Morgan Stanley eyes expanding its workforce in India
Investment advisory firm Morgan Stanley has raised Asia and emerging market (EM) index targets in its latest report titled “Asia Emerging Markets Strategy: New Bill Run Market Continues”, which was released on Monday.
Expressing confidence in emerging markets bull cycle, it said that “a new bull cycle is beginning”.
“We now feel even more confident in a new bull cycle for Asia/EM equities. We raise our base case MSCI EM target a further 10 per cent to 1,100 (12 per upside)… We also upgrade China to overweight, joining our broader North Asia preference,” it noted in the report.
Morgan Stanley headquartersWikimedia Commons
MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a selection of stocks that is designed to track the financial performance of key companies in fast-growing nations. It is one of a number of indexes created by MSCI Inc., formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International.
“In recent trading, the MSCI EM index has come to within 3 per cent of our base case target. Half of our upgrade is related to higher earnings growth and half to a 0.5x point rise in our forecast forward P/E multiple (to 11.5x from 11.0x),” the report said further.
“We also upgrade our stance on China to overweight from equal-weight (+50bps), joining our existing North Asia overweights of Korea and Taiwan (now also +50bp each), while downgrading Thailand to underweight (alongside India, Malaysia, and New Zealand). This is the first time, we have been overweight on China versus MSCI EM since February 2021,” Morgan Stanley explained.
EM bull cycles often start in US recessions, and this may again prove to be the case, but a deep downturn throughout 2023 would take longer to digest, it said.
China’s transition from Covid-zero to mitigation is also likely to be bumpy in terms of growth and earnings recovery, the report noted further.
Sensex crashes by 1,800 pts as Russia announces military operations against Ukraine
Indian benchmark indices continue to tumble as investors wait for the outcome of the MPC meeting that began on 5th December and will be concluded on 7th December.
BSE Sensex continues to trade 250-300 points lower after opening at 62,395 points and NSE Nifty-50 also remains well below the 18,700 mark after opening at 18,600 points. SGX Nifty, an index that opens before the Indian stock market and sets the tone for the likely performance of the Indian stock market, was trading down 105 points, or 0.6%, early morning today.
Indian benchmark stock market indices ended with gains of about 1.80 percent on Monday. In Picture: A man walks past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai Dec. 5, 2013.Reuters file
Prashanth Tapse, Research Analyst and Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities warns investors of some choppy trading. He said, “Indian equities are likely to decline in early Tuesday trades on the back of overnight slump in US markets and subsequent weakness in Asian indices. Last Friday’s hotter-than-expected US jobs report added to concerns that the Federal Reserve might need to be even more aggressive in its battle against inflation, despite concerns about a looming recession.”
The better-than-expected US nonfarm payroll data may be good news for the economy but it can be negative for the market and may trigger a selloff as it indicates no sign of easing inflation to the Fed. The market momentum worldwide is likely to stay sluggish in a bid that Fed may not stay as dovish as it sounded before on its monetary stance and may hike interest rates by more than half a percentage in its upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on December 13th and 14th.
Meanwhile, investors are closely following the ongoing MPC meeting. Mohit Nigam, Fund Manager & Head at PMS, Hem Securities, said, “Investors are waiting for the conclusion of the RBI Monetary Policy Committee meeting before making any significant movements. The conclusion of the conference will be made public on 7th December. It is predicted that the Reserve Bank of India MPC would announce a rate rise of 35 basis points (bps).”
India facing 213 weekly ransomware attacks per organisationIBTimes IN
Asus is stepping up its game in the PC segment and by foraying into the enterprise segment two years ago, the company has set its foot into the door for something really big. For the B2B industry, Asus is fairly new and gets pitted against giants like HP, Dell, and Lenovo. But the last two years have been eventful for this Taiwanese tech giant, as it has made strides to leave a mark in the industry.
As it aims to strengthen its position in the enterprise space, Asus launched six new laptops – all part of its ExpertBook portfolio. The new laptops try to offer everything a corporate user would need and there’s one for everyone with varying budgets.
“The powerful laptops feature class-leading performance, security, battery life, fast charging, robust connectivity with up to 5G LTE, Fast Wi-Fi 6, Two-way AI noise cancelation, all packed in lightweight premium body with military-grade plus durability,” Asus said about its newly-launched laptops in India.
Dinesh Sharma, Business Head, Commercial PC and Smartphone, System Business Group, ASUS India, gave a demonstration of all the new products, namely ExpertBooks B5, B7, B2, B3, B9 and B14.
IBT interview with Dinesh Sharma, Business Head, Commercial PC and Smartphone, System Business Group, ASUS India
“With ASUS Expert Series, we empower business leaders and their organizations to work at their maximum potential to achieve their Vision. We passionately strive to equip our Business Focussed Expert Series Laptops with Cutting Edge Performance, Security, Endurance, Connectivity and Ease of Use Functionality in a lightweight and compact form factor to make them the perfect work tool. The ExpertBook laptops and associated services and solutions have been designed and built to offer the classic ASUS’ design thinking led Incredible Experience,” an elated Sharma said.
International Business Times had the opportunity to get a brief hands-on experience with all the new laptops during the product briefing in Bengaluru. Clearly, Asus has touched upon the core of the enterprise aspect by offering its feature-packed laptops. In fact, it is exactly this attention to detail that has led Asus to grow multi-fold in the enterprise sector in the last two years though its market share remains comparatively low, Sharma told IBTimes.
From service to security and a robust product portfolio, Asus seems to understand the pulse of the enterprise sector and it is bringing about a disruption in the market. It has more than 20 products developed for commercial consumers in just two years, which gives the brand an edge.
The philosophies
Asus has an in-depth understanding of core technologies as it already has prowess in multiple categories right from laptops to smartphones, graphic cards and motherboards. Asus uses this with “Design Thinking” philosophy to cater to the exact needs of the customer.
Asus ExpertBook B9400ASUS
“We are coming here to change the status quo. We are coming here to bring in the quintessential Asus way of looking at things and design thinking, which we have already done in consumer and gaming and are very successful,” Sharma told us.
Asus understands there’s a lot more required for a business customer, be it life-cycle management and complex working environments (security, custom OS, different apps).
“We want to become the best brand choice in commercial PC,” Sharma said revealing Asus’ plan to achieve that by pushing the envelope on cutting-edge technologies, high-degree of trust-worthy quality, and solution-oriented design.
Sharma says Asus has four key aspects that constitute the DNA of its Expert series:
Meaningful innovation
Reliability that exceeds military standards
Flexibility (customisations tailored to specific user et all)
Security
Notably, Asus products are environmentally-friendly. Business customers buying and using Asus products are addressing environmental issues, which are much more relevant today than ever.
Customer comes first
Asus takes pride in after-sales service, which is ISO9001 certified and 230 centers strong. But as Sharma spoke about the new products, he also mentioned that enterprise customers get best-in-class service. It includes a dedicated hotline toll-free number operational from 9AM to 9PM, Monday through Saturday. There’s also cam support for certain large customers as well, where a key account manager on the service site is available for assistance.
Asus ExpertBook B2ASUS
Asus also offers different service packs as well, which like the products are highly customisable. Customers also get international warranty on laptops and when the warranty is extended, the adaptor is also covered in it.
Commitment towards India
Speaking to IBTimes, Sharma said Asus is committed to India’s Make in India initiative. In fact, its desktop PCs for enterprise and consumers are already fully manufactured in Bengaluru. As for the laptops, Sharma said: “let’s wait and watch” hinting at related announcements in time to come.
Take a look at the key specifications of the new enterprise-exclusive laptop range by Asus:
ExperBook B5 & B5 Flip
12th Gen Core i7 P-series 28W high-performance processor
Thunderbolt 4, Iris Xe graphics
Up to 40 GB of fast DDR5 RAM
WiFi 6
Support for two SSDs, up to 2TB
14-inch screen with Full-HD resolution and anti-glare coating
Built-in noise-cancelling microphones,
ASUS NumberPad
Stepless convertible hinge system with a touch enabled display for B5 Flip
Thunderbolt 4, triple 4K display output, microSD card reader, Ethernet port, USB Type-A, HDMI output, full-size metal RJ-45 Ethernet port
ExpertBook B7 Flip
12th Gen Intel Core™ i7 28-watt P-series high-performance processor
Up to 64GB of fast DDR5 RAM
Intel Iris Xe graphics
5G support, WiFi 6
14″ QHD+ (2560 x 1600) anti-glare touchscreen
Fingerprint sensor integrated into power button
ExpertBook B2
14-inch/15.6-inch display and flip/clamshell options
12th Generation IntelCore vPro processors
Customizable between 12th generation Intel i3 – i7 processors
2 x SO-DIMM
Total memory up to 64 GB DDR4 3200 MHz
IR HD webcam with face recognition; smart card reader; backlit keyboard featuring the ergonomic ASUS SensePoint pointing nub; hardware TMP 2.0 chip
ASUS AI noise-cancelling technology
ExpertBook B3 Flip
12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU
14″ screen with TÜV Rheinland-certification
360° any-position hinge
Optional garaged stylus
Two-way AI noise-cancelling technology
ExpertBook B9
12th generation up to Intel Core i7 processor with Iris Xe graphics
32 GB LPDDR5 5200 MHz memory
Wi-Fi 6
Storage up to dual 2 TB SSDs, support from RAID 0 and RAID 1 technology
14-inch NanoEdge display
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip
66 Wh battery
Harman Kardon-certified speakers
ASUS NumberPad 2.0
Amazon Alexa integration
ExpertBook B14
12th-generation Intel Core i7 processor
Up to 48 GB of RAM, hybrid SSD + HDD storage support
1 TB Gen 4 SSD, a spacious 2 TB HDD
Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, USB 2.0, HDMI, LAN, microSD, and audio combo jack
DisplayPort support via through USB-C, HDMI, legacy VGA D-Sub
Support connection of up to two external 4K UHD displays
Two-way AI noise-canceling technology
Related
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Facebook’s parent firm Meta added to the list of terrorist groups by Russia
Facebook is down again. Several users have taken to Twitter to complain about the ongoing outage, which has affected users mostly in the West. According to DownDetector website, Facebook outage is prevalent across the UK, including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Aberdeen.
Majority of users are reporting issues with the site as compared to the app. Users are unable to login, or access their newsfeeds. Users are getting different errors, such as “no results found” and “Something went wrong.” Users are also unable to access their own pages, prompting users to check connection.
Silhouettes of laptop users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logoREUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Downdetector confirmed that Facebook started reporting problems at 12:16 p.m. EST. The Meta-owned platform hasn’t addressed the issue yet.
Australia is increasingly becoming India’s strategic partner; time for economic relations to keep pace
A decade-long bilateral negotiation between India and Australia over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is finally coming into effect on December 29, just before New Year’s Eve.
The talks, which started on the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) in 2011, were halted in 2015 due to disagreements over the market access for Australian dairy products, wine, processed food and liberalized visa regime for Indian professionals in Australia.
In 2016, then-Australian trade minister Steve Ciobo described the trade deal as “complicated.” Finally, on April 2, 2022, India and Australia signed Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) and committed to producing conducive results by the end of the year.
Australia’Wikimedia Commons
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal described the implementation of the free trade pact as “the dawn of a whole new era.” The move is expected to double the bilateral trade to $45-50 billion in five years and is estimated to create 10 lakh jobs in India.
India is simultaneously negotiating a trade deal with other developed countries like UK, Canada and EU nations.
How will India benefit?
The agreement, signed on April 2, will allow duty-free access to Indian goods spanning over 6,000 broad sectors, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewelry and machinery in the Australian market. The labor-intensive sectors will gain immensely from the exemption from the currently levied import duty of 4-5% on Indian goods in Australia.
India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal said, “India’s manufacturing sector, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises are interested in the Australian market as the agreement unlocks huge opportunities for Indian exports of automobiles, textiles, footwear, and leather products, gems and jewelry, toys and plastic products.”
Apart from lowering the trade barriers for Indian goods, Australia will allow Indian students with first-class honors degrees from the science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) background to extend their stay by two to three years.
How will Australia benefit?
The Australian counterparts will also gain from the tariff elimination on 85% of its export to India and India also plans to gradually lift tariffs on another 5% of Australian goods. The move to eliminate tariffs will boost demand for Australian goods in the Indian market by making them cheaper for Indian consumers. It will also push domestic industries to compete and comply with international standards.
Usually, governments use tariffs to restrict imported goods or services from another country by increasing the price of goods and services purchased from another country, making these goods less attractive to domestic consumers. Governments sometimes use tariffs to protect domestic industries from foreign competition, but many economists believe that it can end up hurting domestic consumers in the long run.
What is the current status of bilateral trade with Australia?
Bilateral trade between India and Australia doubled from $13.6 billion in 2007 to $24.3 billion in 2020. The latest data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India show significant year-on-year growth in total trade volume between the two countries.
Indo-Pacific Summit 2022 logoMEA, India
Despite robust export-led growth, India still runs a large trade deficit ($8.5 billion) with Australia, meaning we export significantly less to Australia than we import from them. The comprehensive trade deal with Australia provides Indian producers with a favorable environment to bridge this gap by creating new market opportunities for Indian goods.
The future gains from the partnership in Indo-Pacific group will largely depend on how well we exploit the opportunity and how mutually advantageous it can be for both countries.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Unboxing & first impressions
Samsung Electronics on Monday promoted a woman executive to the president of global marketing for its mobile business, in the first move to tap a women talent for the top post.
Lee Young-hee was promoted to the president of the Global Marketing Center for Samsung’s Device eXperience (DX) division that oversees its mobile business.
She is the first woman president at Samsung, the country’s biggest conglomerate, to come from outside the founding family, reports Yonhap news agency.
Lee Boo-jin, the first daughter of late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, is currently serving as the president and chief executive of Hotel Shilla, a Samsung affiliate.
Samsung Electronics appoints its 1st woman president.IANS
Lee Young-hee joined the tech giant in 2007 and was promoted to vice president in 2012. Previously working at L’Oreal, she is credited with successfully promoting the image and brand of Samsung’s Galaxy mobile phones.
Samsung expected the promotion to serve as a chance for other talented women employees to challenge themselves to climb career ladders.
She is among seven new presidents, part of a small-scale corporate reshuffle conducted for the first time since the group’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong was promoted to executive chairman of the company in October.
Samsung ElectronicsReuters File
Samsung did not appoint a new head for its home appliance unit, a position that has been vacant since Lee Jae-seung resigned in October for undisclosed “personal reasons.”
Han Jong-hee, vice chair and co-CEO at Samsung, will continue to assume the additional duty following Lee’s departure for the time being, Samsung said.
Sensex crashes by 1,800 pts as Russia announces military operations against Ukraine
Amid the mixed global cues, major domestic indices opened in red. The benchmark BSE Sensex opened at 62,865 and currently trading at 62,611 points, down 270 points or trading at 0.41% lower and Nifty-50 of NSE also opened below 19,000 mark and currently trading at 18,625 points, down 70 points or trading at 0.39% lower.
Otherwise, markets continued to be on a roll in the week gone by. They were led by new lifetime highs on the benchmark indices with the midcap and smallcap stocks which showed strong traction getting almost there as well.
As the market breadth continues to expand, expect the midcap and smallcap stocks and the sector to post new lifetime highs in the week or weeks to follow.
Traders and investors keep a close track after Indian government’s de-monetisation move at Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai.IANS
BSESENSEX gained 574.86 points or 0.92 per cent to close at 62,868.50 points while NIFTY gained 183.35 points or 0.99 per cent to close at 18,696.10 points. The broader markets fared much better and we saw BSE100, BSE200 and BSE500 gain 1.18 per cent, 1.42 per cent and 1.50 per cent respectively. BSEMIDCAP was up 2.84 per cent while BSESMALLCAP gained 2.43 per cent.
Markets gained on the first four days of the week and there was some amount of profit taking witnessed on Friday in the benchmark indices while the midcap and smallcap gained on Friday as well.
The Indian Rupee gained 36 paisa or 0.44 per cent to close at Rs 81.32 to the US dollar. Dow Jones saw the markets gain on three of the five trading sessions. There was a very sharp swing day on Wednesday in the US, when markets after being negative gained over 700 points on a net basis.
The FED Chairman Jerome Powell said at a meeting on Wednesday, “Time for easing rate increases is coming”. This led to the sharp recovery and optimism that going forward in 2023, we may not see 75 basis point rate hikes. All over the world one sees, short covering being a major reason for sharp and swift rallies and Wednesday was no exception.
In primary market news, we are likely to see two road shows of companies tapping the capital markets happening during the course of the week. While they are yet to announce details and timelines, the issues would open in the week beginning December 12. These issues are expected from Sula Vineyards Limited and Landmark Cars Limited.
The mood in the market currently is difficult to explain. Global markets are not at their best led by inflation which is at unseen levels though seems to have stopped rising and therefore Central banks have been raising interest rates. The war between Russia and Ukraine has become a never-ending affair and losing relevance as the world realises there is no short-term solution. In such a scenario, why the strong rally is a little baffling.
Downward momentum
The only explanation for India’s rally is the fact that we have had a technical breakout when we crossed the lifetime highs and are undergoing the follow through momentum from the same. How much and how far this would go is still a matter to debate. There are a few stages which the market must go through before this momentum gets over.
Coming to the markets in the week ahead, expect the momentum to continue and become bigger with more stocks participating. Strong support exists at the levels of 18,450-18,500 on NIFTY and 62,100-62,250 on Sensex.
Levels of around 19,000 and 63,700-63,800 would be resistances. Buy on sharp dips and continue to book profits as markets see plenty of whiplashes and churning. One last point, we may have a situation where the benchmark indices do not perform while midcap and smallcap do so.
Shaktikant Das’s tenure as RBI Governor extended for 3 years
Apart from the decision on the repo rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its upcoming meeting, one can also expect few more things post the discussions.
Economic experts expect the MPC to hike the repo rate by 25-35 basis points (bps) with industry lobby body ASSOCHAM also urging the central bank to do the same.
Further it will also be interesting to see whether there will be unanimity amongst the members of the MPC on the decisions taken at the ensuing meeting.
Post MPC meeting, the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is expected to share what the bank has written to the central government as to the reasons for not controlling the inflation and the steps that are being taken to reign in the same.
The MPC had met on November 3, to discuss what it would tell the central government on the reasons why it was not able to restrain the inflation.
Source: Indian Express
As per the Section 45ZN of the RBI Act, when the central bank fails to meet the inflation target, it shall send a report to the Central government listing: the reasons for failure to achieve the inflation target; remedial actions proposed to be taken by it; and an estimate of the time-period within which the inflation target shall be achieved pursuant to timely implementation of proposed remedial actions.
The proceedings of the said MPC meeting have not been made public even though the law provides to the contrary.
As per section 45ZK, the RBI shall publish, after the conclusion of every meeting of MPC, the resolution adopted by the said Committee.
Further, as per the Section 45ZL of the RBI Act, the minutes of the MPC meeting has to be published on the 14th day after every meeting including: the resolution adopted at the meeting of the MPC; the vote of each member of the MPC, ascribed to such member, on resolutions adopted in the said meeting; and the statement of each member of the MPC under sub-section (11) of Section 45ZL on the resolutions adopted in the said meeting.
On the issue of unanimity amongst the MPC members, at the September MPC meeting, Dr. Ashima Goyal voted against the resolution to hike the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.90 per cent.
Goyal was for a hike of 35 basis points and explaining his reasons voted against the resolution.
However, the resolution was passed by a 5:1 majority.
In India, the retail inflation rose to 7.41 per cent in September.
At the same meeting, another member Prof. Jayanth R. Varma voted against the second part of the resolution on the withdrawal of accommodation to ensure inflation remains within the target.
Varma said the MPC should now pause rather than focus on further tightening.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)IANS
On the issue of upward rate revision, he was for upward revision by 60 basis points instead of 50 basis points that was proposed.
As the difference between the two was only marginal Varma voted in favour.
Be that as it may, the expectation of the MPC meeting is that the repo rate hike will be a moderate one and range between 25-35 bps.
The RBI has hiked the repo rate by 190 bps from four per cent to 5.90 per cent. Now MPC will take into account the gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimates, the foodgrain production estimates, inflation projection, global economic activity and other factors.
“The RBI will be presenting the monetary policy against the backdro p of GDP growth slowing down as well as inflation being high above six per cent,” Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda said.
According to him, the MPC will continue with rate hikes this time though the magnitude will be lower – probably 25-35 bps,
“More specifically we do believe that the terminal repo rate for th e financial year will be 6.5 per cent, which means there will be one more rate hike in February. It is unlikely to change the stance and the withdrawal of liquidity will continue,” he added.
reserve bank
“We expect a 35 bps rate hike in the upcoming meeting. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is likely to moderate further in the coming months and slip below six per cent by the end of the fiscal year,” Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist, CARE Ratings told IANS.
She also said the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has also fallen sharply from 16 per cent in May/June to around eight per cent.
“The fall in global commodity prices comes as a big relief. However, the concern is that core inflation in India still remains high above six per cent. Food inflation and specifically cereal inflation is also high,” Sinha pointed out.
This, in turn, will put upward pressure on household inflationary expectations which is already at a high of around 10 per cent. Hence, while there is some reprieve on the inflation front, RBI would remain vigilant, she added.
On the growth front, high frequency economic indicators like auto sales, GST collection, e-way bill, PMI continue to indicate healthy recovery. However, some consumption indicators like IIP consumer durables and non-durables remain weak, Sinha said.
Moreover, external demand is weakening as the global economy slows down, Sinha said.
According to K. Joseph Thomas, Head Research, Emkay Wealth, as far as interest rates go, the trajectory of domestic inflation is of prime importance.
“The pressure seems to be easing on the price level, but the comfor t that can be drawn from fuel prices is far from real. The upside risks in fuel prices continue to be a concern,” he said.
Immunocore Holdings plc, a commercial-stage biotechnology company, and Gadeta B.V., an innovative clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced that they will collaborate on the first ?d ImmTAC for solid tumours, including colorectal cancer.
“Immunocore pioneered TCR therapy with the launch of Kimmtrak and we continue to push the edge of TCR science, including researching non-HLA restricted TCR therapies, both internally and through collaborations that complement our platform,” said David Berman, head of research and development of Immunocore. “We are very pleased to collaborate with Gadeta to combine their expertise in gamma delta TCRs with our scientific, development, and commercialization capabilities to deliver new TCR therapies.”
“Gadeta is excited to work with Immunocore on bringing these novel, soluble ?d-TCRs to patients with solid tumours,” said Marcel Zwaal, chief executive officer of Gadeta. “This agreement shows the potential of Gadeta’s new tumor targeting mechanism and it provides us with an opportunity for maximizing the impact of our suite of technologies for T cell related therapies, including the NOVA ?d-TCR discovery platform.”
Gamma delta T cells are an important subset of immune cells that sit on the boundary of the innate and adaptive immune systems. They patrol the body using their T cell receptors to scan for cellular alarm signals, some of which are not HLA restricted, such as modified cell surface proteins or protein clusters caused by cancer or pathogens. Gadeta has identified a portfolio of novel, first-in-class, ?d-TCRs. One of those, referred to as ‘201, specifically recognizes a non-HLA restricted alarm signal on the surface of cancer cells. Gadeta is developing ‘201 TCR in its proprietary TEG (T Cells Engineered to Express a Defined Gamma Delta TCR) cell therapy platform as GDT201. Pre-clinical data for GDT201 show promising results across a wide range of colorectal cancer cell lines and the product will be evaluated in a Phase 1 trial for a range of solid tumour indications, slated to start in H2 2023. GDT201 remains fully owned by Gadeta.
Under the terms of the agreement, Immunocore and Gadeta will collaborate on ‘201 ?d-TCR target discovery, and Immunocore will have the option to develop ImmTAC therapies derived from the ‘201 TCR as part of the research collaboration. Immunocore has an option for an exclusive license to further research, develop and commercialize an ImmTAC candidate from the collaboration. Gadeta is eligible to receive upfront, near-term option fee and research milestone payments. If Immunocore exercises its option for an exclusive license, Gadeta is eligible to receive development milestone and commercial milestone payments and is also entitled to receive royalties on sales of the product.
Kimmtrak is a novel bispecific protein comprised of a soluble T cell receptor fused to an anti-CD3 immune-effector function. Kimmtrak specifically targets gp100, a lineage antigen expressed in melanocytes and melanoma. This is the first molecule developed using Immunocore’s ImmTAC technology platform designed to redirect and activate T cells to recognize and kill tumour cells. Kimmtrak has been approved for the treatment of HLA-A 02:01-positive adult patients with unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma in the United States, European Union, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
IMCgp100-202 (NCT03070392) is a randomized pivotal trial that evaluated overall survival (OS) of Kimmtrak compared to investigator’s choice (either pembrolizumab, ipilimumab, or dacarbazine) in HLA-A 02:01-positive adult patients with previously untreated mUM. Kimmtrak demonstrated an unprecedented OS benefit with a Hazard Ratio (HR) in the intent-to-treat population favoring Kimmtrak, HR=0.51 (95% CI: 0.37, 0.71); p< 0.0001, over investigator’s choice (82% pembrolizumab; 13% ipilimumab; 6% dacarbazine).
Immunocore is a commercial-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a novel class of TCR bispecific immunotherapies called ImmTAX – Immune mobilizing monoclonal TCRs Against X disease – designed to treat a broad range of diseases, including cancer, autoimmune, and infectious disease.
The web-based app iNutrimon that ensures physicians and clinical nutritionists deliver optimum nutrition to patients recovering in healthcare set-ups has been endorsed by Indian Society for Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition (ISPEN).
“ISPEN endorsement is a testament to the efficacy of iNutrimon in making a significant difference in the process and conduct of clinical nutrition in OPD, IPD and ICU patients. This is an important milestone in our journey towards transforming the way we manage clinical nutrition,” said DocMode founder & CEO Hans Lewis.
Nutrition delivery to patients, interestingly, has been a huge challenge, however, DocMode, a pioneering health-tech firm in collaboration with Dr. Sanjith Saeedharan, head ICU Department, SL Raheja Hospital launched iNutrimon in 2020, which facilitates effective decision making in nutrition management of patients.
iNutriMon, Dr.B.Ravinder Reddy, ISPEN president, said it is a one-stop solution for screening, assessing, planning, monitoring and managing nutritional therapy of patients. “The App helps HCPs and is highly focused on accurate nutrition to patients and fulfils JCI/NABH certification requirements of documenting nutritional therapy,” Dr. Reddy added.
DocMode officials, however, are not surprised at the ISPEN endorsement. “Various hospitals and doctors have been telling us that they could successfully blunt the effect Covid-19 infection with iNutrimon as by now we know that nutrition played a very important role in the improvement of patients affected with Covid-19. This being the consistent feedback, we were convinced ISPEN endorsement would follow automatically,” opined Hans Lewis.
Dr. Radha Reddy Chada, chief clinical dietician and HOD, AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad said, “Prior to the introduction of iNutrimon, drawing up dietary and feeding plans for patients was a time-consuming task that required continual monitoring. Through iNutrimon, we can efficiently manage customized multiple meal plans, one-time recipes, and enteral feeding schedules. In addition to giving information on nutrient delivery, the app also aids in enhancing F&B delivery management by decreasing food wastage.”
Datta Patel, dietician, head, department of nutrition & dietetics DY Patil Hospital said, “Inutrimon very effectively reduces the timings for assessment and prescription using various validated tools. Traditional Manual methods usually take 30-40 minutes. With inutrimon assessment, planning and prescription takes 5-8 minutes only.
“Prescription conveniences such as disease specific planning formulas are readily available and easy to calculate without any manual errors. “Monitoring and adjusting feeds avoids nutritional gaps. Quick Access to data and collating data for research is an added feature,” opined Patel.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ashok Sinha, neurosurgeon, CNS Hospital is immensely impressed that the App meets NABH documentation as per nutrition mandate and ISO 27001 and HIPPA compliance. “It also offers different nutrition screening and assessment tools like NRS 2002, Nutric Score, SGA and GLIM,” he said.
According to Dr. Sanjith Saseedharan, “The app offers multiple options for nutrition planning including scientific powder-based formula feeding, parenteral nutrition and kitchen feeds. This app would guide in decision making when encountered with various conditions, diseases and stressful medical and surgical conditions by helping in the calculation of macro and micronutrients.”
“It is important to note that in order to make accurate calculation of the caloric and protein needs this would take not only extensive calculations and understanding but also would require a combination of formula feeds and this can be done efficiently and quickly only with the help of artificial intelligence which is on offer with this app,” Dr. Saseedharan further added.
iNutrimon adheres to the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) and European Society for Clinical Nutrition & Metabolism (ESPEN) guidelines in calculating nutrition requirements in critically ill patients. This app has witnessed rapid subscription among large and medium-sized hospitals.
“Moving forward, we hope hospitals across India would make use of this app since it is highly effective in dealing with people who require optimum nutrition support to deal with their condition and illness,” said Paulson Paul, DocMode, founder & COO.
“Besides, with ASPEN ESPEN guidelines, iNutrimon as a research tool will also aid the association in devising their much-awaited ISPEN nutritional guidelines for the Indian subcontinent region,” Paul added.
