United Kingdom

Nscale, the London-based AI data center developer backed by Nvidia and Microsoft, filed publicly for an initial public offering in New York, seeking to raise as much as $3 billion. The company reported a net loss of $1.02 billion on revenue of $140.6 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $368.9 million on revenue of $10.4 million a year earlier, according to its Friday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Spun off from a cryptocurrency mining operation in early 2024, Nscale was valued at about $14.6 billion in a March Series C round led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries, with Nvidia and Nokia Oyj also participating. The company has agreed to add more than 30,000 Nvidia chips to an existing rental agreement with Microsoft at its Narvik, Norway gigafactory, and Anthropic has agreed to spend $45 billion to rent AI cloud computing power from its flagship West Virginia data center development. The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, with shares expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NSCL.

Nvidia, Google and Emerald AI have launched the AI Energy Management Alliance, or AEMA, a coalition that dynamically manages the electricity use of data centers in response to grid conditions. Emerald AI founder and CEO Varun Sivaram said the alliance's founding members are joined by a cohort of 20 launch partners, including the AI lab Anthropic, the semiconductor firm Analog Devices, and the energy companies AES, NRG, Constellation, RWE and National Grid. Sivaram said Emerald AI, which was founded under two years ago, is building with Nvidia and Digital Realty the world's first from-the-ground-up power-flexible AI data center, a 100 megawatt facility in Manassas, Virginia, that comes online later this year. He said Google, one of the founding members, has already done a gigawatt of demand response for its data centers, while Emerald and Nvidia have completed six demonstrations around the world, in London, Phoenix and Virginia. Sivaram said the alliance is talking to the FERC commissioners, state regulators and the administration about a grand bargain in which flexible AI data centers act as good citizens to grids and communities in return for faster and larger connections to the power grid.

AstraZeneca said the FDA accepted its regulatory filing for the investigational enzyme replacement therapy efzimfotase alfa in patients aged two years and older with hypophosphatasia, or HPP, and granted the application priority review, shortening the review period by four months, with a final decision expected during the first half of 2027. The filing is supported by data from three phase III studies: MULBERRY met its primary endpoint in treatment-naive children aged two to less than 12 years old, showing a significant improvement in bone health, and CHESTNUT showed that patients switching from Strensiq could maintain the benefits of treatment, while HICKORY did not meet its primary endpoint in treatment-naive individuals aged 12 years and older, though AstraZeneca reported a numerical improvement, particularly in patients with pediatric-onset disease. The company said efzimfotase alfa was generally well-tolerated with an acceptable safety profile across the three studies. The commercial angle rests on Strensiq, the established HPP treatment AstraZeneca gained through its 2021 acquisition of Alexion, which was approved by the FDA in 2015 as the first bone-targeted enzyme replacement therapy for HPP and generated $1.05 billion in sales in the first half of 2026, up 41% year over year. Efzimfotase alfa is designed to require lower injection volumes and substantially less frequent dosing, once every two weeks, compared with Strensiq's three- or six-times-weekly regimen. Elsewhere in the space, BioMarin Pharmaceutical entered HPP through its acquisition of Alesta Therapeutics, completed earlier this month, paying $275 million upfront with up to $215 million in additional milestone payments for ALE1, an oral small-molecule therapy in a phase I/IIa study, while Recursion Pharmaceuticals is developing the oral ENPP1 inhibitor REC-102, formerly REV102, which remains in IND-enabling studies with a data-driven decision on a phase I study expected before the end of this year.

Nebius Group shares jumped nearly 9% in Thursday premarket trading after the AI cloud provider reportedly raised prices across several compute services, a signal that demand for scarce GPU capacity remains strong. According to a customer communication circulated online, Nebius plans to increase prices for several on-demand GPU offerings beginning October 1, covering Nvidia's H100, H200, B200 and B300 accelerators. The reported increases extend beyond GPUs: prices for AMD EPYC Genoa CPU compute are expected to rise 25% to $0.015 per vCPU-hour from $0.012, while memory pricing tied to Genoa systems is reportedly increasing about 41% to $0.0045 per GiB-hour from $0.0032. Nebius has not publicly confirmed the pricing changes and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The market reaction spread beyond Nebius, with IREN shares rising about 5.1% in premarket trading and CoreWeave gaining roughly 6.1%, suggesting investors read the reported increases as a positive signal for the wider neocloud industry.

Pan African Resources PLC reported record gold production of just under 275,000 ounces for its 2026 fiscal year, up about 40% year-on-year, with a second-half annualized run-rate near 290,000 ounces. Revenue rose 114% to $1.1 billion, adjusted EBITDA climbed 169%, and headline earnings surged 207% to $358 million, or $0.1764 per share, as the average US dollar gold price received rose 55% and the group remained unhedged throughout the year. The company ended the year debt-free with $246 million in cash and short-term investments and $79 million in undrawn facilities, after repaying $149 million including $119 million voluntarily. The board proposed a record final dividend of ZAR0.65 per share plus a maiden interim dividend of ZAR0.12, for a total of ZAR0.77 per share, up 108% and worth roughly $113 million, and approved a share buyback of up to ZAR500 million, about $30 million, commencing October 2026. For FY27, the company guided production to 280,000 to just over 300,000 ounces, skewed to the second half, with group capital spending of approximately $330 million.

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo reported DESTINY-Lung04 Phase III results showing ENHERTU delayed disease progression in HER2-mutant advanced NSCLC versus standard therapy, with 14.3 months median progression free survival and a 37% risk reduction versus pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. Long-term follow-up data for TAGRISSO indicated eight-year survival benefits in early-stage EGFR-mutated lung cancer patients already on treatment protocols. Tozorakimab emerged as the first biologic to show efficacy in reducing exacerbations across a broad chronic obstructive pulmonary disease population in late-stage trials, with a 29% to 34% exacerbation reduction. Management has pointed to more than US$10b in potential peak risk adjusted revenue from new drugs, and investors will focus on US and EU COPD approval decisions ahead of the first quarter of 2027 Prescription Drug User Fee Act date. The article was produced by Simply Wall St.

Standard Chartered Bank announced its success as Joint Sustainability Structuring Bank, Joint Bookrunner and Joint Lead Arranger for the issuance and offering of a 15-year 8-month sustainability-linked bond, or SLB, worth 25 billion baht under its updated sustainable financing framework. The offering drew strong demand from investors, with total orders exceeding 36.3 billion baht, or 1.45 times the offering size. The SLB425A bond is issued in baht in the domestic market and is linked to two sustainability indicators: reducing Thailand's net greenhouse gas emissions to 152 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035, or a 47 percent reduction from 2019 levels, and increasing protected land and inland freshwater areas, including biodiversity conservation areas outside protected zones, to cover no less than 30 percent of Thailand's total land area by 2030. This marks the first time a public-sector debt issuer in Asia has included a biodiversity target in its financing framework. The transaction ranks as the second-largest public-sector SLB in Asia, after Thailand's first public-sector SLB, and the fourth-largest in the world. Jindarat Viriyataveekul, Director-General of the Public Debt Management Office, said the bond will bring measurable sustainability goals into public debt management and serve as a new reference rate for Thai government bonds. Charles Corbett, Head of Sovereign and Public Sector Clients at Standard Chartered Bank, said the issuance helps strengthen the integration of sustainability dimensions into the country's core financing strategy. Rahul Sheth, Managing Director of Debt Markets and Head of Sustainable Bonds at Standard Chartered Bank, said the transaction aligns with Thailand's latest NDC 3.0 targets and supports the path toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The issuance builds on Thailand's first SLB, which was the first public-sector SLB in Asia and the third in the world. That pioneering transaction, supported by Standard Chartered, raised more than 230 billion baht in local currency through multiple additional auctions.

Barratt Redrow reported fiscal 2026 revenue of more than GBP6 billion, driven by higher home completions and a higher average selling price, with adjusted operating profit of GBP598.1 million slightly ahead of last year. Home completions rose 5% to 17,667, while adjusted profit before tax fell to GBP572.8 million on higher net interest costs and lower joint venture profits, and adjusted gross margin slipped to 15.3% with adjusted gross profit of GBP926.6 million. The company confirmed all GBP100 million of Redrow cost synergies in the second half, delivering a GBP73 million profit and loss benefit in FY26 and an expected annual contribution of approximately GBP95 million in FY27. Barratt Redrow ended the year with a net surplus position of GBP61.4 million, versus net indebtedness of GBP37 million a year earlier, and guided to FY27 completions of between 17,500 and 17,900, a year-end cash position of GBP400 million to GBP500 million, and a total capital return of GBP400 million including a GBP386 million share buyback plus an additional buyback of at least GBP100 million. Build cost inflation was 2% underlying for the year and is guided at 3% to 4% for the year ahead, while the land bank stands at 5.2 years of supply and the embedded gross margin fell 160 basis points to 17.3% from 18.9% at the end of December.

AstraZeneca PLC released full results from two successful late-stage trials of tozorakimab, an experimental chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drug that reduced moderate and severe flare-ups by roughly 30% across a broad patient population. The two trials showed reductions in moderate-to-severe COPD exacerbations of 29% to 34%, with the highest-eosinophil subgroup seeing a 43% reduction, and benefits appearing regardless of eosinophil levels, smoking status, or disease severity. The biologic, which blocks the inflammatory protein IL-33, is under priority review at the FDA with a decision expected in the first quarter of 2027, and AstraZeneca forecasts more than $5 billion in peak annual sales, an estimate CEO Pascal Soriot said the drug's commercial potential could exceed. AstraZeneca believes tozorakimab could reach a broader group of COPD patients than existing biologics such as Regeneron and Sanofi's Dupixent and GSK's Nucala, which only target those with high eosinophil counts. The company's oncology and respiratory portfolio made $14.1 billion in first-half 2026 revenue, up 15% year over year, as AstraZeneca targets $80 billion in annual revenue by 2030, though the drug still needs FDA approval and faces patent-expiry pressure on established products including Farxiga and Brilinta.

London stocks closed higher on Thursday, September 17, with the FTSE 100 ending at 10,816.14 points, up 127.67 points, or 1.19%, hitting its highest level in more than a week. The gain came after the Bank of England voted 6 to 3 to keep interest rates at 3.75%, in line with market expectations, and announced it would suspend sales of UK government bonds for six months and halt long-dated bond sales altogether. The move followed a global bond selloff just days earlier that pushed the UK's 30-year borrowing cost to 5.96%, its highest since 1998. BoE Governor Andrew Bailey warned that prolonged conflict in the Middle East could make tighter monetary policy necessary. Data from LSEG showed investors had already priced in at least a 0.25% rate hike from the BoE this year. Rate-sensitive bank shares rose 1.6%, with HSBC and Standard Chartered leading the market with gains of 2% and 2.2% respectively. AstraZeneca rose about 2.4% after Chinese authorities said they would invest nearly 200 million yuan, or 29.81 million dollars, to upgrade its manufacturing base and supply chain in the city of Wuxi. Bytes Technology surged 12% after stronger-than-expected first-half results and an upgrade to its full-year gross profit growth forecast.

Onco360 has been selected by AstraZeneca as a national pharmacy partner for Etcamah, also known as camizestrant, the company announced. The therapy is indicated for adult patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer upon detection of an ESR1 mutation during aromatase inhibitor and CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy, based on an FDA-authorized test. Etcamah is an estrogen receptor antagonist that binds to the ligand-binding domain of ERα, antagonizing both wild-type and mutated ESR1 and inducing proteasome-dependent degradation of ERα without agonizing it. Its approval was based on the phase 3 SERENA-6 study, in which Etcamah plus a CDK4/6 inhibitor reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 56% versus an aromatase inhibitor plus a CDK4/6 inhibitor, with median PFS of 16 months versus 9.2 months and a hazard ratio of 0.44. The most common adverse reactions, occurring in at least 20% of patients, included decreased neutrophils, leukocytes, hemoglobin, lymphocytes and platelets, along with visual disturbances and fatigue.

AstraZeneca secured a major access win for Enhertu in England after the NHS reversed an earlier cost-effectiveness rejection, Reuters reported Thursday. Roughly 1,000 women a year could now become eligible for Enhertu to treat HER2-low metastatic breast cancer. The drug carries a published British price of 1,455 per 100-milligram vial, but AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo and NICE did not disclose the economics of the reimbursement agreement. Earlier clinical evidence showed the therapy extending survival by around six months for some patients, giving the NHS a meaningful clinical case to reconsider access. The decision could also help expand access in Wales and Northern Ireland, widening Enhertu's commercial reach across the U.K., though the confidential discount, treatment duration and patient persistence will ultimately determine how much of the expanded access flows through to AstraZeneca's bottom line.

Banco Santander announced a US$800 million investment plan in Chile focused on technology and operational efficiency. The programme targets upgrades across Santander Chile's digital platforms and branch infrastructure, according to the bank's latest communication. Santander is also pursuing major risk transfer deals tied to corporate loan portfolios across several markets, with five risk transfer transactions whose formal closing and disclosed terms investors can watch for, including portfolio sizes and retained exposures. The Chile investment plan and new risk transfer deals reshape how Santander allocates capital and manages credit exposure, reinforcing the group's digital transformation and tighter risk management push. The trade off is higher upfront spend and complexity during a period when loan quality and regulatory pressures are already live concerns.

Shell warned that the global energy market is running through its remaining cushions after losing roughly 36 million metric tons of LNG and 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil and condensates since the Middle East conflict began. The company's chief economist said weaker Chinese demand, inventory drawdowns, flexible shipping, spare pipeline capacity and rising production from the Americas helped soften the first wave of disruption, but that protection is thinning. Even if key energy routes reopen, damaged infrastructure and supply-chain bottlenecks could keep the market tight well into 2027, while Europe heads toward winter with unusually low gas inventories. Shell's LNG portfolio, shipping reach and global trading network could gain strategic value in that environment, though high prices cut both ways, as Asian buyers have already shifted toward coal, nuclear power and domestic gas. Shell's U.S. shares were nearly flat at $95.51, a 15.21% premium to a GF Value estimate of $82.90.

NEXT plc reported higher first-half sales and profit, led by international online growth and its owned brands, and said it would raise its interim dividend 12.6% to 98 pence per share. Total group sales rose 9% and full-price sales climbed 7.7%, beating the company's prior expectation of 4% growth, while profit increased 10.5% and margins improved by 0.3 percentage points. International full-price sales grew 24%, with Europe contributing nearly £100 million of the £133 million increase in overseas full-price sales, and sales of NEXT's wholly owned brands and licences rose 33.5% in the U.K. and 82% internationally. Chief Executive Simon Wolfson said the retailer had become more cautious on the U.K. consumer outlook for the second half, cutting its second-half U.K. sales expectations on anticipated pressure from fuel and other inflation, but NEXT maintained full-year guidance for 6.7% sales growth and profit before tax of about £1.255 billion, up 8.4%. First-half share buybacks totaled £355 million, and NEXT expects roughly £500 million to be available for shareholder distributions during the full year after capital expenditure and ordinary dividends, which Wolfson said could take the form of a special dividend, further buybacks or another capital return.

Spanish automotive supplier Gestamp anticipates India will become one of its five largest markets worldwide within five to six years, driven by expanded manufacturing, R&D and technology investment. Executive chairman Francisco J Riberas told ETAuto that Gestamp's India revenue, about €240m ($275.4m) last year against global sales of around €11bn, could double over the next five years after rising roughly 80% in the past five, subject to winning new customer contracts. The company is investing Rs5.24bn ($54.6m) in a new plant in Gujarat, initially planned around one hot-stamping line but enlarged to a second phase after customer orders were received; the facility will house two hot-stamping lines plus laser and assembly operations, focusing on structural parts such as door rings for regional vehicle manufacturers. The Gujarat plant adds to Gestamp's existing Indian operations, a chassis parts factory in Pune and a joint venture with Aditya Auto Products in Maharashtra producing hinges, checks and latches. Riberas said Gestamp is also looking at partnerships and acquisitions as supplier consolidation remains a possibility, has secured several EV contracts in India including battery box supply under a powertrain-neutral strategy, and expects pure EVs to account for around 10% of India's vehicle output over the next five years.

National Energy Services Reunited Corp. is participating in Middle East tenders totaling roughly $3-$4 billion, including several large multiyear opportunities, as it aims to accelerate its 3B3 strategy targeting a $3-billion revenue run rate within three years. Management said the contracts often run for five, seven or even nine years, supporting backlog growth and longer-term revenue visibility, and believes stronger contract wins can accelerate that timeline. NESR has maintained uninterrupted service through the ongoing Middle East conflict, which has disrupted energy activity across the region with project shutdowns in Iraq and LNG interruptions in Qatar, and its operating track record has qualified it to bid on larger contract lots previously dominated by bigger service providers. The company has emerged as the region's largest hydraulic-fracturing company while building scale across several production and completion service lines. Other providers stand to benefit from a recovery in Middle East energy spending, with SLB N.V. citing stronger customer engagement around well intervention, shut-in well recovery and infill drilling in markets such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and Baker Hughes Company highlighting major awards for electric motor-driven compression trains tied to a large offshore Middle East field and Aramco's Uthmaniyah gas development. NESR shares have gained 198.8% over the past year compared with the industry's 66.5% growth, and the stock trades at a trailing 12-month EV/EBITDA of 10.33X versus the industry average of 9.09X.

The FDA granted accelerated approval to AstraZeneca's camizestrant, sold as Etcamah, for a genetically driven form of metastatic breast cancer, Bloomberg reported on September 5, 2026, despite an FDA advisory panel voting in April that the drug lacked patient benefit. The approval covers use alongside a CDK4/6 inhibitor for patients with an ESR1 gene mutation, based on a Phase III trial showing the combination cut the risk of disease progression or death by 56% compared with standard treatment. Median progression-free survival reached 16 months versus 9.2 months with standard treatment. Etcamah is already approved in more than 30 countries and is projected to make over $5 billion in peak annual sales. The accelerated approval requires AstraZeneca to complete confirmatory studies, and the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 6-3 against the drug's risk-benefit profile in April, with several members questioning the trial design and whether the treatment would provide long-term benefit.

Norwegian oil company DNO has agreed revised terms for its proposed takeover of UK-listed Capricorn Energy, raising its offer to $5.214 in cash per share and valuing the company at $396m, or £294m. Capricorn's directors intend to unanimously recommend that shareholders support the deal. The revised proposal replaces an earlier structure that offered $4.224 in cash per share plus a proposed special dividend of $0.99, with shareholders now receiving the full acquisition value directly in cash from DNO's Bidco subsidiary; the companies said the new arrangement provides greater certainty of value because it does not depend on Capricorn declaring and paying the proposed dividend before the transaction becomes effective, and Capricorn's board no longer expects to declare and pay a dividend equivalent to that amount. The revised cash consideration is equivalent to £3.88 per share, a premium of roughly 46% to Capricorn's closing share price of £2.66 on 10 March 2026, the day before the offer period began, and 61% above the company's three-month volume-weighted average price of £2.41. DNO's proposal increases the implied value of Capricorn by around $36m compared with the acquisition value under the earlier offer from Genel Energy on a constant-currency basis, an increase of $0.474 per Capricorn share and a premium of around 10% to the value of the Genel proposal; Capricorn had agreed to DNO's original proposal earlier this month, leading Genel to withdraw from the takeover process. Bidco plans to fund the cash consideration and associated fees from existing cash resources, and its financial adviser Lambert Energy has said sufficient funds are available to meet the revised offer. The scheme document is expected to be published by 29 September 2026, and the transaction, which remains subject to conditions, is expected to become effective during the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, with shareholders able to elect to receive the cash consideration in sterling subject to exchange rate movements and any applicable transaction costs.

Revolut is plotting a dual stock market listing in London and New York, its founder Nik Storonsky said on Thursday, marking the first time the digital bank has considered the London Stock Exchange. The company, valued at $115bn (£85bn), would list on both the LSE and the Nasdaq, with Mr Storonsky saying he still wants a Wall Street presence "because it's a larger market." A London float of Revolut would make it one of Britain's largest listed companies, putting it on a par with FTSE 100 giants including Barclays, BP and GSK, and would be a major boost for the UK market, which has been hit by an exodus of companies and a drought of new listings. Mr Storonsky has previously dismissed a London float as "not rational" because of the 0.5pc stamp duty charged on share purchases, and earlier this year he said any listing of Revolut would only happen by 2028 at the earliest. A source close to Revolut said a float would be subject to market conditions.

Innate Pharma said its first-half 2026 developments included closing a strategic partnership with Sobi for lacutamab, completing dose-escalation enrollment for IPH4502, and completing enrollment in the PACIFIC-9 phase III study of monalizumab. Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Dickinson said the Sobi transaction became effective on closing and included a $75 million upfront payment, which combined with a €30 million equity financing is expected to extend the company's projected cash runway through the end of the first quarter of 2028. The Sobi agreement also carries up to $40 million in near-term Sézary syndrome milestones, up to an additional $465 million tied to development-rights options and future regulatory and commercial milestones, and tiered double-digit royalties on future net sales. Innate has initiated the TELLOMAK-3 confirmatory phase III trial of lacutamab in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, with the first patient expected in the first quarter of 2027, and plans to seek accelerated approval in Sézary syndrome in the second half of 2027. The company expects key clinical updates in the second half of 2026, including a PACIFIC-9 phase III readout for monalizumab and initial phase I data for IPH4502, an antibody-drug conjugate that has shown preliminary responses in several heavily pretreated solid-tumor populations.

Amundi has acquired a 9.9% economic interest in alternatives asset manager ICG in a deal worth about €620m, or $711.4m, following the long-term strategic and equity partnership the two firms agreed in November 2025. Under a 10-year arrangement tied to the deal, Amundi will serve as the sole global distributor in the wealth channel for ICG's evergreen products and certain other offerings, while ICG will be the exclusive supplier of those products to Amundi's distribution business. The agreement also covers the joint creation of new products aimed at wealth investors, with the first, centred on private equity secondaries, due to be introduced in the coming weeks. Amundi CEO Valérie Baudson said the partnership marks a significant step in the development of Amundi's private markets offering, and ICG CEO and chief investment officer Benoît Durteste said the deal is the first step in realising the commercial benefits of the collaboration.

Swedish automaker Volvo Cars said on the 17th that it plans to launch 13 new models by 2030. It will roll out six models for the Chinese market and seven for the European and American markets, expanding its lineup in an effort to revive sales. Through this, it aims to raise its EBIT margin from 3.5% in 2025 to above 8%, a long-standing target. The models for Europe and the United States will use Volvo's SPA2 and SPA3 vehicle platforms, while the models for China will be developed jointly with Geely Automobile, which is part of the same group. Chief Executive Officer Håkan Samuelsson said in a statement that this new model launch strategy is based on four distinctive strengths: regionally tailored product development, a leading position in electrification, synergies with Geely, and comprehensive customer services that go beyond the car itself.

ACG Metals Limited announced updated Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates and an updated Competent Person's Report for its Gediktepe mine, lifting the total asset post-tax NPV8 to approximately US$1.2 billion from the project NPV10 of $265m reported in the 2024 CPR. The 2026 CPR, prepared by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd. under the JORC Code 2012, reports total Ore Reserves tonnage up about 43% to 26.5 Mt from 18.5 Mt, containing 176kt copper, 381kt zinc, 535koz gold and 20moz silver, increases of roughly 34%, 1%, 19% and 16% respectively. Average annual production is expected to rise about 60% to roughly 36 kt CuEq between 2027 and 2031, while FY2026 guidance was revised to approximately 12–14 kt CuEq after a three-month rephasing of sulphide production into FY2027. The enriched ore treatment project is expected to add about 84kt CuEq to the life-of-mine profile, and an improved construction schedule brings gold and silver doré and copper and zinc concentrate production online concurrently in Q3 2027, adding $365m to the post-tax asset NPV8. Over the initial 11-year life of mine, Gediktepe is expected to produce a total of 352kt CuEq, with heap-leach gold production continuing beyond end-2026 at roughly 85% commercial recovery using ACG's patented technology.

AstraZeneca has pledged to invest $15bn in China, deepening Western pharmaceutical ties with a country that has become a bona fide drug superpower even as Washington moves to sever them. The company's chief executive, Sir Pascal Soriot, announced the investment during Sir Keir Starmer's Beijing visit, building on existing manufacturing and research sites in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi, Taizhou and Qingdao; China is now AstraZeneca's second-largest market, accounting for roughly 12pc of global turnover, with around 17,000 employees and four advanced manufacturing sites. GSK has struck a series of partnerships with Chinese labs, including a $1.3bn pact with Hutchmed for the bulk of licensing rights to what it called first-in-class cancer treatments, and an alliance with Hengrui Pharma worth up to $12bn. Industry-wide licensing deals totalled $138bn last year, a nearly tenfold jump since 2021, according to PharmCube. The US Biosecure Act, signed into law in December, bars companies reliant on federal contracts from working with Chinese biotech firms tied to the military, and the proposed Biotech Investment National Security Act would subject licensing deals involving Chinese companies to national security reviews. China had 1,255 drugs at the research stage by 2024, a nearly eight-fold jump in less than a decade, against 1,441 in America and 400 in Europe.

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB and Innate Pharma SA announced that their previously announced strategic partnership is now effective following the expiration of applicable antitrust waiting periods and completion of other conditions. The partnership, entered on the 10th of August 2026, enables initiation of the TELLOMAK-3 confirmatory Phase 3 study in cutaneous T cell lymphoma, a key step toward filing for accelerated approval of lacutamab in Sézary syndrome, with the first patient expected in Q1 2027. Under the agreement, Innate will conduct the TELLOMAK-3 Phase 3 confirmatory trial to support a planned accelerated approval filing for Sézary syndrome, and the study will also support applications for full approvals in key jurisdictions in Sézary syndrome and mycosis fungoides. Sobi will receive exclusive global rights to commercialise lacutamab upon potential accelerated approval and will be eligible to assume full global development rights following positive Phase 3 results. Sobi will pay Innate Pharma USD 75 million upon the partnership becoming effective, and Innate will be eligible to receive up to a further USD 40 million in near-term development milestones connected to Sézary syndrome, up to USD 465 million related to the option for Sobi to get full development rights and to future regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered double-digit royalties on net sales.

Vallourec has secured the entire carbon-steel line pipe and external coating scope for Petrobras's Sepia 2 offshore development in Brazil's Santos Basin, covering roughly 130 kilometers of rigid risers and flowlines. The contract, awarded by Subsea7, represents more than 15,000 tonnes of carbon-steel seamless line pipe designed for highly corrosive environments, with Vallourec also applying thermal insulation coating through one integrated offer. Vallourec shares rose around 6% on the announcement. The pipes will be manufactured at Vallourec's Jeceaba plant in Minas Gerais, while the thermal insulation coating will be applied at its Serra facility in Espírito Santo. Sepia 2 sits around 280 kilometers off the Brazilian coast in ultra-deep water, with 15 wells connected to a new floating production, storage and offloading vessel at depths of roughly 2,170 meters. No financial value was disclosed, but the order adds to recent offshore wins including Petrobras-linked projects at Atapu and Búzios, and follows a 2025 agreement with Petrobras that could generate up to $1 billion of revenue from offshore OCTG products and services between 2026 and 2029.