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AstraZenca, G42 Healthcare enter strategic partnership to manufacture pharmaceutical products in Abu Dhabi
AstraZenca, G42 Healthcare enter strategic partnership to manufacture pharmaceutical products in Abu Dhabi
PR Newswire
ABU DHABI, UAE, Dec. 20, 2022
ABU DHABI, UAE, Dec. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Building on the ongoing efforts of the Department of …
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AstraZenca, G42 Healthcare enter strategic partnership to manufacture pharmaceutical products in Abu Dhabi
PR Newswire
ABU DHABI, UAE, Dec. 20, 2022
ABU DHABI, UAE, Dec. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on the ongoing efforts of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) in spearheading Abu Dhabi's healthcare ecosystem, AstraZeneca, a science-led biopharmaceutical and one of the top 10 biopharma companies globally, and G42 Healthcare, an AI-powered healthcare company, signed a strategic partnership agreement to locally manufacture innovative drugs in Abu Dhabi. The binding agreement focuses on collaboration in four key areas including localizing innovative industries, research and development, innovation and sustainability at a global scale. The agreement cements the emirate's position as a hub for research and innovation in life sciences and is the latest in a series of longstanding partnerships with key players in the pharmaceutical industry.
The agreement is in line with the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology and the Make it in the Emirates initiative, which was launched by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology to enhance the UAE's business environment and position as an attractive destination for local and global industrial investors. It also supports the growth and competitiveness of national industries, innovation and adoption of advanced technologies, and the UAE's position as a global hub for future industries.
In the presence of HE Abdulla bin Mohammed Al Hamed, Chairman of DoH, Pascal Soriot, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer at AstraZeneca, HE Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Undersecretary of DoH, Peng Xiao, Group Chief Executive Officer at G42, the partnership was confirmed through the signing of a binding agreement by Ashish Koshy, Chief Executive Officer of G42 Healthcare and Pelin Incesu, Area Vice President, Middle East and Africa at AstraZeneca.
An esteemed delegation representing various government bodies witnessed the monumental signing which included Ministry of Health and Prevention, Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and Abu Dhabi Investment Office.
Creating a transformative shift in the traditional healthcare paradigm in Abu Dhabi, the agreement contributes to the ongoing efforts to establish a competitive knowledge-based economy by unlocking the potential of the UAE's national capabilities. In reflection of Abu Dhabi's robust healthcare infrastructure, G42 Healthcare and AstraZeneca outlined a multi-year comprehensive process to manufacture innovative drugs in Abu Dhabi.
The partnership factors in the Abu Dhabi's Industrial Strategy in doubling the size of the manufacturing sector by 2031. In its essence, the agreement will expand Abu Dhabi's footprint in life science research and development as well as enable innovation across all streams of healthcare. All parties will collaborate closely to boost exports as well as deliver cutting-edge science and activities supporting the provision of life changing medication to patients in the UAE. In line with international best practices, the partnership seeks to develop sustainable solutions for healthcare changes while achieving a balance between economic growth and sustainability.
This agreement is in line with the objectives of Make it in the Emirates campaign, as well as the advantages and incentives provided by the UAE to the industrial sector, including a supportive legislative framework, flexible financing solutions, world-class infrastructure, and advanced transportation network. The incentives are designed to create investment opportunities, strengthen national partnerships with international investors, increase efficiency and enhance the quality of products as well as their global competitiveness.
As the UAE embarks on an ambitious journey for the next 50 years, the agreement cements Abu Dhabi's position as a hub for research and innovation in life sciences and is the latest in a series of longstanding partnerships with key players in industrial sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry. Through the supervision of similar strategic partnership agreements, DoH seeks to play a critical role in the UAE's knowledge-based economy through the creation of unique jobs that require highly skilled workers and human capital. In line with 'We the UAE 2031' plan, the agreement is expected to attract the best talents in the field of medicine, while supporting the UAE's positioning amongst the top 10 countries in healthcare. It will also contribute to raising the contribution of the industrial sector to GDP and support the growth of non-oil exports.
Commenting on the occasion, HE Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Undersecretary at Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: "Under the directives of the UAE's wise leadership, our country continues to be a strong proponent of research and innovation as part of our ongoing efforts to bolster the healthcare industry. Abu Dhabi continues to lead on critical research with the support of international partners to explore the sustainability and resilience of the global healthcare sector while ensuring the delivery of quality healthcare for patients.."
Dr. Al Kaabi added: "The localization and manufacturing of medicine in Abu Dhabi is the real translation of our 'Made in the UAE campaign – which is a cornerstone for sustainable development across all sectors. As a result of the sectors' robust growth potential, international appetite and investment opportunities across the biopharmaceutical and healthcare value-chain continue to emerge in Abu Dhabi. Research in all its form remains a core driving force to all our ambitions, as we continue to cement Abu Dhabi's position as a leader in innovative healthcare and life sciences. While we partner with prestigious pharmaceutical bodies across the globe, we aim to maintain the rapid advancement of our pioneering healthcare model powered by an agile and futuristic ecosystem."
Sameh ElFangary, Cluster President for GCC and Pakistan at AstraZeneca, said: "AstraZeneca is honoured to be a long-term, trusted partner of the UAE in bringing innovative healthcare locally, and we applaud Abu Dhabi's ambition to become a regional life sciences hub. We are now taking our comprehensive existing partnership with G42 Healthcare to new heights, accelerating it across local manufacturing, research, innovation and sustainability. I'm confident that this partnership will contribute greatly to advancing a sustainable health ecosystem that enables transforming the patient outcomes."
The partnership further establishes Abu Dhabi as a powerhouse of medical research and innovation on the international stage. In 2021, the emirate doubled its capabilities to develop scientific and clinical research – more research projects in the year in comparison to the previous five years. The Department of Health's Research Registry for Covid-19, established as a unified platform to support global R&D efforts to combat the virus, received more than 376 scientific papers in 2021 and 67 Abu Dhabi facilities were licensed for healthcare research. Today, there are over 400 clinical research trials under way in the Emirate.
Ashish Koshy, Chief Executive Officer of G42 Healthcare said, "We are confident in the potential of our continuing partnership with AstraZeneca which holds a robust promise for the UAE healthcare sector, primed to become a global hub for life science research and innovation. This strategic collaboration will accelerate innovation across local manufacturing and allow us to explore greater possibilities in clinical research, to deliver life-changing treatments to patients in the UAE and across the region. At the core of this partnership is our will to foster sustainable manufacturing capabilities and driving innovation at the global level, as we collectively envision better healthcare for all.
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SOURCE The Department of Health - Abu Dhabi
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Manufacturing and construction vs. the still-inverted yield curve
– by New Deal democratProf. Menzie Chinn at Econbrowser makes the point that the yield curve is still inverted, and has not yet eclipsed the longest…
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- by New Deal democrat
Prof. Menzie Chinn at Econbrowser makes the point that the yield curve is still inverted, and has not yet eclipsed the longest previous time between onset of such an inversion and a recession. So he believes the threat of recession is still on the table.
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Half Of Downtown Pittsburgh Office Space Could Be Empty In 4 Years
Half Of Downtown Pittsburgh Office Space Could Be Empty In 4 Years
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
The CRE implosion is picking…
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Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
The CRE implosion is picking up steam.
Check out the grim stats on Pittsburgh.
Unions are also a problem in Pittsburgh as they are in Illinois and California.
Downtown Pittsburgh Implosion
The Post Gazette reports nearly half of Downtown Pittsburgh office space could be empty in 4 years.
Confidential real estate information obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette estimates that 17 buildings are in “significant distress” and another nine are in “pending distress,” meaning they are either approaching foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure. Those properties represent 63% of the Downtown office stock and account for $30.5 million in real estate taxes, according to the data.
It also calculates the current office vacancy rate at 27% when subleases are factored in — one of the highest in the country.
And with an additional three million square feet of unoccupied leased space becoming available over the next five years, the vacancy rate could soar to 46% by 2028, based on the data.
Property assessments on 10 buildings, including U.S. Steel Tower, PPG Place, and the Tower at PNC Plaza, have been slashed by $364.4 million for the 2023 tax year, as high vacancies drive down their income.
Another factor has been the steep drop — to 63.5% from 87.5% — in the common level ratio, the number used to compute taxable value in county assessment appeal hearings.
The assessment cuts have the potential to cost the city, the county, and the Pittsburgh schools nearly $8.4 million in tax refunds for that year alone. Downtown represents nearly 25% of the city’s overall tax base.
In response Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson wants to remove a $250,000 limit on the amount of tax relief available to a building owner or developer as long as a project creates at least 50 full-time equivalent jobs.
It’s unclear if the proposal will be enough. Annual interest costs to borrow $1 million have soared from $32,500 at the start of the pandemic in 2020 to $85,000 on March 1. Local construction costs have increased by about 30% since 2019.
But the city is doomed if it does nothing. Aaron Stauber, president of Rugby Realty said it will probably empty out Gulf Tower and mothball it once all existing leases expire.
“It’s cheaper to just shut the lights off,” he said. “At some point, we would move on to greener pastures.”
Where’s There’s Smoke There’s Unions
In addition to the commercial real estate woes, the city is also wrestling with union contracts.
Please consider Sounding the alarm: Pittsburgh Controller’s letter should kick off fiscal soul-searching
It’s only March, and Pittsburgh’s 2024 house-of-cards operating budget is already falling down. That’s the clear implication of a letter sent by new City Controller Rachael Heisler to Mayor Ed Gainey and members of City Council on Wednesday afternoon.
The letter is a rare and welcome expression of urgency in a city government that has fallen in complacency — and is close to falling into fiscal disaster.
The approaching crisis was thrown into sharp relief this week, when City Council approved amendments to the operating budget accounting for a pricey new contract with the firefighters union. The Post-Gazette Editorial Board had predicted that this contract — plus two others yet to be announced and approved — would demonstrate the dishonesty of Mayor Ed Gainey’s budget, and that’s exactly what’s happening: The new contract is adding $11 million to the administration’s artificially low 5-year spending projections, bringing expected 2028 reserves to just barely the legal limit.
But there’s still two big contracts to go, with the EMS union and the Pittsburgh Joint Collective Bargaining Committee, which covers Public Works workers. Worse, there are tens — possibly hundreds — of millions in unrealistic revenues still on the books. On this, Ms. Heisler’s letter only scratched the surface.
Similarly, as we have observed, the budget’s real estate tax revenue projections are radically inconsistent with reality. Due to high vacancies and a sharp reduction in the common level ratio, a significant drop in revenues was predictable — but not reflected in the budget. Ms. Heisler’s estimate of a 20% drop in revenues from Downtown property, or $5.3 million a year, may even be optimistic: Other estimates peg the loss at twice that, or more.
Left unmentioned in the letter are massive property tax refunds the city will owe, as well as fanciful projections of interest income that are inconsistent with the dwindling reserves, and drawing-down of federal COVID relief funds, predicted in the budget itself. That’s another unrealistic $80 million over five years.
Pittsburgh exited Act 47 state oversight after nearly 15 years on Feb. 12, 2018, with a clean bill of fiscal health.
It has already ruined that bill of health.
Act 47 in Pittsburgh
Flashback February 21, 2018: Act 47 in Pittsburgh: What Was Accomplished?
Pittsburgh’s tax structure was a much-complained-about topic leading up to the Act 47 declaration. The year following Pittsburgh’s designation as financially distressed under Act 47 it levied taxes on real estate, real estate transfers, parking, earned income, business gross receipts (business privilege and mercantile), occupational privilege and amusements. The General Assembly enacted tax reforms in 2004 giving the city authority to levy a payroll preparation tax in exchange for the immediate elimination of the mercantile tax and the phase out of the business privilege tax. The tax reforms increased the amount of the occupational privilege tax from $10 to $52 (this is today known as the local services tax and all municipalities outside of Philadelphia levy it and could raise it thanks to the change for Pittsburgh).
The coordinators recommended an increase in the deed transfer tax, which occurred in late 2004 (it was just increased again by City Council) and in the real estate tax, which increased in 2015.
Legacy costs, principally debt and underfunded pensions, were the primary focus of the 2009 amended recovery plan. The city’s pension funded ratio has increased significantly from where it stood a decade ago, rising from the mid-30 percent range to over 60 percent at last measurement.
The obvious question? Will the city stick to the steps taken to improve financially and avoid slipping back into distressed status? If Pittsburgh once stood “on the precipice of full-blown crisis,” as described in the first recovery plan, hopefully it won’t return to that position.
The Obvious Question
I could have answered the 2018 obvious question with the obvious answer. Hell no.
No matter how much you raise taxes, it will never be enough because public unions will suck every penny and want more.
On top of union graft, and insanely woke policies in California, we have an additional huge problem.
Hybrid Work Leaves Offices Empty and Building Owners Reeling
Hybrid work has put office building owners in a bind and could pose a risk to banks. Landlords are now confronting the fact that some of their office buildings have become obsolete, if not worthless.
Meanwhile, in Illinois …
Chicago Teachers’ Union Seeks $50 Billion Despite $700 Million City Deficit
Please note the Chicago Teachers’ Union Seeks $50 Billion Despite $700 Million City Deficit
The CTU wants to raise taxes across the board, especially targeting real estate.
My suggestion, get the hell out...
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Profits over patients: For-profit nursing home chains are draining resources from care while shifting huge sums to owners’ pockets
Owners of midsize nursing home chains harm the elderly and drain huge sums of money from facilities using opaque accounting practices while government…
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The care at Landmark of Louisville Rehabilitation and Nursing was abysmal when state inspectors filed their survey report of the Kentucky facility on July 3, 2021.
Residents wandered the halls in a facility that can house up to 250 people, yelling at each other and stealing blankets. One resident beat a roommate with a stick, causing bruising and skin tears. Another was found in bed with a broken finger and a bloody forehead gash. That person was allowed to roam and enter the beds of other residents. In another case, there was sexual touching in the dayroom between residents, according to the report.
Meals were served from filthy meal carts on plastic foam trays, and residents struggled to cut their food with dull plastic cutlery. Broken tiles lined showers, and a mysterious black gunk marred the floors. The director of housekeeping reported that the dining room was unsanitary. Overall, there was a critical lack of training, staff and supervision.
The inspectors tagged Landmark as deficient in 29 areas, including six that put residents in immediate jeopardy of serious harm and three where actual harm was found. The issues were so severe that the government slapped Landmark with a fine of over US$319,000 − more than 29 times the average for a nursing home in 2021 − and suspended payments to the home from federal Medicaid and Medicare funds.
But problems persisted. Five months later, inspectors levied six additional deficiencies of immediate jeopardy − the highest level.
Landmark is just one of the 58 facilities run by parent company Infinity Healthcare Management across five states. The government issued penalties to the company almost 4½ times the national average, according to bimonthly data that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services first started to make available in late 2022. All told, Infinity paid nearly $10 million in fines since 2021, the highest among nursing home chains with fewer than 100 facilities.
Infinity Healthcare Management and its executives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Race to the bottom
Such sanctions are nothing new for Infinity or other for-profit nursing home chains that have dominated an industry long known for cutting corners in pursuit of profits for private owners. But this race to the bottom to extract profits is accelerating, despite demands by government officials, health care experts and advocacy groups to protect the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
To uncover the reasons why, The Conversation delved into the nursing home industry, where for-profit facilities make up more than 72% of the nation’s nearly 14,900 facilities. The probe, which paired an academic expert with an investigative reporter, used the most recent government data on ownership, facility information and penalties, combined with CMS data on affiliated entities for nursing homes.
The investigation revealed an industry that places a premium on cost cutting and big profits, with low staffing and poor quality, often to the detriment of patient well-being. Operating under weak and poorly enforced regulations with financially insignificant penalties, the for-profit sector fosters an environment where corners are frequently cut, compromising the quality of care and endangering patient health.
Meanwhile, owners make the facilities look less profitable by siphoning money from the homes through byzantine networks of interconnected corporations. Federal regulators have neglected the problem as each year likely billions of dollars are funneled out of nursing homes through related parties and into owners’ pockets.
More trouble at midsize
Analyzing newly released government data, our investigation found that these problems are most pronounced in nursing homes like Infinity − midsize chains that operate between 11 and 100 facilities. This subsection of the industry has higher average fines per home, lower overall quality ratings, and are more likely to be tagged with resident abuse compared with both the larger and smaller networks. Indeed, while such chains account for about 39% of all facilities, they operate 11 of the 15 most-fined facilities.
With few impediments, private investors who own the midsize chains have swooped in to purchase underperforming homes, expanding their holdings even as larger chains divest and close facilities.
“They are really bad, but the names − we don’t know these names,” said Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a nonprofit law organization.
In response to The Conversation’s findings on nursing homes and request for an interview, a CMS spokesperson emailed a statement that said the CMS is “unwavering in its commitment to improve safety and quality of care for the more than 1.2 million residents receiving care in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes.”
“We support transparency and accountability,” the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, a trade organization representing the nursing home industry, wrote in response to The Conversation‘s request for comment. “But neither ownership nor line items on a budget sheet prove whether a nursing home is committed to its residents.”
Ripe for abuse
It often takes years to improve a poor nursing home − or run one into the ground. The analysis of midsize chains shows that most owners have been associated with their current facilities for less than eight years, making it difficult to separate operators who have taken long-term investments in resident care from those who are looking to quickly extract money and resources before closing them down or moving on. These chains control roughly 41% of nursing home beds in the U.S., according to CMS’s provider data, making the lack of transparency especially ripe for abuse.
A churn of nursing home purchases even during the pandemic shows that investors view the sector as highly profitable, especially when staffing costs are kept low and fines for poor care can easily be covered by the money extracted from residents, their families and taxpayers.
A March 2024 study from Lehigh University and the University of California, Los Angeles also shows that costs were inflated when nursing home owners switched to contractors they controlled directly or indirectly. Overall, spending on real estate increased 20.4% and spending on management increased 24.6% when the businesses were affiliated, the research showed.
“This is the model of their care: They come in, they understaff and they make their money,” said Sam Brooks, director of public policy at the Consumer Voice, a national resident advocacy organization. “Then they multiply it over a series of different facilities.”
This is a condensed version of an article from The Conversation’s investigative unit. To find out more about the rise of for-profit nursing homes, financial trickery and what could make the nation’s most vulnerable citizens safer, read the complete version.
Campbell is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University and a contributing writer at the Garrison Project, an independent news organization that focuses on mass incarceration and criminal justice.
Harrington is an advisory board member of the nonprofit Veteran's Health Policy Institute and a board member of the nonprofit Center for Health Information and Policy. Harrington served as an expert witness on nursing home litigation cases by residents against facilities owned or operated by Brius and Shlomo Rechnitz in the past and in 2022. She also served as an expert witness in a case against The Citadel Salisbury in North Carolina in 2021.
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Profits over patients: For-profit nursing home chains are draining resources from care while shifting huge sums to owners’ pockets
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