Moderna has begun early-stage clinical trials of an HIV mRNA vaccine, the company announced this week. On Thursday, it administered the first doses of a shot it co-developed with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to volunteers at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Like the company’s COVID-19 vaccine, the new treatment uses messenger RNA to “trick” the human body into producing proteins that will trigger an immune response. Moderna hopes the shot will induce a specific class of white blood cells known as B-cells, which can then turn into broadly neutralizing antibodies. Those proteins are “widely considered to be the goal of HIV vaccination, and this is the first step in that process,” according to the company.

As part of the trial, Moderna plans to test both a primary vaccine and a booster shot. The Phase 1 trial will involve 56 healthy, HIV-negative adult participants. The company will give 48 of those individuals the mRNA vaccine. Thirty-two of that group will also receive the booster shot. To the final eight involved in the first trial, the company will only administer the booster shot. Moderna says it will then monitor the entire group for six months to gauge the safety of the vaccine. It also plans to examine the immune response the vaccine triggers at the molecular level to determine if it’s effective.

Messenger RNA technology could lead to treatments for a host of deadly diseases, including malaria, but a breakthrough against HIV would be particularly noteworthy. According to statistics from the US government, approximately 1.2 million Americans have the virus, which can lead to the deadly AIDS disease. While outcomes for HIV patients have improved significantly since the ‘90s thanks to the development of new treatments and medication, no HIV vaccine has successfully passed early clinical trials.

Source: Engadget – Moderna begins early-stage trials of mRNA-based HIV vaccine

It’s been a great quarter for Apple. The company just dropped its earnings report for Q1, 2022 (which for Apple ended December 25, 2021), and it broke revenue records across the board. 

Not only is its overall revenue at an all-time high of $123.9 billion, Apple also made more money selling iPhones, Macs and wearables than ever before. This time last year, the company reported a revenue of $111 billion, which itself was a new record at the time. Last quarter, too, it made all kinds of money selling Macs, even without the release of new Macbooks.

Apple’s revenue from iPhones ($71.6 billion) this year, despite global supply constraints, is a notable jump from last year ($65.6 billion). Driven by the transition to its own M1 silicon chips, Mac revenues were up more than $2 billion compared to the year prior, hitting a record $10.9 billion. Chief financial officer Luca Maestri said on the company’s earnings call that the last six quarters were “the best six quarters ever for Mac,” and that M1-powered devices made up the vast majority of sales thanks to a “record number of upgraders.”

“Wearables, Home and Accessories” — which includes Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePods — added another record-breaking $14.7 billion to the revenue sheet. Apple’s services also contributed to its overall revenue, with products like TV+ and Fitness+ raking in a total of $19.5 billion — an increase of 24 percent from last year. Maestri noted that paid subscriptions continue to grow, with recent developments in Fitness+, Arcade and Apple Music contributing to the growth.

But not all products broke records this year. Net sales of iPads brought in $7.2 billion in Q1 2021, which is down 14 percent year-over-year “due to very significant supply constraints,” Maestri said. The company reported a net income of $34.63 billion, with gross margins increasing to approximately 43.8 percent. 

Investors will be happy to know that Apple’s board of directors have declared “a cash dividend of 22 cents per share of common stock, payable on February 10th 2022.” With supply chain issues and inflationary pressures impacting every business, Apple’s results this quarter are surprisingly strong. CEO Tim Cook said in the Q&A section at the end of the company’s earnings call that “we will do better or have less constraints than we had in the December quarter,” which could mean more supply of its products is coming.

Source: Engadget – Apple brought in a record-breaking 3.9 billion in revenue, despite supply constraints

A group of Democratic lawmakers led by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachuttes has asked six crypto mining companies, including Riot Blockchain, to answer questions about the impact of their operations on the environment and cost of electricity in the US. In separate letters to the chief executives of each firm, the group asks the companies to detail how much electricity they consume, their scaling plans and any agreements they have in place with local utility companies. They have until February 10th to reply.

Lawmakers say they’re concerned about what a dramatic increase in domestic cryptocurrency mining has meant for the environment and consumers. Specifically, they cite a 2021 study from the University of California, Berkeley that estimated crypto mining in upstate New York raised annual electricity bills by approximately $165 million for small businesses and $79 million for consumers, “with little or no local economic benefit.” They also point to the fact that energy consumption related to Bitcoin mining tripled between 2019 and 2021.

“The extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining could undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis – not to mention the harmful impacts crypto mining has on local environments and electricity prices,” Senator Warren said. “We need more information on the operations of these crypto mining companies to understand the full scope of the consequences for our environment and local communities.”

The group stops short of suggesting regulatory action could be on the horizon for the industry, but clearly the effect of cryptocurrency on other parts of the economy is something lawmakers are thinking about. On January 20th, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing titled “Cleaning up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains.” What’s more, US lawmakers have taken a more board interest in cryptocurrencies in recent months. That was on display in December when the Senate held a hearing on Stablecoins.

Source: Engadget – Democratic lawmakers press crypto mining companies over energy consumption concerns