Simply sign up to the Pharmaceuticals sector myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
GSK hailed progress for its withdrawn blood cancer drug Blenrep on Thursday, raising the prospect of the treatment returning to market after the drugmaker announced positive trial results.
Blenrep was approved in 2020 in the US as single treatment, but it was later withdrawn in 2022 after failing to beat other treatments in a confirmatory trial to treat a rare kind of blood cancer known as relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The drugmaker has since launched new trials to bring it back to market, combining it with other treatments.
Advertisement
GSK said it had seen “statistically significant and clinically meaningful” trial results for Blenrep, when used with another established treatment called BorDex to treat relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma — a blood cancer that returns or does not respond to treatment.
Blenrep in combination with BorDex significantly reduced the risk of death in a head-to-head trial with a standard treatment for the disease. Full data will be presented at a US haematology conference in December.
In February, the company said Blenrep and BorDex nearly tripled the length of time a patient lives without their cancer advancing, compared with the standard treatment.
GSK has filed for regulatory approvals across the world and the results will support those applications, with decisions due next year. If approved, the company expects peak sales of Blenrep of more than £3bn.
Advertisement
Shares in the UK drugmaker dipped 0.6 per cent in early trading in London.
The VoloCity made demonstration flights in Paris over the summer
One of the innovations at this year’s Paris Olympics was supposed to be an electric flying taxi service.
Germany’s Volocopter promised its electric-powered, two-seater aircraft, the VoloCity, would be ferrying passengers around the city.
It never happened. Instead the company ran demonstration flights.
While missing that deadline was embarrassing, behind the scenes a more serious issue was playing out – Volocopter was urgently trying to raise fresh investment to keep the firm going.
Advertisement
Talks to borrow €100m (£83m; $106m) from the government failed in April.
Now hopes are pinned on China’s Geely, which is in talks to take an 85% stake in Volocopter in return for $95m of funding, according to a Bloomberg report. The deal could mean that any future manufacturing would be moved to China.
Volocopter is one of dozens of companies around the world developing an electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) aircraft.
Their machines promise the flexibility of a helicopter, but without the cost, noise and emissions.
Advertisement
However, faced with the massive cost of getting such novel aircraft approved by regulators and then building up manufacturing capabilities, some investors are bailing out.
Lilium
Lilium’s radical design involves jets which can be angled for vertical take-off
One of the most high-profile casualties is Lilium.
Lilium’s aircraft uses 30 electric jets that can be tilted in unison to swing between vertical lift and forward flight.
Advertisement
The concept proved attractive, with the company claiming to have orders and memoranda of understanding for 780 jets from around the world.
It was able to demonstrate the technology using a remote controlled scale model. Construction had begun on the first full-sized jets, and testing had been due to begin in early 2025.
As recently as the Farnborough Airshow in July, Lilium’s COO Sebastian Borel was sounding confident.
“We are definitely burning through cash,” he told the BBC. “But this is a good sign, because it means we are producing the aircraft. We’re going to have three aircraft in production by the end of the year, and we have also raised €1.5bn”.
Advertisement
But then the money ran out.
Lilium had been attempting to arrange a loan worth €100m from the German development bank, KfW. However, that required guarantees from national and state governments, which never materialised.
In early November, the company put its main operating businesses into insolvency proceedings, and its shares were removed from the Nasdaq stock exchange.
For the moment, work on the new aircraft is continuing, as the company works with restructuring experts to sell the business or bring in new investment. However, getting the new e-jet into production is looking more challenging than ever.
Advertisement
Vertical Aerospace
The VX4 recently completed successful take-off and landing tests
The high-profile British player in the eVTOL market is Vertical Aerospace. The Bristol-based company was founded in 2016 by businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick, who also set up OVO Energy.
Its striking VX4 design uses eight large propellers mounted on slim, aircraft style wings to generate lift. Mr Fitzpatrick has made ambitious claims about the aircraft, suggesting it would be “100 times” safer and quieter than a helicopter, for 20% of the cost.
The company has made progress. After completing a programme of remote-controlled testing, it began carrying out piloted tests earlier this year. Initially, these were carried out with the aircraft tethered to the ground. In early November, it carried out its first untethered take-off and landing.
But there have also been serious setbacks. In August last year, a remotely-piloted prototype was badly damaged when it crashed during testing at Cotswold Airport, after a propeller blade fell off.
Advertisement
In May one of its key partners, the engineering giant Rolls Royce pulled out of a deal to supply electric motors for the aircraft.
Ambitions remain sky high. Vertical Aerospace says it will deliver 150 aircraft to its customers by the end of the decade. By then, it also expects to be capable of producing 200 units a year, and to be breaking even in cash terms.
Yet financial strains have been intensifying. Mr Fitzpatrick invested an extra $25m into the company in March. But a further $25m, due in August if alternative investment could not be found, has not been paid. As of September, Vertical had $57.4m on hand – but it expects to burn through nearly double that over the coming year.
Hopes for the future appear to be pinned on doing a deal with the American financier Jason Mudrick, who is already a major creditor through his firm Mudrick Capital Management.
Advertisement
He has offered to invest $75m into the business – and has warned the board of Vertical that rejecting his plan would inevitably lead to insolvency proceedings. But the move has been resisted by Mr Fitzpatrick, who would lose control of the company he founded.
Sources close to the talks insist an agreement is now very close. The company believes if a deal can be done, it will unlock further fundraising opportunities.
Airbus
CityAirbus has an 80km range and can fly at 120kmh
Amid the turbulence, one European project is quietly on track, says Bjorn Fehrm who has a background in aeronautical engineering and piloted combat jets for the Swedish Air Force. He now works for aerospace consultancy Leeham.
Called the CityAirbus NextGen, the four-seater aircraft has eight propellers and a range of 80km.
“This is a technology project for their engineers, and they’ve got the money, and they’ve got the know how,” says Mr Fehrm.
Elsewhere in the world, other well funded start-ups stand a good change of getting their aircraft into production. That would include Joby and Archer in the US.
Once the aircraft are being produced, the next challenge will be to see if there’s a profitable market for them.
Advertisement
The first routes are likely to be between airports and city centres. But will they make money?
“The biggest problem area when it comes to the cost of operation is the pilot and the batteries. You need to change the batteries a couple of times per year,” points out Mr Fehrm.
Given all the uncertainty and expense, you might wonder why investors put money into new electric aircraft in the first place.
“No one wanted to miss out on the next Tesla,” laughs Mr Fehrm.
Nestle also added a new chocolate to its Quality Street “Favourites Golden Selection” pouch: the Toffee Penny.
How to save money on chocolate
We all love a bit of chocolate from now and then, but you don’t have to break the bank buying your favourite bar.
Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how to cut costs…
Go own brand – if you’re not too fussed about flavour and just want to supplant your chocolate cravings, you’ll save by going for the supermarket’s own brand bars.
Advertisement
Shop around – if you’ve spotted your favourite variety at the supermarket, make sure you check if it’s cheaper elsewhere.
Websites like Trolley.co.uk let you compare prices on products across all the major chains to see if you’re getting the best deal.
Look out for yellow stickers – supermarket staff put yellow, and sometimes orange and red, stickers on to products to show they’ve been reduced.
They usually do this if the product is coming to the end of its best-before date or the packaging is slightly damaged.
Advertisement
Buy bigger bars – most of the time, but not always, chocolate is cheaper per 100g the larger the bar.
So if you’ve got the appetite, and you were going to buy a hefty amount of chocolate anyway, you might as well go bigger.
Highlight of a stay at Lisbon’s Lumen Hotel is undoubtedly its dynamic outdoor color and light show presented every evening reflecting aspects of Portugal’s checkered history.
Advertisement
Columbia Hillen
Promptly at 10pm, guests take their seats either in the interior courtyard or at tables along the first-floor terrace and enjoy dazzling entertainment projected onto the walls around them using video mapping technology.
Opened four years ago, this 4-star, 147-room hotel lies outside Lisbon’s hectic centre in the Santa Cruz neighborhood north of Lisbon’s central Baixa district, a lively suburb but within a 10-minute taxi or bus ride of many of the city’s most important sites.
Columbia Hillen
Advertisement
Once a series of derelict buildings, architect Frederico Valsassina has created an attractive contemporary building with a chessboard design inside that emphasizes light and dark, as the hotel’s name suggests. Rooms are finished in one of three tones of color inspired by dawn, sunset and dusk. Golden Dawn, yellows representing vibrant tones of dawn; Copper Nightfall, oranges and reds reminiscent of sunsets; and Pure Light, reflecting the interplay of light and shadow just before nightfall.
Columbia Hillen
My companion and I stayed in suite 608, spacious, wood-floor, with large floor-to-ceiling windows and a sliding door separating bedroom, living-room and a second bathroom. With minimalist decor, furnishings included a large sofa, two wall TVs, a long work bench, a mini-fridge, coffee and tea facilities and a round table with three chairs.
Columbia Hillen
Advertisement
Our main bathroom, separated from the bedroom by glass panels, featured a double sink and toiletries from Benamor, a cosmetics company founded in Lisbon in 1925. Slippers and robes were provided. Outside the living room was a long, railed balcony facing onto the street, with chairs.
Columbia Hillen
Two added benefits for us was that the executive lounge was on the same floor and there was also easy access to a roof-top pool and cocktail bar a few steps away. I enjoyed a few swimming laps and an hour’s relaxation on lounge chairs with panoramic views over the city before heading off to the nearby Calouste Gulbenkian Museum to see its unique collection of intricate art nouveau jewelry by René Lalique, as well as works by Rembrandt, Monet, Rubens, Manet, Renoir, Degas and Turner.
Columbia Hillen
Advertisement
‘Photosynthesis’ courtyard is also a quiet place to relax, decorated as it is with ivy covered walls, ferns and glass-topped ‘water mirror’ ponds.
We dined alfresco at the hotel’s 130-seat Clorofila restaurant, its relaxed ambience enhanced by decorative flickering gas-flame lights in glass cubicles.
Columbia Hillen
Highlights on the menu included traditional Portuguese sausage cakes served with mango chutney, balsamic and pistachio crumble; cod and mackerel timbale with a sweet potato mousse and roasted peppers; sauteed padron peppers, with crushed garlic, balsamic sorbet and salt flakes; shredded duck confit, mushroom creamy rice with glazed apple and seafood casserole served with rice and mint foam.
Advertisement
Columbia Hillen
Throughout the week, the chef prepares a special buffet lunch. Breakfast is also served here.
For a leisurely drink in an informal ambience, try the hotel’s lobby lounge bar, Six Degrees, an atmosphere flooded with natural light.
Columbia Hillen
Advertisement
The hotel also has a fitness centre, evening entertainment and a 24-hour front desk, as well as business meeting rooms, with combined capacity of over 350 people.
Throughout our stay we were served by a young and efficient multi-national staff, including 21-year-old receptionist, Beatrz Evora, who is also a talented illustrator.
Kitchen staff at the end of a busy day. Photo by Columbia Hillen
For a hotel removed from the hustle and bustle of downtown Lisbon yet within easy reach of the city’s main attractions, Lumen may be an excellent choice.
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
Donald Trump will nominate Jay Clayton, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as US attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the most prestigious prosecutorial posts with oversight of Wall Street.
“Jay is a highly respected business leader, counsel, and public servant,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday. He said Clayton had done “an incredible job” as SEC chair.
Advertisement
It was one of several nominations for top legal posts that Trump put forward on Thursday, as the president-election moves quickly to shape his new administration.
He picked Todd Blanche, a former federal prosecutor who was the president-elect’s defence attorney during this year’s “hush money” trial in New York, to be assistant attorney-general at the Department of Justice.
Trump also nominated Blanche’s co-counsel Emil Bove to the post of principal associate deputy attorney-general and acting deputy attorney-general, while Blanche is in process of being confirmed by the Senate.
John Sauer, who successfully argued for Trump in a case before the US Supreme Court over presidential immunity, was nominated as solicitor-general, which will put him at the front of the administration’s cases before the high court. Sauer was previously solicitor-general for the state of Missouri.
Advertisement
The moves come a day after Trump nominated Matt Gaetz, the incendiary former Florida congressman who practised law briefly before joining Congress, as US attorney-general. That pick shook Washington’s legal community over concerns that Gaetz could, if confirmed, use law enforcement against the president-elect’s political opponents.
By contrast, the latest batch of nominations come from more conventional legal backgrounds. All have close ties to Trump.
During his tenure at the SEC Clayton, a veteran Wall Street lawyer, had sought to focus his enforcement agenda on cases linked to harm against retail investors, and oversaw a deregulatory drive aimed at making it easier for companies to raise capital.
Clayton, who is a senior policy adviser at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell and independent chair of Apollo Global Management’s board of directors, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Advertisement
In recent years, under the leadership of US attorney Damian Williams, the Southern District of New York has won the convictions of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and Archegos’ Bill Hwang, among other high-profile white collar criminals.
If confirmed, Clayton would take over an office that is still prosecuting rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Democratic New York mayor Eric Adams, who faces numerous corruption allegations.
Trump has expressed sympathy for Adams, saying he had been targeted by “lunatic” prosecutors. Adams, who maintains his innocence, has in turn been reluctant to criticise the president-elect.
While the US attorney for the Southern District of New York answers to the attorney-general, the office has a long history of acting relatively independently, at arm’s length from Washington.
It previously declined to prosecute Trump over campaign finance violations relating to his payments to pay off a porn actor in the run-up to the 2016 election, before the Manhattan district attorney decided to bring similar state charges.
Trump has not yet named his selection to run the SEC.
THE Chancellor last night attempted to win back the City with plans to create pension megafunds to boost investment in Britain and rip up financial red tape.
Just a fortnight after her Budget received a frosty reception, Rachel Reeves told businesses she was still “going for growth”.
3
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, last night agreed that the UK pension system had been ‘too fragmented’ to encourage ‘investment in the real economy’Credit: Getty
Ms Reeves wants to create her “megafunds” by pooling £1.3trillion of pension savings held by 86 separate local government schemes.
Advertisement
She reckons this will create £80billion to invest in British businesses and infrastructure.
The Chancellor borrowed the idea from Canadian and Australian pension schemes, which bundle local government pension schemes together and invest their trillions of dollars in big assets with high growth and profit potential.
She hopes this will not only cut costs for pension schemes by reducing fees to advisers, but will also funnel greater investment into the country’s infrastructure — which is currently being snapped up by overseas pension funds.
READ MORE ON RACHEL REEVES
Canadian pension funds own swathes of British properties and utilities, and just this week bought the UK’s airport operator in a £1.5billion deal.
Advertisement
Reeves’ idea is not a new one, but pension reform on this scale has not been tackled before.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, last night agreed that the UK pension system had been “too fragmented” to encourage “investment in the real economy”.
In his speech last night he said the UK’s economic potential growth rate had fallen from 2.6 per cent between 1990 to 2008 to just 0.7 per cent, partly because of low productivity.
Tom Selby, public policy director at AJ Bell, said the megafunds must not forget their purpose to deliver good returns for pensioners.
Advertisement
He said: “In the government’s increasingly desperate search for investment and growth, it is crucial savers and retirees are not forced to pay the price through sub-standard investment return.”
Martin Lewis issues warning for 700,000 workers as National Insurance hikes have ‘direct impact’ on take home pay
The Chancellor, who has said she wants to bring more stability and security to the financial system than the Conservatives, last night conceded it was time to take off the kid gloves.
She said that some of the rules and regulations brought in after the 2008 financial crisis to avoid another banking meltdown had “gone too far”.
Ms Reeves reckons some rules stifled investment.
Advertisement
She added: “The UK has been regulating for risk, not regulating for growth.”
3
Rachel Reeves reckons her plan will create £80billion to invest in British businesses and infrastructureCredit: Getty
Firms feel left out after raid
LAST night was a Square Mile schmoozefest that few Brits or businesses could relate to.
As Reeves spoke of growth under chandeliers in the Lord Mayor’s house, shops, pubs and restaurants counted the cost of her £25billion tax raid.
Advertisement
Retailers feel particularly sore for supporting Labour before the election to then be hit by National Insurance contributions. They also didn’t get business rates reforms.
Altus Group analysis shows raising taxes on top properties to level the playing field with online retailers actually hits nearly three times more retail, leisure and hospitality firms than online businesses.
Reeves has to renew her charm offensive with firms outside of the City.
Trench warfare for Burb
BURBERRY shares rose yesterday after its new boss outlined an urgent turnaround — and blamed his predecessor for several fashion faux pas.
Advertisement
3
Half-year results for Burberry fell by a fifth to £1.1billion in the last six months while it has swung to a £53million lossCredit: Reuters
Half-year results for the brand fell by a fifth to £1.1billion in the last six months while it has swung to a £53million loss.
Joshua Schulman, who took over as CEO in July, said it was due to “poor decision execution and a lack of focus on core business”.
He also pointed the finger at former CEO Jonathan Akeroyd’s decision to hike handbag prices, when Burberry did not have the same clout as leather goods giants LVMH and Hermes.
Advertisement
He said it will focus on its heritage of trench coats, which Thomas Burberry started in 1856 with waterproofs.
The US boss, who previously led Michael Kors and Coach, dismissed predictions that he would turn Burberry into similarly more affordable and mass-market brands.
New coal mine ban
THE government has banned any future new coal mining schemes as part of its Clean Power push.
It comes after the UK’s last coal-fired power station Ratcliffe-on-Soar shut last month.
Advertisement
Coal mining powered Britain for 140 years but Labour wants to become reliant on green renewable energy by 2030.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “The UK’s in prime position to lead the phasing out of coal power, the largest contributor to global emissions.”
Ices Gaza ‘gag’
ICE cream brand BEN & JERRY’S is suing its parent company Unilever, claiming it was silenced from speaking out in support of Palestinians.
It follows the former Unilever boss telling Ben & Jerry’s to stay out of geopolitics after it said it would stop supplying ice cream to the West Bank two years ago.
Advertisement
The Phish Food maker now says attempts to speak out in support of a ceasefire were blocked, breaching the terms of its settlement in 2022. Unilever said it “rejects the claims and will defend its case.”
INVESTMENT firm London Capital & Finance was a Ponzi scheme, the High Court ruled. It raised about £237million from 11,600 ordinary investors before going bust in 2019.
It depended entirely on new investors paying existing ones, a judge said.
WHS shops fly
WH SMITH yesterday revealed it now makes five times as much profit from its travel network shops than its high street stores after a rapid expansion in US airports.
Advertisement
The stationery retailer opened 100 new stores last year and is appealing to holidaymakers by selling more cosmetics, gadgets and food products.
It made £202million profit from its travel division compared to £39million from its high street stores in the past year. There are 90 more travel shops still to be opened.
Simply sign up to the Media myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
John Malone, the pre-eminent dealmaker in the media and technology industry, is pressing for merger activity amid an anticipated rollback of regulations under the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
Charter Communications, the cable television and broadband company that has just agreed to buy his Liberty Broadband, should be allowed to merge with rival cable operators Comcast, Cox or T-Mobile, the billionaire “cable cowboy” told investors on Thursday.
Advertisement
“The idea that Charter should be limited to 30 per cent of the US terrestrial footprint while Big Tech has the globe, and even Elon [Musk] has the globe, is silly,” the Liberty Media chair said. “Tying an industry’s hands behind its back and allowing Big Tech to run wild in every direction that they choose to run in, I think is inappropriate.”
Malone’s pronouncement comes as mass media companies have struggled for years due to the disruption of linear television. Companies such as Warner Brothers Discovery have lost a huge share of their business to streaming services, leading to billions in writedowns and attempted mergers, like satellite TV provider DirectTV’s now-abandoned purchase of Dish.
Trump’s anticipated dismissal of Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan and Department of Justice chief Jonathan Kanter has spurred hopes among media executives grappling with deflated share prices that tie-ups may escape harsh antitrust scrutiny. This is despite indications that the new White House administration is likely to continue strict enforcement of media deals.
David Zaslav, WBD’s chief executive, said earlier this month the new administration might offer a “change of pace” and an opportunity for a wave of consolidation.
Advertisement
Malone’s comments came a day after he announced he would simplify his media empire by spinning off event ticketing company Live Nation and events specialist Quint from Liberty Media into a separate public company following a wave of legacy media companies looking to clean up their corporate structure amid a wave of anticipated dealmaking.
Last month, broadcaster Comcast said it was weighing a spinout of its cable networks.
The remaining Liberty Media will focus on sports, following its $8bn acquisition of Formula One in 2017. The 83-year-old Malone will step in as interim CEO after the departure of prolific dealmaker Greg Maffei, who said he would step down as CEO after nearly 20 years at the helm.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login