Category Archives: Cf

In this week's episode, Anthony Fenech and George Sipple try to decipher the meaningful from the meaningless as spring training nears its midpoint. Subscribe to "Talkin' Tigers" in iTunes or Google Play.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Jacoby Jones goes through drills during spring training Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, in Lakeland, Fla.(Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)

LAKELAND, Fla. --In a perfect world, JaCoby Jones would get more time in Triple-A.

In a perfect world, one of the Detroit Tigers centerfield competitors would have claimed an inside track to the vacant starting spot by now. In a perfect world, manager Brad Ausmus said with his trademark sarcasm this morning, the team would acquire superstar Mike Trout.

But the Tigers are no further along in identifying a front-runner for centerfield --not with Mikie Mahtook scuffling at the plate and Tyler Collins sidelined defensively.But Ausmus indicated that Jones isnt automatically going to get sent to the minor leagues for more marinating.

Asked about his overall impressions from the first two weeks of games, Ausmus singled out Jones.

Ive been impressed with JaCoby defensively, he said. He seems to have very good instincts out there. Theres not a lot of panic.

It was a revealing comment because of two prevailing thoughts in camp: that Jones is all but ticketed to Toledo to start the season and that the Tigers will favor whichever playerserves them best defensively.

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Tigers' Jose Iglesias (neck contusion) day-to-day after collision

To this point, Jones has been the most impressivein centerfield. Mahtook has made some nice plays. Collins has yet to play during a game. And the possibility of Anthony Gose becoming a factorshould not be discounted --he has the best defensive ability of them all.

I think you need to be able to defend with our centerfield, for sure, Ausmus said, speaking about Comerica Parks vast quarters. You wouldnt think we would need offense to be the priority, based on the other position players that we have playing on a regular basis.

Of course, Jones is the least experienced of the candidates. And the team is determined not to rush him -- or anyone --to the major leagues too soon.

I think, in a perfect world, (Jones) gets a little more time, Ausmus said. He doesnt want to hear that, Im sure, but in a perfect world, I think he could use more time. And then the other concern is, if you brought him up and it was a platoon situation, then, well, if hes only playing against lefties, are you stunting his growth even more?

Despite there being no definitive read on the centerfield situation, it points towarda platoon situation, probably Mahtook and Collins. Though Mahtook is 1-for-16 this spring, he has yet to face a left-handed pitcher. Though Collins still a few days away from playing the field --Ausmus hinted that that could come this weekend --the team has been impressed by his approach.

There remains a chance that the Tigers add another candidate --scuttlebutt from the scouts this spring has the team seeking help --but Ausmus said, right now, there isnt an impetus to go outside the organization.

We certainly havent made any decisions, Ausmus said. Quite frankly, I havent even narrowed it down at this point. Were just letting them play it out, let the guys get their at-bats.

The truth is, were not any closer. Thats the best answer I can give you.

Tigers' spring pitching woes wearing on Brad Ausmus, players

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech.

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Is JaCoby Jones gaining a foothold in Detroit Tigers' CF battle? - Detroit Free Press

The Partenopei will face Real Madrid at San Paolo on Tuesday night in Champions League round of 16 second leg.

Napoli are expecting an outstanding Championship League clash after they collected an important victory 2-1 (Mertens netted twice) against AS Roma at Olympico. Sarris squad hope to break their negative run Napoli have been eliminated every time they have lost the first leg of a Round 16 tie in European competitions, but on the other hand they have lost only one (Besiktas 2-3) of their ten home Champions League matches (W7, D2).

Napolis captain Marek Hamsik noticed that match against Real Madrid is a huge game and the whole town has been waiting for this moment, the fans will give them great support and theyjust need to enjoy the moment because we are facing a great team with a squad full of champions. Sarri stressed that he is sure about their chances in attack and their chances to qualify may be small for them, but they have to try everything.

One of the Sarris surprises against Real Madrid could be Marko Rog, who played an impressive match against Roma and demonstrated his incredible energy he ran 13.11 km (more than any other player). His role could be crucial in midfield to overcome Real Madrids play-maker Luka Modric. Now he is contention to play, we will see his condition ahead of the game. But this time the line between starting the game and watching it from the stands or the bench is very thin for everybody. referred Sarri about Rog status

Title holder Real Madrid came to Naples tocontinue their Champions League streak They have progressed from each of their last eight Champions League ties in the Last 16 or beyond when theyve won the first leg.

Zidane talked about changing their playing system and said: Even when we change our playing system, we never have to change our mentality. It does not change much if you play with two or three attackers, the attitude must always be the same. He also added: We will take the pitch to win the game as we always do. Im sure we will have to suffer tomorrow but we are ready for it. The Champions League is always an extraordinary motivation.

Karim Benzema has scored in each of his last four CL matches, but he has never scored in five consecutive matches in CL competition.

Venue: San Paolo, Naples

Referee:Cuneyt Cakir, Turkey

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SSC Napoli vs Real Madrid CF: Match preview, team info and lineups - SofaScore (blog)

The Independent Republic

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) Debt Trading 1.6% Lower Chaffey Breeze CF Industries Holdings logo An issue of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) debt fell 1.6% against its face value during trading on Tuesday. The high-yield issue of debt has a 4.95% coupon and is set to mature on June 1, 2043. The debt is now ... Drilling Down Into CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF)StockNewsJournal The New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 2565 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF)DailyQuint CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) Shares Bought by Commonwealth Bank of AustraliaPetro Global News 24 Aiken Advocate -FactsReporter -The Independent Republic all 36 news articles »

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CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) Debt Trading 1.6% Lower - Chaffey Breeze

Vertex could pay out as much as $250 million to gain full access to Concert Pharmaceuticals midstage cystic fibrosis (CF) candidate CTP-656, a tweaked version of its own Kalydeco, as it eyes combo uses that target the underlying causes of the fataldisease while taking over a potential competitor product.

The deal sees Vertex, which is looking to build up its marketed CF franchise, pay $160 million in cash with $90 million in biobucks also lined up for the future.

Thepharma gets CTP-656 for its moneyan investigational cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) potentiator that the company hopes it can use as part of a once-daily combo of CFTR modulators that treat the underlying cause of CF.

This will dovetail with its CF meds: Kalydeco (ivacaftor) and more recently its combo therapy Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor).

Kalydeco is suitable for CF patients with the Gly551Asp mutation in the CFTR generepresenting just 4% to 5% of the total patient populationbut adding lumacaftor means that it can be prescribed for about 45% of patients. The second ingredient targets those carrying two copies of the much more common F508del mutation.

CTP-656 was in fact developed by Concert through the use of its deuterium chemistry to modify ivacaftor as it looked to make a better version of the drug. The big idea at Concert is taking approved or previously studied drugs and reformulating them with deuterium to boost their safety, tolerability and efficacy, creating new, and patentable, products in the process.

Back in 2015, the biotech posted data showing its treatment lasted longer than Vertex med in a small, early-stage trial. Clearly, Vertex wants to get its hands fully on this boosted version of its drug.

With Vertexs clinical and commercial expertise in CF, this agreement provides the optimal pathway to rapidly advance the development of CTP-656 for the benefit of cystic fibrosis patients, said Roger Tung, president and CEO of Concert Pharmaceuticals.

The financial strength provided to Concert by this agreement will allow us to advance [autoimmune med] CTP-543 into pivotal testing and broaden our proprietary development pipeline.

Concert is currently conducting a phase 2 study of CTP-656 in people with CF who have gating mutations. As part of the agreement, Vertex gains all rights to Concerts other CF research and preclinical programs.

Analysts at Leerink said they saw the deal as a positive for Vertex, saying in a note: "First, most obviously it removes a potential competitor, and, more importantly, a potential combination partner for other entrants who may possess a CFTR corrector. It signals Vertex's willingness to enhance and improve its existing franchise and portfolio in CF, rather than fret over "not-invented-here" considerations.

"Second, it offers a potentially improved profile for futuremulti-drug CF combinations. Third, it can extend the duration of Vertex's CF combinations even longer, given likely composition-of-matter exclusivity for Kalydeco of 2027 in the U.S. and 2025 in Europe, compared to 2032-plusin the U.S. and Europe for CTP-656.

"CTP-656 was one of numerous CF competitors in early clinical trials that have been advanced in parallel with Vertexs race to concoct a triple-therapy regimen for the majority of CF patients, and todays news signals, in our view, the willingness of Vertex to defend its dominant and valuable position in the market category."

Concert rocketedup more than 77%on the news while Vertex edged down 0.5%.

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Vertex, Concert orchestrate $250M phase 2 CF drug deal - FierceBiotech

Revenue Approximations Analysis: New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYCB), CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) StockNewsJournal CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF), maintained return on investment for the last twelve months at -1.41, higher than what Reuters data shows regarding industry's average. The average of this ratio is 2.86 for the industry and sector's best figure ... and more »

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Revenue Approximations Analysis: New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYCB), CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) - StockNewsJournal

The USA Commerce

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF): How Do the Technicals Stack Up? The USA Commerce We have gathered the technical data on CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF), and see some interesting trends in the stock's behavior of late. Every professional at some point comes to respect the actual behavior of a stock as the true arbiter of right and ... and more »

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CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF): How Do the Technicals Stack Up? - The USA Commerce

The Mr. Brewster Pageant was held last Friday and it was a tremendous success. The event is host by the S.A.L.T.Y Hands Club whose mission is toraise money and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis research. S.A.L.T.Y stands for Save A Life of Todays Youth. Individuals with CF also often exhibit a salty condition on their skin. For more information about Cystic Fibrosis or help support the efforts to find a cure please visit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation webpage:https://www.cff.org.

For the Mr. Brewster title, contestant collect donations for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. They earn points for the money they collect. The contestants also receive points from the pageant event. The pageant includes several different activities to test the talents and the ability of contestants to think on their feet. Faculty judges included:, Peter Goumas, Michael Castaldo, Terry Schumacher, and Nicole Vitale Sweeney. The MC for the event was Matt Cunningham. Donna Lieval is the adviser of S.A.L.T.Y Hands Club and Mrs. Ann Marie Chalmers spearheads the activities for the Mr. Brewster event.

Brendan Feehan was crowned Mr. Brewster this year, but everyone involved did a wonderful job with the efforts. The other candidates that participated in the pageant event wereJack Guida, Sean Nevin, Connor Dignan, Sean Kelly, Nathan Beal, Tim Catalano, Ryan Wynne, Austin Kaelin, Ryan Hecht, Chris Zavras, Anthony Aiello and Spence Bera. Other individuals also collected money towards the effort but did not compete in the pageant. $33,500 represents an amazing effort from our group of students and will provide significant assistance toward CF Research.

BHS student Amber Krisch wrote a piece for the Hamlet Hub highlighting the the event. The article can be foundhere.

A complete video of the Mr. Brewster Pageant can be found here.

Hereis a video highlighting Brian McPartland and his activities at Duke University. Brian has CF and graduated from BHS and 2011.

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Mr. Brewster Raises $33500 for CF Research - HamletHub

Panasonic has been making super durable laptops for the last 20 years, so when we say that its new Toughbook CF-33 is its most rugged system yet, that's saying something.

Designed for use in the military, construction, government and emergency services, there's not much room for error either, becauseone point of failure could results in the loss of life. That's why the CF-33 features a hardened magnesium chassis, IP65 rating for water resistance and a drop resistance up to 4 feet while in operation.

MORE: Best 2-in-1s (Laptop/Tablet Hybrids)

And in keeping with the times, the CF-33 also features a 12-inch 2160 x 1440 detachable screen, allowing it to go from laptop to tablet to presentation device in seconds, just don't forget to undo the heavy duty latches connecting its tablet body to its keyboard dock. The display also features touch sensitive technology so that users can operate the CF-33 while wearing gloves, and with a rated brightness of 1200 nits, there's no doubt about it having solid outdoor visibility.

For a super rugged system, the CF-33's specs aren't too shabby either. You get a 7th-gen Intel Core i5 CPU with vPRO, up to 16GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD. And since all the main components are found in the CF-33's tablet body, you can order it without the keyboarddock if you want. There's even a hot swappable battery system, so you pop in a fresh power pack without needing to turn off the computer.

I got a chance to check the CF-33 out myself at Mobile World Congress, and as someone who's tested Toughbooks previously, the most impressive thing about the CF-33 is its flexibility. The screen can easily be taken off, flipped around and reattached, and then whisked away using the CF-33's built-in handle. The ports hidden behind those big chunky gaskets can also be configured to suit your company's needs, as can its plethora of security options which includes NFC, and various smartcard readers.

But my favorite part is actually something simple: the pop-out holder for the Toughbook's IP-55 digitizer pen. It's part secret agent, part simply utility, and it all leads to making sure that when you really need it, the Toughbook will have your back.

While we're still waiting on official U.S. pricing, it should be coming to the States sometime in May. Based on European figures that start at $2992 for just the tablet, we're looking at around $3,050 U.S.

Continued here:

Panasonic's Toughbook CF-33 Might Be the Most Durable 2-in-1 Yet - Laptop Mag

Tyler Collins has not played the outfield while recovering from a lat strain.(Photo: Robin Buckson, Detroit News)

Port Charlotte, Fla. It must be driving you loco not being able to participate on defense for two weeks while youre trying to win the center-field job, right Tyler Collins? The waiting, the anxiety, that must be the hardest part.

No, Collins said with a chuckle. The hard part is answering questions from people wanting me to be antsy and me not being antsy.

Two years ago, maybe this mild lat strain would have stressed him. Maybe he would have tried to bull his way through it. Collins isnt that guy anymore.

It is what it is, he said. Theres no point in running around going crazy and then maybe pulling something again trying to get back too soon. Its like, Dude, you can play defense, so just get your at-bats. Youll get back. Youll be fine.

Collins has gotten his at-bats from pinch-hit and designated hitter appearances. He went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts Friday in the Tigers 5-2 loss to the Rays. Hes gotten two hits and knocked in three runs in nine spring at-bats.

And on Thursday he began his throwing program. He has thrown out to 90 feet and on Sunday he is expected to extend as far as 150 feet. If all goes well, he could be reinserted into the center-field mix sometime next week.

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It feels fine, Collins said. Honestly, I dont even notice it during the day. Its just a precautionary throwing program right now. I have full confidence in my ability to play the field. Its all about getting at-bats right now.

Confidence aside, he hasnt played a lot of center field at the major-league level (30 games) and, while manager Brad Ausmus believes Collins has the speed and athleticism to play out there, he needs tangible proof.

We havent had a chance to see him play center field, he said. Im not worried about him being in shape, but I still want to see him play. There is plenty of time. Were not going to rush him and risk long-term injury.

The projection is for Collins, a left-handed hitter, and Mikie Mahtook, a right-handed hitter, to platoon in center field. Left-handed hitters Anthony Gose (hitting .200 this spring) and Alex Presley (.400), and right-handed hitter JaCoby Jones (.333) plus super utility man Andrew Romine (.231) are also getting reps in center.

Theres been so many guys out there, nothings really jelled yet, Ausmus said of the competition. One of the reasons its disjointed is because Tyler hasnt been out there.

Collins, who has toned up his body dramatically from last year and improved his quickness and agility, has come to camp with laser focus. Hes not allowing himself to be distracted by the injury or by the intrigue over the center-field job.

Its spring training, he said. The decisions you guys want me to speak on are not my decisions. So, I am just going to get ready for the season. Ive got games to play and theyve got decisions to make.

Let them deal with their problems; Ill just go play.

Tigers' Infante hopes this isn't his last dance

During TigerFest he said he was faster and stronger than he was last year, and he wasnt joking. While doing his normal weight training in the offseason, he also worked with a sports chiropractor on increasing his range of motion and overall mobility.

But the body-toning thats all nutrition.

I started eating better, he said. Ive got a girlfriend who cooks and shes all organic everything and its the best. I dont have to do anything now. She says, You hungry? And Im like, Yeah, Ill eat it.

Because whatever is coming my way is what I need to be eating any way. Shes great.

Ausmus was asked if Collins seemed more calm, perhaps more mature than the past couple of springs.

Yeah, he does, for sure, he said. But I have the right to reserve judgment until we get into the regular season.

With Tyler Collins, the Tigers are taking a Missourian stance show me.

Twitter @cmccosky

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Lat strain abates, Collins to rejoin CF fight soon - Detroit News - The Detroit News

PTC Therapeutics has seen its Europe-approved Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) drug ataluren flop spectacularly in its key phase 3 cystic fibrosis test, as it now plans to can all trials and attempts to get it onto the market in this disease setting.

The biotech was gunning for success in nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis (nmCF), but data out this morning showed a double whammy of bad newsas it failed to hit both the primary and secondary endpoints across nearly 300 patients.

The primary endpoint was centered on lung function while the secondary was the rate of pulmonary exacerbations, but PTCs drug failed to beat out placebo in statistical significance on both of these counts.

Given this flop, unsurprisingly PTC said itplans to discontinue current clinical development of ataluren in cystic fibrosis, close ongoing extension studies and withdraw its application for marketing authorization in cystic fibrosis in Europe.

Ataluren did recently gain European approval in DMD under the name Translarna (although this came off the back of some poor trial data).

But it is not approved in the U.S., where the FDA said it wouldnt even look at the med, although PTC is still fighting that decision.

We are disappointed with the outcome of this trial as there are no treatments that target the underlying cause of nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis, one of the most difficult forms to treat, said Stuart Peltz, Ph.D., CEO of PTC Therapeutics.We are particularly grateful to patients and investigators who participated in our trials. We remain committed to patients receiving ataluren in other indications.

PTC is also working onRG7916, a candidate hoping to rival Biogen and Ionis in the rare, fatal infant disease SMA. The candidate is backed by Roche.

Analysts at Barclays said in a note to clients: "Given the negative CF headline and modest expectations of success, we would expect PTCT shares to be weak, down potentially ~$3/share, but notably value in nmDMD and to a lesser degree SMA should provide a floor for the stock. The company provided few other details around the miss, but noted that work continues in the nmDMD program, including sales in the EU and SMA program partnered with Roche."

The company dropped 18% premarket on the news.

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PTC notches up full house of failures in CF with ataluren, dumps program - FierceBiotech