OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – The Canadian government has reached two new preliminary deals to secure millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines being developed by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax.
“Taken together, our vaccine agreements with Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, and Johnson & Johnson will give Canada at least 88 million doses, with options to obtain tens of millions more,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Pfizer and Moderna have already begun Phase 3 clinical trials.
Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau announces two new #COVID19 vaccine deals. One with Novavax and another with Johnson & Johnson. Trudeau says this will give the gov’ the ability to order more than 80-million doses when a vaccine is developed, and options for more #Cdnpolipic.twitter.com/J1YSEYo72N
The tentative agreement with Novovax will see up to 76 million doses of that company’s vaccine be procured by Canada, the biotech firm says in a release. The company says the two sides are expected to “finalize an advance purchase agreement” that will see Novavax start supplying doses of its vaccine candidate to Canada “beginning as early as the second quarter of 2021.”
The vaccine is currently being tested and is one of dozens around the globe in varying stages of human trials.
#Breaking Novavax Inc. of Maryland announces contract with the Gov’t of Canada to provide up to 76 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine aiming for Q2 2021. Novavax vaccine is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials. Subject to Health Canada approvals.
“In preclinical trials, NVX-CoV2373 demonstrated indication of antibodies that block binding of spike protein to receptors targeted by the virus, a critical aspect for effective vaccine protection,” Novavax says of its candidate. “In its Phase 1 data of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial, NVX-CoV2373 was generally well-tolerated and elicited robust antibody responses numerically superior to that seen in human convalescent sera.”
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The company’s candidate began Phase 2 testing in August.
“We are moving forward with clinical development of NVX-CoV2373 with a strong sense of urgency in our quest to deliver a vaccine to protect the world,” Stanley C. Erck, president and CEO of Novavax, says in a release.
Millions of dollars to expand production in Canada
Trudeau has said the vaccines all show promising results.
“In the weeks and months ahead, our government will continue to take the steps needed to make sure Canada gets a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible,” the prime minister said. “Once a vaccine is proven to work, we’ll also need to be able to produce and distribute it here at home.”
In order to ensure Canada is prepared for manufacturing, Trudeau announced a more than $126 million investment to expand the biomanufacturing facility at the National Research Council in Montreal.
“This funding will increase this facility’s ability to manufacture vaccines and will strengthen the NRC’s partnerships with vaccine developers,” Trudeau explained.
The facility is expected to be “up and running” by mid-2021, Trudeau added.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
