Symend, a Canada-based digital engagement platform, has raised USD 52 million to identify customers having trouble with their bills to keep them from defaulting.

Blowing snow on the Grapevine.; Credit: Photo by FrankBonilla.tv via Flickr Creative Commons

We’ve spent a lot of time recently stressing out about bad weather here in Southern California. It’s been too hot, too dry and too smoky. So, we thought it'd be appropriate on Thanksgiving to give thanks to this latest storm, which should leave you feeling good.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Patt Morrison and Stephen Hawking at Cal-Tech. ; Credit: Dave Coelho/KPCC

The renowned physicist, cosmologist and lover of Indian food is at Caltech for his annual dinner and lecture visit. I broke naan across from him Thursday at dinner, which was cooked by a class of adept Caltech students.

I had a short interview with him, and with the student-chefs, which will be airing on “Off-Ramp” soon. As we took the photograph, I had just made a little joke, which accounts for his smile [producer Dave Coelho didn’t get a smile, but maybe he’s not as funny nor as glamorous as I am].  

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Sean‘s pick this week is spider_plot by Moses. Contents Custom Charts Using the Custom Chart Comments Custom Charts My pick this week is also spider_plot which Jiro picked a few months... read more >>

Sean‘s pick this week is spider_plot by Moses. Last week, we looked at the custom chart I created.  This week, we’ll look at authoring it. Contents Authoring the Custom Chart Full... read more >>

Circus of Books storefront.; Credit: Netflix/Circus Of Books (2020)

Rachel Mason had, to a certain extent, the normal upbringing you’d imagine a family of five with small business owner parents would have. But in her documentary, ‘Circus of Books’, she pulls the curtain on the double-life her parents led as modest business owners and pillars of the LGBTQ community.

Karen and Barry Mason established West Hollywood’s Circus of Books on Santa Monica Boulevard in the 1980s. What seemed like an unassuming bookstore was actually a gay porn shop that became an institution in the LGBTQ community during a time when homosexuality was still largely unaccepted. The store was far from being a “bookstore with a circus theme”. The Los Angeles-based shop was the central hub for gay pornography around the country, once one of the main distributors for adult films. 

While the store was becoming a home for gay culture and pride, the Masons largely kept their business a secret from colleagues, friends, family, even their own children. It’s a central conflict that Rachel Mason explores throughout the film as the daughter of two shop owners caught between the pressures of maintaining a traditional family image and making a living as gay pornography distributors.

Today on FilmWeek, we’re joined by ‘Circus of Books’ director Rachel Mason for a conversation on her documentary and the experience of creating a film with her parents and their secret as the subject.

‘Circus Of Books’ is currently streaming on Netflix. For more on the film from LAist’s Mike Roe, click here.

Guest:

Rachel Mason, director of the Netflix documentary ‘Circus of Books’ and daughter of Circus of Books owners Karen and Barry Mason; she tweets @RachelMasonArt

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

STOPDecrypter is a ransomware decryptor created by Michael Gillespie that decrypts files encrypted by the STOP Ransomware. Using this decryptor, victims who have paid the ransom or were encrypted by an offline key can recover their files for free without having to pay a ransom. [...]

Using 'gardening' techniques to actively restore endangered coral reefs is ecologically sound and economically feasible, according to recent research.

Saltmarsh restoration can contribute to a range of ecosystem services but, according to new research, the effectiveness depends on previous land use. To optimise restoration, more research is needed on the effects of previous land disturbance on the delivery of ecosystem services and the relationships between physical, biogeochemical and ecological processes.

New sensors to monitor storm surge on bridges

Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma (L) attends the company's initial price offering (IPO) at the New York Stock Exchange on September 19, 2014 in New York City. ; Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Alibaba's stock is surging as the Chinese e-commerce powerhouse begins its first day trading as a public company.

The stock opened at $92.70 and nearly hit $100 on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, a gain of 46 percent from the initial $68 per share price set Thursday evening.

At Friday's opening price, the company is worth $228.5 billion, more than companies such as Amazon, Ebay and even Facebook.

Jubilant CEO Jack Ma stood on the NYSE trading floor Friday as eight Alibaba customers, including an American cherry farmer and a Chinese Olympian, rang the opening bell.

"We want to be bigger than Wal-Mart," Ma told CNBC shortly after the opening Bell. "We hope in 15 years people say this is a company like Microsoft, IBM, Wal-Mart, they changed, shaped the world."

On Thursday, Alibaba and the investment bankers arranging the initial public offering settled on a price of $68 per share. The company and its early investors raised $21.8 billion in the offering, which valued Alibaba at $168 billion in one of the world's biggest ever initial public offerings.

The company, which is trading under the symbol "BABA," has enjoyed a surge in U.S. popularity over the past two weeks as investors met with executives, including its colorful founder Jack Ma. As part of the so-called roadshow, would-be investors heard a sales pitch that centered on Alibaba's strong revenue growth and seemingly endless possibilities for expansion. Demand was so high that the company raised its offering price to $66 to $68 per share from $60 to $66 per share on Monday.

The main reason investors appear breathless about the 15-year old Alibaba: It offers an investment vehicle that taps into China's burgeoning middle-class.

Alibaba's Taobao, TMall and other platforms account for some 80 percent of Chinese online commerce. Most of Alibaba's 279 million active buyers visit the sites at least once a month on smartphones and other mobile devices, making the company attractive to investors as computing shifts away from laptop and desktop machines.

And the growth rate is not expected to mature anytime soon. Online spending by Chinese shoppers is forecast to triple from its 2011 size by 2015. Beyond that, Alibaba has said it plans to expand into emerging markets and eventually, Europe and the U.S.

"There are very few companies that are this big, grow this fast, and are this profitable," said Wedbush analyst Gil Luria.

Alibaba operates an online ecosystem that lets individuals and small businesses buy and sell. It doesn't directly sell anything, compete with its merchants, or hold inventory.

"The business model is really interesting. It's not just an eBay, it's not an Amazon, it's not a Paypal. It's all of that and much more," said Reena Aggarwal, a professor at Georgetown.

Like China's consumer and Internet market, Alibaba is still growing rapidly. The company's revenue in its latest quarter ending in June surged 46 percent from last year to $2.54 billion while its earnings climbed 60 percent to nearly $1.2 billion, after subtracting a one-time gain and certain other items.

In its last fiscal year ending March 31, Alibaba earned $3.7 billion, making it more profitable than eBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. combined. Amazon ended Thursday with a market value of about $150 billion while eBay's market value stood at $67 billion.

Alibaba, is based in Hangzhou in Eastern China, Ma's hometown. The company got started in 1999 when Ma and 17 friends developed a fledgling e-commerce company on the cusp of the Internet boom. Today, Alibaba's main platforms are its original business-to-business service Alibaba.com, consumer-to-consumer site Taobao and TMall, a place for brands to sell to consumers.

And while there's plenty of growth left in China, Ma has recently hinted about plans to expand beyond those borders.

"We hope to become a global company, so after we go public in the U.S., we will expand strongly in Europe and America," Ma said to a group of reporters in Kowloon on Monday.

Alibaba offered 320.1 million shares for a total offering size of $21.77 billion. Underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to about 48 million more shares. That means the offering size could be as much as $25 billion

The IPO's fundraising handily eclipses the $16 billion Facebook raised in 2012, the most for a technology IPO. If all of its underwriters' options are exercised, it would also top the all-time IPO fundraising record of $22.1 billion set by the Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. in 2010.

Yahoo, which has been struggling to grow for years, made a windfall $8.28 billion by selling 121.7 million of is Alibaba shares. And founder Jack Ma sold 12.75 million shares worth $867 million.

Money manager Adrian Day discusses a general approach to the market, as well as recent developments at several companies on his list, including some buy recommendations, despite being overall cautious.

In this Jan. 14, 2015, photo, shipping containers are stacked up waiting for truck transport at the Port of Los Angeles.; Credit: Damian Dovarganes/AP

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reopened Monday after ship loading and unloading was suspended this weekend because of a long-running labor dispute, which caused the worst delays the ports have seen in more than a decade.

The stoppage led to a queue of 31 ships, according to Kip Louttit, Executive Director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, the agency that manages ship traffic.

“It’s quite unusual,” said Louttit.

There was a 10-day lockout at the ports in 2002, and an eight-day strike by port clerks in 2012, but even during those standoffs, the queue never exceeded 30 vessels.

The last time that happened was in 2004, because of staffing shortages at the Union Pacific Railroad. Some 65 ships were anchored, "backed up halfway down to San Diego, like 50 miles down the coast," Art Wong, spokesperson for the Port of Long Beach, told JOC.com, a container shipping and international supply chain industry website.

By Monday afternoon, the situation had improved some: 24 vessels were waiting to dock.

Louttit says all those ships waiting at sea means cargo is not getting where it needs to be.

“We had an automaker from the Midwest stop by, trying to get an idea of what the flow would be, because their plants are running out of parts to make cars,” he said.

Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino, who supports the dockworkers union, called on both sides to reach an agreement quickly. To underscore the delays the dispute is having, he travelled a mile and a half out to sea Monday morning to count the number of anchored ships for himself. He posted a video of his trip on Youtube:

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

New sensors to monitor storm surge on bridges

If left unpatched, a firmware flaw in some enterprise-class solid-state drives could make data on them unrecoverable as early as this fall

The post HPE issues fix to stop some SSDs from self‑destructing appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

Losing your smartphone can be expensive, but the cost of the device may not be the final price you’ll be paying

The post What to do you if your phone is lost or stolen appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

The email includes the potential victim’s password as evidence of a hack, but there is more than meets the eye

The post Sextortion scammers still shilling with stolen passwords appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

Sephora has partnered with Klarna to offer its...

Source: Keith Schaefer for Streetwise Reports   04/28/2020

An entirely new—and highly profitable—industry is being borne out in 2020—TeleHealth.

CloudMD Software & Services Inc. (DOC:CSE; DOCRF:OTCQB; 6PH:FSE) is my favorite way to play teleHealth. It's growing quickly with over 100,000 patients registered on its app and over 3000 doctors in 8 provinces in its Electronic Medical Records—EMR—system. It has MULTIPLE revenue streams and it just moved into Canada's largest market—Ontario—setting up an even faster growth rate.

The recent spread of coronavirus is only accelerating this. COVID-19 has forever changed how we all will think about visiting a hospital or seeing our doctor. We really don't want to do that at all, if possible. It will have a very positive and long lasting impact on teleHealth.

teleHealth companies in Canada are getting paid more money for services than bricks-and-mortar clinics, and have a fraction of the costs. Doctors want more of it, patients want more of it, government wants more of it—and the Market REALLY wants more of it. Everybody wins here; there is no downside.

The rapid scale-up and profitability is key for investors.

The stock market is now recognizing this trend—in spades. You can see it in the stock chart of the U.S. leader in teleHealth, Teladoc Health Inc. (TDOC:NYSE).

While the market plummeted Teladoc's business and share price soared.

Now that a firm trend is in place—and teleHealth is one that makes a lot of sense—I'm looking for the junior with the best leverage to this new long term trade.

CloudMD is established, growing quickly and trading at a fraction of its peers.

The average multiple of competitors in the sector trade at 5-7x revenue, and CloudMD is trading way below that at 2.5x per revenue. I'll have more on those comps in a moment.

But realize that the Canadian use of telemedicine is still just a fraction of where it is in the U.S—so the quick, early upside is even bigger.

Literally the Canadian Version of Teladoc Health

The story with this stock is very simple. CloudMD is literally the Canadian version of Teladoc Health—just at an earlier stage in the growth curve.

The market desperately wants to own teleHealth right now (see also the stock charts of LVGO-NASD and CATS-NASD). I see CloudMD as the best way to do that in the junior sector (where the leverage is!).

For this stock to have a major run all that needs to happen is for institutional investors to wake up to the fact that the company exists. That's happening now with the company entering the province of Ontario—which has 14.5 million people, over one-third of Canada's population.

CloudMD is a fully integrated health care company—kind of like a hospital-in-the-sky. They do have five bricks-and-mortar clinics, but they also own their own EMR—Electronic Medical Records—system that operates in eight provinces and is used by over 3,000 doctors and is supported by an in-house 25 person development team. They have their own CloudMD app—which has over 100,000 registered patients already.

Folks, we really are in front of the institutions on this one. I don't have room in this article to even talk to you about the depth and credibility of CEO Dr. Essam Hamza, but after several conversations with him I can say that shareholders are in very good hands.

The EMR gives CloudMD a recurring monthly revenue stream, which The Street loves. The app gives them high margin fees from doctors, specialists and groups like massage therapists and counselors. These people are revenue, not costs. As I said, full hospital-in-the-sky. Multiple revenue sources with lower costs.

To schedule a virtual doctor's appointment all that a patient has to do is download the free CloudMD app and then arrange an appointment with one of the doctors. There is zero charge for the patient and they can see a doctor very quickly.

CloudMD can scale up the number of patients VERY quickly—and they are.

Every aspect of healthcare that's very fractured and disjointed will now be in the one CloudMD ecosystem.

Everyone wins with this system. Patients, doctors, the medical system, society, even investors. Everyone.

TeleHealth Is MUCH More Profitable Than Clinics

Doctors who have signed up with CloudMD work remotely from home or wherever they are (like their winter home down south). The rapid scale-up potential excites me. CloudMD can add in unlimited number of doctors and patients—so it has a virtually unlimited ability to scale quickly with little incremental cost.

Profit margins are wide and there is no cap on the number of customers that can be handled.

After a patient has an appointment, CloudMD bills the government directly just like every bricks-and-mortar clinic in Canada does. CloudMD records 100% of the revenue and gets to keep 30% of the billing for every patient that is seen through telemedicine, which is actually 10% more than what a bricks-and-mortar clinic receives. That is because the governments are trying to push teleHealth.

The doctor gets the other 70% and doesn't have to deal with any headaches of commuting or running a business.

Without the overhead of a bricks-and-mortar clinic, AND more revenue—CloudMD will be much more profitable than traditional health care stocks.

Faster scale, more cash flow. And they just entered Canada's largest market. This is the right stock in the right market at the right time.

When CloudMD goes from one doctor to 10 doctors to 100 doctors working at the same time, they don't have to build more clinics. They don't have to create more rooms for them or hire more staff. They just sign them on. That's it.

And we are not just talking about family doctors. They are also adding specialists and third party services like counseling and physiotherapists to the platform—and again, all these people are revenue, not costs.

That's the great thing about this business model. It's very scalable, very easy, and it grows very quickly.

CloudMD has been growing its recurring SAAS (Software-as-a-Service) revenue by 30% YoY with its EMR system. But this year the company is expecting that doctor growth to be much much higher—with a new full time sales team and the coronavirus pandemic. SaaS revenue is highly lucrative!

Consumer growth (patients) using the CloudMD app is growing even faster. And the recent COVID-19 situation will only turbocharge that.

Another Revenue Stream, Another Win-Win

There's another angle here—pharmacies. CloudMD says they will partner with more than 150 pharmacies in 2020 alone who are afraid of losing prescription business to Amazon (AMZN-NASD).

Those pharmacies are paying $500 a month for CloudMD kiosks to be in their pharmacies—where customers can get a prescription from a doctor on demand.

This keeps the customer in the pharmacy for their prescription—not out to see a doctor and then off to Costco to get it filled.

Pharmacies that don't see the writing on the wall will become the blockbusters of the industry and get left behind.

With the kiosk in the pharmacy, a person can just see a doctor right away, within 10 minutes, and walk the prescription back to the pharmacist.

Buy-outs Are Happening at High Valuations

We know that these businesses are worth.

Grocery giant Loblaws purchased QHR—another Canadian based EMR company—for $3.10/share or 7.5X revenue. Note that QHR's former Chairman Mark Kohler recently joined CloudMD's Board of Directors.

Teladoc bought a company out of Quebec just two months ago called InTouch for about US$600 million, which again is about 7.5X revenue. Teladoc itself trades at more than 10X revenue.

CloudMD trades at 2.5X revenue, less than a third of recent transactions. Meanwhile the company is poised to grow revenues at a high double digit rate for the foreseeable future.

TeleHealth is the future of how our healthcare is delivered.

Everyone has always expected that the growth would be just like what Netflix experienced with streaming, shaped like a hockey stick. The hockey stick shape is slow at the start as early adopters move and then straight up as the mainstream catches up with plot.

The demand for teleHealth from COVID-19 just took the flat part of that hockey stick out of the equation and instead took the industry directly to the exponential growth curve.

The jumping off point for teleHealth is here and I think CloudMD is the best pure-play teleHealth stock right now.

TeleHealth is to healthcare what streaming was to video rentals, and what Amazon was to retail. IT IS THE FUTURE.

Now is the time for investors to get on board, especially in Canada where virtual healthcare only accounts for 0.15% of the market and the growth curve will be much steeper.

And for me, that's CloudMD. It's the new normal. I'm long.

Keith Schaefer is editor and publisher of the Oil & Gas Investments Bulletin. He has a degree in journalism and has worked for several Canadian dailies but has spent over 15 years assisting public resource companies in raising exploration and expansion capital.

Disclosure:
1) Keith Schaefer: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: CloudMD. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: CloudMD. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. Additional disclosures are listed below.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with CloudMD. Please click here for more information.
3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.
4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of CloudMD, a company mentioned in this article.

Keith Schaefer Disclosures:

Charts provided by the author.

Source: Streetwise Reports   04/28/2020

SmileDirectClub Inc. (SDC:NASDAQ) today announced "it has been issued a patent for its SmileShop intellectual property from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office which further strengthens the telehealth dentistry pioneer's efforts to bring affordable, accessible oral care to more people through its unique and innovative teledentistry platform and direct-to-consumer business model." The firm claimed that the patent will prevent other clear aligner competitors from duplicating its business model for the next 18 years.

The company's CEO David Katzman commented, "This patent designation is a significant validation of our unique customer-oriented care model, and expands our category ownership, including the manufacturing and retail experience...As the industry pioneer and inventor of the SmileShop concept, this patent is recognition that SmileDirectClub offers an innovative way for consumers to access oral care that is safe, doctor-directed and convenient. We look forward to welcoming customers back to our SmileShops at the earliest and safest possible time."

"We are focused on the entire teeth straightening and care process, and we now own the manufacturing process of our clear aligner products, the customer experience via our teledentistry platform, as well as the retail experience for clear aligner therapy. This patent is another step in our process as we continue to grow and protect our business," Katzman added.

The firm advised that "the patent encompasses the unique SmileShop concept and process" which includes appointment scheduling, conducting an intraoral scan, generating an approved treatment plan by a licensed dentist or orthodontist and then creating and shipping the aligners to the customer. The company noted that so far more than one million customers have used its clear aligner therapy platform.

The company stated that it is planning to slowly reopen its SmileShops in the U.S. and other markets starting in May as local governments begin to lift business restrictions. The firm indicated that it will be supplying all of its SmileShop team members with face shields and other PPE and will institute staggered appointment times, temperature scans and other social distancing and sanitary measures to provide a safe experience for all staff and customers.

SmileDirectClub is an oral care company headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. The firm stated that it is the creator of the first direct-to-consumer medtech platform for teeth straightening. The company has since expanded its business and now offers its products directly through dentist and orthodontists' offices. Some of the products offered by the company include aligners, impression kits, retainers and whitening gel. In addition to the U.S., the company also operates in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand and the U.K.

SmileDirectClub began the day with a market capitalization of around $2.1 billion with approximately 385 million shares outstanding and a short interest of about 10.4%. SDC shares opened more than 26% higher today at $6.76 (+$1.37, +26.42%) over yesterday's $5.39 closing price. The stock has traded today between $6.13 to $6.80 per share and is currently trading at $6.64 (+$1.25, +23.14%).

Disclosure:
1) Stephen Hytha compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. He or members of his household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He or members of his household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.
3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.
6) This article does not constitute medical advice. Officers, employees and contributors to Streetwise Reports are not licensed medical professionals. Readers should always contact their healthcare professionals for medical advice.

( Companies Mentioned: SDC:NASDAQ, )

Source: Streetwise Reports   05/05/2020

Commercial-stage biotechnology company Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PTLA:NASDAQ), which focuses on blood-related disorders, and global biopharmaceuticals firm Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN:NASDAQ) announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement for Portola to be acquired by Alexion.

The acquisition is said to provide a key addition to Alexion's diversified commercial portfolio. The report indicated that the merger agreement has already been unanimously approved each of the company's boards of directors.

The report explained that "Portola's commercialized medicine, Andexxa^® [coagulation factor Xa (recombinant), inactivated-zhzo], marketed as Ondexxya^® in Europe, is the first and only approved Factor Xa inhibitor reversal agent, and has demonstrated transformative clinical value by rapidly reversing the anticoagulant effects of Factor Xa inhibitors rivaroxaban and apixaban in severe and uncontrolled bleeding."

Portola's President and CEO Scott Garland commented, "In developing and launching Andexxa, Portola has established a strong foundation for changing the standard of care for patients receiving Factor Xa inhibitors that experience a major, life-threatening bleed. Andexxa rapidly reverses the pharmacologic effect of rivaroxaban and apixaban within two minutes, reducing anti-Factor Xa activity by 92 percent...Given their enhanced resources, global footprint and proven commercial expertise, we look forward to working with Alexion to maximize the value of Andexxa. With their commitment to commercial excellence, together, we will be able to drive stronger utilization of Andexxa, increase penetration and accelerate adoption in the critical care setting."

Ludwig Hantson, Ph.D., CEO of Alexion, remarked, "The acquisition of Portola represents an important next step in our strategy to diversify beyond C5. Andexxa is a strategic fit with our existing portfolio of transformative medicines and is well-aligned with our demonstrated expertise in hematology, neurology and critical care...We believe Andexxa has the potential to become the global standard of care for patients who experience life-threatening bleeds while taking Factor Xa inhibitors apixaban and rivaroxaban. By leveraging Alexion's strong operational and sales infrastructure and deep relationships in hospital channels, we are well positioned to expand the number of patients helped by Andexxa, while also driving value for shareholders."

The firms advised that "under the terms of the merger agreement, a subsidiary of Alexion will commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Portola's common stock at a price of $18 per share in cash." Alexion plans to fund the purchase with existing cash on hand and the transaction is expected to close in Q3/20. The purchase is subject to approval by a majority interest of Portola's common stockholders tendering their shares along with ordinary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The company noted that "following successful completion of the tender offer, Alexion will acquire all remaining shares not tendered in the offer at the same price of $18 per share through a merger."

Alexion is a global biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Mass., with offices in 50 countries worldwide. The company states that it has been "the global leader in complement biology and inhibition for more than 20 years and that it has developed and commercializes two approved complement inhibitors to treat patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, as well as the first and only approved complement inhibitor to treat anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive generalized myasthenia gravis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder."

Portola is headquartered in South San Francisco, Calif., and is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treating patients with serious blood-related disorders. Specifically, the company is engaged in developing and commercializing novel therapeutics in order to advance the fields of thrombosis and other hematologic conditions. The firm listed that its first two commercialized products are Andexxa^® and Bevyxxa^® (betrixaban), and that it is also advancing and developing cerdulatinib, a SYK/JAK inhibitor for use in treatment of hematologic cancers.

Portola Pharmaceuticals started off the day with a market capitalization of around $609.0 million with approximately 78.5 million shares outstanding and a short interest of about 23.0%. PTLA shares opened 130% higher today at $17.85 (+$10.09, +130.03%) over yesterday's $7.85 closing price. The stock has traded today between $17.71 and $17.91 per share and is currently trading at $17.83 (+$10.07, +129.77%).

Disclosure:
1) Stephen Hytha compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. He or members of his household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He or members of his household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.
3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.
6) This article does not constitute medical advice. Officers, employees and contributors to Streetwise Reports are not licensed medical professionals. Readers should always contact their healthcare professionals for medical advice.

For the first time, researchers have applied a carbon footprint analysis to calculate carbon sequestration by an urban green space. Their results indicate that urban green space can act as a carbon sink, but its design and maintenance influence the amount stored.

Stricter management of fisheries is needed to prevent overexploitation and decline of tuna and their mackerel relatives, according to an international study. The researchers say fisheries managers have wrongly treated upper limits for catches as target levels for fishing, contributing to global declines and the threatened status of some species.

A recent study has revealed how water use has changed across the world over the last 60 years. Growing populations and economic development, particularly in newly-emerging countries, have increased water demand, but technological developments have led to water efficiencies and savings, which moderate these demands.

The number of overexploited or collapsed fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea has been increasing at a rate of approximately 38 every 10 years between 1970 and 2010, a new study has shown. In the Black Sea, the equivalent figure is 13 stocks per decade, the researchers found. The study’s authors augmented traditional methods of stock assessments with a variety of other data sources on multiple fish species to give a more accurate overview of these marine ecosystems. These results should be used to improve conservation and management, they recommend.

Fish farming in the Mediterranean has increasingly shifted from producing fish such as grey mullet, which are herbivores near the bottom of the food chain, to species such as sea bass, which are predators. This ‘farming up’ the food chain requires wild fish to be caught to provide feed. A return to farming fish lower in the food chain would use marine resources more efficiently, a new study says.

A hacking group has started to flood a dark web hacking marketplace with databases containing a combined total of 73.2 million user records over 11 different companies. [...]

Since the arrival of the European Soil Data Centre in 2006, assessing the state of soils at European level has never been easier, more efficient or more reliable, according to a new report by its designers. The database, which contains state-of-the-art scientific information for a range of key environmental concerns, was accessed 26,000 times in the first 11 months of operation.

A cache of exquisitely preserved bones, found in a coal mine in the state of Gujarat, India, appear to be the most primitive primate bones yet discovered, according to an analysis led by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and Des Moines University. Their assessment of the bones, belonging to ancient, rat-sized, tree-dwelling primates, bolsters the controversial idea that primates native to what is now India played an important role in the very early evolution of primates, mammals that include humans, apes and monkeys.

read more

A team of psychologists, kinesiologists and archaeologists at Indiana University and elsewhere are throwing new light on a longstanding archaeological mystery: the purpose of a large number of spherical stone artifacts found at a major archaeological site in South Africa.

read more

Lucy, the most famous fossil of a human ancestor, probably died after falling from a tree, according to a study appearing in Nature led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

read more