin (FY25): 22.66% (up from 19.29%) Consolidated EBITDA Margin (Q4): 18.24% (up from 14.98%) Consolidated EBITDA Margin (FY25): 18.94% (up from 16.72%) Unichem Consolidated Growth: 18% (from INR1,785 crores to INR2,211 crores) Unichem EBITDA Margin Improvement: From 4.87% to 12.55% Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Signs with BOM:524494. Release Date: May 30, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Ipca Laboratories Ltd (BOM:524494) reported a domestic business growth of 11% for Q4 and 12% for the full year, outperforming the overall market growth. The company improved its market share in the chronic segment, with a growth rate of 17.9% compared to the market's 9.8%. Consolidated EBITDA margins improved significantly, reaching 18.94% for FY25, up from 16.72% in FY24. The company's export formulation business, particularly the branded formulation segment, showed a growth of 10% for FY25. Unichem, a subsidiary of Ipca Laboratories Ltd, delivered a consolidated growth of 18% and improved its EBITDA margin from 4.87% to 12.55%. The generic business in South Africa saw a significant decline of 74% due to the loss of certain tenders. The US market contribution was minimal, with only INR 22-23 crores in sales, indicating a slow ramp-up in this region. The CIS market growth was muted at 2% due to currency fluctuations, impacting the overall value growth. The company's API business showed minimal growth, with only a 1% increase for the full financial year. There was a decline in the Middle East and Africa markets by 21%, affecting the overall branded generic business. Q: What is the contribution of the US business to IPCA's overall revenue, and what are the future expectations? A: Ajit Jain, CFO and Managing Director, stated that the US market has not significantly contributed to the overall business, with shipments worth around INR 65 crores. However, the expectation for the current financial year is that the US business will contribute around INR 100 crores. Q: How is the integration of Unichem impacting R&D and what are the future plans? A: Ajit Jain explained that IPCA has started filing new products and plans to file around 6 to 7 products this year. The R&D expenditure is expected to be around 4% of revenue. Unichem's R&D remains independent, focusing on market extensions and filings. Q: Can you provide insights into the export market performance and future growth expectations? A: The company representative noted that the branded formulation business grew by 10%, with significant growth in West Africa (34%) and Southeast Asia (24%). The generic business, including institutional sales, is expected to grow by 10% in the current financial year. Q: What is the status of new manufacturing projects and their expected impact? A: Four new manufacturing facilities are expected to start trial production in the current financial year, including a monoclonal antibody facility and a new formulation facility for the domestic market. These are expected to scale up in FY27 and FY28. Q: What are the expectations for Unichem's performance and integration benefits? A: Unichem has achieved a growth of 18% in revenue and improved EBITDA margins. The integration benefits are expected to start yielding results from the current financial year, with further margin improvements anticipated. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) Ends Acepodia Partnership Amid Depo-Provera Legal Woes
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is navigating a period of strategic upheaval and legal scrutiny as it ends its clinical collaboration with Acepodia and faces mounting lawsuits over its contraceptive, Depo-Provera. The decision to mutually terminate the partnership with Acepodia, which focused on autoimmune disease drug development, is attributed to PFE's global resource prioritization and not to Acepodia's capabilities. The wind-down is expected to have no impact on Acepodia's clinical programs, with both companies leaving open the possibility of future collaboration. Pixabay/Public Domain Simultaneously, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is embroiled in multidistrict litigation involving approximately 400 lawsuits alleging the company failed to adequately warn about the risk of brain tumors linked to long-term Depo-Provera use. Recent studies have intensified scrutiny, and hearings are scheduled as the company faces accusations of prioritizing profits over patient safety. Despite these challenges, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)'s performance has remained stable, mirroring broader market trends. However, investor sentiment is cautious: the company's total shareholder return fell 11.11% over the past year, underperforming the US pharmaceuticals sector's 10.5% decline. Analysts note that the current share price reflects these uncertainties, with only a marginal upside projected, underscoring the importance of future earnings and revenue growth for PFE's outlook. While we acknowledge the potential of PFE to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PFE and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this READ NEXT: and Disclosure: None.
