AstraZeneca acquires Icosavax: $1.1bn vaccine expansion

AstraZeneca (AZN) has agreed to buy Icosavax for $1.1 billion. This is AstraZeneca’s first move to acquire a vaccine company and it’s part of their expansion into infectious diseases, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What makes Icosavax promising is its platform for developing powerful vaccines using a protein virus-like particle. Currently, there are no treatments available for hMPV, and there are no combination vaccines for RSV.

Industry experts estimate the RSV market to be valued at over $10 billion. Icosavax’s vaccine candidate, which has fast-track status from the US FDA, is expected to have a significant impact in this market.

The deal is set to close in the first quarter of the upcoming year. AstraZeneca’s stock rose by 1.4%, and Icosavax saw a surge of 45% in their stock before the US market opened.

UK supermarkets witness dip in Christmas-driven general merchandise sales

UK supermarkets including Tesco (TSCO) saw a 7% drop in general merchandise sales in the four weeks before December 2nd. Shoppers aimed to save money and waited for Christmas grocery deals before spending. Overall supermarket sales growth slowed to 6.8%, down from 8.7% last month. Sales volume also fell by 0.9%.

Meanwhile, major retailers like Marks & Spencer, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco still saw sales increase. Marks & Spencer had growth of 12.8%, followed by Ocado at 11.7%, Sainsbury’s at 9.5%, and Tesco at 7.8%.

Britons were expected to spend up to £5 billion in the seven days leading to December 24th, setting a record for food sales, influenced in part by inflation, which was at 7.8% in November (down from 8.8% in October).

UK watchdog investigates Unilever’s green credentials

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking into Unilever’s (ULVR) claims about certain household products being environmentally friendly. They’re worried that Unilever might be saying these products are greener than they actually are. The CMA wants to make sure that shoppers aren’t being misled.

The CMA is paying closer attention to companies that might be stretching the truth about how environmentally friendly their products are. They want to make sure these companies aren’t trying to attract customers who care about the environment by saying their products are greener than they really are. This is part of a bigger effort by the CMA to make sure companies are honest about their environmental claims.

Back in January, the CMA started looking into companies in the US and Europe that might be making false claims about being environmentally friendly. They created a set of guidelines last year to help companies and shoppers make sure these environmental claims are real and not misleading.

Right now, the CMA is only investigating Unilever and hasn’t started official investigations into other companies. Depending on what they find, Unilever might have to promise to change how they do things, or they could end up in court because of this investigation.