Category: 3. Business

Tokyo, February 24, 2026 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems, Ltd. (MHI Thermal Systems), a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has established a local subsidiary in India as a production base for air conditioners. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-IAPL Air Conditioners Private Limited, a joint venture with IAPL Group Private Limited (IAPL), MHI Thermal Systems’ distribution partner in India, started operations on January 22.

The Indian air-conditioning market is forecast to maintain robust demand growth due to increasing penetration rates and the characteristics of the regional climate. MHI Thermal Systems has been steadily expanding its business in India by importing and selling air conditioners manufactured in Thailand, working in cooperation with IAPL to establish a nationwide sales and service network.

Establishing a local production base in collaboration with its long-time business partner IAPL will allow MHI Thermal Systems to further strengthen its sales network in the fast-growing Indian market, provide regular after-sales service, expand supply to meet increased demand, and bolster its production system and supply chain. In addition, the establishment of a local supply chain serving local markets will further accelerate business expansion in India.

In its 2021 Medium-Term Business Plan released in October 2020, MHI Group announced MISSION NET ZERO, its declaration to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. Realizing a carbon-neutral world is an important global issue, and as a leader with a particular strength in decarbonization technologies, MHI Thermal Systems will progressively introduce products with low-GWP (Global Warming Potential) refrigerants and high energy-saving performance, and pursue business aimed at achieving MISSION NET ZERO.

Overview of the New Company

Company Name	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-IAPL Air Conditioners Private Limited
Representative	Hideki Yamahira
Business Description	Manufacture and sale of air conditioners
Date of Establishment	January 22, 2026
Location	Haryana, Republic of India

US artificial intelligence company Anthropic said on Monday it had uncovered campaigns by three Chinese AI firms to illicitly extract capabilities from its Claude chatbot, in what it described as industrial-scale intellectual property theft. OpenAI leveled similar charges last month.

Anthropic said DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax used a technique known as “distillation” – using outputs from a more powerful AI system to rapidly boost the performance of a less capable one.

“These campaigns are growing in intensity and sophistication,” the company said in a statement. “The window to act is narrow.”

Distillation is a common practice within AI development, often used by companies to create cheaper, smaller versions of their own models.

The practice grabbed headlines a year ago when the release of a low-cost generative AI model from DeepSeek performed at a similar level to ChatGPT and other top American chatbots, upending assumptions of US dominance in the sensitive sector.

Anthropic said the companies achieved their ends through approximately 16m exchanges with its Claude model and 24,000 fake accounts.

These allowed the three labs to siphon off capabilities they had not independently developed at a fraction of the cost – and in so doing circumvented export controls on powerful US technology intended to preserve American dominance in AI.

The company argued the practice posed national security risks, saying models built through illicit distillation are unlikely to retain safety guardrails designed to prevent misuse – such as restrictions on helping develop bioweapons or enabling cyberattacks.

Anthropic’s arch-rival OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, made similar accusations to US lawmakers earlier this month, saying Chinese companies were using the technique amid “ongoing efforts to free-ride on the capabilities developed by OpenAI and other US frontier labs”.

Anthropic said MiniMax ran the largest operation, generating more than 13m exchanges. Each campaign concentrated heavily on coding, agentic reasoning and tool use – areas where Claude is considered a leader.

To circumvent Anthropic’s ban on commercial access from China, the labs allegedly routed traffic through proxy services that managed the vast networks of fraudulent accounts.

Anthropic called for coordinated industry and government responses to address what it said no single company could tackle alone.

Campaigners have bemoaned the “achingly slow” progress made on gender equality at the top of Britain’s biggest businesses, as research showed blue-chip firms had missed key targets and there were only nine female bosses at FTSE 100 companies.

The average number of female FTSE 100 chief executives did not move last year, according to the government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review.

They were Allison Kirkby at BT, Zoë Yujnovich at National Grid, Milena Mondini de Focatiis at Admiral, Stella David at Entain, Louise Beardmore at United Utilities, Margherita Della Valle at Vodafone, Amanda Blanc at Aviva and Cindy Rose at WPP.

The report also considered Emma Walmsley at GSK and Liv Garfield at Severn Trent, although both women left their roles in December, as well as Carol Howe, the interim chief executive of BP, who is due to be replaced by Meg O’Neill in April.

Debra Crew left the drinks group Diageo last summer after two years in which the company’s share price dropped more than 40%. The FTSE 100 also lost two female chief executives when the housebuilder Taylor Wimpey and the advertising firm WPP were relegated to the FTSE 250, although both companies are still run by women.

The number of female chief executives in the FTSE 100 peaked in 2023, when 10 out of the 100 bosses were women. It stood at only six in 2016.

The FTSE 350, which includes mid-sized businesses, missed a voluntary target set in 2021 of 40% of women in top executive roles by 2025. In this group, women made up 36% of senior leadership roles – defined as those on the executive committee and senior managers immediately below that level.

However, the group met its 40% target for boards, with 43% of seats now held by women.

Vivienne Artz, the chief executive of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, said progress had been “achingly slow”.

She said: “Roles like chief financial officer, chair and chief executive are the most difficult to fill. Progress has been very slow.

“It is about looking at the talent pipeline and female talent getting experience in revenue-generating and [profit and loss] roles.”

Burberry was the FTSE 100 company with the highest number of women on its leadership team, followed by the retailer Next.

Games Workshop, the company behind the fantasy game Warhammer, and the miner Fresnillo ranked as the businesses with the lowest proportion of women in senior leadership roles.

Female representation was notably stronger among non-executive directors (NEDs), who are part-time board members who provide guidance without being involved in daily business operations.

The report showed the proportion of female NEDs stood at 49% in the FTSE 350 and 50% in the FTSE 100, flat on the previous year.

The UK ranked second among G7 countries for women in the boardroom, behind France, the report found.

Women on the boards of FTSE 350 companies stood at 43%, and at 44% in the FTSE 100. In the French Cac 40 group, which covers its 40 biggest listed companies and where there is a mandatory quota for female representation, women held 45% of board seats.

The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said that while the report showed “how far we’ve come”, there was “still a long way to go”.

She said: “As chancellor, I’m clear there should be no ceiling on a woman’s ambition. When they can participate fully at every level, organisations make better decisions, innovate more and perform more strongly, boosting our whole economy.”

Seema Malhotra, the minister for equalities, said: “In 15 years, women have moved from the periphery to the heart of the boardroom, showcasing the power of voluntary business-led efforts.

“Aligning with the review’s ambitions, this government is accelerating progress for women in leadership through the Employment Rights Act, a landmark shift providing stronger protections for mothers, tougher sexual harassment laws, and enhanced gender pay gap transparency. We’re also supporting women at work with expanded childcare hours and wraparound provision like free breakfast clubs.”

Games Workshop and Fresnillo were approached for comment.

(Bloomberg) — Most Asian shares were set for early declines Tuesday after fresh anxiety over the impact of artificial intelligence on company profits lashed Wall Street. Treasuries and gold rallied, while Bitcoin slumped.

Equity index futures for Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong fell, along with those for mainland China which reopens after the Lunar New Year holiday period. Contracts for Australia edged higher, suggesting its bourse’s lack of technology stocks relative to peers offered a buffer from the selling pressure.

The S&P 500 slid 1% Monday, with tech, delivery and payment shares hit as Citrini Research laid out the potential AI risks to various industries. International Business Machines Corp. tumbled 13% in its worst day since October 2000 as Anthropic said its Claude Code can help modernize COBOL, a programming language mainly run on IBM computers.

Rising concerns over the impact of AI disruption is prompting traders to dump shares of any company seen at the slightest risk of being displaced. Those worries have also grown despite solid results from megacaps amid doubts over whether big investments in the technology will pay off soon.

“The software selloff is a reminder of what can happen when momentum-driven sectors shift into reverse,” said Steve Sosnick at Interactive Brokers. “The broader, more important question is: How many sectors can go into reverse before they drag the broader market along with them?”

The US 10-year yield fell five basis points to 4.03%, while the two-year dropped four basis points to around 3.44%. The dollar inched higher as haven currencies outperformed and gold rose more than 2% to around $5,227 per ounce in a sign of defensive positioning. Bitcoin traded below $65,000.

Questions over US tariffs added to the downbeat mood. After the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to nix President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, the White House announced plans to replace the prior levies with a new, across-the-board 15% tariff on US imports. The European Union froze ratification of its US trade deal amid the uncertainty.

“The push and pull with tariffs is likely to be a distracting theme for markets for the remainder of the year, albeit with less volatility than the initial shock last April,” said Michael Landsberg at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management.

In corporate news, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it expects to earn more from net interest income this year than it had anticipated just last month, and Paramount Skydance Corp. raised its offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

In Asia, data set for release Tuesday includes China one-year and five-year loan prime rates. Key events this week include Trump’s State of the Union address later Tuesday, Nvidia Corp.’s results Wednesday and a Friday reading on producer prices. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said his March rate call will hinge on jobs data.

“Given the various economic risks and uncertainties that can be linked to the tariff drama, we expect the Fed’s wait-and-see approach to be reinforced,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.

In commodities, oil fluctuated with US-Iran talks set to resume this week against a backdrop of massed American forces in the Middle East. Copper faced pressure as traders gauged demand for the metal in China given US tariff uncertainty.

Corporate Highlights:

Anthropic PBC Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei will meet with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, according to a senior Pentagon official, as contract talks with the artificial intelligence startup remain deadlocked over the company’s insistence on guardrails for use of its technology. Anthropic said three leading artificial intelligence developers in China worked to “illicitly extract” results from its AI models to bolster the capabilities of rival products. PayPal Holdings Inc., the digital payments pioneer, is attracting takeover interest from potential buyers after a stock slide wiped out almost half of its value, according to people familiar with the matter. Abbott Laboratories is selling $20 billion of bonds to help fund its acquisition of cancer-screening company Exact Sciences Corp., one of the US high-grade market’s biggest offerings this year. Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed to buy US cancer-focused biotech Arcellx Inc. for as much as $7.8 billion as it seeks to boost its drug pipeline. Merck & Co. is splitting its main pharmaceutical unit in two in an effort to better highlight the parts of the business that are growing, as it stares down a patent cliff for its best-selling cancer drug Keytruda. Novo Nordisk A/S’s next-generation weight-loss drug CagriSema isn’t even on the market yet, but the company’s chief executive officer is already batting back suggestions that the drug is obsolete following the release of disappointing trial results. Domino’s Pizza Inc. reported a larger-than-expected rise in comparable sales, as consumers were drawn to the pizza chain’s budget-friendly pies. Chevron Corp. emerged as the front-runner to take control of Iraq’s second-largest oil complex from Russian producer Lukoil PJSC after signing a deal to engage in exclusive talks over the giant field. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.2% as at 7:18 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures fell 0.7% S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.3% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1786 The Japanese yen was little changed at 154.64 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8896 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.5% to $64,892.82 Ether rose 0.2% to $1,866.4 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 4.03% Australia’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 4.69% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $66.30 a barrel on Monday Spot gold rose 2.4% to $5,228.66 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

– Astellas and Vir Biotechnology to co-develop and co-commercialize VIR-5500 through a sharing of expenses and revenues –

– Astellas to lead commercialization of VIR-5500 in the U.S. with Vir Biotechnology retaining option to co-promote, and Astellas will obtain exclusive rights to commercialize VIR-5500 ex-U.S. –

– Vir Biotechnology will receive $335M in upfront and near-term milestone payments, will split U.S. profit/loss equally with Astellas (50/50), and is eligible to receive up to an additional $1.37B in development, regulatory and sales milestones, along with tiered, double-digit royalties on ex-U.S. net sales –

– Vir Biotechnology to host conference call today at 2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. ET –

TOKYO and SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Naoki Okamura, “Astellas”) and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) today announced they have entered into a global strategic collaboration to advance VIR-5500, an investigational PRO-XTEN^® dual-masked CD3 T-cell engager (TCE) targeting PSMA for the treatment of prostate cancer. The collaboration aims to accelerate the development of VIR-5500 and further strengthen Astellas’ oncology pipeline and prostate cancer leadership.

Adam Pearson, Chief Strategy Officer, Astellas
“Astellas is proud to have helped 1.5 million patients with prostate cancer, and we are dedicated to expanding our impact as part of our R&D strategy. Our deep expertise in this disease area, combined with a growing immuno-oncology (IO) pipeline of biologics, including T-cell engagers, uniquely positions us to help advance VIR-5500, a potentially best-in-class T-cell engager for prostate cancer. This strategic collaboration allows Astellas and Vir Biotechnology to combine our expertise and reaffirms our commitment to improving the lives of people with prostate cancer.”

Marianne De Backer, M.Sc., Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Vir Biotechnology
“Astellas is an ideal collaborator for the VIR-5500 program given the company’s successful track record advancing therapies across the treatment continuum, building blockbuster franchises and delivering value to patients through strategic development alliances with other biotech partners. This collaboration will enable more rapid advancement of VIR-5500 to potentially benefit more people living with prostate cancer. We believe this collaboration reflects confidence in our PRO-XTEN^® platform, which has broad potential across multiple solid tumor indications.”

Despite recent advances in treatment, prostate cancer, especially metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), remains an aggressive and difficult cancer to treat; mCRPC has a 5-year survival rate of approximately 30%.ⁱ Patients who progress to mCRPC develop therapeutic resistance and currently have limited treatment options.

VIR-5500 is a potential best-in-class dual-masked Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)-targeting TCE and is currently in Phase 1 development for people with advanced, metastatic prostate cancer (NCT05997615). VIR-5500 combines a bispecific PSMA and CD3 binding TCE with the PRO-XTEN^® masking technology, which is designed to keep the TCEs masked (or inactive) until they reach the tumor microenvironment, reducing off-target effects and improving the therapeutic index.

Under the terms of the agreement, Vir Biotechnology will receive $335 million in upfront and near-term payments, including $240 million in cash, $75 million in equity investment at a 50% premium,ⁱⁱ and a near-term $20 million milestone. Global development costs for VIR-5500 will be shared, with Astellas responsible for 60% and Vir Biotechnology responsible for 40% of all costs. Vir Biotechnology will continue the ongoing Phase 1 trial, until responsibility is transitioned to Astellas, after which Astellas will be responsible for all development activities. In the U.S., Vir Biotechnology will have the option to co-promote VIR-5500 with Astellas, and profit/loss will be shared equally. Outside the U.S., Astellas will be exclusively responsible for commercialization of VIR-5500. In addition, Vir Biotechnology is eligible to receive up to $1.37 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones, along with tiered, double-digit royalties on ex-U.S. net sales. Under the terms of Vir Biotechnology’s licensing agreement with Sanofi, a portion of certain collaboration proceeds will be shared with Sanofi. 

Lazard acted as Vir Biotechnology’s exclusive financial advisor. Closing of the transaction is contingent on customary closing conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. 

Vir Biotechnology Conference Call
Vir Biotechnology will host its fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results conference call at 2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. ET today, when members of the executive team and Dr. de Bono will share the updated VIR-5500 Phase 1 data that is also being presented at the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium on February 26. A live webcast will be available at https://investors.vir.bio and will be archived for 30 days.

About Astellas
Astellas is a global life sciences company committed to turning innovative science into VALUE for patients. We provide transformative therapies in disease areas that include oncology, ophthalmology, urology, immunology and women’s health. Through our research and development programs, we are pioneering new healthcare solutions for diseases with high unmet medical need. Learn more at www.astellas.com.

About Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
Vir Biotechnology, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on powering the immune system to transform lives by discovering and developing medicines for serious infectious diseases and cancer. Its clinical-stage portfolio includes programs for chronic hepatitis delta and multiple PRO-XTEN^® dual-masked T-cell engagersⁱⁱⁱ across validated targets in solid tumor indications. Vir Biotechnology also has a preclinical portfolio of programs across a range of infectious diseases and oncologic malignancies. Vir Biotechnology routinely posts information that may be important to investors on its website. 

Footnotes:
ⁱHuo, Xingyue et al. “Predicting Survival in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients: Development of a Prognostic Nomogram.” Studies in health technology and informatics vol. 323 (2025): 164-168. doi:10.3233/SHTI250070
ⁱⁱ50% premium to the 30 day volume weighted average share price as of February 19, 2026
ⁱⁱⁱVir Biotechnology retains exclusive rights to the PRO-XTEN^® masking platform for oncology and infectious disease. PRO-XTEN^® is a trademark of Amunix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Sanofi company.

Astellas Cautionary Notes
In this press release, statements made with respect to current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Astellas. These statements are based on management’s current assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in general economic conditions and in laws and regulations, relating to pharmaceutical markets, (ii) currency exchange rate fluctuations, (iii) delays in new product launches, (iv) the inability of Astellas to market existing and new products effectively, (v) the inability of Astellas to continue to effectively research and develop products accepted by customers in highly competitive markets, and (vi) infringements of Astellas’ intellectual property rights by third parties. Information about pharmaceutical products (including products currently in development) which is included in this press release is not intended to constitute an advertisement or medical advice.

Vir Biotechnology Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “should,” “could,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “plan,” “potential,” “aim,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “promising” and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the therapeutic potential of the combination of VIR-5500 to treat prostate cancer (including mCRPC) and Vir Biotechnology’s belief that it can be a best-in-class PSMA-targeting TCE; Vir Biotechnology’s clinical development plans and expectations for VIR-5500, including protocols for and enrollment into ongoing and planned clinical studies, target endpoints and data readouts; Vir Biotechnology’s immediate and potential future financial and other obligations under the agreement and collaboration with Astellas, as well as Vir Biotechnology’s ability to realize the benefits; Vir Biotechnology’s belief that Astellas is an ideal collaborator (given Astellas’ successful track record advancing therapies across the treatment continuum, building blockbuster franchises and delivering value through strategic development alliances) and that the agreement will enable faster and broader advancement of VIR-5500 to potentially benefit more people living with prostate cancer; the timing of the anticipated closing of the transaction with Astellas, including receipt of any necessary regulatory clearances; Vir Biotechnology’s strategy and plans; and any assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Many factors may cause differences between current expectations and actual results, including, without limitation: unexpected safety or efficacy data or results observed during clinical studies or in data readouts, including the occurrence of adverse safety events; risks of unexpected costs, delays or other unexpected hurdles; difficulties in collaborating with other companies, some of whom may be competitors of Vir Biotechnology or otherwise have divergent interests, and uncertainty as to whether the benefits of Vir Biotechnology’s various collaborations can ultimately be achieved; challenges in accessing manufacturing capacity; clinical site activation rates or clinical enrollment rates that are lower than expected; the timing and outcome of Vir Biotechnology’s planned interactions with regulatory authorities, as well as general difficulties in obtaining any necessary regulatory approvals; successful development and/or commercialization of alternative product candidates by Vir Biotechnology’s competitors, as well as changes in expected or existing competition; geopolitical changes or other external factors; and unexpected litigation or other disputes. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the events or circumstances referred to in the forward-looking statements may not occur. Drug development and commercialization involve a high degree of risk, and only a small number of research and development programs result in commercialization of a product. Results in early-stage clinical studies may not be indicative of full results or results from later stage or larger scale clinical studies and do not ensure regulatory approval. The actual results may vary from the anticipated results, and the variations may be material. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any scientific data presented or these forward-looking statements, which are based on Vir Biotechnology’s available information, expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. Other factors that may cause Vir Biotechnology’s actual results to differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements in this press release are discussed in Vir Biotechnology’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the section titled “Risk Factors” contained therein. Except as required by law, Vir Biotechnology assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.

The Food and Drug Administration Monday unveiled the details of a new policy designed to make it easier and quicker for patients with very rare diseases to get cutting-edge treatments.

The new guidance would enable the agency to approve new treatments for rare diseases based on evidence for a “plausible mechanism” for how the treatment would work. The policy aims to speed the use of state-of-the-art technologies like gene-editing to create treatments tailored to individual patients suffering from diseases that are so rare that it would be difficult if not impossible to conduct a traditional study first.

“For decades families heard the same thing: There are not enough patients. The approval will take too long. You just have to wait for the science to catch up with your child, ” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a briefing announcing the proposed new policy. “That ends today. Individualized medicine is no longer theoretical.”

“Historically, rare diseases at the FDA have been an afterthought,” added FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said at the briefing. “We’ve come a long way.”

The new approach, outlined broadly in November, would apply to diseases where there is a plausible expectation that the treatment would work, such as an understanding of the genetic defect causing the disorder and how the treatment would address it.

“Today is a very exciting day for patients with very rare diseases,” said Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg, the director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, at the briefing.

Scientists have started developing gene-editing treatments like CRISPR to help patients suffering from genetic blood disorders such as sickle cell disease, and are studying experimental gene-editing therapies for other diseases, including cancer, inherited high cholesterol and some forms of genetic blindness.

But many doctors, patients and their families have been frustrated because pharmaceutical companies don’t have a strong economic incentive to create gene-editing treatments for extremely rare disorders. Altogether there are thousands of conditions that potentially could be cured by gene-editing. The FDA estimates that 30 million Americans suffer from a rare disease.

In response, scientists have been trying to solve the problem by creating a template for groups of rare conditions that are similar enough that a gene-editing treatment for one could be easily adapted for others. That way each case wouldn’t have to go through a long regulatory approval process, which could make it more affordable and practical.

The new FDA policy, which is designed to address that concern, was prompted in part by a Pennsylvania baby treated at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Doctors at CHOP saved the infant, who was born with a very rare but devastating genetic liver disorder, by producing a gene-editing treatment targeting his specific genetic defect. The same approach could be adapted to other, similar conditions.

“We realized we can do this over and over again, individualizing the therapy for many patients,” said Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a professor for translational research at the University of Pennsylvania at the briefing. Musunuru helped develop the treatment for that baby. “It will allow doctors to treat many, many patients.”

“We need these innovative regulatory frameworks that will allow us to efficiently evaluate if these treatments are safe and if they work,” agreed Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, one of the CHOP doctors who treated the baby, at the briefing.

The new FDA policy, which could also be applied to other technologies, such as antisense oligonucleotides, was praised by many outside experts.

“Today’s guidance is the best imaginable ‘ready, set, go!’ for the field of personalized gene editing as a therapy,” wrote Fyodor Urnov of the University of California, Berkeley, in an email to NPR. “To hear HHS leadership say: ‘a disease with 100 causing mutations will no longer require 100 clinical trials’ sounds like a veritable ‘Ode to Joy’ because it means we will be able to treat children faster and more affordably.”

Others agreed, but also expressed concern about how widely the policy would be applied.

“The plausible mechanism policy seems like it’s addressing a real problem,” says Rachel Sachs, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who has raised questions about the approach. “The concern is that the plausible mechanism pathway could be expanded into disease areas where there are common diseases and traditional trials are feasible and that it wouldn’t be necessary to go through this pathway.”

This philosophy shapes both our investment decisions and the way we support our portfolio. Rather than treating sustainability as a standalone initiative, we seek to integrate it into core business strategy – aligning capital allocation, operational priorities, and long-term value creation.

This approach was reflected in discussions at the 2025 Private Equity Sustainability Practicum at NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, which convened general partners (GPs), limited partners (LPs), and portfolio company leaders. This is a key area of focus for the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, which has published research and open-source tools analyzing how sustainability-related factors can influence long-term value creation.

Executives from three KKR portfolio companies shared how this integration is taking shape across sectors:

• Linda Wrong, Global Head of Sustainability at ContourGlobal, a global independent power producer, described why decarbonization has become a core business priority.
• John Garnett, SVP, Technical Sustainability & Innovation at Charter Next Generation, a material science leader, outlined how circularity is reshaping competitiveness in packaging.
• Tom Hodge, Chief Human Resources Officer at Potter Global Technologies, a fire- and life-safety solutions company, emphasized that investing in employees and driving strong business results are mutually reinforcing.

Here are a few takeaways from the discussion:

ContourGlobal: Advancing Decarbonization as a Lever for Value Creation

As global power markets evolve, ContourGlobal is advancing a strategy that underscores the importance of decarbonization to operational performance and reliability. “The benefits of decarbonization go well beyond emissions reduction – they help businesses, economies, and societies become more resilient and competitive over time,” Wrong said.

Reducing dependence on fossil fuels has many potential benefits for power producers beyond reducing carbon emissions. It can reduce the risk of fuel price volatility and open access to sustainable finance. In fact, ContourGlobal issued its first-ever Green Bond in 2025, raising more than $1 billion to support its transition toward renewable energy. The bond was 4.5 times oversubscribed, which ContourGlobal believes reflects strong investor interest and confidence in the company’s long-term strategy to build a lower-carbon, more resilient energy portfolio.

In addition, Wrong noted “the demand for clean power among utilities, corporations, and data centers is growing, giving decarbonized power producers an advantage in the market.” Though regulatory requirements and carbon taxes vary by jurisdiction, there are also clear regulatory incentives for decarbonization in some markets.

ContourGlobal’s management team sees decarbonization as a core business strategy, linking it directly to financial performance, risk reduction, and long-term growth. Strong governance and global coordination are essential to ensure that efforts undertaken to meet decarbonization goals also put the business in a stronger long-term financial position. Projects are evaluated based on returns, cost savings, compliance, and portfolio resilience, with initiatives challenged if they aren’t expected to improve value or reduce risk. By embedding decarbonization into strategy, capital allocation, and senior management oversight, the company ensures decarbonization efforts remain closely linked to measurable value creation.

As an example, Wrong pointed to the company’s proposed heavy-fuel-to-gas conversion at Cap des Biches in Senegal. The project is expected to reduce CO₂ intensity at this site by roughly 30% – equivalent to removing 28,000 passenger vehicles from the road each year. However, it should also result in increased energy production, as natural gas offers more efficient power generation. For the government and state-owned customer that purchases power from the site, it should also result in lower energy costs and was key to achieving a five-year power producer agreement (PPA) extension.

Charter Next Generation: Using Circularity to Strengthen Resource Efficiency and Market Advantage

Charter Next Generation (CNG) is demonstrating how circularity – the design of products, systems, and even business models that prioritize reuse and waste reduction – can help a company drive stronger performance and improve its competitive position.

Demand for recycled content and recycle-ready products and solutions is growing.¹ As a result, consumer brands are seeking higher performance films that also fulfill their sustainable packaging goals, and CNG’s certified, sustainable film portfolio is already helping customers achieve those objectives. Additionally, regulatory tailwinds from extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation, which seeks to shift the burden of packaging waste from the municipalities and governments to the companies whose products create it in the first place, are becoming more widespread, providing critical support for capital investments in recycle-ready materials. “EPR is changing the market,” Garnett explains. “When packaging is designed to be recycled, producers can reduce fees and strengthen their competitive position.”

The company designs sustainable films and advanced materials that span four product segments: recycle-ready, recycled content, compostable, and reduced carbon solutions. These innovations, coupled with a focus on reducing waste across its operations, represent a shift that Garnett notes, “improves efficiency, lowers exposure to volatile markets, and enhances product marketability.”

CNG believes the financial impact is clear. In 2024, the company reused more than 100 million pounds of internal scrap by reintegrating it back into production, lowering input costs and minimizing waste. Building on this success, CNG is expanding its zero-waste-to-landfill initiative and embedding scrap reduction, materials reuse, and process waste optimization into its manufacturing efficiency practices.

Looking ahead, CNG expects 2026 to be a pivotal year as EPR requirements are increasing across several markets. By helping customers reduce fees, lower material usage, and meet their sustainability objectives, CNG believes it is strengthening customer relationships and supporting improved market positioning – reinforcing its competitive advantage.

Potter Global Technologies: Building a Culture of Ownership to Enhance Performance

At a time when many companies are re-evaluating how their workforce strategies can unlock operational performance, Potter is showing what can happen when employee engagement becomes a key driver of value. Founded more than 125 years ago, the St. Louis–based company entered a new chapter following its 2023 acquisition by KKR. Employee engagement had always mattered to Potter, but Hodge believes that broad-based ownership has redefined it. With support from KKR’s Human Capital Center of Excellence, Potter launched its Ownership Program in early 2024, where all employees became owners in the business.

Early results have shown meaningful impact. At the St. Louis factory, turnover costs have fallen by approximately two thirds and safety incidents have been reduced by more than half compared to 2023, while across the organization engagement scores are up and voluntary attrition has dropped from 46% to below 9%. Financial well-being programs – including emergency savings accounts, personalized financial coaching, and hardship grants – are helping employees build financial stability and resilience, enabling them to better participate in and benefit from the long-term wealth-building opportunities that employee ownership offers.

“Investing in employees and driving strong business results are not competing priorities,” Hodge said. “Treating employees like owners improves engagement, safety, retention, and productivity – and those outcomes have a clear and measurable impact on performance and value creation.”

Hodge emphasized that the opportunity now is to deepen a culture of ownership through transparency, regular communication, and continued commitment to employee well-being. “Building an ownership-driven culture takes sustained leadership and consistency,” he said. “We’re excited for the journey ahead.”

Conclusion

Across sectors, leaders highlighted a significant opportunity to use sustainability levers to both create and protect value. By prioritizing the sustainability issues most closely tied to material risks and opportunities, and by improving how performance is tracked and connected to core business objectives, companies are strengthening resilience and supporting long-term value creation.

The owner of Wegovy and Ozempic has suffered a significant setback, as its highly anticipated new weight-loss treatment was labelled “obsolete” after disappointing clinical trials.

Novo Nordisk’s shares fell sharply on Monday after the results from testing the Danish company’s CagriSema drug fell short of investors’ expectations.

The weekly injection combines cagrilintide, which mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin, and semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic that mimics the gut hormone GLP-1, suppressing appetite and making users feel full more quickly. This means CagriSema leads to greater weight loss than Wegovy.

The study was designed to show that CagriSema was at least as good as the Novo rival Eli Lilly’s leading anti-obesity drug Zepbound, which contains tirzepatide.

Against initial expectations of 25% weight loss, CagriSema disappointed in a late-state study involving 809 people. It led to average weight loss of 23% after 84 weeks, compared with 25.5% for tirzepatide.

The new Novo treatment “did not achieve its primary endpoint of demonstrating non-inferiority on weight loss for CagriSema compared to tirzepatide after 84 weeks”, the company said on Monday.

Søren Løntoft Hansen, a senior analyst at Denmark’s AL Sydbank, said: “This is something of a swing and a miss.” He added: “It is difficult to assess whether this data will influence Novo Nordisk’s decision to launch CagriSema on the market.”

Novo’s share price plunged 16.5% in Copenhagen to the lowest level since June 2021, when Wegovy was launched, taking its losses over the past year to almost 60%, while Lilly’s stock rose 4.3% on Wall Street.

Novo, which had recorded booming sales of weight-loss and diabetes medications, turning it into Europe’s most valuable company in recent years, has slashed its profit and sales estimates several times, as it lost ground to Lilly. Novo had been betting on CagriSema – as well as its new Wegovy pill, launched in the US – to revive sales.

Analysts at UBS had already, in January, lowered their peak sales forecast for Novo’s GLP-1 drugs from $80bn (£59bn) to $75bn in 2032, after previous disappointing CagriSema trial results.

They said of the latest results: “Significant negative. An inferior result to tirzepatide was very unexpected.”

Emmanuel Papadakis at Deutsche Bank told Novo management on an investor call: “Commiserations on the results. CagriSema looks somewhat obsolete now as a competitive upgrade of semaglutide … or as a competitive alternative to tirzepatide.”

The Novo chief executive, Mike Doustdar, rejected the comments, saying: “It’s quite belittling; it’s a fantastic drug in all honesty. When CagriSema will make it to the market early next year as the first amylin-based product, it will have the best weight-loss label [of] any marketed product.”

Novo hopes another study of a higher CagriSema dose will show better results. It has already submitted the medication to the US drug regulator for approval based on earlier trial evidence, and hopes for the green light later this year.

Honoring existing, enhanced, and newly launched technology solutions that protect organizations, strengthen resilience, and build digital trust across industries

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Globee^® Awards for Technology, part of the Globee Awards’ portfolio of merit-based and data-driven business recognition programs, announce a global call for entries to recognize outstanding cybersecurity, safety, and digital trust products and services from organizations worldwide.

Learn more and submit your achievements: https://globeeawards.com/technology/

In today’s interconnected and AI-driven landscape, cybersecurity and digital trust technologies serve as foundational pillars of business continuity, operational resilience, and public confidence. The Globee^® Awards for Technology honor existing, upgraded, and newly introduced products and services that demonstrate measurable impact in protecting digital infrastructure, safeguarding data, managing risk, strengthening compliance, and enabling secure digital transformation.

The program welcomes entries from startups, mid-sized firms, multinational enterprises, government agencies, and public sector institutions from every country.

Winners are determined solely by the average scores provided by qualified industry professionals and business leaders serving on the judging panel, ensuring a structured, transparent, and objective peer-driven evaluation process.

About the Globee^® Awards
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