January 13, 2022

Final Entry Deadline Extended in the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Entrants Can Submit Nominations in the Top Sales and Customer Service Awards Through February 2

Stevie Awards for Sales & -Service

The 2022 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service has extended the final entry deadline through February 2.

FAIRFAX, Va., Jan. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — By popular demand, the Stevie® Awards have extended the final entry deadline in the 16th annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service to Wednesday, February 2. The original entry deadline was January 12. These are the world’s premier awards for sales and customer service professionals, teams, and organizations.

Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

Eligible nominees include departments, teams, and professionals from around the world who work in customer service, contact center, business development, and sales. New products and services and solution providers used by those professionals are also eligible. The 2022 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2019.

Winners will be announced on February 28, 2022. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be celebrated at a virtual awards ceremony on May 11.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 150 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards, and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories.

New this year, for all categories the submission requirements have been extended to allow nominations to include accomplishments for the past two years instead of one.

There are many new categories for 2022 including Sales Engineer of the Year, Sales Support Professional of the Year, Virtual and Pre-Sales Professional of the Year, Remote Sales Innovation of the Year, Sales Employer of the Year, and an entirely new section of categories to recognize Thought Leadership achievements in business development, customer service, and sales. Explore all of the categories here.

The Stevie Awards is also pleased to present the Ethics in Sales Award, sponsored by Sales Partnerships. This category has no entry fee. This award recognizes organizations for best practices and achievements in demonstrating the highest ethical standards in the sales industry. Entrants can submit specific examples, case studies, practices, etc. that illustrates why the organization being nominated should be considered an excellent example of best practices in sales. This award is based on activities in 2021.

Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller states, “Every year our judges grow more and more impressed with the submissions in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. We encourage any organization who wants to be recognized for their achievements since July 2019 to request an entry kit to see which categories would best highlight those successes.”

Winners of the 2021 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included American Red Cross, Blackbaud, Inc., Carbonite, Cisco Systems Inc., ClassicCars.com, DHL Express, ElectronicArts, GoDaddy, IBM, John Hancock Financial Solutions, Land O’Lakes, Mailchimp, Modern Campus, Nasdaq Governance Solutions, Nutrisystem, Paylocity, SoftPro, Travelzoo, ValueSelling Associates, VIZIO, Inc., Vodafone Turkey, and more.

The 2022 competition will be judged by more than 150 professionals around the world.

About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

Marketing Contact:
Nina Moore
Nina@StevieAwards.com
+1 (703) 547-8389

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg+`/ad785517-4799-4518-88e5-b3b0127ed355

January 13, 2022

Madison Realty Capital Originates $345 Million Loan for St. Regis Residences on Boston Waterfront

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Madison Realty Capital, a vertically integrated real estate private equity firm focused on debt and equity investment strategies, today announced that it has originated a $345 million loan to Cronin Development for the completion of a 22-story, 114-unit residential and retail condominium development at 150 Seaport Boulevard in Boston, Massachusetts.

The property will contain a mix of one-bedroom to six-bedroom penthouse residences with waterfront views, a majority of which will feature outdoor space, and 10,211 square feet of retail. The Residences will feature a full range of amenities, including a fitness and wellness center with a spa and jacuzzi, bistro-style restaurant with waterfront dining, a grand lounge and pool overlooking the harbor, boardroom, business center, catering kitchen, wine vault, and two guest suites, all managed by St. Regis residential staff.

Josh Zegen, Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Madison Realty Capital, said “Boston’s Seaport District is expanding rapidly, but high barriers to entry and long entitlement processes have constrained the supply of luxury condominium offerings. We are pleased to expand our presence in Boston to deliver an attractive and complex financing solution mid-construction for a significantly presold property to Cronin Development, a developer with over twenty years of experience developing and managing real estate projects in the Boston area. This transaction reflects Madison Realty Capital’s ability to deliver unique financing and certainty of execution for residential projects in every phase of development.”

Jon Cronin, Founder of Cronin Development, said “We are thrilled to engage Madison Realty Capital as a single source of financing to complete this luxury residential product, which will be the last waterfront residential development in the Seaport District. Madison Realty Capital was able to leverage its knowledge of the Boston condominium market to quickly and efficiently provide us a tailored financing solution during the construction process that will enable us to complete the project in the near term.”

Madison Realty Capital has significant experience investing in Boston. Notable transactions include a $165 million loan to Scape North America for the development of a 451-unit multifamily project in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood and a $314 million construction loan to Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences.

About Madison Realty Capital

Madison Realty Capital is a vertically integrated real estate private equity firm that, as of December 31, 2021, manages approximately $8 billion in total assets on behalf of a global institutional investor base. Since 2004, Madison Realty Capital has completed approximately $20 billion in transactions providing borrowers with flexible and highly customized financing solutions, strong underwriting capabilities, and certainty of execution. Headquartered in New York City, with an office in Los Angeles, the firm has approximately 70 employees across all real estate investment, development, and property management disciplines. Madison Realty Capital has been frequently named to the Commercial Observer’s prestigious “Power 100” list of New York City real estate players and is consistently cited as a top construction lender, among other industry recognitions. To learn more, follow us on LinkedIn and visit www.madisonrealtycapital.com.

Nathaniel Garnick/Grace Cartwright
Gasthalter & Co.
+1 (212) 257 4170
madisonrealty@gasthalter.com

January 13, 2022

Adagio Therapeutics Summarizes ADG20 Neutralizing Activity Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants and Outlines Initiatives to Address Omicron

Recent Publications by Several Independent Laboratories Show ADG20 Has Neutralizing Activity with Potency Comparable to Other Antibodies that Retain Activity Against Omicron

Multiple Efforts Underway to Address Omicron and Potential Future SARS-CoV-2 Variants

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Adagio Therapeutics, Inc., (Nasdaq: ADGI), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of antibody-based solutions for infectious diseases with pandemic potential, today summarized recent findings reported in three separate publications that show ADG20, its lead monoclonal antibody (mAb), has neutralization activity against the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of SARS-CoV-2, and outlined initiatives to address current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Adagio is evaluating ADG20 in its global Phase 2/3 clinical trials for both the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Adagio is engaging with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding potential protocol updates to its global Phase 2/3 clinical trials, including an increased dose of ADG20 for the potential prevention and treatment of COVID-19 resulting from the Omicron variant.

ADG20 Neutralizing Activity Against Omicron
Recently published in vitro studies examined the neutralization potencies of large panels of mAbs against the Omicron variant in both authentic and pseudovirus assays. Findings across all three studies show that among mAbs in late-stage clinical development or with Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), ADG20 is one of only a few mAbs that demonstrated neutralizing activity against Omicron. Across two distinct authentic neutralization assays against Omicron, the data show that ADG20 had an IC₅₀, a measurement of neutralization potency, of approximately 0.4 to 1.1 µg/mL, which is comparable with the two other active mAbs, sotrovimab and AZD7742.

“What is critical to assessing potential clinical effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 mAbs is the neutralization potency by the mAb against a specific variant. While findings may show that ADG20 has reduced potency against Omicron when compared to its high potency against all other variants of concern, including Delta, the data support that ADG20 is among the few mAbs to demonstrate neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant and warrants its continued development,” said Laura Walker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and co-founder of Adagio.

These data add to previously reported in vitro data from a variety of preclinical studies that showed that ADG20 retains activity against other variants of concern including Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma, and that ADG20 retains neutralizing activity against a diverse panel of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the Lambda, Mu and Delta plus variants.

Clinical Trial Update to Address Omicron
Adagio is continuing evaluation of ADG20 in its EVADE and STAMP clinical trials. Adagio is engaging with the FDA on dosing strategy, including an increased dose of ADG20 and other protocol updates in light of the spread of the Omicron variant. Adagio is pausing the enrollment of new patients in the 300 mg dose arm in both clinical trials as the company updates its protocols. Follow-up and monitoring of patients previously administered ADG20 are continuing per the original protocols.

Additional Efforts to Address Omicron and Future Variants
In addition to its clinical trial updates, Adagio is pursuing multiple strategies to address both Omicron and potential future variants that may emerge. Leveraging its exclusive partnership with Adimab LLC, a global leader in antibody engineering, Adagio is exploring the potential to engineer ADG20 to further improve binding to the Omicron variant to enhance its neutralization potency against Omicron while retaining its broad neutralization against other SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. In parallel, Adagio is assessing several hundred mAbs from its proprietary library of previously isolated SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for their neutralization potency against Omicron. Such an additional neutralizing mAb could be developed as a stand-alone product or as part of a combination approach. These efforts are underway, and the company anticipates preliminary findings from its research in the first quarter of 2022.

“SARS-CoV-2 is a quickly evolving virus, and at Adagio, we are committed to adapting just as quickly. It is abundantly clear that no single product will fully address the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that multiple preventative and therapeutic solutions are needed. Based on both in-house data and third-party findings, we are confident that ADG20 can be an important tool in the fight against this virus,” added Tillman Gerngross, Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of Adagio.

About ADG20
ADG20, an investigational monoclonal antibody targeting the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses, is being evaluated in global clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. ADG20 was designed to possess high potency and broad neutralization activity against SARS-CoV-2 and additional clade 1 sarbecoviruses by targeting a highly conserved epitope in the receptor binding domain. ADG20 was further engineered to provide an extended half-life for durable protection. In vitro data from a variety of preclinical studies have shown that ADG20 retains neutralizing activity against all known SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. In a Phase 1 trial, ADG20 was well-tolerated with no safety signals identified through a minimum of three months follow-up across all cohorts. ADG20 has not been approved for use in any country, and safety and efficacy have not yet been established.

About Adagio Therapeutics
Adagio (Nasdaq: ADGI) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of antibody-based solutions for infectious diseases with pandemic potential, including COVID-19 and influenza. The company’s portfolio of antibodies has been optimized using Adimab’s industry-leading antibody engineering capabilities and is designed to provide patients and clinicians with the potential for a powerful combination of potency, breadth, durable protection (via half-life extension), manufacturability and affordability. Adagio’s portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies includes multiple non-competing, broadly neutralizing antibodies with distinct binding epitopes, led by ADG20. Adagio has secured manufacturing capacity for the production of ADG20 with third-party contract manufacturers to support the completion of clinical trials and initial commercial launch, ensuring the potential for broad accessibility to people around the world, if authorized or approved for use. For more information, please visit www.adagiotx.com.

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 “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “projects,” and “future” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning, among other things, the timing, progress and results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials of ADG20, including the initiation, modification and completion of studies or trials and related preparatory work, including our plans to evaluate dosing regimens and other protocol updates in our clinical trials, the period during which the results of our clinical trials and other studies and research activities will become available, and our research and development programs; our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our product candidates; our pursuit of other strategies to address the Omicron variant, including modification of clinical trial protocols; and other statements that are not historical fact. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, clinical trials and financial position, unexpected safety or efficacy data observed during preclinical studies or clinical trials, the predictability of clinical success of ADG20 based on neutralizing activity in pre-clinical studies, variability of results in models used to predict activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, clinical trial site activation or enrollment rates that are lower than expected, changes in expected or existing competition, changes in the regulatory environment, and the uncertainties and timing of the regulatory approval process, including the outcome of our discussions with regulatory authorities concerning our Phase 2/3 clinical trials. Other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements in this press release are described under the heading “Risk Factors” in Adagio’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 and in Adagio’s future reports to be filed with the SEC. Such risks may be amplified by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of this date, and Adagio undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Contacts:
Media Contact:
Dan Budwick, 1AB
Dan@1abmedia.com

Investor Contact:
Monique Allaire, THRUST Strategic Communications
monique@thrustsc.com

January 13, 2022

Hong Kong COVID-19 Tracking App Spurs Opposition

A new Hong Kong mandate that restaurants and other establishments require use of an app aimed at recording people’s locations and telling them if they have been near a COVID-19 patient has spurred opposition from the city’s pro-democracy voices.

The LeaveHomeSafe app scans a two-dimensional QR barcode at taxis and other locations. If a COVID-19 patient has been there, the app will alert users and provide health advice. The government required the use of the app Dec. 9 in all indoor premises including government buildings, restaurants, public facilities, and karaoke venues. Those over the age of 65, 15 years or younger, the homeless and those with disabilities are exempt.

Previously Hong Kongers could record these movements using a paper form, but the cursive characters written by opposition Hong Kongers or pro-democracy activists expressing their distrust in government were often illegible for authorities.

Hong Kongers believe the app can be a tool used by authorities to monitor citizens, according to a human rights advocate.

“Given Beijing’s use of mass surveillance in China, many Hong Kong people suspect that the app is one way for the Hong Kong and Beijing governments to normalize the use of government surveillance in Hong Kong,” Human Rights Watch senior China researcher Maya Wang told VOA by email.

An office worker in her 20s entering a Taiwanese restaurant recently was one of the Hong Kongers harboring doubts about the app. Before entering the restaurant, she said she stopped texting on her phone to use a second phone to scan the restaurant’s QR code using LeaveHomeSafe.

“It’s an act of human right and privacy violation as we can no longer choose the way we live and the app is part of the digital surveillance system,” she told VOA, referring to the government app.

Government officials sought to allay such privacy concerns last February, as health secretary Sophia Chan said the COVID-19 tracking app would not send personal data to the authorities.

“The fact is there is no issue of data privacy, because the data would be just stored in the phone of the person. There is no platform that collects those data,” Chan told reporters.

Hong Kong also has a new Health Code app for people to show they have not been exposed to COVID-19 to travel to mainland China, using LeaveHomeSafe records. The LeaveHomeSafe privacy statement says users are required to upload their visit records from the app to the health code system “only with their express consent” and “at their sole discretion.”

“The visit record, which by itself in isolation is not personal data, will be kept in users’ mobile phones for 31 days and will then be erased automatically,” the privacy statement adds.

The government announced the requirement for broader use of the LeaveHomeSafe app in November, before the omicron variant and when Hong Kong’s confirmed infection number was in single digits.

The government said in a statement then it had made the decision “amid the severe COVID-19 pandemic situation across the world” and that “it strives to foster favourable conditions for resuming cross-boundary travel with the Mainland and cross-border travel in the future.”

Wang said Hong Kongers are right to be suspicious of the government’s intentions with the tracing app.

Even though Hong Kong differs from China in significant ways, such as a privacy ordinance that protected people’s privacy for many years, she said, “these legal protections are increasingly being undermined as Beijing and Hong Kong governments do away with other protections of civil liberties, such as a free press and freedom of expression.”

The announcement of the mandate followed a clampdown on the use of the fake version of the app in the same month. The police arrested five people for using fake apps.

Two were confirmed to be arrested on suspicion of using false instruments — the same charge for using a falsified passport or fabricated visa to enter the city — that can send offenders to prison for up to 14 years and incur up to about $19,000 in penalty.

Officials have long been wary of certain residents’ opposition to the use of the app. In September, the police arrested three core members, aged 18-20, of the pro-democracy student activism group Student Politicism under the national security law.

They have been charged with conspiracy to incite subversion for “stirring hatred towards the government … including urging people not to use the LeaveHomeSafe app and to fill in fake [personal] information on the paper forms,” Steve Li Kwai-wah, superintendent of the police national security department told media in a September press conference.

Eric Lai, researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Asian Law, said the measure seeks to “repress” Hong Kongers’ rights.

“The government of Hong Kong has a track record of using COVID-preventive measures to repress the exercise of citizen’s rights, such as the use of social distancing rules to criminalize citizens protesting in public sites” he told VOA by email.

The police were accused of targeting restaurants and shops that support democracy by conducting checks only in such shops, according to local media StandNews, which is now closed.

Many of such shops complained about losing the freedom not to use the app and said they would offer carry-out orders that do not require its use instead.

Source: Voice of America

January 13, 2022

Biden Ramps Up Fight Against Coronavirus

U.S. President Joe Biden sympathized with coronavirus-weary Americans Thursday while ramping up the government’s effort to combat the surge of the omicron variant across the country.

“I know we’re all frustrated as we begin the new year,” Biden said in a short White House speech. “It’s been a long road, but we’re going to get through this.”

In his latest effort to fight the highly transmissible omicron variant, Biden said the government would by next week start sending free face masks to all Americans and now plans to buy 500 million more COVID-19 test kits, on top of the half-billion he previously announced.

Biden said that by next week, anyone in the U.S. who wants free test kits will be able to order them online. In the U.S., 15 million COVID-19 tests are now being conducted daily, and there are 20,000 free testing sites around the country.

In addition, Biden said the military is deploying a total of 120 physicians, nurses and other medical personnel to hospitals in six of the 50 U.S. states where health care workers have been particularly overwhelmed by new coronavirus cases. It is the beginning of an eventual deployment of 1,000 military health care workers.

He identified the states as New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island in the eastern part of the country, Ohio and Michigan in the Midwest, and New Mexico in the southwest region of the U.S.

Since late November, the U.S. already has dispatched more than 800 military and other federal emergency personnel to 24 states, tribes and territories, according to the White House. That includes more than 350 military doctors, nurses and medics helping staff hospitals.

Biden said most Americans are “safe” from serious illness from the coronavirus because they have been fully vaccinated. But he acknowledged that “the unvaccinated are dying.” He again implored the estimated 40 million unvaccinated people to get inoculated.

In all, more than 208 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, and 77 million of those have also had booster shots, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the U.S. leads the world with more than 840,000 coronavirus deaths, and another 1,800 are dying daily. Recently, an additional 780,000 coronavirus cases were being recorded each day.

Source: Voice of America