Stem Cell Clinic

Insights on the Global Stem Cell Therapy Market 2020-2024: COVID-19 Analysis, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Threats – Technavio – Yahoo…

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(Bloomberg) -- Guy Fieris Times Square restaurant, where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump partied in late 2016 before heading to Washington, is gone. The office tower at 666 Fifth Ave., once the headquarters of the Kushner familys real estate empire, has been sold. So too has a stake in a project in the trendy Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn.New York looks a lot different now than it did before Jared Kushner left town to take a job as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump. Kushner Cos., the company where he was chief executive officer, has pulled back from the city, winnowing almost a decades worth of investments in a few years. Instead, it has relocated its ambitions to apartment complexes in New Jersey and Florida.It isnt clear if Kushner will return to an active role in the company after four years in the White House, or even if hell go back to New York. The changes made in his absence by his father Charles Kushner and company president Laurent Morali come after a decade-long push into the city, most of it when Jared Kushner was CEO. Although there were successes, some of the biggest deals foundered. High purchase prices, excessive borrowing and unrealistic expectations were followed by declining valuations and debt renegotiations.Kushner Cos. didnt respond to questions about whether Jared Kushner would rejoin the company or about the change in strategy. But Christopher Smith, its top lawyer, pointed in an email to a number of profitable transactions, including investments in Lower Manhattan and the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. He said other buildings had gained in value.During the Trump years Kushner Cos. chased investors from China, Qatar and Israel as Jared Kushner was helping shape foreign policy. He stepped down from his role at the company and transferred some of his assets to family members, but the structure of the divestments wasnt clear, exacerbating ethics concerns.At the same time, the company purchased apartment buildings in the suburbs of New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia, markets that are now booming as people flee cities during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is also looking to break into new territory: multifamily projects in South Florida.Some of the transactions that brought the company to this point have been painful. The 2018 sale of 666 Fifth Ave. was necessary to pay off a loan incurred in 2007, at the peak of the market, when Kushner Cos. purchased the office tower for a then-record $1.8 billion. Jared Kushner didnt become CEO until the following year, but he was involved in the negotiations and touted the purchase in a news release as having great upside potential.Saying goodbye to the property a 99-year lease on the office space was sold to Brookfield Asset Management Inc. for $1.3 billion was a comedown from plans to demolish the building and replace it with an even taller skyscraper in partnership with Chinas Anbang Insurance Group, an option weighed by the company during Kushners first months in the White House.A few blocks away theres the Times Square retail property six floors of the building that once housed the New York Times. Kushner Cos. bought the space in 2015, and a year later raised $370 million of debt based on an appraisal price of $470 million, a 59% increase over what it had paid.Now it looks as though the financial assumptions underpinning that valuation were a mirage. To fill the building, Kushner Cos. turned to tenants whose need for space was great but whose assessment of demand for experiential attractions turned out to be misguided. There was an exhibit featuring digital dolphins, and another with detailed miniatures of world monuments.By the end of last year, Guys American Kitchen & Bar was closed, a planned food hall never opened, a third tenant went bankrupt and a fourth wasnt paying full rent. Kushner Cos. defaulted on $85 million of its debt there last December, and an August appraisal put the propertys value at $92.5 million, lender records show, about a 70% drop from the purchase price.The former New York Times building was really a retail disaster, said Joshua Stein, a New York-based real estate attorney. One concept after another failed.Kushner Cos. also sold a less than 5% stake in the Watchtower complex in Brooklyns Dumbo neighborhood, acquired from the Jehovahs Witnesses in 2016. Jared Kushner, whose father-in-law was running for president at the time, trumpeted plans to convert the buildings into stores and loft office spaces. Kushners father decided to refocus elsewhere.The list of New York sales since January 2017 includes two other Brooklyn development sites and apartments in Queens. The company hasnt announced any major acquisitions in the city since then.Some New York deals that originated during Jared Kushners tenure have been successful. Three properties were sold for a combined gross profit of $239 million, according to data provided by Smith, the companys lawyer. But thats more than offset by about $200 million in operating losses at 666 Fifth Ave. after debt payments, figures provided by lenders to investors show, and a $200 million drop in value for the Times Square space.New York isnt the only big city where Kushner Cos. is retrenching. The company has been in talks to offload its only Chicago office property, a 31-story tower originally built for AT&T Inc., for $188 million, a 32% discount from the 2007 purchase price and barely enough to cover the propertys mortgage.Investments in other markets have been ample. In 2019, the company made its biggest purchase in more than a decade, spending more than $1 billion on 6,000 apartments in the Baltimore and Washington suburbs. Two years earlier, it had teamed up with Israels largest asset manager to purchase 1,000 apartments in Plainsboro, New Jersey.The companys return to its suburban roots might seem a surprising denouement, at least to those who thought Jared Kushners public role might facilitate private deal-making. But working for Trump often proved more awkward than lucrative.Kushners rising star attracted interest from investors who hadnt done business with his familys company. It also drew public scrutiny when his sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, mentioned her brothers White House role while pitching investors in China on a project in Jersey City, New Jersey. The company later apologized to anyone who interpreted her remarks as an attempt to lure investors.Anbang, which made real estate purchases across the U.S. prior to Trumps China-bashing ascent to the White House, walked away from 666 Fifth Ave. soon after Bloomberg News reported details of a proposed deal with Kushner Cos. in early 2017 that would have provided a $4 billion construction loan and a $400 million payout to the Kushners. Chinese authorities seized Anbang the following year and imprisoned its chairman on unrelated fraud and embezzlement charges.Qatari royals also weighed an investment in 666 Fifth Ave. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Jared Kushner and his father had talked with Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, whod previously served as Qatars prime minister and head of its sovereign-wealth fund, about investing in the tower. The deal would have included $500 million from the sheikhs investment firm, contingent on finding other investors. Talks stalled after simultaneous negotiations with Anbang fell apart.One Kushner Cos. business partner who asked not to be identified discussing the closely held business said Jared Kushners work as Trumps emissary to Israel and the Middle East introduced him to a new set of wealthy investors who could become partners once he returns to the private sector.Last week, on what may be his last trip to the region, Jared Kushner worked to bridge the divide between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which had worsened after Saudi Arabia launched a blockade of its neighbor that Trump backed. A spokesman for the White House declined to comment.The company also is positioned to benefit from Trumps 2017 tax law, which created incentives to invest in low-income neighborhoods designated as opportunity zones. One Florida development is in such an area, which allows investors to defer taxes on capital gains reinvested there. Kushner Cos. is expanding properties in zones in the New Jersey beach town of Long Branch. It has declined to say whether its taking advantage of the tax breaks, and no public disclosures are required.Whether he does come back to the family real estate business, Jared Kushner still owns a stake in Cadre, the startup he cofounded that sells fractional shares of investments in property deals. Cadre arranged to buy him out last year, but the deal was shelved after the pandemic hit, and the company has reduced staff and made other cutbacks. A spokesman for Cadre didnt provide comment.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Insights on the Global Stem Cell Therapy Market 2020-2024: COVID-19 Analysis, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Threats - Technavio - Yahoo...

Better education needed to give patients improved understanding of gene therapies, new review highlights – University of Birmingham

Skip to main content Older, male patients with more severe underlying conditions and a greater risk of death tended to be more accepting of new approaches such as stem cell research

A new review of research bringing together patient, carer and public views of cell and gene therapies has highlighted a need for appropriate education to better inform people including how clinical trials work and the risks and benefits of various treatments.

Over the last decade, new cell, gene and tissue-engineered therapies have been developed to treat various cancers, inherited diseases and some chronic conditions. They offer opportunities for the treatment of disease and injury, to restore function, and in some cases offer cures. In response the NHS Advanced Therapies Treatment Centres (ATTCs) were set up to bring together the health service, academia and industry to address the unique and complex challenges of bringing these therapies to patients.

Led by experts from the Centre for Patient Reported Outcome Research (CPROR) at the University of Birmingham and the Midlands and Wales ATTC (MW-ATTC), the review, funded by a MW-ATTC grant from UK Research and Innovation is the first of its kind and the first to consider both patient and public opinions of cell and gene therapies. Examining 35 studies, the majority of which were published between 2015 and 2020, analysis showed that a lack of understanding of the aims of clinical trials and overestimation of the potential benefits of cell and gene therapy were common among both patients and the general public. Patients were generally of the opinion that more information about participating in clinical trials is vital to enable them to make informed assessment of potential risks and benefits.

Older, male patients with more severe underlying conditions and a greater risk of death tended to be more accepting of new approaches such as stem cell research and generally, while views of therapies varied among patients, the provision of adequate information increased acceptance.

Interestingly the review also found that patients considered their clinicians to be the most trustworthy source of information which would suggest that patients would approach and discuss these treatments with their physicians. However, researchers found that this might not always be the case due to a number of reasons including the perception that clinicians do not always approve of cell and gene therapies and may try to discourage them from pursuing treatment and may not have enough knowledge of the field to provide adequate advice.

Lead author Dr Olalekan Lee Aiyegbusi, Co-Deputy Director of the Centre for Patient Reported Outcomes Research (CPROR) said: The findings from this research are intended to inform the patient engagement work of the ATTCs. We hope that by highlighting various issues, efforts will be made to correct misconceptions, and improve the awareness of patients and the public about the potential benefits and risks associated with cell and gene therapies.

It is important that the public and patients are aware of these therapies, understand the issues involved, and can contribute to the ongoing debates. A high level of awareness will also enhance patients ability to make informed decisions about participating in clinical trials and routine administration of cell and gene therapies.

The full paper Patient and public perspectives on cell and gene therapies: a systematic review was published today (Tuesday 8 December 2020) in Nature Communications.

ENDS

For more information please contact Sophie Belcher, Communications Manager, University of Birmingham, on +44 7815607157. Alternatively, contact the Press Office out of hours on +44 (0)7789 921165.

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20096-1.Full paper: http://www.nature.com/ncomms

The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the worlds top 100 institutions, and its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 6,500 international students from nearly 150 countries.

About the Midlands and Wales ATTC (MW-ATTC)

The 9M Midlands and Wales Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre (MW-ATTC) is one of three national Innovate UK funded centres whose goal is to accelerate the delivery of advanced therapies.

It is a regional network spanning the Midlands & Wales comprising a large consortium of industry, healthcare and university partners with expertise in advanced therapy manufacturing including academic and commercial partners, logistics companies, specialists in clinical trial delivery and teams focussed on IT logistics solutions and health economics.

The aim of the MW-ATTC is to enable UK advanced therapy companies to reach the clinical market, whilst simultaneously building clinical capacity regionally to deliver these breakthrough therapies to patients.

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Better education needed to give patients improved understanding of gene therapies, new review highlights - University of Birmingham

Extended Virus Shedding After COVID in Some Patients With Cancer – Medscape

Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center.

Patients who are profoundly immunosuppressed after extensive cancer treatment, and who fall ill with COVID-19, can shed viable SARS-CoV-2 virus for at least 2 months after symptom onset, and may need extended periods of isolation.

Live-virus shedding was detected in 18 patients who had undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplants or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and in 2 patients with lymphoma.

The finding was reported December 1 in a research letter in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Individuals who are otherwise healthy when they get COVID-19 are "no longer infectious after the first week of illness," commented lead author Mini Kamboj, MD, chief medical epidemiologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City.

"We need to keep an open mind about how [much] longer immunocompromised patients could pose an infection risk to others," she added.

Kamboj told Medscape Medical News that her team's previous experience with stem cell transplant recipients had suggested that severely immunocompromised patients shed other viruses (such as respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza, and influenza) for longer periods of time than healthy controls.

Based on their latest findings, investigators suggest that current guidelines for COVID-19 isolation precautions may need to be revised for immunocompromised patients. Even if only a small proportion of patients with cancer who have COVID-19 remain contagious for prolonged periods of time, "it's a residual risk that we need to address," Kamboj said.

Kamboj also suggested that physicians follow test-based criteria to determine when a patient undergoing transplant can be released from isolation.

For this study, the investigators used cell cultures to detect viable virus in serially collected nasopharyngeal and sputum samples from 20 immunocompromised patients who had COVID-19 (diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 10 and April 20).

Of these 20 patients, 15 were receiving active treatment or chemotherapy. Eleven out of the group developed severe COVID-19 infection.

In total, 78 respiratory samples were collected. "Viral RNA was detected for up to 78 days after the onset of symptoms," researchers report, "[and] viable virus was detected in 10 of 14 nasopharyngeal samples (71%) that were available from the first day of laboratory testing."

Five patients were followed up, and from these patients, the team grew virus in culture for up to 61 days after symptom onset. Two among this small group of 5 patients had received allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and one patient had been treated with CAR T-cell therapy within the previous 6 months. Interestingly, this patient remained seronegative for antibodies to the coronavirus.

For 11 patients, the team obtained serial sample genomes, and found that "each patient was infected by a distinct virus and there were no major changes in the consensus sequences of the original serial specimens or cultured isolates." These findings were consistent with persistent infection, they note.

The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

N Engl J Med. Published online December 1, 2020. Research letter

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Extended Virus Shedding After COVID in Some Patients With Cancer - Medscape