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The Shortages Are Coming

The Shortages Are Coming

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Do you remember in early 2020 when they told…

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11 months ago

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The Shortages Are Coming

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Do you remember in early 2020 when they told us that the shortages that we were experiencing would just be temporary?  Of course some of them were, but then more shortages just kept on erupting.  That wasn’t supposed to happen, and now it appears that our supply chain problems could potentially get a whole lot worse.  In just a few short months, we will be three years away from the beginning of the pandemic in the United States.  But instead of a “return to normal”, more shortages are on the way.  And in some cases, they could even be life threatening.

Let me give you an example.  We need Amoxicillin to treat some of the most common infections that our children experience.  Unfortunately, the FDA is warning us that we are now facing a very serious shortage of Amoxicillin…

Ear infections and strep throat.

Both are common childhood illnesses, for which the go-to prescription is in short supply, according to a recent nationwide alert from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The warning specifically involves the powder, which pharmacists use to mix liquid Amoxicillin for childhood infections.

This is a really big deal.

According to one recent survey, close to two-thirds of all pharmacies in the nation are having difficulty getting Amoxicillin right now, and the national shortage of Adderall is even worse…

Nearly 66% of pharmacies are having challenges obtaining amoxicillin, according to a new National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) survey of 8000 pharmacy owners and managers, whereas 89% are realizing a shortage of Adderall.

Of course we are dealing with lots of other drug shortages at this moment as well.

In fact, according to the official FDA drug shortage list there are nationwide shortages of a whopping 183 different drugs in the United States right now.

We truly are in unprecedented territory.

Up in Canada, things are even worse.

If you can believe it, at this point the Canadians are facing “an acute shortage of basic painkillers”…

The Canadian healthcare system is experiencing an acute shortage of basic painkillers, particularly acetaminophen and ibuprofen, which are commonly used to relieve pain and fever in children during flu season.

Canada’s Association of Medical Assistance in Dying Assessors and Providers (CAMAP) chose this perhaps awkward moment to roll out a webinar for healthcare professionals that advised them to offer assisted suicide to their suffering patients.

So why don’t the Canadians have enough Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen right now?

Well, we are being told that the primary reason is “a lack of raw ingredients to make the drugs”…

CBC News quoted health officials who blamed “a lack of raw ingredients to make the drugs,” “an uptick in respiratory viruses fueled by the relaxed [Chinese coronavirus] measures,” and “panic buying” for the shortage of painkillers for children.

As I have covered in previous articles, most of the basic ingredients that go into our pharmaceutical drugs come from China.

So if you think that things are bad now, just wait until war with China erupts.

Once that happens, our pharmacies will get really empty and our entire healthcare system will experience a historic meltdown.

Switching gears, with Thanksgiving coming up I wanted to talk about the fact that we are now facing a nationwide shortage of turkeys…

As CNBC reports, the price of turkey is up 73% from last year, a pretty astonishing figure. Experts attribute it to the bird flu, which has devastated turkey stocks this year. Apparently, the disease normally doesn’t flourish during the summer as farmers get their holiday flocks together. But, you know, the 2020s haven’t been easy so naturally, the flu hit hard right in the middle of the year when it could do the most damage.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that you will still probably be able to get a turkey if you are willing to pay enough.

The bad news is that supplies of turkey just keep getting tighter and tighter.

One business owner in San Francisco recently stated that it is “like pulling teeth trying to get turkeys from the companies” at this stage…

But it’s not just the Thanksgiving bird that’s at risk — it’s your lunchtime turkey sandwich, too. San Francisco delis and butchers are already feeling the effects of the shortage.

“It’s like pulling teeth trying to get turkeys from the companies,” said Sal Qaqundah, owner of Arguello Market, a San Francisco cult favorite for its “world famous” turkey sandwich.

Unfortunately, we are also facing a shortage of butter in the weeks ahead.

The USDA is urging consumers not to “panic buy” butter so that there will be enough to go around for everyone…

Butter is another area where the war and cost of dairy products has affected supply, as the price of the condiment and baking ingredient has gone up a dollar per pound since January of this year, per Eater. Fearing a full-blown butter shortage, the USDA has asked consumers not to rush or panic buy, but simply secure what they need at a given time, per Best Life.

Did you ever imagine that we would be talking about a butter shortage in late 2022?

Things just keep getting crazier and crazier.

And if the diesel fuel shortages eventually get as bad as some are projecting, we could soon be facing severe shortages of countless products.

Our ships, our trains and our trucks run on diesel fuel.

So if there is not enough diesel fuel, we are going to have a real problem trying to fill up our stores with enough stuff for everybody.

Even now, supplies of diesel fuel are so tight that one big player in the industry just issued a major alert…

A major fuel supply and logistics company is raising a red flag on upcoming diesel fuel shortages.

Mansfield Energy issued the alert Friday stating there was a developing diesel fuel shortage in the southeastern region of the United States. The company speculated that the shortage could be generated from “poor pipeline shipping economies” and a historically low supply of diesel reserves.

“Poor pipeline shipping economics and historically low diesel inventories are combining to cause shortages in various markets throughout the Southeast,” the company said. “These have been occurring sporadically, with areas like Tennessee seeing particularly acute challenges.”

There are a number of reasons why supplies of diesel fuel have gotten so tight.

But the biggest is the fact that imports from Russia have been totally cut off…

But the primary reason is the cutoff of Russian imports. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. was importing nearly 700,000 barrels per day (BPD) of petroleum and petroleum products. Most of those imports were finished products and refinery inputs that boosted distillate supplies in the U.S.

The loss of those Russian imports have caused problems for refineries as they struggle to fill holes in their product slates. Refineries do have a small amount of flexibility in shifting gasoline production to diesel production. But it’s a relatively small amount (e.g., ~5% in a refinery I once worked in). That also means that if refiners do shift production, that also potentially creates shortages in the gasoline market.

So why don’t we just produce more ourselves?

Well, thanks to our politicians, the number of refineries in the United States has actually been declining in recent years even as our population has grown.

At this point we simply do not have enough refineries, and this is a problem that is not going away any time soon.

In the months ahead, we aren’t going to completely run out of diesel fuel as some people out there are suggesting.

But supplies may get so tight that it could potentially create widespread supply chain nightmares that are quite severe.

Let us hope that such a scenario does not materialize.

Because the American people are already angry enough about the economy.  In fact, a brand new survey has found that it is the number one issue for U.S. voters at this moment…

The Washington Post and ABC gave Americans eight top issues they will be considering when making their decision in a poll that showed likely voters split between the Democrats and Republicans.

The economy was cited by 26 percent of likely voters as one of the most important factors, followed by abortion with 22 percent and inflation and threats to democracy each by 21 percent.

For decades, we have been able to rely on our supply chains to continuously fill our stores with mountains of cheap goods.

But now our supply chains are breaking down.

In fact, our entire economic system is breaking down and most people are completely and utterly unprepared for the difficult times that are coming.

I know that many of you have been patiently waiting for a long time for life to “return to normal”.

Sadly, that isn’t going to happen.  The incredibly bad decisions that our leaders have been making are now catching up with us in a major way, and a great deal of pain is ahead.

*  *  *

It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

Tyler Durden Tue, 11/08/2022 - 16:20

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4 Hot Penny Stocks To Watch With The Stock Market Up Today

Hot penny stocks today. Are they on your watch list this week?
The post 4 Hot Penny Stocks To Watch With The Stock Market Up Today appeared first on Penny…

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October 16, 2023

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Whether you’re trading penny stocks or stocks over $100, it’s hard to miss that the stock market is up today. That’s in stark contrast to last week, when markets appeared to be heading toward another downtrend.

A mix of Israel-Hamas War headlines and an upbeat sentiment heading into earnings season have helped lift stocks so far this week. More than 10% of the S&P 500 companies are set to report financial results this week.

Tesla, Johnson & Johnson, and Netflix are among the headliners. The results come after the start of Q3 earnings season launched on Friday with strong reports from banks like JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Charles Schwab.

This doesn’t mean the Israel-Hamas conflict is entirely out of the news. The weekend saw Israel’s military push residents to leave the northern Gaza region. Military aid packages are being prepared aiming to help Israel fight Hamas. The geopolitical news that rocked markets last week has not had the same impact on the stock market today to start the week.

However, with the slew of earnings and economic data set to come out, traders have remained cautious when developing their longer-term strategy. This hasn’t stopped them from focusing on short-term opportunities with things like finding their own penny stock picks. Today, we look at some of the hot penny stocks to watch with the stock market up on October 16th.

Penny Stocks To Watch

Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE)

Space stocks were once a popular topic, but the trend cooled off significantly with the shift in market sentiment. The latest risk-on environment, however, has brought interest back to companies in the niche. Virgin Galactic most notably has taken an appeal from investors as the company continues launching civilians into space.

– Penny Stocks To Buy Now? 8 To Watch With Unusual Options Action

Earlier this month, the company completed its fifth successful human space mission in the last five months. Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said: “Our teams in New Mexico and California have delivered on our monthly spaceflight objectives. Three new astronauts journeyed to space today and brought back incredible memories and stories of their experience above the Earth. These early missions with our initial ship, VSS Unity, have informed and confirmed the design and maintenance objectives for our Delta class spaceships, and the production tooling for those ships is on track to commence later in the fourth quarter.”

This week, as the market has risen, so have shares of SPCE stock. While it’s a positive for the company following a long stint of selling, Virgin is still hovering around 52-week lows.

JetBlue Airways Inc. (JBLU)

We wrote about JBLU stock (See: Will JetBlue (JBLU) Be On Your List Of Penny Stocks In 2023?) before gracing the penny stock stage and as share prices took a nosedive last quarter. Now, it may seem that some hope for the penny stock to finally take flight. As share prices rebound, options action has picked up. More than 5,800 contracts have traded in the 10/20 $5.50 Calls in the stock market today, which is where the bulk of the action appears.

Last week, JetBlue announced the record and payment dates for October’s prepayment to Spirit stockholders. This is related to the plan of merger with Spirit Airlines. The end of September saw JetBlue announcing it would raise flight attendant pay next year and provide other bonuses, which appealed to the unions. Flight attendants will get 5% raises starting in November. A JetBlue spokesman said, “Because our inflight crewmembers play a significant role in delivering the JetBlue experience, it’s important that we’re able to attract and retain high-quality crewmembers with competitive pay and benefits.”

With this, JBLU stock has slowly clawed back some of its losses over the last month but is still trading significantly lower than in June.

Momentus Inc. (MNTS)

Shares of Momentus are starting to live up to their name over the last week. Shares of MNTS stock have now rallied from $1.03 on October 6 to highs this week of $5.50. One of the catalysts that seems to have helped the second space stock on this list is news of its latest contract.

Momentus announced that it signed a deal for orbital delivery services with C35, a repeat customer of the company. C3S CEO Gyula Horváth said, “This solution allows further optimization of the satellite’s profit-generating phase during its lifespan, complemented well by our platform’s high availability. In this regard, the solution of Momentus can provide great assistance, which we had the opportunity to try in the spring.”

– 3 Top Penny Stocks to Buy According To Insiders In October

The company also inked a deal late last week with RIDE! Space for transportation and orbital delivery services starting in Q1 of 2024.RIDE! Space will fly its Gaindesat and Djibouti payloads on a single mission.

FuboTV ( FUBO)

Pile of pennies and coins in the shape of an upward arrow illustrates the growth potential of penny stocks

Sports entertainment stocks are gaining ground as the latest professional seasons continue. FuboTV is an online pay-TV service offering traditional channels without a cable subscription. The company’s platform also provides a level of interactivity as a sports-first outlet.

It allows viewers to engage with the content they’re watching through features like FanView, which lists stats and scores in real-time. It also allows streaming four separate channels simultaneously and in 4K HDR resolution.

FUBO stock has maintained strong trading levels over the last few months compared to earlier this year. This week, prices hover around the 50-day moving average, $2.42, with the market shaking off most of the concern from last month’s Disney-Charter news. Meanwhile, short interest has attracted attention from some searching for short-squeeze penny stocks. According to TD Ameritrade, the short float percentage on FUBO stock is around 18%.

Thanks to the kick-off of earnings season, there will be plenty to pay attention to. Fubo announced it will deliver its results at the beginning of November. So, if FUBO stock is on your watch list, keep November 3 in mind.

The post 4 Hot Penny Stocks To Watch With The Stock Market Up Today appeared first on Penny Stocks to Buy, Picks, News and Information | PennyStocks.com.

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A low-cost airline just lost its right to fly over budget and safety issues

"This situation arose due to our lack of a contingency plan," an airline representative said.

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October 16, 2023

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Over the last five years, there has been an explosion of newly-launched budget airlines for select markets. In Europe, Iceland's Play and Norway's Norse launched right before and after the pandemic while a new airline called FlyAtlantic is preparing to launch out of Northern Ireland's Belfast in 2025.

Along with longtime players like Spirit  (SAVE) - Get Free Report and Frontier  (FRON) - Get Free Report, there is now a newcomer called Avelo in the U.S. while Asia saw four new low-cost airlines launch out of Thailand alone in 2023.

Related: More Low-Cost Airlines Are Going Transatlantic

But as all these airlines try to carve out a space in a given market, many are also inevitably running into budget, safety and certification issues. In Malaysia, the country's aviation authority temporarily revoked the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) of a new carrier called MYAirline after the airline started running flights to nearby cities in December 2022 and then abruptly stopped all service on Oct. 12.

The MYAirline logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

SOPA Images/Getty Images

'The constraints of time have left us with no alternative,' airline says

"We have worked tirelessly to explore various partnership and capital-raising options to prevent this suspension," the airline's board of directors said in a statement posted to social media. "Unfortunately, the constraints of time have left us with no alternative but to take this decision,” the airline's board of directors said in a statement.

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Abruptly canceling 40 flights within a few days left many travelers stranded at airports across Malaysia. MYAirline had initially planned to expand service both within Malaysia and to nearby countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam by the end of 2023 but talks with partners that would provide the airline with financial backing fell through at the last minute.

While the airline wanted to continue to look for a partnership that would resolve its budget problems and allow it to restart operations, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) suspended MyAirline's AOC for 90 days to investigate the chaos caused by the canceled flights.

In announcing the decision, the government authority said that being able to "provide evidence indicating financial solvency to CAAM" is an integral part of the "airline's safety audit."

Here is what needs to happen for MYAirline to start flying again

The government authority further said that suspending dozens of flights all at once "raises serious concern on public safety and the overall integrity of civil aviation operations in Malaysia."

To regain its AOC, MYAirline will need to pass a new safety audit which includes being able to demonstrate the financial ability to meet its business and expansion plans. According to the Malaysia's aviation authority, no indication that the airline was "in financial distress" was brought up by its leaders during an audit conducted in June 2023.

In response, MYAirline acknowledged the "communication challenges" with CAAM and the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) while also saying that the "abrupt action was taken out of a genuine concern for the safety of our passengers."

"We acknowledge and understand the frustration experienced by our passengers," MYAirline' s Interim Accountable ExecutiveDato' Sri Azharuddin A. Rahman said in a statement. "This situation arose due to our lack of a contingency plan, compounded by a last-minute investor withdrawal."

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Insilico Medicine presents data on AI-designed cancer drugs at 3 major cancer conferences

Clinical stage artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery company Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”) has been invited to present scientific data on its…

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October 16, 2023

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Clinical stage artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery company Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”) has been invited to present scientific data on its novel anti-cancer assets at three major upcoming cancer conferences — the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference in Madrid Oct. 20-24, 2023; the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) conference Nov. 1-5, 2023 in San Diego; and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) Dec. 5-9, 2023. 

Credit: Insilico Medicine

Clinical stage artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery company Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”) has been invited to present scientific data on its novel anti-cancer assets at three major upcoming cancer conferences — the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference in Madrid Oct. 20-24, 2023; the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) conference Nov. 1-5, 2023 in San Diego; and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) Dec. 5-9, 2023. 

Small molecule oncology target inhibitors represent the largest part of Insilico’s therapeutic pipeline portfolio, which includes 31 programs across 29 targets. The Company recently entered into a licensing deal with Exelixis on its potentially best-in-class generative AI-designed USP1 inhibitor for BRCA-mutant tumors for $80m upfront and additional milestone payments and tiered royalties. That drug is currently in a Phase I clinical trial. 

“Using our AI platform, we have been able to advance a number of anti-cancer therapeutics that use new mechanisms to stop tumor growth and cancer progression, including two in clinical stage,” says Sujata Rao, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Insilico Medicine. Dr. Rao has extensive experience in clinical oncology practice and over 15 years in pharma leading global clinical development for cancer drugs. “Driven by a strategy of focusing on novelty, confidence, and commercial tractability, and designed to meet the high unmet medical needs of patients, we have developed a number of promising anti-cancer assets and look forward to presenting to the leading cancer conferences.”

Dr. Rao showcased four of the Company’s novel AI-designed cancer inhibitors at the most recent Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting.

Insilico’s upcoming cancer conference presentations include:

  • ESMO – Oct. 20-24: At ESMO, Insilico will present data on ISM8207, a novel QPCTL inhibitor for triple negative breast cancer and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The small molecule inhibitor, currently being evaluated in a Phase I trial, has demonstrated anti-tumor activity in both hematological tumors and solid tumors in preclinical studies, as well as favorable pharmacokinetics and safety profiles. This molecule is available for licensing partners in the U.S., Europe and Japan. 
  • SITC – Nov. 1-5: At SITC, Insilico will present data on ISM5939, a novel, potent, orally available, selective ENPP1 inhibitor cancer immunotherapy for multiple tumor types that enhances the anti-tumor effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors in syngeneic murine cancer models. It is also being advanced as a possible treatment for Hypophosphatasia.
  • SABCS – Dec. 5-9: At SABCS, Insilico will present data on ISM5043, a novel, selective KAT6 inhibitor for the treatment of advanced ER+/HER2- breast cancer – the most common subtype of breast cancer. Current treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic disease is endocrine therapy in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors but many patients develop resistance to therapy, indicating a huge unmet medical need. 

Insilico is advancing new therapeutics using generative AI via its proprietary end-to-end Pharma.AI platform for identifying novel targets (PandaOmics), designing new drugs (Chemistry42), and predicting the outcomes of clinical trials (InClinico). The platform has produced four drugs that have reached clinical trials, including a lead drug for the devastating chronic lung disease Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), the first AI-discovered and AI-designed drug to advance to Phase II trials with patients. 

“We’re really encouraged by the progress of our diverse pipeline of cancer therapeutics – two of which have progressed into clinical trials,” says Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. “Our AI can be thought of as a ‘Google for targets’ that looks at every single small signal from massive datasets all over the world, including our own robotics data. It gives us signals that the target is working in a specific cancer, it already has demonstrated some efficacy, and it is going to be commercially tractable.” 

Dr. Rao and Insilico’s Chief Business Officer Michelle Chen, PhD, along with other business development professionals, will be in attendance at the upcoming conferences. For any interest in licensing or partnerships, please contact: bd@insilicomedicine.com.

 

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, a global clinical stage biotechnology company powered by generative AI, is connecting biology, chemistry, and clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system diseases, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. www.insilico.com

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