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In Switzerland as in several other countries, the platform economy has raised the issues of the qualification of the contract between the platform and the service provider, the so-called platform worker, and the status of these platform workers. Although the platforms are organized very differently, they always act as an intermediate, with more or less intensity and guidance. This intermediary position stretches the connection between the worker and his or her customers and therefore weakens the elected status of independent contractor thus enhancing the risk of requalification. The main difficulty encountered in Switzerland comes from the fact that Swiss law does not give a proper definition of an independent contractor.2 If we consider social insurance laws, the independent is the one whose revenue doesn't come from an activity as an employee; such revenue being otherwise defined as any revenue from a work other than one being achieved through a dependent situation.3 It is therefore necessary to refer to the dependent activity in order to define the independent. In the same manner, the labor law only applies to employees and therefore only sets the criteria to define them. Some political circles have called for the creation of a specific status, and the question has been addressed by the government in a report.4 However, at this stage, the definition of an independent contractor still does not exist and the matter can only be brought before the courts to be settled. Moreover, the legal doctrine on the platform economy is still not very developed from a social legislation perspective. However, progress is being made, with research contributions mainly related to the contractual relations associated with platform work and we would like to mention a large-scale compendium of works, recently published, which offers a complete overview of the current reflection, by the main authors of the Swiss doctrine, who have taken an interest in the question of the legal regime for platform workers (with a focus on law, sociology and work psychology).5In this contribution we aim to give to our readers a global overview on the status of platform workers in Switzerland, so we will first synthesize the legal environment in Switzerland (II.) and the state of the jurisprudence regarding platform workers (III.). Then we will present the collective issues (IV.) and the results of the collective bargaining (V.) before concluding on the foreseen trend on this topic (VI.).

Countries deciding on deconfinement measures after initial lock-downs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic often include the continued confinement of those most vulnerable to the disease in these plans as a matter of course. Such continued confinement, however, is neither innocuous nor obviously justified. In this paper, we examine more systematically the requirements for the protection of vulnerable persons, the situation in institutions, legal implications, requirements to sustain vulnerable persons, and self-determination. Based on this exploration, we recommend that continued confinement cannot be the only measure in place to protect vulnerable persons. Protections are needed to enable participation in the public sphere and the exercise of rights for persons particularly vulnerable to fatal courses of COVID-19. The situation in long-term care homes warrants particular caution and in some cases immediate mitigation of lock-down measures that have isolated residents from their caregivers, advocates, and proxies. Vulnerable persons should retain the choice to place themselves at risk, as long as they do not impose risks on others. Vulnerable persons who choose to remain in confinement should be protected against loss of their jobs or income, and against the risk of discrimination in the labor market. Risk and crisis communication stresses the importance of listening to the people and setting up participatory approaches. Associations and lobbies representing the views of groups of those particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 (e.g., the elderly, those with diseases placing them at particular risk) should be consulted and involved in outlining deconfinement measures. Moreover, most vulnerable persons are autonomous and competent and should be allowed to voice their own opinion.

The STI571 prospective randomised trial (SPIRIT) French trial is a four-arm study comparing imatinib (IM) 400 mg versus IM 600 mg, IM 400 mg + cytarabine (AraC), and IM 400 mg + pegylated interferon alpha2a (PegIFN-α2a) for the front-line treatment of chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). Long-term analyses included overall and progression-free survival, molecular responses to treatment, and severe adverse events. Starting in 2003, the trial included 787 evaluable patients. The median overall follow-up of the patients was 13.5 years (range 3 months to 16.7 years). Based on intention-to-treat analyses, at 15 years, overall and progression-free survival were similar across arms: 85%, 83%, 80%, and 82% and 84%, 87%, 79%, and 79% for the IM 400 mg ( N  = 223), IM 600 mg ( N  = 171), IM 400 mg + AraC ( N  = 172), and IM 400 mg + PegIFN-α2a ( N  = 221) arms, respectively. The rate of major molecular response at 12 months and deep molecular response (MR4) over time were significantly higher with the combination IM 400 mg + PegIFN-α2a than with IM 400 mg: p  = 0.0001 and p  = 0.0035, respectively. Progression to advanced phases and secondary malignancies were the most frequent causes of death. Toxicity was the main reason for stopping AraC or PegIFN-α2a treatment.

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) are promising therapies for neurological disorders, though they are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and must be delivered directly to the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we use a human transferrin receptor (TfR)-binding molecule to transport ASO across the BBB in mice and non-human primates, termed oligonucleotide transport vehicle (OTV). Systemically delivered OTV drives significant, cumulative, and sustained knockdown of the ASO target across multiple CNS regions and all major cell types. Further, systemic OTV delivery enables more uniform ASO biodistribution and knockdown compared to two other clinically relevant ASO delivery routes: a standard, high affinity TfR antibody, or direct ASO delivery to the CSF. Together, our data support systemically delivered OTV as a potential therapeutic platform for neurological disorders. Systemically dosed OTV delivered via TfR1 targeting shows widespread and cumulative target knockdown in the mouse and NHP CNS.

Delivery of biotherapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a challenge. Many approaches fuse biotherapeutics to platforms that bind the transferrin receptor (TfR), a brain endothelial cell target, to facilitate receptor-mediated transcytosis across the BBB. Here, we characterized the pharmacological behavior of two distinct TfR-targeted platforms fused to iduronate 2-sulfatase (IDS), a lysosomal enzyme deficient in mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II), and compared the relative brain exposures and functional activities of both approaches in mouse models. IDS fused to a moderate-affinity, monovalent TfR binding enzyme transport vehicle (ETV:IDS) resulted in widespread brain exposure, internalization by parenchymal cells, and significant substrate reduction in the CNS of an MPS II mouse model. In contrast, IDS fused to a standard high-affinity bivalent antibody (IgG:IDS) resulted in lower brain uptake, limited biodistribution beyond brain endothelial cells, and reduced brain substrate reduction. These results highlight important features likely to impact the clinical development of TfR-targeting platforms in MPS II and potentially other CNS diseases. Brain delivery, biodistribution and pharmacodynamics of a lysosomal enzyme fused to a moderate-affinity transferrin receptor-directed blood-brain barrier enzyme transport vehicle are superior to a traditional high-affinity anti-TfR monoclonal antibody fusion.