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North America
CNBC Finance

Logistics giants are racing to keep up with healthcare boom as GLP-1s highlight need for cold storage

As demand rises for specialized medications like GLP-1s, logistics companies including UPS and FedEx are adapting their strategies to be able to better ship and store those pharmaceuticals. Most injectable GLP-1 medications, including Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound, require refrigerated storage for shipment. The Covid pandemic put healthcare logistics at center stage in 2020, as the shipping of temperature-controlled vaccines quickly became a crucial part of keeping the virus at bay. And as more money has been poured into new pharmaceutical innovations, the transportation of those products have come under the spotlight. Logistics companies are now investing millions of dollars and strengthening dozens of temperature-controlled facilities to tap into the market. In June, UPS announced a new $48 million investment in temperature-controlled facilities as it sees a growing demand for critical treatments. According to Growth Market Reports, the demand for temperature-sensitive biologics is projected to grow at an 8.3% compound annual growth rate through 2033 and reach a market value of roughly $39.1 billion. Obesity and diabetes drugs, meanwhile, have been booming in popularity. A July Gallup poll found that 11% of Americans take GLP-1 medications for weight loss purposes in 2026, up from just 3% in 2024. But if they're not stored and shipped at the correct temperature, they risk losing their efficacy. The Food and Drug Administration has warned that improper storage during shipping can affect the medicine's quality and recommends patients do not use GLP-1 drugs that arrive "warm or with insufficient refrigeration." Other biologics, like some vaccines, insulin and antibiotics, also require specialized shipment to maintain efficacy. For logistics companies, that means ensuring the proper storage and movement every step of the way. Healthcare logistics have proven to be one of UPS' biggest opportunities. On an earnings call with analysts in April, CEO Carol Tomé said the company's global healthcare portfolio has gained market share every year since 2021, generating its first ever $3 billion healthcare revenue quarter in the first quarter of this year. UPS President of Healthcare John Bolla told CNBC that the company is seeing more healthcare companies looking for partners to keep up with the volume. "One of the biggest opportunities we see is supporting the shift toward more specialized therapies and more care delivered outside of traditional healthcare settings," Bolla said.

Logistics giants are racing to keep up with healthcare boom as GLP-1s highlight need for cold storage
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

FSSAI suspends license of Westend Agro Products and Rehaan Healthcare

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has suspended the licence of Westend Agro Products Pvt Ltd after observing serious food safety violations during inspection of its premises. Recently, the food safety regulator has also suspended licence of Rehaan Healthcare after finding serious non-compliances during the inspection of its health supplements and nutraceuticals manufacturing unit. In a social media post, FSSAI said it received a complaint regarding alteration of manufacturing and packing dates, fraudulent re-labelling and sale of misbranded food products at the premises. Inspection revealed Westend Agro Products and Westend Corporation were operating from the same premises. “Several food products were found with altered manufacturing dates, expiry dates, batch numbers and misleading label declarations. Printing machinery, stamps, solvents and other materials allegedly used for altering mandatory food label information was also found during the inspection,” FSSAI noted. Westend Agro Products owns brand Organic Shastra and the food safety regulator said that packaging materials, labels and printed wrappers bearing misleading declarations including “Organic” claims were recovered. “Deliberate forgery and alteration of mandatory labelling information and sale of food with false or misleading labels, pose a direct threat to consumers and public health. The food products are, therefore, prima facie considered unsafe,” it added in its post. Therefore, the state FSSAI licence of Westend Agro Products Pvt Ltd has been suspended with immediate effect. On Friday, the food safety regulator announced that the FSSAI licence of Rehaan Healthcare has been suspended and has been directed to cease all food business activities until all deficiencies are rectified and compliance is verified. The company’s health supplement and nutraceutical unit was manufacturing digestive syrup, multivitamin syrup and other syrup-based food products. “The manufacturing premises were found to be extremely unhygienic and unorganised. Sediments of filth and sludge accumulated under the manufacturing tank, disorganised storage of raw materials and poor housekeeping created a serious risk of cross-contamination,” FSSAI said in a social media post. “As the unit manufacturers health supplements and nutraceuticals, a high-risk category of food consumed by children and other vulnerable groups, the unhygienic conditions and the failure of food safety poses a serious and imminent threat to public health,“ it added. Meanwhile, the FSSAI also said that an adjudication order has been passed against Sopan Restaurant following analysis of a Nova Flavoured Double Toned Milk sample collected from Pantry Car No. 15904 (Chandigarh - Dibrugarh Express). The State Public Health Laboratory, Assam, declared the sample as substandard in its report. “Strict regulatory action has been taken following the testing of a food sample collected from train services in Chandigarh - Dibrugarh Express,” it said in a social media post. A penalty has also been imposed following this incident. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

FSSAI suspends license of Westend Agro Products and Rehaan Healthcare
Europe
BBC Business

Rental searches for pet friendly properties drop after law change

Image source, Getty ImagesByKevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentPublished3 hours agoRightmove searches for rental properties that allow pets have plummeted since law changes gave renters more rights. Following the introduction of the new rules, pet searches dropped by more than 50% in May and June compared with a year earlier. Landlords in England cannot unreasonably refuse pets in their properties under changes made in May in the Renters' Rights Act. But agents say some renters wrongly believe permission to have a pet is guaranteed, and landlords say some homes remain unsuitable for multiple pets or large dogs. "Landlords must consider requests fairly and cannot unreasonably refuse them, but they can still decline where there is a valid reason," said Megan Eighteen, immediate past president of lettings agents trade body ARLA Propertymark. She said there was plenty of "potential for misunderstanding", among tenants about pet-friendly properties. The Rightmove data suggests that fewer tenants are proactively filtering for pet-friendly properties when searching for a home. While pets remain the most common searched-for term overall - ahead of gardens, garages and furnishings, the lead at the top is shrinking. Renter searches for properties that allow pets fell by 54% in May and 52% in June compared with the same months a year earlier, according to the figures shared with the BBC. Falls had accelerated through this year, as the changes got closer and were then introduced. Marc von Grundherr, director of agency Benham and Reeves, said some tenants have only disclosed a pet after signing their tenancy agreement, while others have been discovered during property inspections. "The reality is that tenants now understand the balance of power has shifted. Landlords can no longer rely on a blanket 'no pets' policy to deter applications and should instead expect conversations around pet ownership to arise much later in the letting process," he said. Now, in England, landlords may still be able to refuse a pet if another tenant has an allergy, the property is too small for a large pet or several pets, the pet is illegal, or the landlord is a leaseholder and the freeholder does not allow pets. Before the rules changed, Eve Williamson had to give up her American Bulldog, Khan, or face eviction from her home - despite having previously had a dog in the property.

Rental searches for pet friendly properties drop after law change
Europe
BBC Business

China's Moonshot AI stole from Anthropic, Trump tech adviser says

A White House adviser has accused China's Moonshot AI of a "large scale" effort to steal the capabilities of top US artificial intelligence (AI) models. US President Donald Trump's Science and Technology adviser Michael Kratsios said Moonshot AI carried out the campaign through what is known as distillation - when a weaker AI model extracts answers from a stronger one. Moonshot also gained access to restricted cutting-edge Nvidia servers to train its models, Kratsios said in a social post, external on Wednesday. The BBC has contacted Moonshot, the Chinese embassy in Washington, Anthropic, the White House, and Nvidia for comment. Kratsios said on X that the US government has information that Moonshot AI "distilled" capabilities from Anthropic's Fable AI for the development of its K3 model. Kimi K3 gained attention around the world after it was unveiled last week, with many believing it to have narrowed the gap between Western and Chinese AI models. Moonshot said its K3 model is able to rival top US technology. Moonshot is likely to have also used servers powered by Nvidia's GB300 Grace Blackwell computing platform, Kratsios said. Washington restricted the export of Nvidia's most advanced chips in 2022 over concerns that they could be used by the Chinese military. Since then, government's around the world have cracked down on the smuggling of the chips. Kratsios' allegations come just a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday the US would examine whether Chinese AI models have stolen the capabilities from American rivals. On Wednesday, Bessent also said that sanctions "will be on the table" when Chinese companies "cross the line" into intellectual property (IP) theft by conducting "industrial-scale distillation attacks". "We support open-source AI and the innovation it unlocks. But open source is not open season on American IP," Bessent said on social media.

China's Moonshot AI stole from Anthropic, Trump tech adviser says
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Technology as an enabler: Reimagining Indian agritech

India has produced hundreds of agritech startups over the past decade, attracted more than two billion dollars in venture capital, and still cannot point to a definitive pure-play agritech unicorn in the field. That gap between investor enthusiasm and commercial outcomes is not a failure of technology. Rather, it reflects a deeper reality: technology investments have frequently overlooked the most critical bottlenecks in the agricultural value chain. The paradox is particularly striking in a country where agriculture and allied sector supports 46.1 per cent of the population and contributes around 16 per cent to the GDP. The rise of agritech in India followed a familiar and logical trajectory. In the early years, roughly 2012 to 2017, efforts focused on advisory services, weather data and market information delivered through mobile platforms. As the ecosystem matured, investors moved into a more ambitious phase, backing platforms that sought to connect farmers directly with inputs, procurement, logistics and financial services. Several sizable businesses emerged on the premise that a digital layer could unlock significant value by connecting India’s fragmented agricultural ecosystem. However, farmer adoption never kept pace with the capital invested. The challenge became more visible when technology required farmers to pay upfront, change established habits or trust algorithmic recommendations over years of field experience. A smallholder farmer operating on thin, unpredictable margins simply asked one question. If the monsoon fails or prices plummet, who bears the loss? Most agritech solutions, regardless of their technology or design or utility, have yet to convincingly answer that question. This challenge is global, but India’s scale and fragmentation make it particularly acute. As startups attempt to scale nationally, localization costs increase significantly. At the same time, trust in rural India continues to reside primarily with local input dealers, progressive farmers, FPOs, co-operatives and village networks. Therefore, a startup that appears digital at the product level can quickly become operationally intensive on the ground. None of this means that technology has failed agriculture. Rather, it means that direct-to-farmer software, sold and adopted like consumer apps in cities, was never the most natural entry point. From an investment perspective, the more durable opportunity lies in what can be called the agricultural middle stream – the critical layer between farm gate and the end user market. This includes differentiated procurement platforms with supply chain control, FPC/FPOs, innovations in grading and quality assessment, storage and logistics infrastructure, energy- efficient cold chains and post-harvest solutions. This layer is far from being peripheral. Rather, it is the operational core that links farmers to buyers, credit, quality assurance, and price discovery systems. Technology embedded within these existing relationships tends to succeed more often than technology that attempts to create an entirely new relationship from scratch. This distinction matters because it shifts what a farmer is truly asked to do. Instead of adopting a new digital tool and hoping for payback, the farmer continues selling produce or buying inputs through familiar channels. Technology makes those channels faster, more transparent, and more efficient. Traceability systems, embedded credit scoring, digital quality assessment, warehouse intelligence, and market linkage platforms that operate through existing aggregators, digitised Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), co-operatives or farmer organizations exemplify this approach. In such models, the technology does the heavy lifting of connecting local supply to broader markets, and farmers continue doing what they already do. Further, better grading, traceability and storage infrastructure tend to translate up directly and reliably in the price a farmer receives.

Technology as an enabler: Reimagining Indian agritech
Asia
The Economic Times

10 midcap stocks with massive upside potential up to 70%! Do you own any?

Analyst forecasts are more than just numbers, they provide a forward-looking perspective on market potential. For investors looking for the next breakout opportunities, a fresh analysis of BSE Mid-Cap stocks reveals several compelling prospects.Based on market analysts' consensus estimates, Trendlyne data indicates that several midcap stocks are expected to deliver strong returns over the next 12 months. This projected upside reflects the average anticipated gain during this period, offering a data-driven roadmap for investors exploring high-potential midcap opportunities. We highlight 9 standout midcap stocks with an estimated upside potential ranging between 35% and 70% in the coming year. Patanjali Foods is currently trading at Rs 340. Based on analyst estimates, the stock has a target price of Rs 588, indicating a potential upside of 72.68%. Among the 4 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is Strong Buy. Gujarat Energy is currently trading at Rs 265.45. Analysts have set a target price of Rs 427, implying a potential upside of 60.90%. Out of 28 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is Buy. AWL Agri Business is currently trading at Rs 188.16. The consensus target price stands at Rs 267, suggesting a potential upside of 42.10%. Among 6 analysts tracking the stock, the consensus rating is Buy. Crompton Greaves is currently trading at Rs 250.15. Analysts have given a target price of Rs 344, reflecting a potential upside of 37.50%. Of the 34 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is Strong Buy. Max Financial is currently trading at Rs 1,515.50. Based on analyst estimates, the stock has a target price of Rs 2,065, implying a potential upside of 36.30%. Among 26 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is Strong Buy. Indian Railway Catering is currently trading at Rs 495.05. Analysts have set a target price of Rs 674, indicating a potential upside of 36.20%. Out of 9 analysts tracking the stock, the consensus rating is Buy. Vishal Mega Mart is currently trading at Rs 108.04. The consensus target price is Rs 147, suggesting a potential upside of 36.20%. Among 18 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is Strong Buy. Go Digit Insurance is currently trading at Rs 256.20. Based on analyst estimates, the stock has a target price of Rs 346, implying a potential upside of 34.90%. Out of 10 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is Buy. Sun TV Network is currently trading at Rs 486.90. Analysts have given a target price of Rs 655, indicating a potential upside of 36.30%. Among 11 analysts tracking the stock, the consensus rating is Buy.

10 midcap stocks with massive upside potential up to 70%! Do you own any?
North America
Yahoo Finance

Dyadic Announces Continued Listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market

JUPITER, Fla., July 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dyadic International, Inc. (Nasdaq: DYAI) (“Dyadic” or the “Company”), d/b/a Dyadic Applied BioSolutions, a biotechnology company developing recombinant protein solutions across the life sciences, food and nutrition, bio-industrial and biopharmaceutical markets, today announced that Nasdaq has confirmed that the Company has regained compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rules 5550(a)(2) and 5550(b). The Company’s common stock continues to be listed and t

Dyadic Announces Continued Listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Nasdaq lags on angst over AI spending ahead of earnings reports

The S&P 500 barely advanced and its biggest weight came from the S&P 500 technology index, which underperformed the broader market to finish down 0.88 per cent, as chip stocks fell. NEW YORK - The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell on July 24 as investors sold chip stocks on worries about massive spending on artificial intelligence ahead of the next batch of megacap earnings reports, while falling oil prices provided Wall Street with some support even as Middle East hostilities continued. The S&P 500 barely advanced and its biggest weight came from the S&P 500 technology index, which underperformed the broader market to finish down 0.88 per cent, as chip stocks fell. While investors looked ahead to next week’s results from megacaps Microsoft, Amazon.com, Meta and Apple Inc, their enthusiasm has waned since Alphabet’s announcement, late on July 22, of a massive hike to its capital spending plans even as it burns cash. After piling into technology stocks in recent years on the promise of growth from AI, investors have become worried about the need for ever-increasing capital outlays for AI, according to Andersen Capital Management chief executive officer Peter Andersen. “People are thinking, how do we make sense of all this spending, and how much more patient do we have to be before we actually see it translate to actual profits?“ Andersen said. Late on July 23, Intel forecast quarterly profit and revenue above Wall Street estimates and outlined plans to increase spending over the next two years. Still, the chipmaker’s shares sank to close down 7.9 per cent on July 24 in sympathy with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index, which dropped 4.5 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235.60 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 51,947.25, the S&P 500 gained 3.68 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 7,411.98 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 161.87 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 24,975.82. For the week, the Dow fell 0.4 per cent, its third straight weekly loss. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq registered their second straight week in the red with the S&P falling 0.6 per cent while the Nasdaq lost 2 per cent. Among the S&P 500‘s 11 major industry indexes, real estate was the strongest, with a 2.4 per cent advance. The sector’s leading gainer was Digital Realty Trust, which rallied 11 per cent after it raised its full-year forecast for funds from operations. The second-biggest sector gainer was materials which rose 1.44 per cent as investors turned their attention to paper and packaging companies. International Paper led the pack with an 11.2 per cent advance, making it the S&P 500‘s biggest percentage gainer on the day. It was followed closely by the US-traded shares of paper company Smurfit Westrock, which added 11.1 per cent.

Nasdaq lags on angst over AI spending ahead of earnings reports
Asia
The Economic Times

Mutual fund NFOs: 5 new funds will open for subscription this week. Check dates and key details

Five new funds will open for subscription this week. Fund houses introduce new schemes to complete their bouquet of existing offerings. Here is a detailed break-up (Source: ACE MF). These five funds will be passive in nature. Of the total, four will be ETFs and one will be a FoF (domestic). Invesco India Nifty Bank ETF and Invesco India BSE Sensex ETF open for subscription on July 28 and close on August 11. The minimum investment amount in both funds will be Rs 5,000. SBI Nifty Midcap 150 Momentum 50 ETF FOF opens for subscription on July 27 and closes on August 5. The minimum investment amount will be Rs 5,000. Edelweiss BSE LargeMid (60:40) Stable Dividend 50 ETF opens for subscription on July 27 and closes on July 29. The minimum investment amount will be Rs 5,000.

Mutual fund NFOs: 5 new funds will open for subscription this week. Check dates and key details