Hello and welcome to Financial Face-off, a MarketWatch column where we help you weigh a financial decision. Our columnist will give her verdict. Tell us whether you think she’s right in the comments. And please share your suggestions for future Financial Face-off columns by emailing our columnist at lal[email protected]. This column usually lays out the…
After six years of flying, U.S.-based flight attendant Allyah McIntyre was used to dealing with difficult passengers. During the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic, dealing with the few passengers who chose to fly was actually a pleasant experience. But as more people began to book airline tickets again, chaos reigned, she said. “The passengers…
The World Health Organization said Monday it is advising people not to use nonsugar sweeteners for weight control, warning that they may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mortality in adults. The agency said a systematic review of the available evidence suggests nonsugar sweeteners do not confer any long-term benefit in…
U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers voted 8-6 Friday to recommend the agency grant accelerated approval to Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy despite questions about its clinical benefit and safety. Should it be approved, the first-of-its-kind potential one-time experimental therapy, called SRP-9001, could radically change how patients with DMD are treated….
Eli Lilly & Co. was on track Friday to close with a greater market capitalization than Johnson & Johnson for the first time since October 1997, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock LLY, +0.13% has been steadily rising since the release of positive data from a trial of a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease…
While a breakthrough doesn’t appear imminent in Washington’s debt-ceiling standoff, there is increasing chatter about what could go into a bipartisan deal that ends the stalemate and avoids a market-shaking default. “The centerpiece of an obvious deal would be a two-year cap on discretionary spending, somewhere in between the president’s 6% proposed increase and the…
GoPro Inc. is reducing prices that were raised earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, after the action-camera company announced that revenue declined nearly 20% in the first three months of the year. GoPro GPRO announced that it will return to prepandemic pricing structures on its lineup of cameras, slicing $50 to $100 off most models. For…
“The expenses are affecting my stress and my financial choices.”
Gilead Sciences Inc. on Thursday cut one of its profit forecasts and reported first-quarter profit that missed expectations, with weaker demand for its COVID-19 drug weighing on results. The company reported first-quarter net income of $985 million, or 80 cents a share, compared with $12 million, or two cents a share, in the same quarter…
Six million among us have full-blown Alzheimer’s disease, including 10% of those over 65 and half of everyone over 80. And many more have other types of dementia, or cognitive impairment typically associated with age. Actor Bruce Willis, a mere 68 years young, is the latest heartbreaking example in the public eye. So when it…
A long-established report card grading air quality around the country has uncovered worrisome takeaways. For one, the American Lung Association, which issues the grades, finds that lung cancer among non-smokers is on the rise, with pollution considered a likely contributor. Second, communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air and the serious pulmonary conditions…
Merck & Co.’s $10.8 billion acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences Inc., which it announced Sunday, is a strategic positive that will help the drug company diversify its portfolio and reduce the risk of an overreliance on its cancer drug Keytruda, analysts said Monday. San Diego, Calif.-based Prometheus RXDX, +69.37% is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on…
Roche Holding AG said Sunday that its tecentriq immunotherapy drug showed further positive results in an advanced study, demonstrating significant improvement in recurrence-free survival in patients. Tecentriq plus Avastin reduced the risk of recurrence of disease by 28% in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma at high risk of recurrence after liver resection or ablation with curative…
A cancer vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc. showed promising results in a key study, reducing the risk of recurrence or death by 44%, the drug makers said Sunday. About 79% of melanoma patients in a 157-person trial who were treated with Moderna’s personalized mRNA-4157 (V940) therapy in combination with Merck’s…
Drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. announced Sunday a deal to acquire Prometheus Biosciences Inc. for $200 a share, or about $10.8 billion. Prometheus is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on autoimmune treatments, such as PRA023, a treatment under development for illnesses such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. “The agreement with Prometheus will accelerate…
April is National Financial Literacy Month. To mark the occasion, MarketWatch will publish a series of “Financial Fitness” articles to help readers improve their fiscal health, and offer advice on how to save, invest and spend their money wisely. Read more here. Millions of Americans file taxes every year in a process that might fill…
Shares of WW International Inc. WW, +47.55%, the parent of Weight Watchers, soared on heavy volume Tuesday after the weight-management and wellness company said the deal to buy the telehealth company doing business as Sequence has been completed. The acquisition of Sequence, which is part of Weekend Health Inc., provides WW with a prescriber of…
The future of cancer treatment — hailed as the “holy grail” of early detection — is now being put to the test. Following a radically successful trial on cancer patients, a new blood test that promises to predict tumors more than a year before they begin to form is now being applied in hospitals across…
Novartis AG said Monday that a trial evaluating breast-cancer drug Kisqali met its primary endpoint during an interim analysis. The drug is shown to significantly reduce the risk of disease recurrence when used together with an endocrine therapy in patients with certain types of early breast cancers at risk of recurrence, the company said. The…
One person dies every 34 seconds in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and this means each of us has to be mindful of our heart health so that we are not one of them. I firmly believe we all need to be mindful of our overall health. Being…