Gilead A Strong Buy On New HIV Treatments

By Jordo Bivona – December 21, 2012 | Tickers: BMY, GILD, YMI | 0 Comments

Jordo is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

Despite the expiration of some of its HIV patents in 2018, Gilead Sciences’ (NASDAQ: GILD) new HIV treatments will enable the company to extend its HIV-based profitability for the long-term.

Gilead has done well with fixed-dose combination pills Truvada and Atripla combining multiple HIV medications into a single pill. The company has been rewarded with an impressive market share in the HIV treatment market, and is now looking for the same success in the treatment of Hepatitis C. Sofosbuvir, a novel Hepatitis C drug, recently demonstrated promising results in the first of several phase 3 trials, with 78% of patients having an undetectable viral load 12 weeks following treatment.

There are two characteristics of sofosbuvir which make it a potential blockbuster. First, if approved by the FDA, it would be the first all-oral Hepatitis C treatment. Second, it avoids the use of interferon, a component of standard Hepatitis C treatments associated with unfavorable side effects. Half the patients that take interferon typically develop flu-like symptoms, and one-third develop psychiatric complications such as depression. These challenges in the current Hepatitis C treatment regiments have led to approximately one-third of patients discontinuing treatment. As an all-oral, low side-effect medication, sofosbuvir has the potential to sharply reduce this rate of non-compliance and, in doing so, establish itself as the dominant drug in the treatment of Hepatitis C in a market estimated at over $ 20 billion. Sofosbuvir is currently progressing through phase 3 trials.

Drug Pipeline

Gilead has also recently introduced another HIV drug, Stribild, that is poised to become a lead drug choice in HIV treatment. A four-drug combination pill that builds on the success of Gilead’s single-pill model, Stribild has been predicted to become the market leading HIV drug within the next decade. In addition, Gilead produces all of the component drugs within Stribild, and they would avoid the revenue sharing arrangements associated with their previous HIV medications.

Gilead has also ramped up its research into oncology drugs, with several drugs in its pipeline being tested as treatments for colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer and a specific type of leukemia. In December, Gilead bought YM BioSciences (NYSEMKT: YMI), a Canadian company, for $ 510 million in cash, mainly to get access to the Canadian company’s research into treatments for a bone-marrow disorder. The Canadian company’s lead drug candidate, CYT387, is an orally-administered, once-daily, selective inhibitor of the Janus kinase (JAK) family, specifically JAK1 and JAK2 and combats myelofibrosis, a bone-marrow disease that can lead to anemia and an enlarged spleen. The acquisition provides Gilead with a promising treatment at a reasonable price.

Financials

Total revenues for the third quarter of 2012 increased 14% to $ 2.43 billion, from $ 2.12 billion for the third quarter of the previous year. Net income for the third quarter was $ 675.5 million, or $ 0.85 per diluted share compared to $ 741.1 million or $ 0.95 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2012, which excludes acquisition-related, restructuring and stock-based compensation expenses, was $ 788.9 million, or $ 1.00 per diluted share compared to $ 795.2 million, or $ 1.02 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2011.

As of Sept. 30, 2012, Gilead had $ 2.65 billion of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities compared to $ 9.96 billion as of Dec. 31, 2011. The decrease was due to the acquisition of Pharmasset in the first quarter of 2012. Gilead generated $ 2.49 billion of operating cash flow during the first nine months of 2012 including $ 745.4 million generated in the third quarter of 2012.

Analyst Ratings

Zacks reiterated its neutral rating on Gilead with a price target of $ 78.00. Analysts at Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on Gilead with a price target of $ 87. On Dec. 5, analysts at Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on Gilead. On Dec. 4, 2012, Barclays Capital reaffirmed its “overweight” rating on Gilead with a price target of $ 76. On Nov. 30, Gilead had its “overweight” rating affirmed by Piper Jaffray with a price target of $ 85. On Nov. 13, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Gilead from $ 80 to $ 85 with a “buy” rating. On the same date, Lazard also raised its price target on Gilead from $ 89 to $ 100 with a “buy” rating.

Competition

Gilead’s HCV candidate sofosbuvir, which was added to Gilead’s pipeline through its acquisition of Pharmasset, is now in phase 3 trials. The results put Gilead in the lead in what has become a two-horse race with Abbott Laboratories (ABT) to produce the first treatment for the disease that doesn’t include interferon with its negative side effects. In the case of CYT387 included in the recent YM BioSciences acquisition, potential rivals in the field are Incyte (INCY) and Novartis’ (NVS) JAK inhibitor Jakafi, which the FDA approved last year to combat myelofibrosis. Cell Therapeutics (CTIC) has its own midstage program focusing on the blood disease. 

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)is testing sofosbuvir plus their NS5A inhibitor daclatasvir (formerly BMS-790052). Bristol-Myers Squibb had a clinical collaboration with Pharmasset and started this trial before Gilead’s acquisition. It appears, though, that these two competing companies, notably Gilead, are not interested in conducting a phase3 study to evaluate this combination. Bristol-Myers Squibb is also evaluating multiple HCV drug candidates. The acquisition of Zymogenetics in 2010 for $ 885 million brought pegylated interferon lambda while the company acquired INX-189 (now called as BMS-986094) through the acquisition of Inhibitex in 2012 for $ 2.5 billion.

Conclusion

I have every reason to believe that Gilead is going to continue to be highly successful, and I have no hesitation in recommending this stock to investors.

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The NRA’s Solution: A Gun in Every School

With characteristic flair, the National Rifle Association held America in suspense for a week on how it would react to the Newtown (Conn.) school massacre and then came out, guns blazing.

Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s longtime top official, left no doubt during his nationally televised press conference that the pro-gun lobby—pound for pound, the most effective single-issue advocacy group in Washington—will fight fiercely against any new restrictions on the lawful acquisition of guns, magazines, or ammunition.

Whether the group wins or loses the coming debate, it wins (more on that in a moment). First, here are the basics of what LaPierre had to say:

• Setting up schools as “gun-free zones” has been an utter failure. Schools require more security, including a police officer in every school. The NRA will lead a national “school shield” initiative headed by Asa Hutchinson, a former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, former U.S. congressman, and former federal prosecutor.

• The nation ought to establish a comprehensive database of mentally ill individuals. Those who have been deemed mentally ill, alcoholic, or addicted to drugs are already banned by federal law from acquiring guns. LaPierre called for more thorough record-keeping, a demand made by many of his opponents in the gun-control camp.

• The national media, whom LaPierre repeatedly castigated, bear responsibility for random mass shootings because they provide saturation coverage of events such as the Newtown massacre, and that encourages “copycats.”

• Hollywood and makers of violent video games, which LaPierre called the worst kind of “pornography,” likewise bear responsibility for mass shootings. The entertainment industry, he said, creates an atmosphere in which young people view violence as routine and without consequence.

• Gun owners, however, do not bear responsibility for mass shootings, and more gun regulations are not needed, he said. Instead, he condemned federal prosecutors for pursuing fewer gun-crime cases. There are already 20,000 gun regulations on the books, LaPierre said.

• He accused the media of fomenting “hatred” of gun owners and the NRA. He also alluded to the danger of civic unrest in the event of another disaster similar to Sandy, the devastating storm that recently hit the East Coast. That’s a subtle signal in support of survivalists and others who stock up on armaments out of fear that the government can’t protect them in chaos.

The NRA, as will become apparent in weeks and months to come, has a structural advantage in this conflict with gun-control forces. It does not compromise, because it does not fear losing. By framing the debate as one of gun owners against the rest of society (the media, Hollywood, “political elites”), LaPierre is paving the way for his next fund-raising solicitation. If some new gun-control law gets enacted, that becomes evidence that the vast anti-gun conspiracy only wants more, that President Barack Obama eventually will come for YOUR guns—all of them.

The lobby and the industry whose fortunes it promotes thrive on controversy, observes Richard Feldman, a former NRA organizer and gun trade association executive. “If the NRA wins, it wins,” he says. “If it loses, it wins, too, because then it can raise money on its defeat—and go back and try again.”

A relevant datum that LaPierre did not stress as part of his presentation was that, as the industrialized democracy with the greatest prevalence of gun ownership—300 million firearms in private hands; 47 percent of households possessing one or more guns—the U.S. has the highest gun homicide rate among economically advanced countries.

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Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February

ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February.

The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he has faced growing pressure to seek a second term.

President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to dissolve parliament in the next few days and has already indicated that the most likely date for the election is February 24.

In an unexpected move, Napolitano said he would hold consultations with political leaders from all the main parties on Saturday to discuss the next steps. In the meantime Monti will continue in a caretaker capacity.

European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have called for Monti’s economic reform agenda to continue but Italy’s two main parties have said he should stay out of the race.

Monti, who handed in his resignation during a brief meeting at the presidential palace shortly after parliament approved his government’s 2013 budget, will hold a news conference on Sunday at which he is expected clarify his intentions.

Ordinary Italians are weary of repeated tax hikes and spending cuts and opinion polls offer little evidence that they are ready to give Monti a second term. A survey this week showed 61 percent saying he should not stand.

Whether he runs or not, his legacy will loom over an election which will be fought out over the painful measures he has introduced to try to rein in Italy’s huge public debt and revive its stagnant economy.

His resignation came a couple of months before the end of his term, after his technocrat government lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi‘s centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in parliament earlier this month.

Speculation is swirling over Monti’s next moves. These could include outlining policy recommendations, endorsing a centrist alliance committed to his reform agenda or even standing as a candidate in the election himself.

The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has held a strong lead in the polls for months but a centrist alliance led by Monti could gain enough support in the Senate to force the PD to seek a coalition deal which could help shape the economic agenda.

BERLUSCONI IN WINGS

Senior figures from the alliance, including both the UDC party, which is close to the Roman Catholic Church, and a new group founded by Ferrari sports car chairman Luca di Montezemolo, have been hoping to gain Monti’s backing.

He has not said clearly whether he intends to run, but he has dropped heavy hints he will continue to push a reform agenda that has the backing of both Italy’s business community and its European partners.

The PD has promised to stick to the deficit reduction targets Monti has agreed with the European Union and says it will maintain the broad course he has set while putting more emphasis on reviving growth.

Berlusconi’s return to the political arena has added to the already considerable uncertainty about the centre-right’s intentions and increased the likelihood of a messy and potentially bitter election campaign.

The billionaire media tycoon has fluctuated between attacking the government’s “Germano-centric” austerity policies and promising to stand aside if Monti agrees to lead the centre right, but now appears to have settled on an anti-Monti line.

He has pledged to cut taxes and scrap a hated housing tax which Monti imposed. He has also sounded a stridently anti-German line which has at times echoed the tone of the populist 5-Star Movement headed by maverick comic Beppe Grillo.

The PD and the PDL, both of which supported Monti’s technocrat government in parliament, have made it clear they would not be happy if he ran against them and there have been foretastes of the kind of attacks he can expect.

Former centre-left prime minister Massimo D’Alema said in an interview last week that it would be “morally questionable” for Monti to run against the PD, which backed all of his reforms and which has pledged to maintain his pledges to European partners.

Berlusconi who has mounted an intensive media campaign in the past few days, echoed that criticism this week, saying Monti risked losing the credibility he has won over the past year and becoming a “little political figure”.

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Paolo Biondi; Writing by Gavin Jones and James Mackenzie; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Huge Savings With MyBatua Season’s Sale

The online Islamic clothing store MyBatua.com brings more reasons to smile. The Store announces huge discounts and assured gifts on every purchase of women Abayas, kurtis and Jibabs.

(PRWEB) December 21, 2012

MyBatua.com has extended its seasonal sale on Islamic clothing range for a fortnight to appreciate the huge response of buyers. Being one of the most renowned stores for a vibrant range of Islamic clothing range, MyBatua has announced discounts up to 60% on modern, contemporary, fashionable and exclusive Islamic apparel for men and women.

The online store offers a huge collection of Jibabs, kurtis, abayas and Hijabs for customers, with the choice of customization. All the clothing items displayed at the sale are designed to reflect exclusive style statements of customers. Islamic outfits at MyBatua are available with contemporary and very stylish looks. Jilbabs and Abaya at the store are also made from natural fabric and with contemporary texture.

At http://www.mybatua.com visitors may choose from an extensive range of hijabs available in different styles, plain solid colors, fantastic design and attractive ones for joyful events. Like their name they are very simple to put on without any wrapp or Hijab pin. The store is well-known for its best quality beautiful hijabs and Abayas with an inexpensive price tag.

The best part of the season sale at the store is the availability of the finest range of ethnic clothing for a diverse array of women buyers who never compromise on quality and style. The store features a diverse variety of modest Women’s clothing items that range from conventional Abayas to custom Hijabs designed with finest craftsmanship.

Apart from a pretty good collection of regular and Plus sizes of Jibabs, Abayas and Hijab, customers also get an option to customize clothes without any additional cost. With every purchase at http://www.mybatua.com seasonal sale, customers find huge cash discounts and assured gifts to turn their shopping spree rewarding and a never before experience. MyBatua range comes with free shipping and hassle free delivery to the customers worldwide.    

MyBatua a leading online store for clothing and accessories has now become a one stop shopping place for Islamic fashion clothing. It is catering to all needs of online shoppers for Abayas, Jilbabs, Hijabs, Sherwanis and variety of accessories including brooches and unique handbags suitable for all occasions and weddings.

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Putin offers French tax row actor Depardieu a Russian passport

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin offered French actor Gerard Depardieu a Russian passport on Thursday, saying he would welcome the 63-year-old celebrity who is embroiled in a bitter tax row with France‘s socialist government.

Weighing into a dispute over a hike in taxes, Putin heaped praise on Depardieu, making the offer of citizenship in response to a question during his annual televised press conference.

“If Gerard really wants to have either a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we will assume that this matter is settled and settled positively,” Putin said.

French daily Le Monde reported on Tuesday that Depardieu had told his close friends he was considering three options to escape France’s new tax regime: moving to Belgium, where he owns a home, relocating to Montenegro, where he has a business, or fleeing to Russia.

“Putin has already sent me a passport,” Le Monde quoted the actor as jokingly saying.

Depardieu is well-known in Russia where he has appeared in many advertising campaigns, and in 2012 he was one of several Western celebrities invited to celebrate the birthday of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader.

He also worked in Russia last year on a film about the life and times of the eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin.

He has already inquired about how to obtain Belgian residency rights and said he plans to hand in his French passport and social security card.

In what has become an ugly public dispute, France’s Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault criticized Depardieu’s announcement as “pathetic” and unpatriotic. The actor hit back, accusing France of punishing success and talent.

But Putin said he thought the feud was the result of a “misunderstanding”.

The 60-year-old former KGB spy said he was very friendly with Depardieu, saying he thought the actor considered himself a Frenchman who loved the culture and history of his homeland.

Belgian residents do not pay a wealth tax, which in France is now levied on those with assets over 1.3 million euros ($ 1.7 million). Nor do they pay capital gains tax on share sales.

Hollande is also pressing ahead with plans to impose a 75-percent super tax on income over 1 million euros.

Russia has a flat income tax rate of 13 percent.

(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Andrew Osborn)

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Spartan Bioscience Announces 6,000-Patient Study of Personalized Medicine for Cardiac Stents

Landmark clinical trial begins for rapid DNA testing and personalized anti-blood clotting drugs.

Ottawa, Ontario (PRWEB) December 20, 2012

Spartan Bioscience today announced the start of a 5,945-patient study of personalized medicine for cardiac stent patients. The study is sponsored by the Center for Individualized Medicine at Mayo Clinic and is entitled “Tailored Antiplatelet Initiation to Lessen Outcomes due to Clopidogrel Resistance after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (TAILOR-PCI).”

This clinical trial will evaluate whether genotyping of cardiac stent patients at the time of angioplasty can help improve patient outcomes by informing providers about drug selection of either Brilinta® (ticagrelor) or Plavix® (clopidogrel). These antiplatelet drugs are prescribed after surgery to reduce clotting complications, such as heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths. The drugs are thought to work differently in patients with specific variations in the CYP2C19 gene, and the Spartan RX CYP2C19 rapid DNA testing system will be used to identify these variations in some patients of the TAILOR-PCI study. The study will enroll patients over a 22-month period at 9 hospitals in Canada and the United States.

The principal investigator of the TAILOR-PCI study is Naveen Pereira, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist. Chiranjit Rihal, M.D., chairman of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, serves as chairman of the TAILOR-PCI steering committee. The Mayo Clinic sites are Rochester; Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and the Mayo Clinic Health Systems in La Crosse, Wisconsin; and Mankato, Minnesota. Canadian sites participating in this study are St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, Sunnybrook Hospital, and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

“We are excited to work with Mayo Clinic on this landmark clinical trial,” said Paul Lem, M.D., CEO of Spartan Bioscience. “Rapid DNA testing means doctors and patients do not have to wait days or weeks for results from a central lab.”

About the Spartan RX CYP2C19

The Spartan RX CYP2C19 is the first point-of-care DNA test in medicine.(1) It identifies carriers of certain CYP2C19 genetic mutations in 1 hour. These mutations are carried by approximately 30 percent of the world’s population.(2) Genetic carriers who receive Plavix® following a cardiac stent insertion to open clogged arteries have a 42 percent higher risk of death, stroke, or heart attack in the first year compared to non-carriers.(3) Currently, genetic testing is performed in central labs and it takes up to seven days to get a test result back. A rapid test is needed because most of the complications for CYP2C19 carriers occur in the first 24 to 48 hours.(3,4) In March 2010, the FDA issued a warning for Plavix regarding CYP2C19 poor metabolizers. The Spartan RX CYP2C19 has CE IVD Mark regulatory approval for Europe and other countries recognizing the CE IVD Mark. Spartan Bioscience is working towards FDA 510(k) clearance in the United States. For more information, please visit our website at: http://www.spartanbio.com/products/spartan-rx

About Spartan Bioscience

Spartan Bioscience is the leader in point-of-care DNA testing. The Spartan RX is the first complete sample-to-result, point-of-care DNA testing system in medicine. It is a fully integrated DNA collection, extraction and analysis platform, with an intuitive interface that is easy to operate—no laboratory training required. For the first time, healthcare providers and their patients can get DNA results on demand. For more information, please visit our website at: http://www.spartanbio.com.

The Spartan logo is a registered trademark of Spartan Bioscience Inc.

Brilinta is a registered trademark of AstraZeneca.

Plavix is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals.

1. Roberts JD et al. (2012). Lancet. 379: 1705–1711.

2. Damani SB, Topol EJ. (2010). J Am Coll Cardiol. 56:109–111.

3. Mega JL et al. (2009). N Engl J Med. 360:354–362.

4. Wiviott SD et al. (2007). N Engl J Med. 357:2001–2015.

Paul Lem, M.D.
Spartan Bioscience Inc.
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U.S. state, local spending expands for first time in 3 years

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – State and local government spending grew at a 0.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter, after 11 straight quarters of contraction, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday.

The last time state and local spending expanded was in the third quarter of 2009, at a much more robust rate of 2.2 percent. Then, for nearly three years, spending contracted sharply, with the biggest drop in the first quarter of 2010 at 5.5 percent.

States are pinching pennies, keeping spending growth slow as the economy recovers from the 2007-09 recession and the federal government sends them fewer funds.

“The recent improvement in the national economy has not translated to strong growth in total state expenditures,” said the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) in a report also released on Thursday.

Total state spending likely grew only 0.1 percent in fiscal 2012, the lowest level since the group began tracking state spending in 1987, NASBO said. Most states’ fiscal years end in June, which means that many have already started fiscal 2013.

The 2007-09 recession caused states’ revenues to plunge and, because all states except Vermont must end their fiscal years with balanced budgets, many slashed spending, calling special legislative sessions to make emergency mid-year cuts.

The federal government stepped in to help with the 2009 economic stimulus plan known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which included the largest transfer of federal funds to states in U.S. history.

NASBO said state expenditures grew 3.8 percent in fiscal 2010 and 2.8 percent in fiscal 2011, mostly due to the assistance. By fiscal 2010 federal money made up nearly 35 percent of state spending, compared with 26.3 percent in fiscal 2008.

Now that the burst of stimulus money is over, states must once again shoulder the costs of public programs, even though their revenues are only beginning to return to pre-recession levels. Federal funds likely only represented 31.2 percent of state spending in fiscal 2012 and will continue to shrink, NASBO said.

“State revenues have not increased as fast as ARRA funds have declined, leading to a unique situation in which total state expenditure growth has slowed during the same time that the national economy has been improving,” it reported.

Meanwhile, spending demands continue to grow, particularly for the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor that states operate with partial reimbursement from the federal government.

Over the last three years, the portion of state spending going to Medicaid has risen to 23.9 percent from 22.2 percent. Many states worry that Medicaid will eat up their budgets, and leave fewer dollars for other areas.

Spending on education dipped to 19.8 percent in fiscal 2012, the first time on record that the portion has been less than 20 percent, NASBO said.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Wounded presage health crisis for postwar Syria

ATMEH, Syria (AP) — A baby boy joined the ranks of Syria’s tens of thousands of war wounded when a missile fired by Bashar Assad‘s air force slammed into his family home and shrapnel pierced his skull.

Four-month-old Fahed Darwish suffered brain damage and, like thousands of others seriously hurt in the civil war, he will likely need care well after the fighting is over. That’s something doctors say a post-conflict Syria won’t be able to provide.

Making things worse, there has been a sharp spike in serious injuries since the summer, when the regime began bombing rebel-held areas from the air, and doctors say a majority of the wounded they now treat are civilians.

This week, Fahed was recovering from brain surgery in an intensive care unit, his head bandaged and his body under a heavy blanket, watched over by Mariam, his distraught 22-year-old mother.

She said that after her first-born is discharged from the hospital in Atmeh, a village in an area of relative safety near the Turkish border, they will have to return to their village in a war zone in central Syria.

“We have nowhere else to go,” she said.

Even for those who have escaped direct injury, the civil war is posing a mounting health threat. Half the country’s 88 public hospitals and nearly 200 clinics have been damaged or destroyed, the World Health Organization says, leaving many without access to health care. Diabetics can’t find insulin, kidney patients can’t reach dialysis centers. Towns are running out of water-purifying materials. Many of the hundreds of thousands displaced by the fighting are exposed to the cold in tents or unheated public buildings.

“You are talking about a public health crisis on a grand scale,” said Dr. Abdalmajid Katranji, a hand and wrist surgeon from Lansing, Michigan, who regularly volunteers in Syria.

No one knows just how many people have been injured since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, starting out with peaceful protests that turned into an armed insurgency in response to a violent government crackdown.

More than 43,000 have been killed in the past 21 months, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, basing his count on names and details provided by activists in Syria. He said the number of wounded is so large he can only give a rough estimate, of more than 150,000.

Casualties began to rise dramatically at the start of the summer. At the time, the regime, its ground troops stretched thin, began bombing from the air to prevent opposition fighters from gaining more territory.

Seemingly random bombings have razed entire villages and neighborhoods, driving terrified civilians from their homes, with an estimated 3 million Syrians out of the country’s population of 23 million now displaced.

About 10 percent of the wounded suffer serious injuries and many of those will need long-term care and rehabilitation, said Dr. Omar Aswad of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations, an umbrella for 14 aid groups.

This includes artificial limbs and follow-up surgery. “This is of course not available and will be one of the major (health) problems in the months right after the war,” said Mago Tarzian, emergency director for the Paris-based Doctors Without Borders.

For now, aid groups are struggling to provide even emergency treatment in under-equipped clinics.

The two dozen small hospitals and field clinics in rebel-run areas of Idlib province in the north only have a few Intensive Care Unit beds between them, said Aswad. None has a CT scanner, an important diagnostic tool.

“We need generators, we need medical supplies and the most pressing is medicine,” he said.

The challenge has been compounded by new types of injuries.

The regime has begun dropping incendiary bombs that can cause severe burns, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing amateur video and witness accounts.

Ole Solvang, a researcher for the group, said he saw remnants of such a bomb on a recent Syria trip. Aswad said doctors in Idlib and nearby Aleppo province reported seeing patients with burns from such weapons.

Doctors and hospitals have also been targeted. Aswad, who fled the city of Idlib in March after regime forces entered it, said five friends in a secret association of anti-regime physicians have been arrested. Hospitals, ambulances and doctors have been attacked, Solvang said, calling it “a worrying trend that makes the medical situation even worse.”

One of the bright spots is a 50-bed emergency care clinic set up six weeks ago in a former elementary school in Atmeh.

Largely funded by a wealthy Syrian expatriate, the Orient clinic, with five ICU beds, handles some of the most serious cases in a radius of some 150 kilometers (90 miles), said its director, orthopedic surgeon Abdel Hamid Dabbak.

In the past, seriously wounded patients had to go to Turkey, risking dangerous delays at the border, he said. Now, once patients are stabilized in Atmeh, they are sent to a sister clinic across the border for follow-up care.

In Orient’s ICU, a 24-year-old rebel fighter was breathing oxygen through a mask. He had been brought in a day earlier, bleeding heavily from stomach wounds and close to death, said Dr. Maen Martini, a volunteer physician from Joliet, Illinois. After surgery, he stabilized and was taken off a respirator. A delayed crossing into Turkey would have killed him, Martini said.

The fighter’s neighbor was little Fahed, whose house had been struck by a missile on Saturday in the village of Kafr Zeita in Hama province. “The roof collapsed on us,” his mother said of the attack. “We ran out … I saw him bleeding from his head, but it was just a small cut.”

The local clinic said the injury was more serious than it seemed and the family rushed to Atmeh, more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the north.

Since surgery, Fahed has been nursing and has moved his arms and legs, and the doctor is hoping for a near-complete recovery.

“Clinically, he has improved dramatically,” he said.

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Google launches ‘scan and match’ music service

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Google is turning on a “scan and match” service for Google Music users to store copies of their songs online, offering for free what Apple charges $ 25 a year for.

The service, which launched Tuesday, cuts uploading time for those who want to save their music libraries online. It scans a user’s computer and gives them online access to the songs it finds, as long as they match the songs on its servers. Otherwise, it will upload songs to a user’s online locker.

The service is similar to Apple Inc.‘s iTunes Match, which includes online storage for 25,000 songs. Google Inc. allows storage for 20,000 songs and allows users to re-download the songs only at the same quality as they were at previously. Apple upgrades songs to iTunes quality.

Amazon runs a similar matching and uploading service called Cloud Player. It costs $ 25 a year for 250,000 songs. A free version is limited to 250 songs.

Google is still a fledgling entrant into music sales since debuting its store in November 2011, though it expects to benefit from the hundreds of millions of devices that use its Android operating system on mobile devices.

According to the NPD Group, Apple accounted for 64 percent of U.S. music sales online, followed by Amazon at 16 percent. Google has no more than 5 percent, according to NPD. Other services make up the rest.

Google had sold songs at a discount at the start, but that is less so the case now. For example, it was selling the top-ranked Bruno Mars song “Locked Out of Heaven” for $ 1.29 on Wednesday, the same as iTunes, and above the 99 cents on Amazon. But its album price was lower at $ 10.49 versus $ 10.99 at both iTunes and Amazon.

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” “Bully” first theatrical releases to win duPont awards

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Two documentary films were among the 14 winners of the 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, making them the first theatrical releases to be honored with the prize. USA Today also won its first duPont award.

“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” Alison Klayman‘s profile of the Chinese artist-activist, and Emmy-winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch‘s tale of schoolyard torment, “Bully,” won alongside reporting from Current TV, CBS News, NPR, PBS’s “Frontline” and USA Today.

USA Today was honored for multimedia reporting on abandoned lead factories, and NPR’s “StoryCorps” will win its first silver baton.

Five awards will go to local television and radio stations: KCET in Southern California, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, WVUE-TV in New Orleans, Detroit’s WXYZ-TV and partnerships with WHYY and NPR.

“This exceptional group of journalists represents the best of broadcast, documentary and digital news reporting today,” Bill Wheatley, the outgoing duPont Jury chair and the former executive vice president of NBC News, said in a statement. “These groundbreaking stories set the standard for excellent reporting; journalists gained access and insight into critical issues in the public interest, and they are telling these important stories in new ways.”

Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent and a global affairs anchor for ABC News will present the awards with CBS News’s Byron Pitts on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at Columbia’s Low Memorial Library.

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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