A decade ago, the Dalai Lama set himself a significant deadline.
The best-known living Buddhist figure in the world said that when he turned 90 years old, he would decide whether he should be reincarnated potentially ending a role that has been key to Tibetan Buddhism for more than 600 years, but in recent decades has become a political lightning rod in China.
While the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is reportedly still in good health, he is now 85 and questions over his succession are growing, along with fears that his death could spark a religious crisis in Asia.
After an unsuccessful revolt against the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India where he established a government-in-exile in Dharamsala, leading thousands of Tibetans who have followed him there. While the Dalai Lama had originally hoped his exile would only be temporary, Beijing’s control of Tibet has only tightened, making a return unlikely anytime soon.
Today, Beijing views him as a separatist with the aim of breaking Tibet away from China, and is therefore keen for the next reincarnation of his role to fall in line with its own political aims.
Since 1974, the Dalai Lama has said he does not seek independence from China for Tibet, but a “meaningful autonomy” that would allow Tibet to preserve its culture and heritage.
Over the years, the Dalai Lama has floated a number of options for his reincarnation, including picking a new successor himself in India, rather than in Tibet — and has even toyed with the idea of a woman taking on the role.
Experts, however, have said that, regardless of what he chooses, the Chinese government will almost certainly move to pick a new Dalai Lama in Tibet — one who is expected to support the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) control of the region.
That could lead to two separate Dalai Lamas being chosen — one in China and one in India.
Tenzin Tseten, a research fellow at the Dharamsala-based Tibet Policy Institute, said the Dalai Lama was of great significance to the Tibetan people and a symbol of their “nationalism and identity.” “The Tibetan people will never accept a CCP-appointed Dalai Lama,” Tenzin said.
History of the Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama has been reincarnated 13 times since 1391, when the first of his incarnates was born, and normally a centuries-old method is used to find the new leader.
The search begins when the previous Dalai Lama passes away. Sometimes it is based on signs that the former incarnation gave before he died, at other times top lamas — a monk or priest of varying seniority who teaches Buddhism — will go to a sacred lake in Tibet, Lhamo Lhatso, and meditate until they have a vision of where to search for his successor.
Then they send out search parties across Tibet, looking for children who are “special” and born within a year of the Dalai Lama’s death, according to Ruth Gamble, an expert in Tibetan religion at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
“There’s a heavy responsibility on these people to get it right,” she said.
Once they find a number of candidates, the children are tested to determine whether they are the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Some of the methods include showing the children items which belong to the previous incarnation.
According to the 14th Dalai Lama’s official biography, he was discovered when he was two years old. The son of a farmer, the Dalai Lama was born in a small hamlet in northeastern Tibet, where just 20 families struggled to make a living from the land.
As a child, he recognized a senior lama who had disguised himself to observe the local children, and successfully identified a number of items belonging to the 13th Dalai Lama.
In his autobiography, “My Land and My People,” the Dalai Lama wrote that he was handed sets of identical or similar items — including rosaries, walking sticks and drums — one of which had belonged to the previous incarnation and one which was ordinary. In every case, he chose the correct one.
But the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation hasn’t always been found in Tibet. The fourth Dalai Lama was found in Mongolia, while the sixth Dalai Lama was discovered in what is currently Arunachal Pradesh, India.
“The most important thing is the centuries old Tibetan reincarnation system is built on people’s faith in rebirth,” said Tenzin, from the Tibet Policy Institute.
What the Tibetan government-in-exile might do
At the moment, there are no official instructions laying out how the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation will take place, if he dies before returning to Tibet.
But in that significant 2011 statement, the 14th Dalai Lama said that “the person who reincarnates has sole legitimate authority over where and how he or she takes rebirth and how that reincarnation is to be recognized.”
The Dalai Lama added that if he chose to reincarnate, the responsibility for finding the 15th Dalai Lama will rest on the Gaden Phodrang Trust, a Switzerland-based group he founded after going into exile to preserve and promote Tibetan culture and support the Tibetan people.
The Dalai Lama said that his reincarnation should be carried out “in accordance with past tradition.” “I shall leave clear written instructions about this,” he said in 2011. CNN reached out to the Gaden Phodrang Trust to see if new instructions had been issued but did not receive a reply.
One thing that has become increasingly clear is that the reincarnation is unlikely to take place in Tibet, an area the Gaden Phodrang Trust cannot even access — especially after the contested reincarnation of the Panchen Lama in the 1990s.
Following the 1989 death of the 10th Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama named Tibetan child Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as his colleague’s reincarnation.
Gamble, from La Trobe University, said that during the selection process, the Tibetan government-in-exile was secretly in contact with people in Tibet which allowed it to find the reincarnation in a traditional manner.
But three days after he was chosen, according to the US government, Gedhun and his family were disappeared by the CCP, which then appointed an alternative Panchen Lama. Gedhun hasn’t been seen in public since.
What the Tibetans-in-exile learned from that experience, said Gamble, is “if you recognize someone inside the PRC and they’re really high level, they won’t be able to get them out.”
What the Chinese government will do
The Chinese government has very publicly telegraphed its intentions for the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation it will take place in Tibet and it will be in accordance with Beijing’s wishes.
In 2007, the Chinese government’s State Religious Affairs Bureau published a document which laid out “management measures” for the reincarnation of living Tibetan Buddhas.
The document said that the reincarnations of Tibetan religious figures must be approved by Chinese government authorities, and those with “particularly great impact” must be approved by the State Council, China’s top civil administration body currently led by Premier Li Keqiang.
“(Beijing) asserts control over the searches, testing, recognition, education, and training of religious figures,” said Tseten, from the Tibet Policy Institute.
There are few specifics about the process of reincarnation in the Chinese government’s document, except to recognize the so-called “golden urn” process, which was introduced into Tibet by the Qing Dynasty in the 1790s and sees the names of potential child candidates put into a small golden urn and selected at random.
According to Chinese state-run media, it was put in place to help “eliminate corrupt practices” in the choice of reincarnations.
However, in his 2011 statement, the Dalai Lama said the golden urn was only used to “humor” the Qing emperors, and the reincarnations were already chosen before the names were drawn. The urn was not used in the 14th Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.
“Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China,” said the Dalai Lama in his statement in 2011.
An authoritative circle
In an update of its Tibetan Policy and Support Act in December 2020, the US threatened to sanction any Chinese government officials who chose a reincarnation of the Dalai Lama over the wishes of the Tibetan people.
But experts said that the CCP has been using a far more insidious method to prepare for the selection of the next Dalai Lama. In recent years, Beijing has been selecting and grooming a group of senior lamas who are friendly to Beijing, according to experts.
When the time comes to select the Dalai Lama’s successor, they might make it appear that the Dalai Lama was chosen by Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders, rather than CCP officials.
La Trobe University’s Gamble said the reincarnation process has been based on the steady building of religious authority over generations, as one lama recognized another’s reincarnation, and then that lama in turn recognized his patron when they returned as a child.
“Their authority lends authority to the next Dalai Lama and then that Dalai Lama gives them back authority by finding them when they’re kids and that’s what the Chinese government are trying to get themselves involved in, to destabilize that authoritative circle,” she said.
Tenzin, from the Tibet Policy Institute, said that Beijing had been slowly raising the profile of their chosen Panchen Lama, who has recently appeared at senior CCP meetings and went on an international visit to Thailand in 2019, to try and build his authority when he selects the 15th Dalai Lama. The Panchan Lama is part of the group of senior lamas who will do the selecting — another example of this group being groomed and selected by Beijing.
What geopolitical impact the Dalai Lama’s death might have on the Tibetans-in-exile is unclear. India has increasingly viewed the community in Dharamsala as a political vulnerability, and some worry that without the Dalai Lama there may be pressure put on the group to leave.
But neither Gamble nor Tenzin, from the Tibet Policy Institute, believed that having two Dalai Lamas would have a huge impact on the legacy of Tenzin Gyatso. “People still keep the photos of the 10th Panchen Lama around as a way of getting around (his reincarnation). They send his teachings and read his books,” Gamble said. “I don’t think the Dalai Lama’s death will end the devotion to him in the way that the CCP thinks it will.”
Both experts said they believed that while protests against the CCP’s chosen Dalai Lama would be difficult to carry out in Tibet with Beijing keeping a tight grip over the Himalayan region, he would have very little influence over Tibetans compared to his predecessor.
Tenzin said the CCP’s treatment of the new Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, gives an indication of the pressure the party could apply to any future Dalai Lama — whether Beijing selects him or not.
According to the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch, the current Panchen Lama effectively lives under house arrest in Beijing.
“He is not even able to live in his own monastery,” Tenzin said.
Midnapore: Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh accused Trinamool Congress of pitting Goddess Durga against Lord Ram in an attempt to divide believers. “They (Trinamool) are trying to drive a wedge between people by mixing politics with religion. Lord Ram was a worshipper of Ma Durga. The don’t know that Lord Ram had invoked Goddess Durga to take on Ravana. Let goddesses Durga and Kali stay in temples. If you want to create a political narrative, fight over political ideologies,” Ghosh said on Saturday on Chandrakona Road, turning the tables on Trinamool. This is the first time religious slogans such ‘Jai Shri Ram’ or Trinamool’s new ‘Jai Siya Ram’ have gained traction in Bengal politics ahead of assembly polls. The state BJP president was addressing a rally as the BJP rath yatra, flagged off by party president J P Nadda in Jhargram, was passing through Midnapore. Ghosh slammed the Trinamool government, holding it responsible for Bengal’s downslide. “People in Jangalmahal do not have access to drinking water. There are hospitals here but no doctors. Here, democracy is at stake. People are witnessing political violence,” he said. Addressing supporters at Bhadutala, the BJP leader cited how the Trinamool government threw a spanner in the welfare measures PM Narendra Modi took for Bengal. “People here are not getting the annual Rs 5 lakh benefit under Ayushman Bharat health scheme. Poor farmers have been denied Rs 6,000 under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi for the last two years. Young people are moving out of the state,” Ghosh said. He added that only a “double engine” government — Modi government at the Centre and a BJP regime in the state — can pull Bengal out of its morass and put it on growth path. PM Narendra Modi is likely to visit Bengal on February 22 for the second time this month. Sources close to the development said Modi might inaugurate the Metro service from Noapara to Dakshineswar if things go according to plan. Bengal BJP leaders indicated that the PM would address a public rally on Dunlop Maidan in Hooghly. The state BJP is also planning a rally on Brigade Parade Grounds in March after the party’s yatras are over. “PM Modi will address the rally to bring an end to the misrule in Bengal,” Ghosh said.
The EIB is providing €50 million to Forsee Power to help create a European battery champion.
This second loan – following an initial €20 million granted in late 2017 under the Juncker Plan – will finance the expansion of the company’s range of products for 100% battery-powered, hydrogen hybrid and thermal hybrid vehicles.
It will facilitate product development for new markets and strengthen Forsee Power’s manufacturing capacity.
Forsee Power – the smart battery systems for the electromobility markets expert – has announced the conclusion of €105 million in financing to support its expansion into new electromobility markets and regions. This includes a €50 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Confidence in electromobility to mitigate climate change
The signature of this loan confirms the European Union’s determination to act via the EIB to help create a European battery champion and develop the market helping to cut CO2 emissions to benefit the climate. It comes in addition to significant financing secured by Forsee Power shareholders and banks in 2020. This substantial total contribution of €105 million has already made it possible to launch the development of new ultra-thin batteries and to increase the industrial performance of its plant near Poitiers in France. It will also enable the long-term development of commercial activities in new market segments and the continuation of the Group’s research and development efforts.
Forsee Power CEO Christophe Gurtner was proud to highlight that the company “has the transport market’s most complete range of batteries and has already signed major battery supply contracts with leading bus manufacturers including CNHI (Iveco, Heuliez), Alstom (Aptis), CaetanoBus in Portugal and Wrightbus in the United Kingdom.” The Group is also establishing a presence in the rail (Alstom/TER Regiolis and SOCOFER) and industrial vehicle (Kubota) markets.
“This financing is a great opportunity for the Group to consolidate its expertise and expand its smart and sustainable battery system ranges. Electric transport shouldn’t just be the future when it can be a reality today. It is the only way to achieve the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.”
“Climate and innovation investments were at the heart of our strategy in 2020 and we are pleased to once again support Forsee Power’s development after initial financing in late 2017 under the Juncker plan,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “We are convinced that the electromobility sector can constantly reinvent itself and become ever more efficient, and we want to support this extremely buoyant European market.”
Supporting Forsee Power’s growth
The Group supplies sustainable, high-performance batteries for original equipment manufacturers around the world, to equip light electric vehicles (LEVs), commercial vehicles, buses, non-road vehicles, rail vehicles and marine vessels (excluding cars – automobile manufacturers generally make their own battery systems). With its longstanding Industrial Tech operations, Forsee Power also designs battery systems for portable industrial technologies including medical and well-being technologies, robotics, household appliances and safety devices.
The €50 million EIB loan will finance the strategic development of the Forsee Power Group through the expansion of its range of products for 100% battery-powered, hydrogen hybrid and thermal hybrid vehicles. The Group will therefore be able to strengthen its range of battery systems in the market segments already covered and develop products for new markets, such as non-road vehicles (construction and agricultural vehicles) and light urban utility vehicles.
It will also make it possible to increase manufacturing capacity and provide working capital to meet existing orders, and will provide greater market scope via increased marketing and sales spending. With an installed production capacity of 1 GWh expandable to 4 GWh, Forsee Power is well-positioned to support the electrification of all modes of transport.
Forsee Power is a French industrial group specialising in smart battery systems for sustainable electric transport (LEVs, trucks, buses, trains and marine vessels).
A major player in Europe, Asia, and North America, the Group designs, assembles and supplies energy management systems based on the most robust cells available on the market, as well as providing installation, commissioning and on-site or remote maintenance.
Forsee Power also offers financing solutions (battery rental) and second life solutions for transport batteries.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has encouraged businesses hit by post-Brexit red tape to take an optimistic “10-year view” of Brexit.
Interviewed by the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Raab insisted the government was “doing a huge amount” to support businesses hampered by European Union (EU) customs bureaucracy, including “advice and guidance, particularly intermediaries dealing with things like custom declarations”.
Some small British firms have already announced that they will have to close due to duties and reams of export paperwork — which Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured would not be imposed under the post-Brexit trade deal he agreed with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the last minute between Christmas and the New Year.
“We have always been clear that there are changes that come with exiting the transition period, and what we’re trying to do is support businesses as best we can to manage those,” Raab said.
“You can always take individual cases, and I know they matter, but overall we’re in an excellent position to grasp the opportunities of a global Britain,” stressed Raab, who also serves as Johnson’s deputy PM.
“I think if you take a 10-year view, as well as looking at the short-term risk, which is right to do, actually the growth opportunities in the future are going to come from emerging and developing economies around the world.”
The UK’s trade with non-EU countries has been growing ten times faster than commerce with the bloc for more than a decade, and already accounts for more than half of exports.
Earlier this month the EU banned imports of unprocessed British shellfish, in apparent breach of the free trade agreement with the UK. That prompted one un-named government minister to accuse Brussels of “trying to punish us for daring to become a nation state” and vaccinating the UK population seven times faster than the EU can manage.
BERLIN: The European Union has agreed to fast-track approvals of vaccines updated to target coronavirus variants, the bloc’s health commissioner said Sunday, following criticism of the EU’s sluggish vaccine drive.
“We looked at the process together with the European Medicines Agency (EMA),“ Stella Kyriakides told German daily Augsburger Allgemeine in an interview.
“And we have now decided that a vaccine, which has been improved by a manufacturer based on its previous vaccine to combat new mutations, no longer has to go through the entire approvals process.
“So it will be faster to have suitable vaccines available without cutting corners on safety,“ she said.
The EU’s vaccine rollout has been snagged by delays and controversies, leaving it lagging behind countries like the United States, Britain and Israel where a larger share of the population has been injected so far.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen last week admitted that mistakes had been made in procuring vaccines on behalf of all 27 member states.
She told the European Parliament that the bloc had been late to authorise jabs, and had underestimated the difficulties of vaccine mass production.
She also warned that scientists do not yet know if the vaccines approved so far — those by BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca/Oxford — will remain effective against new mutations.
“But we do know these variants will continue to emerge. And we do know that we need to anticipate and prepare immediately,“ she said. — AFP
This is the first time the disease has been reported in the country since the deadly 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa which claimed over 11,000 lives.
Very concerned by reports of 4 suspected Ebola deaths in Guinea. @WHO is ramping up readiness & response efforts to this potential resurgence of #Ebola in West Africa, a region which suffered so much from Ebola in 2014. pic.twitter.com/9eyMLeZutK
“It’s a huge concern to see the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, a country which has already suffered so much from the disease”, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said.
“However, banking on the expertise and experience built during the previous outbreak, health teams in Guinea are on the move to quickly trace the path of the virus and curb further infections”, she added.
According to the UN health agency, the cases, which were confirmed by the national laboratory, occurred in Gouéké in N’Zerekore prefecture, in southern Guinea. Initial investigations found that a nurse from a local health facility died on the 28 January. Following her burial, six people who attended the funeral reported Ebola-like symptoms and two of them later died. The other four are in hospital.
Samples of the confirmed cases have been sent to the InstitutPasteur centre in Senegal for full genome sequencing to identify the strain of the Ebola virus.
Guinea was one of the three most-affected countries in the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak which was the largest since the virus was first discovered in 1976. The outbreak, which saw some 28,000 cases, including 11,000 deaths, started in Guinea and then moved across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Staff from WHO are already on the ground, assisting surveillance, and infection prevention and control efforts.
“WHO is supporting the authorities to set up testing, contact-tracing and treatment structures and to bring the overall response to full speed”, Dr. Moeti said.
WHO personnel are also reaching out to communities to ensure they take a key role in the response. In addition, the agency is also helping Guinea procure the Ebola vaccine which has proven instrumental in controlling outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
As the epicentre of the current outbreak in a border area, WHO is also working with health authorities in Liberia and Sierra Leone to step up community surveillance of cases in their border districts as well as strengthening their capacity to test for cases and conduct surveillance in health facilities.
WHO is also reaching out to Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and other countries at risk in the region, the agency said.
Ebola virus disease
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a rare but severe, often fatal illness in humans. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50 per cent, with rates having varied from 25 per cent to 90 per cent in past outbreaks.
The Ebola virus spreads through contact with the body fluids – such as vomit, faeces or blood – of an infected person, or through surfaces and materials (such as bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is from two to 21 days. The symptoms of EVD can be sudden and include fever, fatigue, muscle, pain, headache, and sore throat.
This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases internal and external bleeding.
According to WHO, though there are no known treatments for Ebola, an Ebola vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV can offer protection against the deadly virus. In addition, simple interventions early on can significantly improve chances of survival, including rehydration with fluids and body salts (given orally or intravenously), and treatment of specific symptoms. Hand hygiene is also a very effective way to prevent the spread of the virus.
This loan will further support the progress and expansion of OSE Immunotherapeutics’ lead clinical development programs in diseases with high unmet medical needs,
Divided into three tranches including two tranches of €10 million each and a third tranche of €5 million,
Agreement part of the European Investment Bank’s strategy to support biotech companies developing a high-level of expertise in various areas such as OSE’s immunotherapy programs, including its vaccine program against SARS-CoV-2.
OSE Immunotherapeutics (ISIN: FR0012127173; Mnemo: OSE) today announced that the company has signed a loan agreement of up to €25 million with the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The loan facility of up to €25 million is divided into three tranches including two tranches of €10 million each and a third tranche of €5 million.
The first €10 million tranche, unconditional and which OSE will request payment before the end of May 2021, will help expand the clinical development of Tedopi® in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor in additional cancer indications. This first tranche will also support the entry into Phase 1/2 of OSE-279, OSE’s proprietary anti-PD-1 antibody, in a niche oncology indication. This development of OSE-279 will allow OSE Immunotherapeutics to have its own proprietary anti-PD-1 antibody and leverage it across OSE’s product portfolio in combination with other drug candidates. Moreover, OSE-279 is the key anti-PD-1 backbone component of the bifunctional checkpoint inhibitor BiCKI® platform, targeting PD-1 and other innovative targets, paired with novel immunotherapy targets.
The remaining two tranches of €10 and €5 million, available upon achievement of specific clinical milestones, are planned to be used to accelerate the clinical development of the Company’s other programs, in particular CD28 antagonist FR104 and new anti-ChemR23 agonist OSE-230.
Alexis Peyroles, Chief Executive Officer of OSE Immunotherapeutics, comments: “We are very grateful for EIB’s support, a major financial European institution, as the Company is at an inflection point of its growth. The first €10 million tranche allows OSE to extend its financial visibility to Q2 2022. This new flexible funding tool will help expand and accelerate the development of our clinical stage portfolio and explore new therapeutic indications with strong medical need, reinforcing OSE’s status as a key global player in immunotherapy.”
Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB, explains: “The EIB is pleased to announce its support of OSE, a biotech combining a high level of research and innovation, highly qualified collaborators and cutting-edge expertise in the field of monoclonal and bispecific antibodies. The portfolio of products under development in various therapeutic areas such as immuno-oncology, autoimmune diseases and a vaccine project against SARS-CoV-2, means that OSE Immunotherapeutics is a potential major player in the health sector. This project is fully in line with the mandate set for the EIB by its shareholders – the EU Member States – to support innovation across Europe“.
This loan will carry a fixed interest of 5% per year paid annually, with a maturity of five years (each drawdown is treated separately in terms of maturity). The repayment of each tranche will therefore be made at the end of a period of five years after the date of disbursement of the said tranche.
The loan agreement is supplemented by an agreement to issue warrants to the EIB for the first two tranches of the financing, in particular 850,000 warrants for the first tranche to be issued when drawn. 550,000 additional warrants could be issued if the second tranche of €10 million is drawn by OSE Immunotherapeutics.
Each warrant will give the right to subscribe to one ordinary share of OSE Immunotherapeutics at the subscription price of €0.01 and at the exercise price calculated on the basis of the volume-weighted average of the 3 trading days preceding the pricing (which will take place at the end of May 2021), with a discount of 2.5%.
The warrants will be exercisable for a period of 12 years.
Subject to certain customary exceptions, the warrants will only be exercisable after a five-year period starting from the drawdown of the relevant tranche, thus limiting the impact in terms of dilution and volatility in the coming years.
The warrant agreement includes an exercise parity adjustment clause which could apply, under certain conditions, in case of capital increase. The EIB will be granted with the possibility, under certain conditions, to request OSE Immunotherapeutics to buy back its warrants for a maximum amount of €15 million and, beyond that amount, to find a buyer and pay interests on the price of the remaining warrants.
OSE Immunotherapeutics is an integrated biotechnology company focused on developing and partnering therapies to control the immune system for immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases. The company’s immunology research and development platform is focused on three areas: T-cell-based vaccination, Immuno-Oncology (focus on myeloid targets), Auto-immunity & Inflammation. Its balanced first-in-class clinical and preclinical portfolio has a diversified risk profile:
Vaccine platform
Tedopi® (innovative combination of neoepitopes): the company’s most advanced product; positive results for Step-1 of the Phase 3 trial (Atalante 1) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer post checkpoint inhibitor failure. In Phase 2 in pancreatic cancer (TEDOPaM, sponsor GERCOR) in combination. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, accrual of new patients in TEDOPaM should restart in 2021.
CoVepiT: a prophylactic second generation vaccine against COVID-19, developed using SARS-CoV-2 optimized epitopes against multi variants. Positive preclinical and human ex vivo results in August 2020, clinical trial expected to start in Q1 2021.
Immuno-oncology platform
BI 765063 (OSE-172, anti-SIRPα mAb on SIRPα/CD47 pathway): developed in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim; myeloid checkpoint inhibitor in Phase 1 in advanced solid tumors.
CLEC-1 (novel myeloid checkpoint target): identification of mAb antagonists of CLEC-1 blocking the “Don’t Eat Me” signal that increase both tumor cell phagocytosis by macrophages and antigen capture by dendritic cells.
BiCKI®: bispecific fusion protein platform built on the key backbone component anti-PD-1 (OSE-279) combined with new immunotherapy targets; 2nd generation of PD-(L)1 inhibitors to increase antitumor efficacity.
Auto-immunity and inflammation platform
FR104 (anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody): positive Phase 1 results; ongoing Phase 1/2 in renal transplant, Phase 2-ready asset in a niche indication in autoimmune diseases.
OSE-127/S95011 (humanized monoclonal antibody targeting IL-7 receptor): developed in partnership with Servier; positive Phase 1 results; in Phase 2 in ulcerative colitis (OSE sponsor) and an independent Phase 2 planned in Sjögren’s syndrome (Servier sponsor).
OSE-230 (ChemR23 agonist mAb): first-in-class therapeutic agent with the potential to resolve chronic inflammation by driving affected tissues to tissue integrity.
Photo Credit: Doha Information Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Qatar
Qatari Envoy Mohammed al-Emadi
Although Qatar has not yet signed on to the Abraham Accords with Israel, the Gulf nation nevertheless has been taking a lead role in making sure that Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorists maintain a modicum of peaceful behavior in the enclave south of Israel.
Qatari Ambassador Mohamed Al-Emadi, head of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, has also headed the distribution of monthly cash payments to the population in the enclave.
This weekend, Al-Emadi told a Qatari news outlet there will be two contracts for a new gas pipeline project to supply natural gas to Gaza from Israel. One contract – between the Palestinian Authority and Delek — will cover the purchase of the gas. The second contract will cover the cost of extending the gas pipeline between Israel and Gaza.
The European Union is believed to have pledged some $5 million for the installation of the gas pipeline on the Gaza side of the border, leading to the power plant. Qatar is believed to be handling the installation of the gas pipeline on the Israeli side of the border.
Once the pipeline is installed on both sides of the border, it is expected the project will result in a greatly expanded supply of electricity – about double the current output, in fact – estimated to reach about 400 megawatts, while reducing the cost of the electricity as well.
The flow of energy to the enclave’s sole power plant in the enclave, and the enclave’s access to electricity, has been iffy at best up to this point due to power struggles between Hamas and Fatah. The two factions have in the past tended to use the Gaza population and their payments of electricity bills as a political football, rather than simply transfer the payments directly to the Israel Electric Company to cover the cost of the electricity they received.
Spotty payments together with rocket attacks aimed at Israeli civilians that occasionally took out important wires and electrical installations have made delivery of the needed energy supplies difficult to maintain.
It is hoped the new multinational project will finally bring an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza, once control over energy in the enclave is addressed by people than the local terrorist leadership.
