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By Seema Hakhu Kachru Houston, Aug 28 () In the race to find a cure for the coronavirus infection, Texas-based Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) has entered into a licensing agreement with Indian pharmaceutical company Biological E Limited (BE) for the development of a safe, effective and affordable vaccine. According to BCM, Hyderabad-headquartered BE has licenced the recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed at Baylor. The company engaged in licence negotiations with the <keyword id="9839857" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="bcm-ventures">BCM Ventures</keyword> team after initial discussions on Baylor's technology and how it could possibly inform a vaccine to address the current global pandemic. The company will leverage its past experience for the further development and commercialisation of the vaccine candidate, which is currently produced using a proven yeast-based expression technology, the Texas-based BCM said. "Recent information that India has become the third-leading nation in terms of COVID-19 cases has sparked concern that COVID-19 will become widespread and a serious and deadly infection across the crowded urban areas of South Asia," said Dr Peter Hotez, professor and dean of <keyword id="9839858" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-national-school-of-tropical-medicine">the National School of Tropical Medicine</keyword> at Baylor, at a webinar organised by the Consul General of India in Houston, Aseem Mahajan, last week. India has recorded 33,87,500 coronavirus cases and 61,529 fatalities due to the disease, while the US is leading the chart with over 5,869,000 cases and 180,800 deaths. "The healthcare sector is predicted to grow steadily in India and the US. Given the complementarities, companies in both the countries have a great opportunity to build synergies including to partner together for global supply chains, joint research and manufacturing," Mahajan told . Hotez and his colleagues have already been making SARs and MERS vaccines. "Then, when we got word about COVID-19, we saw that the sequence for the new virus was similar to some of the viruses that we were already making vaccines for," said Hotez, who is also the co-director of Texas Children's Centre for Vaccine Development. Hotez and his team were able to quickly move on to creating a COVID-19 vaccine, which resulted in the collaboration with a large vaccine producer in India. "They have the capacity to make a billion doses of the vaccine that we've developed at Baylor College of Medicine. "We're very worried that a lot of the low and middle income countries will be kind of pushed aside if we only rely on the Operation Warp Speed vaccines so we think what we do at Texas Children's and Baylor should fill that critically important gap," he said. The vaccine is still in trials in India with the hope that it will be able to roll out sometime next year. "For the past two decades, our vaccine centre has been advancing global health vaccines to prevent neglected and emerging diseases," said associate dean Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi. "We are therefore well suited to embark on this important collaboration with BE and look forward to facilitating the technology transfer for the COVID-19 vaccine to India and for the world. The current focus is on transfer of the technology for BE to initiate scale-up of the manufacturing process and undertake further development of the vaccine candidate," she said. Meanwhile, the BE in a statement said the partnership with Baylor would help accelerate the development of an affordable vaccine, especially for India and other low- and middle-income nations. "If the vaccine development is successful, we expect to make several hundred million doses of the vaccine available annually," said Narender Dev Mantena, director of <keyword id="9752060" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="BioE-Holdings-Inc">BioE Holdings Inc</keyword>, who heads BE's novel vaccine initiative.

US company ties-up with India's BE for COVID-19 vaccine production

Hyderabad, Nov 16 (IANS) Biological E. Ltd (BE), a Hyderabad-based vaccines and pharmaceutical company, on Monday announced that it has initiated clinical trial of its Covid-19 subunit vaccine candidate in the country following approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI). BE is making the vaccine in collaboration with Dynavax Technologies Corporation (Dynavax), a US-based vaccine focused biopharmaceutical company, and Baylor College of Medicine, a health sciences university in Houston. The vaccine candidate includes an antigen in-licensed from BCM Ventures, Baylor College of Medicine's integrated commercialisation team, along with Dynavax's advanced adjuvant CpG 1018, BE said in a statement. BE's Phase 1/2 clinical trials will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate consisting of the receptor binding domain of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 at three dose levels adjuvanted with CpG 1018 plus alum, in about 360 healthy subjects in the age range of 18 to 65 years, it said. The vaccination schedule consists of two doses for each study participant, administered via intramuscular injection 28 days apart. The results of this clinical trial are expected to be available by February 2021. "The transition of our vaccine candidate into human trials is an important milestone, and exemplifies a successful transfer of technology with BE, that could lead to a safe, effective and affordable vaccine," said Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi, associate dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. "This vaccine represents an urgent biotechnology innovation for ensuring health equity and combating the Covid-19 pandemic," said Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and co-director of Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. "We are very happy indeed to transition our potential vaccine candidate to clinical trials and offer one more potential option for the prophylaxis of Covid-19," said Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E. Ltd. "We are proud to contribute CpG 1018 to support development of an adjuvanted vaccine to prevent Covid-19. CpG 1018's potential to boost the immune response to produce more antibodies and longer lasting immunity may also minimise the dose of antigen needed, enabling vaccination of a greater number of people," said Ryan Spencer, Chief Executive Officer of Dynavax. --IANS ms/vd

Biological E begins clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"></div></div>Throughout Israel's military operation in Gaza, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan appeared committed to outdoing himself in his hyperbolic criticism of Israel. A series of references to Israel massacring the population of Gaza <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/19/uk-israel-turkey-travel-idukkbn0fo0xd20140719">culminated</a> with accusations that Israel had "surpassed Hitler in barbarism."
The comments marked only the latest nadir in Turkey-Israel relations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has typically been muted in his responses to Erdogan's previous outbursts. But Netanyahu reacted differently to his Turkish counterpart's latest paroxysm. <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/netanyahu-slams-erdogans-words-on-israels-gaza-offensive-as-anti-semitic.aspx?pageid=238&amp;nid=69358&amp;newscatid=359">He called</a> Erdogan's comments anti-Semitic, and downgraded diplomatic relations with Turkey to the "minimum required".
In the scheme of the four-plus year Turkey-Israel feud, this incident might seem to change little. The deal that began with Netanyahu's apology for the Mavi Marmara snagged on the question of payment, but its outlines remain clear - if the sides can ever move beyond petty insults, that is.
 Erdogan certainly benefits domestically from harsh rhetoric toward Israel, and he is presently in the home stretch of a presidential campaign he desperately wants to win on the first ballot.
All the while, economic relations between Turkey and Israel <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.603035">have never been better</a> - with trade up 39% to $48.5 billion in 2013, and on pace to break that record in 2014. Tourism between the two countries remains strong, and there were a <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/turkey-tourism-marmara-export.html">record number</a> of Turkish visitors to Israel in 2013.
It is enough for optimists to look past the histrionics and see relations that are stable and productive, at least beneath the surface.
That analysis may be breaking down, however, when it comes to one huge economic topic: energy, and specifically Israel's gas reserves. 
There is widespread agreement that a gas pipeline from Israel's fields to Turkey's ports is the most logical and lucrative export route available. Yet Turkey's scorching rhetoric has, in Israel's eyes, undermined its reliability as a partner for new initiatives - even for what is, at core, a mutually beneficial economic project. As a result, a joint venture that by any reasonable measure should commence seems to be indefinitely stalled, to the economic and strategic detriment of both parties.
Turkey's interest in Israeli gas stems from its rapidly increasing domestic needs. Natural gas consumption has risen threefold since 2001 and rose by a third between 2009 and 2012 before leveling off around 47 billion cubic meters (BCM) per year in 2013. 
Russia supplied more than 55% of Turkey's natural gas, and Iran chipped in nearly another 20 percent. Russia's market power enables it to extract a high price for its gas, and Turkey's long term <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/takeorpay.asp">take-or-pay contracts</a> only exacerbate the financial burdens.
In an effort to achieve cost savings through competition, Turkey has actively sought to diversify its supply lines. Azerbaijan currently provides roughly 4 BCM to the Turkish market, with plans to increase its supply to Turkey above 10 BCM in the coming years. Turkey also seeks gas from the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) rich gas fields in northern Iraq, though these are unlikely to come online until nearly the end of this decade.
Turkey has factored Israeli gas into its strategy as well. Even with projected increases in consumption to 70 BCM per year by 2025, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, and Israel collectively could help the Turks limit their dependence on Russia and Iran.
Israel would not be some bit player in this scheme. 
With fully-funded infrastructure projects and based only on current reserves, Israel could export 22 BCM per year. Even with Egypt claiming 7 BCM per year at present, Israel could conceivably still pipe 15 BCM to Turkey - more than 20% of the Turks' projected domestic needs a decade from now. 
For its part, Israel faces open questions about how Leviathan - its largest gas field - will be funded. In late July, Noble Energy <a href="http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-noble-energy-delays-6b-leviathan-investment-1000959496">elected to delay until 2015 its decision</a> about investing $6 billion in Phase 1 development. Strictures on reserving gas for the domestic market and the threat of anti-trust intervention to fix prices factored heavily into the decision.
At the same time, only Egypt has emerged as a viable revenue-driving export destination. Yet Turkey's voracious appetite for natural gas could ensure the profitability of a fully-developed Leviathan field, while incentivizing further development of Israel's gas industry through exploration.
The country's direction under Erdogan endangers this arrangement. Turkey has positioned itself less and less as the mediating, facilitating actor of the late-2000s and early-2010s. An increasingly divisive foreign policy - consisting of fevered perorations after Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's coup in Egypt and an apparent toleration of Syrian jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra's presence on Turkish soil - culminated in Turkey <a href="http://www.mfa.gov.tr/joint-statement-by-the-ministers-of-foreign-affairs--of-turkey-and-qatar-on-the-recent-initiative-toward-a-humanitarian-ceasefir.en.mfa">taking its place</a> as Hamas' <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.608331">deputy interlocutor</a> in negotiations with the U.S. and Israel during the latest Gaza crisis.
Israel has taken note of the Turkish government's shift. While Israel is not reckless or foolish enough to cancel profitable existing business relationships, future ones - especially in areas of such strategic import, like energy - will attract heavier scrutiny. 
Some experts argue that this is sound policy. Why should Israel provide a strategic asset to an openly hostile leader like Erdogan? Others believe that, while Israel should still pursue the deal, it will not. 
They explain that the deal is in Israel's best interest, so why should it matter who stands at the other end? But, they claim, Netanyahu feels too bitterly toward Turkey's AK Party government to countenance rebuilding strategic ties and selling them gas. 
Whether Israel should or will sell to Turkey, few in Israel believe that a pipeline deal with Turkey is in the making in the near term. Turkey will carry on paying Russia and Iran's steep fees, and Israel will await word on Noble's future plans for Leviathan. 
This is merely one consequence of the Gaza operation: the non-realization of a deal on natural gas that both sides want - and may desperately need.
Dov Friedman is a graduate student at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/DovSFriedman">@DovSFriedman</a>.

Turkey's Leaders Are In Danger Of Scuttling A Major Natural Gas Project With Israel

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US company ties-up with India's BE for COVID-19 vaccine production

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Biological E begins clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine

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Turkey's Leaders Are In Danger Of Scuttling A Major Natural Gas Project With Israel

Dov Friedman, The Jackson Ins…

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