Category: 3. Business

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge ticked higher last month in a sign that President Donald Trump’s broad-based tariffs are starting to lift prices for many goods.

Prices rose 2.6% in June compared with a year ago, the Commerce Department said Thursday, up from an annual pace of 2.4% in May. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, prices rose 2.8% in the past year, the same as the previous month, which was revised higher. The figures are above the Fed’s 2% goal.

The uptick in prices helps explain the central bank’s reluctance to cut its key interest rate this week, despite repeated demands from Trump that it do so. On Wednesday, the Fed left its key rate unchanged at 4.3%, and Chair Fed Powell suggested it could take months for the central bank to determine whether the import duties will cause just a one-time rise in prices or a more persistent increase in inflation.

On a monthly basis, prices ticked up 0.3% from May to June, while core prices also rose 0.3%. Both figures are higher than consistent with the 2% target.

The government’s measure of gas prices jumped 0.9% from May to June, while grocery costs rose 0.3%. Many longer-lasting goods that are heavily imported saw clear price increases, with furniture prices up 1.3% just last month, appliances up 1.9%, and computers up 1.4%.

The cost of some services fell dramatically last month, offsetting the price pressures from goods. Air fares dropped 0.7% from May to June, while the cost of hotel rooms plunged 3.6% just in one month.

Thursday’s report also showed that consumer spending rose 0.3% from May to June, a modest rise that suggests Americans are still spending cautiously. Adjusted for inflation, the increase was just 0.1%, the government said.

Consumers have been cautious all year. On Wednesday, the government said the economy expanded at a 3% annual rate in the second quarter, a solid showing but one that masked some red flags. Consumer spending, for example, rose at a lackluster 1.4% pace, after an even smaller gain of 0.5% in the first three months of the year. A sharp drop in imports in the April-June quarter, which followed a surge in the first quarter, provided a big lift to the government’s calculation of U.S. gross domestic product.

Earlier this month, the government reported that its more closely-watched consumer price index, its primary inflation measure, also ticked higher in June as the cost of heavily-imported items such as appliances, furniture, and toys increased.

NETL researchers demonstrated that naturally occurring signals in underground fluids can serve as effective indicators of flow patterns between existing oil and gas wellbores — a discovery that can help decision makers understand the interactions between wells to optimize the efficiency and safety of oil and gas production.

Fluid flow between drilled wells is known as well-to-well communication. NETL experts estimate that currently, 70% of new wells are “child wells” — wells drilled in proximity to producing wells known as “parent wells.” Keeping track of well-to-well communication between the wells is important for optimized fracturing operations and to prevent potential problems.

Unexpected fluid migration between wells results in inefficient production, increased leakage risks and increased levels of extracted waste fluid, known as produced water, that requires treatment or disposal.

Djuna Gulliver, research engineer with NETL’s geochemistry team, explained that complex flow patterns and reactive transport mechanisms may not be accurately defined using just flow rates and pressure measurements obtained through inserted monitoring devices.  She said the naturally occurring signals can delineate unexpected processes such as reactive transport — how the fracture fluid moving through the shale is reacting and changing the shale geochemistry.

NETL has successfully evaluated the geochemistry and microbiology of four different unconventional oil and gas plays through comprehensive studies over the past ten years. The group collected data that demonstrated a signal of well-to-well communication in the produced fluid.

“NETL has shown that we can identify much of the complex flow information with fluids from the existing well infrastructure. Substances already present in the underground fluids can serve as signals to track fluid movement, reactivity and connectivity between wells,” she said. “Pinpointing these signals can reduce the need to install new monitoring equipment in wells already in place.”

James Gardiner, a research geologist on NETL’s geochemistry team, described how researchers look for specific geochemical and microbiological signals to identify well-to-well communication in the field.

“Unconventional wells often have fractures that extend into parent wells. NETL has observed that affected parent wells will often exhibit a decrease in salinity coupled with an increase in dissolved sulfate. These wells also had microbial data that was significantly different from unaffected wells. The groundwater used in the hydraulic fracturing fluid had low salinity, high dissolved sulfate and distinctive microbial data. These geochemical and microbiological changes indicate well-to-well communication and suggest potential chemical reactions in the reservoir that could affect well production.”

Additionally, the combined geochemical and microbiological signal indicated reactive transport, followed by microbial activity potential that could lead to increased hydrogen sulfide production. Hydrogen sulfide is known to decrease the quality of production, cause infrastructure corrosion, and increase operator hazards.

NETL’s work will lead to tools and guidance for managing well-to-well communication. Plans are for the tools to eventually include modeling to determine the impact of fluid migration on affected wells and a workflow for the near-real-time interpretation of data for well-to-well communication recognition.

Understanding the well-to-well connectivity is important even after wells are no longer producing oil or gas.

“As operators maintain and convert wells for alternate usage or retirement, they must consider those wells as a connected subsurface,” Gulliver said. “Even after retirement, many wells are often still assessed as singular, impermeable environments when, in reality, fluids flow and interact with the rocks between these wells. To manage existing wells into the future requires an accurate understanding of these subsurface systems.”

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory dedicated to advancing the nation’s energy future by creating innovative solutions that strengthen the security, affordability and reliability of energy systems and natural resources. With laboratories in Albany, Oregon; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, NETL creates advanced energy technologies that support DOE’s mission while fostering collaborations that will lead to a resilient and abundant energy future for the nation.

At the Paris AI Action Summit earlier this year, Lenovo joined the Coalition for Sustainable AI, a French government-led initiative in collaboration with the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The coalition brings together global stakeholders committed to aligning AI development with sustainability goals and fostering responsible AI that supports environmental policies.

Together with other members which includes AMD, Nvidia, SAP, and Schneider Electric, Lenovo will support collaborative, international efforts to shape responsible AI that drives progress toward the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in areas such as climate action and environmental protection.

Through this initiative, Lenovo will contribute to the coalition’s innovation hub, an open and collaborative platform aimed at advancing science, standards, and solutions for aligning AI with environmental goals.

“At Lenovo, we believe that AI is not only a tool for greater efficiency, but also a catalyst for sustainable innovation” said Shama Patari, VP & Deputy General Counsel, Ethics & Compliance, Government Relations & Trade, Lenovo. “By joining the Coalition for Sustainable AI, we reinforce our commitment to designing systems, reducing waste, and optimizing energy use across our value chain as part of our journey to net-zero”.

Lenovo is committed to reaching its net-zero goals by 2050 after having its targets validated by SBTi in January 2023. To meet these goals, Lenovo has set ambitious targets such as improving the energy efficiency of its servers by 50% by 2030 (compared to 2018). Its industry-leading Neptune™ direct water-cooling technology enables customers to reduce power consumption by up to 40% and achieve a 3.5x improvement in thermal efficiency compared to traditional air-cooled systems, a key strength in building more sustainable AI infrastructure.

This new coalition membership complements Lenovo’s ongoing commitments to other responsible AI initiatives, including UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, Canada’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on Generative AI, and the European Commission’s AI Pact. With its Responsible AI committee and AI policy in place, Lenovo has built a strong AI internal governance framework and is already demonstrating responsibility and accountability in the AI space.

Learn more about Lenovo’s ESG efforts and AI governance on its latest Environment, Social, Governance report

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a US$69 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #196 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

When Mariama Kamara enters the new Statiegeld return shop on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, she is on a mission. She has been tasked by her aunt, who runs a nearby restaurant, with depositing three giant blue trash bags of bottles and cans. In about seven minutes she feeds the deposit machine about 350 cans, bringing in more than €50 (£43) which will go back into her aunt’s business. “It’s a really cool idea, and so convenient,” she says.

In the Netherlands, whenever consumers buy goods in cans, glass or plastic bottles, they pay a slight fee (statiegeld) that ranges from 15 cents to 25 cents depending on the size and type. This money can be reclaimed, however, when you return the container to a “reverse vending machine”, while uncollected deposits go to enlarging the scheme.

But the machines, which are usually located in grocery stores where they can catch foot traffic from customers, sometimes don’t work, or are not large enough. Stores will also only accept packaging from brands that they sell: for instance, Lidl won’t accept a Coca-Cola bottle because they don’t sell that brand there. And, unlike most of the other countries that have deposit return schemes, in the Netherlands there is no legal obligation for stores beyond supermarkets to have these machines.

The Netherlands has an extremely ambitious national legal collection target set by the Dutch packaging management decree, which says that the beverage industry must recover at least 90% of all bottles and cans sold. The problem is it still has a long way to go. According to Verpact, 77% of all plastic beverage bottles and 84% of cans were returned last year – a high rate compared with many countries but still not high enough.

So this year, Verpact is trying something new, launching shops that are solely for returning plastic bottles and cans (glass must be disposed of elsewhere). The first return store opened in May in Rotterdam, with a bulk machine that can process up to 200 bottles and cans at once and, according to Verpact, more than a million deposit packages have been handed in since then.

Amsterdam now houses three Statiegeld stores and, because of their central locations, they have already brought in a lot of foot traffic. Users include those looking to dispose of waste, local businesses, intrigued tourists and people who spend entire evenings collecting cans and bottles. “For some people, it’s junk, for others, it’s something to eat,” said an employee from Kier, the organisation tasked with manning the stores.

Deposit return schemes aren’t unique to the Netherlands. In 1970, the Canadian province of British Columbia introduced the first mandatory system to return beer and soft-drink cans and bottles. In 1984, Sweden created its own model, becoming the first in the European region to do so. The Netherlands launched its deposit return scheme in 2006, which has expanded over the years. Seventeen countries across Europe have systems in operation, including Norway, Germany and Ireland. And because of recent EU legislation that tasks member states with a 90% collection rate for single-use plastic bottles and cans, more countries are joining the pack.

Hester Klein Lankhorst, the CEO of Verpact, sees this initiative as a way to help reach the ambitious national legal collection targets: “The goals we need to reach are really high and in a short time. We have to do it as quickly as possible.”

Companies that release packaged products on the market are legally obliged to handle packaging collection and recycling, including the deposit system, says Verpact. It is the responsibility of the company, on behalf of the packaging industry, to report on an annual basis to the government.

The containers collected are sorted, cleaned and then mainly processed into new raw material that can be sold back to manufacturing companies. According to Verpact, recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is used in new PET bottles. In 2023, PET bottles already contained, on average, 44% recycled PET. The Netherlands also now requires that by 2025, 25% of the material of a PET bottle must be recycled material.

Deposit return schemes are also seen as helping create a more circular economy and in some cases can help reduce litter. A study by the ministry of infrastructure and water management, the CE Delft consultancy and Utrecht University found that since the return shops opened (although they are not necessarily the only reason) the number of small plastic bottles and cans in litter decreased by 69%.

But conversely, in some situations people who were gathering the bottles to raise money may empty out wastebins searching for them, making the litter situation worse. “In some cities, especially around garbage cans, there has been more litter, and it has incurred costs for cities that have to clean up that litter because they break cans, and then animals come in,” says Martin Calisto Friant of Circle Economy, an Amsterdam-based nonprofit.

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And the price of managing the technology and transport is significant. “It is quite an expensive system, but it really helps to lower the littering,” Lankhorst says. Finally, there are concerns over whether the financial returns – a key part of the incentive to recycle – are high enough. “There’s a low incentive, in my opinion, of a deposit value for small containers, and that I would say is one of the big weak points in the Dutch system,” says Thomas Morgenstern of Tomra, a Norwegian waste sorting company that supplies the reverse vending machines for many of the deposit return systems in the Netherlands.

The low deposit doesn’t incentivise reduced consumption, which Calisto Friant sees as the main issue, while it’s also unclear whether these kinds of systems actually do anything to curb plastic production. “This could be a very important and useful kind of incentive to reduce consumption of single-use packaging, which is probably the most important thing we should do in the first place,” he says.

The ideal, perhaps, say Lankhorst and Verpact, would be for every store to have recycling units that worked properly. But in the meantime, the Statiegeld shops are a good stopgap measure to continue to reduce litter and reach legal targets.

“There’s not a silver bullet,” Lankhorst says. “But altogether we can make it more easy for people to get their deposit back and throw the cans and the bottles in the right way, in the right system.”

And for Kamara, it’s more user-friendly. She’s used to going to one of three supermarkets and manually inserting bottles or cans one by one – an extremely tedious task. “If I had to manually do all the work, it would hurt my back,” she says.

By Steve Goldstein

AB InBev stock sees worst day since COVID struck after volume miss

The worst stock-market slide in five years on Thursday wasn’t denting the long-term enthusiasm that Anheuser-Busch InBev CFO Fernando Tennenbaum has for the beer industry.

“When you forecast forward, it’s all about demographics and economics,” he told MarketWatch in an interview. “There is no rocket science in that.”

And what was notable was his view on beer consumption by younger demographics, and his denial that there was anything structural.

“There’s a lot of different studies about this topic,” he said, pointing to a study from Bernstein Research, among others. The demographic of those between 21 and 23 years old saw a modest decline in alcohol consumption that quickly normalized once they got past those years, he said.

“At the end of the day, if you think about it, this is the COVID generation. And they are doing everything later. Remember, they didn’t socialize the same way the previous generations did. They spent a lot of their college years in front of a computer, not going out with friends, not leaving home the same way previous generations did.”

Tennenbaum said the new generation of young adults is now consuming alcohol at similar rates as before COVID.

AB InBev shares (BE:ABI) (BUD) fell as much as 11% as the brewer on Thursday reported declining volumes in the second quarter.

“It’s very hard for me to speculate, one way or the other,” he said about the reasons for the share-price decline.

Volumes slumped by 1.9%, weighed down by its performance in China and Brazil. Analysts had expected a 0.3% decline. But Tennenbaum stressed that volumes outside of those two countries rose 0.7%. “If you zoom in and try to understand, you see that most of our markets were healthy,” he said.

The brewer of brands including Budweiser, Corona, Michelob and Stella Artois said its profit rose 14% to $1.67 billion, while revenue fell 2% to $15 billion.

Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected a $1.94 billion profit on revenue of $15.28 billion, though its underlying earnings of 98 cents a share topped estimates by 2 cents.

Tennenbaum pointed out that both earnings and cash flow improved during the quarter.

The company stuck to its target of Ebitda growth between 4% and 8% this year.

It also didn’t announce a stock buyback, which may have been a concern for some investors.

Tennenbaum said the company’s capital-allocation plans haven’t changed as it made progress on deleveraging and cash flow. “If you look at share buybacks, two years ago we announced $1 billion and then we completed it, and last year, we announced it at $2 billion and we completed it.”

“When we feel it’s appropriate, we can make further announcements,” he said.

Anheuser-Busch did have some successes during the quarter – no-alcohol beer revenue shot up 33% and Michelob Ultra and Busch Light were the top volume share gainers in the U.S.

“What is different these days than in the past is that the quality of the non-alcohol beer is very high. Most people cannot tell the difference between one and another [alcoholic version], so they can have the products they love in new occasions that were not available to them,” he said.

-Steve Goldstein

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Amid the rapidly evolving ecosystem of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in ovarian cancer, a panel of oncologists, an ophthalmologist, and a nurse practitioner discussed their current practices as part of an Around the Practice^®program hosted by CancerNetwork. Among the ADCs discussed, mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx (Elahere), the only one approved by the FDA for ovarian cancer, stood out as the most prominent.¹ The management of adverse events (AEs), particularly ocular-related ones, was also heavily discussed.

The panel was led by Leslie Randall, MD, director of Gynecologic Oncology Clinical Research and the Gynecologic Oncology Cancer Service Line at Inova Schar Cancer Institute, Inova Health, in Virginia. She was joined by Marion E. Cole, MD, a medical oncologist at Inova Health System; Asim Farooq, MD, an associate professor of ophthalmology and visual science at the University of Chicago in Illinois; and Mallorie Haba, FNP, a family nurse practitioner at the University of Virginia Health.

Mirvetuximab Soravtansine

Randall / Mirvetuximab soravtansine is the only ADC that’s currently FDA-approved for patients with folate receptor [FR]-α, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer who’ve received 1 to 3 prior lines of systemic treatment. Can you break down the key findings from the pivotal [phase 3 MIRASOL trial (NCT04209855)]?

Cole / The median progression-free survival was 3.6 months with mirvetuximab soravtansine and 3.98 months with standard chemotherapy. An objective response occurred in about 42% of participants on the mirvetuximab arm and 15.9% of patients on the chemotherapy arm. The overall survival was significantly longer with mirvetuximab soravtansine than with chemotherapy: 16.46 months vs 12.75 months.

There was a retrospective, pooled analysis of the [phase 3 SORAYA (NCT04296890)], [phase 3 FORWARD I (NCT02631876)], and MIRASOL studies, and in this pooled analysis, they looked at 682 patients treated with mirvetuximab soravtansine.² Long-term survival was observed in 34% of patients with a median survival of 28.35 months, and with 66% and 40% alive at 24 and 34 months, respectively. Most of the patients with mirvetuximab soravtansine had 2 to 3 prior lines of therapy, and the most common treatment-related AEs were blurred vision, keratopathy, nausea, dry eye, peripheral neuropathy, fatigue, and diarrhea.

Randall / This is the only phase 3 study in the platinum-resistant space to show an overall survival advantage since the [phase 3 AURELIA trial (NCT00976911)] with the bevacizumab [Avastin] doublets, so the importance of this can’t be underscored.

What is your experience giving this drug to a patient vs giving someone single-agent pegylated liposomal doxorubicin [Doxil]?

Cole / I’ve seen very good responses, and patients do quite well with it. They stay on it for a long time, as long as they’re closely monitored and we watch for AEs…. It’s been a game changer.

Haba / I agree; I’ve seen great benefits from it. I’ve had patients on it for a very long time. It’s great having different AEs than systemic chemotherapy, where a lot of people will feel good on it, too. We have to watch for these new ADC AEs, but as long as we’re educating the patients, and they’re aware to notify us of anything new that they’re concerned about, we’ve seen great outcomes with it.

ADCs in Development

Randall / We’ve got 6 other ADCs that are moving along quickly in development: farletuzumab ecteribulin, rinatabart sesutecan [Rina-S], luveltamab tazevibulin, trastuzumab deruxtecan [Enhertu; T-DXd], datopotamab deruxtecan [Datroway; Dato-DXd], and raludotatug deruxtecan [R-DXd].

It was announced that they were going to stop the development of luveltamab tazevibulin, which is disappointing because it was another FR-targeted ADC that worked in patients who have low-expressing FR-α levels. For mirvetuximab soravtansine, [FR-α expression] has to be 75% to be used as a single agent; luveltamab tazevibulin was working down at 25%; it worked better for a higher level of expression, but there was still activity at the low level. It appeared that this was going to be the mirvetuximab soravtansine for the low expressers; however, the company did announce that they were not moving forward with the development.

Rina-S is also FR-α–targeted with a topoisomerase payload, and this one is hoped to work at the lower levels of FR-α. In its phase 1 data, it showed that it does work at the lower levels, and there’s a phase 3 confirmatory trial that’s currently opening that allows patients with any FR-α expression to enroll.

Then we have the HER2 lines, so we have farletuzumab ecteribulin and T-DXd—anti-HER2. Farletuzumab ecteribulin is less further along in development; it’s still in a phase 1/2 setting. We have T-DXd, and the basket study blew our socks off with very high response rates—around 65% in patients with high- expressing [HER2-negative immunohistochemistry] 2 to 3+.³ This is now [listed by the NCCN] as an option in the recurrent setting. It’s important to test HER2 in our patients, and this is why: because of the availability of T-DXd.

Also, looking at R-DXd, this is a [quadruplet regimen given in 6-week cycles and a topoisomerase] derivative. This showed very high response rates in phase 1, and this is also moving forward in the phase 2 to 3 space. We’re hoping that it will give us [more] diversity of targets.

It is a good thing to have multiple medications in the pipeline, in my opinion. What do you think? Is it too much, just right, or not enough?

Cole / It’s always better to have more options.

Haba / Patients always want more, so [we] need to keep bringing them out.

Randall / Dr Cole, how has that approval of mirvetuximab soravtansine influenced your treatment decisions and sequencing?

Cole / In the platinum-resistance setting, if someone has a high expression of FR-α, it’s usually the first thing I look toward. It’s been a game changer.

Randall / Do you move that before an AURELIA regimen? Technically, the FDA [states]—and even for MIRASOL—[that] patients had to have [a] bevacizumab doublet [in the] first line as platinum resistant. The more people I talk to, we’re saving that for later. We’re using the mirvetuximab soravtansine early.

Cole / Yes, we’ve seen such amazing responses with it. It’s something that needs to be considered.

Randall / Mallorie, what are your biggest concerns when initiating the ADC therapy?

Haba / My biggest thing is to make sure that the patients are aware of what to look for. A lot of these patients have been on systemic chemotherapy, so they’re very comfortable with managing AEs and acknowledging what to look for between either platinum doublets or the maintenance chemotherapy pills. Addressing these other AEs like the ocular toxicities, the pneumonitis, and the [gastrointestinal] differences, as well as making sure that they’re very well educated on those, what to look for, and how to treat them [is important].

Oncology and Eye Care Specialists

Randall / Mallorie, in the academic practice setting, have you established protocols to coordinate care between oncology and eye care specialists? How has that worked for you?

Haba / We do. We’re lucky that we have buy-in with our eye clinic, with our ophthalmologists and optometrists. A lot of times, we’ll try to get patients in the same day, so they have their eye exam in the morning, and then they’ll come and see us, so we’re able to review everything with them and make sure that they’re cleared for treatment.

We have patients [who] travel from far away—2 to 3 hours at a time—so you just have to have buy-in with local optometry and ophthalmology support. If I’m starting with a patient who has a local provider, I make sure I’m printing out the forms they take with them to their appointment. I also print out some information on the drug, and then either I or our pharmacist tries to call a couple of days later. I usually tell them to drop off the paperwork before their eye exam so that the provider can review it, and then if they have any questions about what we’re asking for, we’re able to answer them.

Randall / Dr Farooq, how is your program set up?

Farooq / I’m in an academic practice, and we have a great team of oncologists. We share an electronic medical record, and they know that I’m interested in seeing these patients; a lot of times, they’ll schedule with me, and if my schedule is full, they’ll send me an email, and I’ll facilitate an eye exam promptly. What I’ve learned in talking to community oncologists and ophthalmologists [is that] there are potentially some barriers that need to be addressed in a thoughtful way, especially if a patient does not have an established eye care provider. Starting this drug, one of the things that the manufacturer could help with or that the oncology team could help the patient identify is an eye care provider in their area who’s willing to take this on.

As you indicated in your case, these do require regular eye exams. It’s not just 1 screening exam, and then, “See you in a year” or “See you if you have trouble.” They have to be seen with a regular cadence; at least for many of these drugs, that’s the on-label recommendation. Communication between oncology and ophthalmology or optometry is important in this entire landscape of ADCs.

Randall / Dr Farooq, what are the key elements of monitoring and managing the AEs that are ocular in nature?

Farooq / For many of these ADCs, most of the toxicity that we’re seeing is related to the surface of the eye, and that includes the cornea. The most important elements are symptoms, visual acuity, and slit lamp examination. The exact cadence and dose modification parameters vary depending on the label, and what we’re concerned about based on what was found in the trial. For different agents, there are different intervals for eye examination, but we’re essentially looking for very similar things.

There are some things that are common in ADCs, including what I call pseudo microcysts, these little lesions that we find in the epithelium of the cornea, and with dose holds, for example, they seem to go away. These are reversible, which is a good thing, but the downside is that they can cause shifts in vision. One of the things that I ask patients when they come in is, “Are you having trouble doing your activities of daily living, whether it’s driving, reading, or working on a computer?” It’s important for us to know, it’s important for the patient to know, and it’s important for the oncologist to know because, at the end of the day, these are lifesaving treatments. The patient and the oncologist have to decide whether quality of life is impacted sufficiently to think about holding a dose. One of the things that I often bring up is that, for many drugs, the presence of ocular toxicity can, in some cases, correlate with drug efficacy. In a sense, it’s not a bad thing to see some degree of toxicity because it might correlate with the fact that the drug is working.

References

1. FDA approves mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx for FRα-positive, platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. FDA. March 22, 2024. Accessed June 12, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/ynnd6rn7

2. O’Malley DM, Lorusso D, Oaknin A, et al. Characterization of long-term survivors from four clinical trials examining patients with folate receptor alpha–positive recurrent ovarian cancer treated with single-agent mirvetuximab soravtansine. J Clin Oncol. 2024;42(suppl 16):5582. doi:10.1200/JCO.2024.42.16_suppl.5582

3. Andrikopoulou A, Zagouri F, Goula K, et al. Real-world evidence of trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) efficacy in HER2-expressing gynecological malignancies. BMC Cancer. 2024;24(1):1503. doi:10.1186/s12885-024-13226-1

Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has announced the appointment of 14 partners as leaders in various practice areas across the firm’s global platform. The appointments are part of a strategic transformation in firm leadership underscoring K&L Gates’ commitment to investing in its emerging leaders and establishing the next generation of management.

A Practice Area Leader (PAL), appointed by the management committee, is a partner responsible for overseeing the effective operation and development of their practice area. The role encompasses setting strategic direction, ensuring financial performance, and delivering exceptional client service. The appointment reflects the lawyer’s ability to envision practice growth, lead a team of high performing lawyers, effectively engage with firm clients, and implement a focused strategy for the practice’s advancement.

K&L Gates designates a Lead PAL for each of its nine practice areas: Asset Management and Investment Funds; Corporate; Energy, Infrastructure, and Resources; Finance; Intellectual Property; Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety; Litigation and Dispute Resolution; Policy and Regulatory; and Real Estate. These leaders are responsible for supporting the respective PALs in fulfilling key responsibilities, including mentorship, revenue generation, opportunity development, talent cultivation, and fostering innovation and value.

“Our practice area leaders are essential in delivering the exceptional service our clients expect and deserve,” said Stacy Ackermann, Global Managing Partner. “They ensure our teams anticipate industry trends, collaborate seamlessly across borders, and offer innovative solutions that help clients navigate complex challenges and seize new opportunities. We congratulate all of our new practice leaders on their unwavering commitment to our clients and our firm.”

The newly appointed practice leaders include:

• Theodore Angelis (Seattle) – Lead Practice Area Leader, Intellectual Property;
• April Boyer (Miami) – Practice Area Leader, Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety;
• Sasha Burstein (San Francisco) – Practice Area Leader, Asset Management and Investment Funds;
• Ed Dartley (New York) – Practice Area Leader, Asset Management and Investment Funds;
• Matthew Dicke (Chicago) – Practice Area Leader, Intellectual Property; 
• Jason Engel (Chicago) – Practice Area Leader, Intellectual Property; 
• Matthias Grund (Frankfurt) – Lead Practice Area Leader, Finance;
• Jeffrey Johnson (Seattle) – Practice Area Leader, Litigation and Dispute Resolution;
• Adam Kelson (Pittsburgh) – Practice Area Leader, Corporate;
• Theodore “Bo” Manuel (Charleston) – Practice Area Leader, Finance;
• Clair Pagnano (Boston) – Lead Practice Area Leader, Asset Management and Investment Funds;
• Jessica Pearlman (Seattle) – Practice Area Leader, Corporate;
• Eugene Ryu (Los Angeles) – Lead Practice Area Leader, Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety; and 
• Adam Tejeda (New York) – Lead Practice Area Leader, Corporate 

For more information about K&L Gates’ service offerings by industry and practice, please visit: klgates.com/services.