Diamonds and Dogs

3/17/20

Regeneron (REGN) working on the coronavirus. Regeneron is up 10% as they said they could start human trials early this summer of a multiple-antibody cocktail to prevent or treat the novel coronavirus. There were 185,067 confirmed Covid-19 cases globally, 4,661 of them in the U.S., as of Tuesday morning. Regeneron said it had identified hundreds of antibodies from genetically modified mice and from humans who had recovered from Covid-19, and would pick two of them to test as a cocktail treatment. The company said it had previously used this technique to develop an Ebola treatment.

McDonald's (MCD) closing all of its in-store dining areas starting today. The stock is down 3% at a two-year low as the company-owned stores try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. McDonalds is closing its seating areas, including the use of self-service beverage bars and kiosks, and shift its focus to serving customers through drive-through windows, walk-in take-out, and its restaurant delivery service. The corporate decision doesn't directly affect McDonald's franchised units, but the company said that franchisees are strongly encouraged to adopt similar operations procedures.