Raphael Stevens

The Food and Drug Administration proposed ending the use of a common ingredient in many popular over-the-counter cold and allergy medications because it doesn’t actually relieve nasal congestion.
The FDA said the proposed order is not final yet, which means companies can still market over-the-counter drugs containing oral phenylephrine for now.
A final order will force pharmacies to clear shelves of hundreds of products containing oral forms of the ingredient, which is found in versions of drugs such as NyQuil, Benadryl, Sudafed and Mucinex.

A bottle of Vicks DayQuil cold and flu medicine containing phenylephrine is displayed for sale in a CVS Pharmacy store in Hawthorne, California, on Sept. 12, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed ending the use of a common ingredient found in many popular over-the-counter cold and allergy medications.
The agency said an extensive review of available data determined that the ingredient, oral phenylephrine, doesn’t actually relieve nasal congestion. It comes more than a year after advisors to the FDA unanimously reached the same conclusion.

Based on the data, “we are taking this next step in the process to propose removing oral phenylephrine because it is not effective as a nasal decongestant,” Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a release.
The FDA said the proposed order is not based on safety concerns and is not final yet, which means companies can still market over-the-counter drugs containing oral phenylephrine for now. But a final decision would force pharmacies to clear shelves of hundreds of products containing oral forms of the ingredient, which is found in versions of drugs such as NyQuil, Benadryl, Sudafed and Mucinex.
Last year, CVS said it has already moved to pull certain medicines containing oral phenylephrine.
A final order would also require drugmakers such as Procter & Gamble, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson spinoff Kenvue to reformulate many of their oral cold and allergy products. 
Phenylephrine is thought to relieve congestion by reducing the swelling of blood vessels in the nasal passages. Without oral phenylephrine on the market, patients will likely scramble to seek out spray versions of the drug, or other medications with different ingredients, both of which the FDA’s decision does not affect.

Retail stores such as CVS and Walgreens could also take a hit: Those stores sold 242 million bottles of drugs containing phenylephrine in 2022, which generated nearly $1.8 billion in sales, according to a presentation by FDA staff last year.
The FDA could specifically revoke the drug’s over-the-counter designation as “generally recognized as safe and effective.” The designation, typically used for older medicines, allows drugmakers to include an ingredient in over-the-counter products without the need to file an FDA application.
The meeting of FDA advisors last year was prompted by researchers at the University of Florida, who petitioned the agency to remove phenylephrine products from the market based on studies showing they failed to outperform placebo pills in patients with cold and allergy congestion. 
The same researchers also challenged the drug’s effectiveness in 2007, but the FDA allowed the products to remain on the market pending additional research.
However, FDA staff, in briefing documents posted ahead of the panel meeting last year, concluded that oral formulations of phenylephrine don’t work at standard or even higher doses. The staff said only a very small amount of phenylephrine actually reaches the nose to relieve congestion. 
Representatives for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a group that represents over-the-counter drug manufacturers, did not offer any new evidence to counter the FDA staff’s conclusion about phenylephrine during the meeting last year.
But the group argued that pulling oral phenylephrine from the market would be a significant burden to consumers.
The group shared a survey that found 1 in 2 households in the U.S. used an oral decongestant over the last year. It also found people prefer oral decongestants over nasal spray by a 3-to-1 margin.
Phenylephrine became the main decongestant in over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines in 2006, when sales of another decongestant, pseudoephedrine, were restricted in the U.S. 
Pseudoephedrine was moved behind the pharmacy counter because it can be misused to make methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system.  More

Bentley Motors is once again pushing back a target to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles, with plans to continue leaning into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles through at least 2035.
The Volkswagen-owned carmaker initially said in 2020 that it planned to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles by the end of this decade.
Bentley said it plans to offer a new EV or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle each year until 2035, starting with its first all-electric vehicles in 2026.

A staff member checks a Bentayga SUV on the Bentley production line at its factory in Crewe, England, on Dec. 7, 2022.
Phil Noble | Reuters

Bentley Motors is once again pushing back a target to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles, with plans to continue leaning into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles until at least 2035.
The British maker of ultra-luxury performance cars on Thursday said it continues to have “an ambition to be building only fully electric cars from 2035,” but the adjustment is needed due to changing market conditions.

Bentley Chairman and CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said “there’s not a lot of demand” for EVs from current customers. But he said the automaker needs to meet legislation and be ready for a new generation of customers.
“Legislation, for sure, is driving electrification … but also competition,” Walliser said during an online media event Thursday. “We have to be honest, there’s not a lot of demand.”
The Volkswagen-owned carmaker initially said in 2020 that it planned to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles by the end of this decade. Former CEO Adrian Hallmark days before leaving the company said those plans would be delayed by a few years but did not give a set timeframe.

Bentley Continental GTC Speed in Kingfisher
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Bentley said it plans to offer a new EV or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle each year until 2035, starting with its first EV, a “Luxury Urban SUV,” in 2026. The EV was initially expected to be produced starting next year.
“We want to produce PHEVs as long as markets and customers demand it,” Matthias Rabe, head of Bentley’s research and development, said during the Thursday briefing.

Rabe said Bentley may continue to release vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines in the years to come.
Walliser, who succeeded Hallmark in July, said the automaker’s first EV will be smaller than its traditional vehicles, including its current Bentayga SUV.
Hallmark previously said the delay in Bentley’s first all-electric vehicle was the result of software issues as well as difficulty with developing the vehicle’s architecture to Bentley’s standards. He had said those challenges were the primary driver behind delaying its EV plans, rather than the changing market conditions.
“Four years almost to the day that Bentley initially outlined its Beyond100 strategy, we adapt to today’s economic, market and legislative environment to initiate a major transformative phase for tomorrow,” Walliser said in a release.
Along with the changes, Bentley also is changing the name of its business strategy from Beyond100, a nod to the more than century-old carmaker, to “Beyond100+.”
Bentley is well known for lavish, large and powerful vehicles with 12- and 8-cylinder engines that can cost millions of dollars for special- or exclusive-edition models. However, the automaker ended production of its famed “W12” engine earlier this year, as it focuses on PHEVs with 8- and 6-cylinder engines.
PHEVs feature an internal combustion engine combined with a hybrid system and have a larger battery than traditional hybrid vehicles as well as a plug to recharge the vehicle’s battery. They typically allow drivers to travel a certain number of miles using the battery before the engine is needed to power the car or truck.

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Moderna on Thursday posted a surprise profit for the third quarter, smashing Wall Street estimates, as its cost-cutting efforts took hold and sales of its Covid vaccine came in higher than expected. 
Moderna said Thursday its newest Covid vaccine saw benefits after winning approval in the U.S. three weeks earlier than the last iteration of the shot did in 2023.
It is the first quarter that includes sales of Moderna’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, its second-ever commercially available product. 

Empty bottles of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Fred Tanneau | AFP | Getty Images

Moderna on Thursday posted a surprise profit for the third quarter, smashing Wall Street estimates, as its cost-cutting efforts took hold and sales of its Covid vaccine came in higher than expected. 
The biotech company posted a net income of $13 million, or 3 cents per share, for the third quarter. That compares with a net loss of $3.63 billion, or $9.53 cents per share, reported for the year-ago period.

Shares of Moderna rose almost 9% in premarket trading Thursday.
Moderna is slashing expenses, with a recently announced goal of achieving $1.1 billion in savings by 2027, as it tries to recover from the rapid decline of its Covid business. It is the first quarter that includes sales of Moderna’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, its second-ever commercially available product. 
Before year end, the company plans to file for approval of its experimental “next-generation” Covid vaccine and combination shot targeting Covid and the flu. Moderna this year also expects to apply for expanded approval of its RSV vaccine, targeting high-risk adults ages 18 to 59. 
Moderna said Thursday its newest Covid vaccine saw benefits after winning approval in the U.S. three weeks earlier than the last iteration of the shot did in 2023, which allowed the biotech company to “meet demand more effectively.” The company was able to ship out doses to pharmacies and healthcare providers and reach the arms of more patients sooner. 
“I think the earlier launch and a steeper ramp drove a much higher sales number” for the Covid vaccine, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in an interview. During the first week of the vaccine’s launch, the company shipped twice as many products globally than it did in 2023, Bancel noted. 

He added that “this was a big cost reduction quarter, and we’re going to continue to do that.” 
Here’s what Moderna reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 3 cents vs. an expected loss of $1.90
Revenue: $1.86 billion vs. $1.25 billion expected

Moderna booked third-quarter sales of $1.86 billion, only slightly higher than the $1.83 billion in revenue it recorded during the same period a year ago. The vast majority of that total came from its Covid shot, including $1.2 billion in U.S. sales and roughly $600 million from international markets. 
The company’s third-quarter revenue also included $10 million in U.S. sales of its RSV shot, which won approval in May. Moderna said that sales of that shot were lower than expected since it was approved and recommended by regulators later in the contracting season, when many vaccine distributors had already completed their orders. 
Analysts had expected sales of $132 million for the RSV vaccine, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount. Moderna’s RSV shot is so far approved in the U.S., European Union, Norway, Iceland and Qatar. 
The company reiterated its full-year 2024 product sales guidance of roughly $3 billion to $3.5 billion. Last quarter, Moderna slashed its outlook on lower expected sales in Europe, a “competitive environment” for respiratory vaccines in the U.S. and the potential for deferred international revenue into 2025. 
Shares of Moderna are down almost 50% this year as investors mull over its path forward after Covid. The company is betting on a pipeline built around its messenger RNA platform, which is the technology used in its Covid vaccine and RSV shot. 
The biotech company currently has 45 products in development, and expects to bring 10 of them to the market over the next three years. 
Moderna is developing a standalone flu shot, a personalized cancer vaccine with Merck and shots for latent viruses, among other products.
Cost of sales for the third quarter was $514 million, down 77% from the same period a year ago. That includes $214 million in write-downs of unused doses of the Covid vaccine and $27 million in charges related to the company’s efforts to scale back its manufacturing footprint, among other costs. 
Research and development expenses decreased by 2% to $1.1 billion compared with the same period in 2023. Moderna said that decline was primarily due to lower clinical development and manufacturing expenses, citing decreased spending on clinical trials, among other factors.
Meanwhile, selling, general and administrative expenses for the period fell by 36% to $281 million compared with the third quarter of 2023. SG&A expenses usually include the costs of promoting, selling and delivering a company’s products and services. More

Warner Bros. Discovery said streaming platform Max added 7.2 million global customers during the third quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to 110.5 million.
The media giant’s streaming service has been growing its subscriber base at a fast clip since launching in international markets earlier this year.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported third-quarter earnings before the bell on Thursday.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Warner Bros. Discovery said Thursday its streaming platform Max added 7.2 million global subscribers in the third quarter.
It marked the biggest quarterly growth for the streaming platform since its inception. Max now has 110.5 million subscribers as of Sept. 30. Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streaming service has been growing its subscriber base at a fast clip this year since expanding internationally during the first half.

The streaming business has become a bright spot for Warner Bros. Discovery as its traditional TV networks have been pressured by cord cutting and a soft advertising market. Last quarter, Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $9.1 billion write down on its TV networks.
On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery reported third-quarter results that showed revenue decreased 4% to $9.62 billion compared to the same period last year. Total adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were down 19% to $2.41 billion.
TV networks revenue rose 3% to $5.01 billion compared to last year, despite declines in both distribution and advertising revenue for the segment. Studios segment revenue dropped 17% to $2.68 billion, with theatrical revenue falling 40%, excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange, due to the lower box office performances of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Twisters” compared to that of “Barbie” last year.
However, the streaming business’s revenue increased 8% to $2.63 billion, driven by an increase in global subscribers, higher advertising revenue and global average revenue per user. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $289 million, an increase of $178 million compared to last year.

Subscriber growth

While Wall Street has turned its attention to streaming profits in favor of subscriber growth, media companies have been nonetheless been reporting customer additions so far this quarter.

In October, streaming giant Netflix reported 5.1 million subscribers additions during the quarter, propelled by its ad-supported plan and beating Wall Street expectations. In total, Netflix now has 282.7 million memberships.
However, beginning in 2025, Netflix will no longer update investors on its subscribers numbers as it shifts focus toward revenue and other financial metrics as performance indicators.
Comcast’s streaming platform Peacock added 3 million subscribers during its third quarter — spurred by the Summer Olympics in Paris — bringing its total to 36 million as of Sept. 30.
In August, Disney reported that Disney+ Core subscribers — which excludes Disney+ Hotstar in India and other countries in the region — increased by 1% to 118.3 million, despite the company’s earlier guidance that it wouldn’t add new customers during the fiscal third quarter.
Disney’s Hulu saw subscribers increase 2% to 51.1 million. Disney reports its next quarterly earnings on Nov. 14.
Paramount Global’s streaming division swung to an unexpected profit last quarter. Still, its Paramount+ streaming platform dropped 2.8 million subscribers to 68 million as it unwound a Korean partnership deal. Paramount reports quarterly earnings on Friday.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. Comcast is a co-owner of Hulu. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032. More