pharmaceutical giant merck rose around 2% after u.k. regulators approved a pill that could treat covid-19 symptoms. in clinical trials, the drug, which was originally developed to treat the flu, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by around half. the u.k. health secretary described the treatment as potential game changer. u.s. authorities are to evaluate it this week. finally, the incoming mayor of new york city will take his first three paychecks in bitcoin. eric adams, who was elected tuesday, said he was hoping to make the city the center of the cryptocurrency industry. he is also considering launching an n.y.c. version of cryptocurrencies as miami, florida, has already done. miami's mayor has said he will take all of his salary for his coming term in bitcoin. crypto startups have been flocking there. the process of bitcoin mining is far from environmentally friendly, not to mention the risk of volatility. we see prices fluctuating by tens of thousands of dollars in a single day. >> not sure i'm quite ready for it myself. thank

it was first developed by merck pharmaceutical and is for adults 18 and older who have tested positive for covid and have at least one risk factor for developing severe disease. mark claims, a drug cuts hospitalizations and deaths by half among patients with early symptoms. now the company has not disclosed any side effects. the medication is still pending review by us regulators. and unemployment across the country has dropped to its lowest point since the pandemic started. the latest job report shows 14,000 fewer jobless claims were filed last week bringing the total number of new claims to around 269,000 nationwide. the number is down from about 900,000 in january. analysts say the drop is a good sign that the job market is slowly healing right now around 2.0. 1 million americans are collecting unemployment one year ago. that number stood at 7.1 million. it will. still to come on the kron 4 morning news authorities say a man is lucky to be alive. >> after driving by all of cliff. what authorities to the scene of that crash and the white house is rolling out a new nationwide vaccine

treatment for cove at 19 described as potentially game changing the anti viral pill made by us pharmaceutical company. merck has been shown to have the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk. of severe symptoms of the disease, this pill interferes with the viruses replication mechanisms. and by interfering with how it reproduces, it makes it make many mistakes. and by making many mistakes, it stops it from being able to reproduce properly. and that's how it works. but new treatments alone won't be enough to slow the renewed spread of the virus across europe, among countries. some of who believed until recently that it was all over, jonah hope al jazeera over well the european center for disease prevention and control says nearly 76 percent of people above the age of 18 are fully vaccinated. but this map shows huge differences between western and eastern europe. iceland island and portugal in the dark green have immunized more than 90 percent of adults . that figure is just 39 percent in romania and 26 percent in bulgaria. some countries of announced new measures, latvia was the 1st e

pharmaceutical company merck has been shown to have the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk of severe symptoms of the disease. >> this pill interferes with the virus's replication mechanisms, and by interfering with how it reproduces, it makes it make many mistakes. by making many mistakes, it stops it from being able to reproduce properly. that is how it works. reporter: new treatments alone will not be enough to slow the renewed spread of the virus across europe. among countries, some of whom believed until recently, that it was all over. jonah hull,. al jazeera. laura: honeys with 100 or more employees -- companies with 100 or more employees will now have to ensure their staff are vaccinated or tested weekly. companies that fail to comply will be fined $14,000 for each violation. 1100 americans on average are still dying daily from covid-19. the vast majority of them unvaccinated. and fisher has more from capitol hill. reporter: we knew the mandates were coming, now we know the dates they will be imposed. january 4, two months from this date. it means if you

treatment for coven 19 described as potentially game changing the anti viral pill made by us pharmaceutical company. merck has been shown to have the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk of severe symptoms of the disease. this pill interferes with the viruses replication mechanisms. and by interfering with how it reproduces, it makes it make many mistakes. and by making many mistakes, it stops it from being able to reproduce properly. and that's how it works. but new treatments alone won't be enough to slow the renewed spread of the virus across europe, among countries. some of who believed until recently that it was all over. jonah whole al jazeera across the atlantic in the u. s. companies with $100.00 or more employees will not be required to ensure their staff a vaccinated or tested weekly. the baton administration has issued a deadline of january the 4th for the mandate. companies that fail to comply will be fined about $14000.00 for each foundation. about 1100 americans on average, still dying daily from code 19. the vast majority of them on vaccinated. official jones, we no

treatment for cove at 19 described as potentially game changing the anti viral pill made by us pharmaceutical company. merck has been shown to have the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk. of severe symptoms of the disease, this pill interferes with the viruses replication mechanisms. and by interfering with how it reproduces, it makes it make many mistakes. and by making many mistakes, it stops it from being able to reproduce properly. and that's how it works. but new treatments alone won't be enough to slow the renewed spread of the virus across europe, among countries, some of whom believed until recently that it was all over. jonah hope al jazeera on of holes health ministry, meanwhile, is worried that the wally celebration could lead to arise. and the number of code, the 1900 cases that a nation wide vaccination drive is underway. but demand for shots is outpacing supply. same bas robbie has more from capital to the festival season in the poll means public holidays crowded markets and family gatherings. these are auspicious times for togetherness and worship, but also prime co

treatment for cove at 19 described as potentially game changing the anti viral pill made by us pharmaceutical company. merck has been shown to have the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk. of severe symptoms of the disease, this pale interferes with the viruses, replication, mccann isms and by interfering with how we reproduce is it makes it make many mistakes. and by making many mistakes, it stops it from being able to reproduce properly. and that's how it works. but new treatments alone won't be enough to slow the renewed spread the virus across europe, among countries, some of whom believed until recently that it was all over. jonah whole al jazeera. professor jeff lazarus is a former senior technical officer on communicable diseases at the w shown is now a research at the boss learning st for global health insurance is by skype. thanks very much for being with us. just want to ask, you've given the kind of broad range of policy approaches in europe, are there any countries that are actually doing better than others that could serve as an example for some of the rest of the coun

treatment for cove at 19 described as potentially game changing the anti viral pill made by us pharmaceutical company. merck has been shown to have the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk. of severe symptoms of the disease, this pill interferes with the viruses, replication mckenna isms. and by interfering with how it reproduces, it makes it make many mistakes and by making many mistakes, it stops it from being able to reproduce properly. and that's how it works. but new treatments alone won't be enough to slow the renewed spread of the virus across europe, among countries, some of whom believed until recently that it was all over. jonah whole al jazeera. ah, still ahead on algebra will tell you about a major knee brace or in the fight against cervical cancer. and is investing heavily in wind down to why counting when itself comb finance. ah hello. good to see. here's her headlines for the americas. we've got some storms working across northern argentina, pushing into paraguay breezy along the river. plate region will see wind gusts. here is 60 to 70 kilometers per hour. southweste

treatment for cove at 19 described as potentially game changing the anti viral pill made by us pharmaceutical company. merck has been shown to have the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk. of severe symptoms of the disease, this pill interferes with the viruses replication mechanisms. and by interfering with how it reproduces, it makes it make many mistakes. and by making many mistakes, it stops it from being able to reproduce properly. and that's how it works. but new treatments alone won't be enough to slow the renewed spread of the virus across europe, among countries, some of whom believed until recently that it was all over jonah whole al jazeera. meanwhile, the by the administration has set a date for cobit 19 vaccination rules. the business is from january, 4th companies with a 100 or more employees will be required to ensure staff either vaccinated or tested. weekly. federal workers will not be allowed to opt out. firms in violation could be fined $14000.00. several republican governors say they'll challenge the mandate. alan fish as more from capitol hill in washington dc.

the pharmaceutical company merck says early data shows its pill reduce i hospitalizations and death byost 50% in clinical trials. some doctors say the results are impressive, but others are raising red flags. cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen breaks down the numbers for you. >> merck did a clinical trial with 762 participants. half of them got a placebo over the course of about a month. 45 of those folks were hospitalized with covid and nine of them died of covid. of the half that got the drug, 28 of them were hospitalized, a much smaller number, and then of them died. that really is quite impressive. and so those are the results that the fda advisers will be looking at next week. >> elizabeth cohen there. >>> south korea has reported another record number of new covid-19 infections. more than 4100 new cases were reported on tuesday, proving the prime minister to suggest things are urgent enough to consider restrictions. it was a week ago south korea lifted measures. since then cases hit record highs several times. i.c.u. beds in seoul are nearly full. >>> after more t

there are those did with pharmaceutical companies like merck astrazeneca and pfizer defense attorney. it's all a common defense strategy to build homes' credibility among jurors. i believe she just trying to lay the groundwork that she really was an entrepreneurial. she was trying to to create a way of doing something better and more efficient green has worked in state and federal court for 21 years. he says he's not surprised homes maintained a calm composure throughout questioning. there was never a point where elizabeth seemed tongue-tied or questioning what she was going to say green says if homes continues to perform well on the stand, it's likely the prosecutions cross-examination set to resume following the thanksgiving. holiday weekend will take much longer. i just can't imagine it would be less than a couple days holmes has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of fraud if convicted she could face decades in prison court will resume tomorrow for a full day in homes is expected to take the stand again for the third time in san jose stephanie sierra abc 7 news. we'll get back to our

be some advancement in terms of technology transfer so that it leads to the pharmaceuticals that can really liaise with merck substitute for the vaccine. because the vaccine protection from getting the vaccine protection from getting the facts click back virus and that's always the best strategy not getting the buyers not after. boosterjobs getting the buyers not after. booster jobs for teenagers and children is always important and probably more important than having treatment thereafter. if probably more important than having treatment thereafter.— treatment thereafter. if you look at the over all— treatment thereafter. if you look at the over all levels _ treatment thereafter. if you look at the over all levels of _ treatment thereafter. if you look at the over all levels of treatment, i the over all levels of treatment, how much have they reduced the risk of serious illness in the round? most of the treatment that we have certainly are effective. for example talking about this pill that it has 50% effectiveness. particularly into the patient that have mild to moderate disease, not really effective again

but i think that j&j is growing their pharmaceutical business faster than pfizer and merck at a 14% organicrowth and just didn't get the credit for that so i feel like it should trade at a premium and if it doesn't, that's your opportunity, quite frankly both pieces, i mentioned consumer, really the free cash flow generator, so is the pharma business, the device business. so you're going to continue to see dividend increases, buybacks, this is a shareholder friendly company, gorski is a money maker. i'm glad he's going to stay around for this and see it through, too. >> you do assume a little more risk, though, don't you steph, say as a shareholder you choose to invest in the pharmaceutical and device side of the business. it is a riskier business, if you separate it out from having everything together. you have to assume some of that risk >> well, i guess so. but i think if you look at the pipeline in the pharmaceutical business, they've built it so substantially. so i think you have a lot more visibility than you ever have in terms of the pharmaceutical side in terms of the device side ce

merck drug. but still, even if it comes down to 60% or 50%, that is a great result. lisa: one of the reasons why i love speaking with you is because of your deep pharmaceutical knowledge been your postdoc in your field -- in the field in your day. will there be even more game changers when it comes to fighting the coronavirus? sarah: i think -- sam: i think the key thing to do is to get our testing right, but also try to get the number of pills down. if you have to take these pills for the five days, it will be 30 pills. the merck one is 40 pills and five days. if you can bring that down, maybe create a once a day pill or even twice a day, actually combining the mechanisms, you can have really high efficacy. matt: the chances of this virus mutating better or worse? sam: mutating away from the drugs? yes, the risk is there. this one has shown us it has the ability to continue randomly amassing mutations that affect their ability to do what they need to do which is in fact us. it is possible. but a five-day course should be short enough hopefully to avoid that for a while. jonathan: are we going to see you in new york anytime soon? sam: not judging by the prices of flig

merck seems crazy. it's key truda, they have this stuff. maybe it's a knee jerk reaction but was this drug that important to this pharmaceutical company the onehard to imagine going down 5% on that, but i guess it ran up on prospects for it, too, meg? >> i think you're right. i think the ideas of sort of continuing revenue stream from this, depending on how long people need drugs like this. but these initial reactions aren't always completely rational andrew, in terms of manufacturing, they have been manufacturing at risk already. you i believe they'll have something like 187,000 courses available by the end of the year, which, of course, is coming up quickly. they'll have millions next year. i think 50 million for the entire year with 20 million or so coming within the first half. so they ar so they are representing this out quite largely. >> is this the kind of thing that scales up if they have the equivalent of a become doses, hopefully, there won't be that many people that need this will this be the kind of thing if you get covid-19, it will almost be a part of the regimen? >> potentially you get covid, you take a rapid test. you can do i

innovation development by government and pharmaceutical companies and scientists and doctors from pfizer of an oral pill that you can take to prevent you from get covid. mercknd get some doctors on this and talk about how soon you would be able to take this pill if you get covid. >>> when it come to the president's agenda and as we go to break, the president and first lady are set to attend the funeral of the late colin powell today. president biden calling the former secretary of state a dear friend will be among those paying respects at the cathedral this afternoon. we'll be right back. cathedral this afternoon we'll be right back. your rhyth. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. as a dj, i know all about customization. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? you got it. ♪ liberty, liberty - liberty, liberty ♪ uh, i'll settle for something i can dance to. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, libe

pharmaceutical etf ticker ftxh. that's about flat on the year under a little bit of pressure this morning it's under performed the s&p by 20% this year. second largest holding is merckn today because those shares are falling after citi downgraded the stock and the hiv drug will hurt merck's long-term potential. a note that's not related to covid-19 stock is now negative on the year down 4% right now. >> dow gain down to 45 points. a news update. rahel solomon has that >> hi, carl, good morning. here's what's happening at this hour negotiations over iran's nuclear program have resumed officials from the remaining participants in a 2015 arrived at a hotel in vienna, russia, france, and the uk in 2018 then president trump took the u.s. out of the deal. iran responded by ri assuming its uranium enrichment prompting economic sanctions and iran will not return unless sanctions are lifted jussie smollett's trial begins today. the actor who starred in "empire" told police he was the victim of a hate crime he's now accused of staging the whole thing, which he denies >>> today a jury has been seated and opening arguments will begin in the trial of ghislaine maxwell, accused o

zach sauce ktvu fox two news time pharmaceutical company merck announced today that its experimental covid-19 pill is less effective than originally thought. clinical trials showed that the antiviral pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and depth and high risk covid patients by 30% that's down from an earlier estimate of 50. fda advisers will meet next week on whether to recommend authorizing the drug. if approved, it would be the first pill available here in the us to treat covid-19. the drug has already been approved for emergency use in the uk. and you can stay up to date on the very latest coronavirus developments by visiting our website just had two ktvu .com/ covid-19. new attend. we're hearing from a 95 year old woman tonight who was the victim of a robbery on thanksgiving day. this happened on the san francisco bay trail in berkeley , near the foot of gilman street that's not far away from golden gate fields. ktvu zambelli joining us live tonight from the berkeley police department with what the thieves stole from the woman, amber. alex the 95 year old woman tells me two