Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Denver news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Des Moines news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Tampa Bay news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Charlotte news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Eastman Kodak (NYSE: KODK) secured a $765 million loan from the U.S. government, to create a business that will manufacture ingredients for use in key generic drugs (including hydroxychloroquine).
Why it matters: This is a lifeline for Kodak, which realized way too late that photography was going digital. It also seeks to remedy a situation in which the U.S. is reliant on foreign manufacturers (particularly in China and India) for drugs that are critical to national security.
Why Kodak? As one administration source explains to me, it was an "easy shell to transform."
Details: The loan appears to come from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. (DFC), which was created in 2018 via the consolidation of OPIC and USAID, operating in collaboration with the U.S. Defense Department. The funding itself is coming via the CARES Act.
The bottom line: "The loan is the first of its kind under the Defense Production Act, which the Trump administration has previously invoked to speed the production of Covid-19 related supplies such as ventilators. ... Trump in May issued an order allowing the DFC to financially support the domestic production of strategic resources for the coronavirus pandemic and 'to strengthen any relevant domestic supply chains.'" — Rachael Levy, WSJ