ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Has California reached peak Tesla?
Tesla Inc. sold fewer vehicles in California for the second straight quarter, suggesting its popularity in the state may have peaked, according to a report from the California New Car Dealers Association. While the carmaker still makes some of the top-selling models in California, overall Tesla registrations declined by 7.8 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the trade group said Monday. Tesla registrations slid 9.8 percent during the final quarter of last year. Tesla’s share of California’s EV market has dropped 6.4 percentage points to 55.4 percent, the report said. New battery-powered models from luxury car makers Mercedes and BMW meanwhile helped those companies gain ground in California, although electric vehicles’ share of the overall market shrank slightly during the period. California’s “love affair with electric vehicle giant Tesla may have peaked,” the California New Car Dealers Association said in a statement. The company’s dominance is waning, the group said, and “traditional manufacturers are stepping up to the plate.” — BLOOMBERG NEWS
DRUGMAKING
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X4 Pharmaceuticals wins FDA approval for immune drug
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a Boston biotech’s drug for an ultra-rare disease of the immune system that leaves patients more susceptible to potentially life-threatening bacterial infections. X4 Pharmaceuticals said regulators approved Xolremdi for use in patients 12 years and older with WHIM syndrome. The disorder is believed to affect at least 1,000 patients in the United States, according to Paula Ragan, chief executive of X4. People with the syndrome have extremely low levels of certain white blood cells that lead to a condition called neutropenia, which can make you more vulnerable to infections, according to the nonprofit National Organization for Rare Disorders. Patients are particularly susceptible to human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause skin and genital warts and potentially lead to cancer. The FDA approval was based on the results of a late-stage clinical trial that evaluated the effectiveness and safety of Xolremdi in 31 people aged 12 years and older diagnosed with the syndrome. The treatment increased the patients’ disease-fighting white blood cells and resulted in a 60 percent reduction in patients’ annual infection rate compared with patients who received a placebo, according to X4. The drug comes in capsules. — JONATHAN SALTZMAN
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MEDICAL DEVICES
Philips agrees to $1.1b settlement in lawsuit over CPAP machines
Philips on Monday said it will pay $1.1 billion to settle claims in the United States over allegations tied to faulty breathing machines. Millions of Philips sleep apnea devices were recalled in 2021 over concerns that they carried a potential cancer risk, and the company has agreed to halt US sales. The settlement includes a $1.075 billion personal injury settlement and $25 million for medical monitoring. “Ultimately, these combined agreements accomplish what we sought to achieve when this litigation began — holding Philips accountable by obtaining care for those with physical injuries and compensation for those needing new respiratory devices,” plaintiffs’ lawyers said in a statement. Continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machines are used to treat sleep apnea. Millions of Americans have the condition, which interferes with a person’s ability to breathe properly while sleeping. The company’s stock soared on news of the settlement. Insurers had agreed to pay 540 million euros ― $570 million ― to help cover the claims. — WASHINGTON POST
LABOR MARKET
Would-be job-hoppers more likely to stay put as labor market mellows
The dynamism that gives the US labor market its edge is slowing down. The number of people who go from one job to immediately land in another has fallen by more than half a percentage point in recent months, according to data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia last week. The dwindling numbers of job switchers — often the most highly skilled — suggest these workers are insecure about their job prospects, or they’re not getting poached like they used to. The number of available positions has edged down from over 12 million in March 2022 to 8.76 million, mainly reflecting a slowdown in the labor market, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The measure of voluntary job-leavers as a share of total employment dropped to the lowest since 2020. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Meta plans layoffs at Oversight Board
Meta’s company-funded oversight body is planning to trim its workforce, a downsizing effort that could affect the board’s ability to police the world’s largest social media network. Meta’s Oversight Board, an independent collection of academics, experts, and lawyers who oversee the social media giant’s thorny content decisions, told some employees last week that their jobs were at risk of being cut, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. The job eliminations probably will add to challenges facing the Oversight Board at a time when it has faced criticism for moving too slowly and cautiously to issue decisions and opinions that significantly shape how Meta handles contentious free speech debates. The cuts also could affect the Oversight Board’s longtime quest to be considered a viable model of governance for the social media industry in the eyes of regulators, civil society groups, and the general public. — WASHINGTON POST
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PIZZA
Dough is rising at Domino’s
Domino’s Pizza Inc.’s same-store sales in the United States exceeded first-quarter expectations, a promising sign for the company’s continued turnaround. Domestic same-store sales rose 5.6 percent for the period ended March 24, the pizza company said Monday, ahead of analysts’ estimates for a 3.9 percent gain. The US results “came through positive order counts in both our carryout and delivery businesses for the second quarter in a row,” chief executive Russell Weiner said in a statement. Weiner said orders were generated from customers “across all income cohorts.” The sales result was notable because it came “amid challenged restaurant spending for lower-income consumers,” wrote TD Cowen analysts led by Andrew Charles. — BLOOMBERG NEWS