Healthcare industry

Press release - 24/07/2012

Tailor-made viruses for enhanced cancer therapy

Parvoviruses specifically kill cancer cells and are already in the clinical trial stage for treating malignant brain tumors. However, as they can also infect normal cells - without doing any harm to them - a large portion of viruses is lost during therapy. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now modified parvoviruses in such a way that they initially lose their ability to infect cells. In…

Article - 16/04/2012

Pharma 2.0: towards paperless production

Before electronic solutions existed lorries were needed to ship new drug applications which often comprised 500000 or so pages. Thanks to IT this is no longer necessary. IT-based procedures and solutions are playing an increasing role in all areas of the pharmaceutical industry. Markus Roemer CEO of Ravensburg-based comes compliance services supports companies in implementing legal guidelines in this area. In the following interview Roemer talks…

Article - 20/02/2012

Klaus Pfizenmaier: bridging the fields between immunology and biomedicine

Prof. Dr. Klaus Pfizenmaier has been focusing on cytokines, and in particular on the tumour necrosis factor TNF, for the last 25 years. Pfizenmaier and his team of researchers at the Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology at the University of Stuttgart have unravelled numerous facets of TNF, which is a key and versatile signalling molecule. These discoveries have led to the development of groundbreaking therapy concepts and drug candidates for…

Press release - 02/02/2012

Colorectal cancer: Phase II results with cancer vaccine IMA910 are positive

immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing advanced therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancer, announced positive results from its Phase II clinical trial with IMA910 in patients with advanced colorectal cell carcinoma (CRC) which were presented at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in San Francisco. IMA910 comprises 13 tumor-associated…

Article - 16/01/2012

Manfred Jung: drug discovery and the epigenetic code

Prof. Dr. Manfred Jungs team at the University of Freiburg are chemical epigeneticists whose research involves the development of methods that enable them to identify and optimise new therapeutic drugs which are able to alter the epigenetic code of cancer and other cell types. The team use a perfidious worm for their research.

Press release - 10/01/2012

Apogenix receives additional 2.3 million Euros BMBF grant as partner of the biotech cluster Rhine-Neckar

The biopharmaceutical company Apogenix GmbH today announced that it has received an additional € 2.3 million BMBF grant (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) for the further advancement of its lead substance APG101. Apogenix will use the proceeds to develop APG101 for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). More specifically, the grant will be used for the production of clinical material and for the development of a…

Article - 09/01/2012

Nutritional medicine: Can certain foods help treat cancer?

Researchers at the Centre for Nutritional Medicine (ZEM), a joint institution of the Universities of Hohenheim and Tübingen, are investigating whether and to what extent certain food components can support the treatment of cancer and are hoping to derive scientifically founded dietary recommendations from their findings.

Press release - 09/01/2012

Apogenix Raises 7.5 Million Euros to Further Advance APG101 to Treat Glioblastoma and other Tumors

The biopharmaceutical company Apogenix GmbH today announced the successful completion of a € 7.5 million financing round led by dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG (dievini). Other investors include the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the founders and the executive management team of Apogenix. These funds will enable Apogenix to further advance the phase II clinical trial of APG101 to treat Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) and other…

Article - 09/01/2012

Biomarkers to combat lung cancer

A biomarker-driven personalised therapeutic approach to lung cancer is possible – this is the conclusion reached by the BATTLE trial. The preliminary results of the trial were summarised by scientists from the Thoraxklinik at Heidelberg University Hospital in the May 2011 issue of “Clinical Investigation”.

Article - 12/12/2011

Rheumatoid arthritis biomarkers

A plethora of biomarkers is available for the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and associated tissue damage and disorders. In addition, new biomarkers that improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from this common destructive autoimmune disease are constantly being discovered.

Article - 14/11/2011

BioTeSys GmbH - The basics of substance testing

Esslingen-based BioTeSys GmbH is contracted by its clients to determine the bioactive potential of substances and substance mixtures of foods and dietary supplements. Substances are tested whether or not they have a positive effect on human health using a range of chemical analyses, cell-based tests and clinical trials.

Press release - 02/11/2011

Using Viruses to Fight Brain Tumors

Parvoviruses can enter and kill cancer cells, but they do not cause disease in humans. Since 1992, scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have been studying these viruses with the aim of developing a viral therapy against dangerous brain tumors that are almost impossible to treat.

Article - 17/10/2011

Papillomaviruses as cancer-causing agents and how they can be fought off

Studies presented at the recent International Papillomavirus Conference in Berlin demonstrate that vaccination can prevent infection with the types of HPV that cause the majority of cervical cancers. New improved vaccines to prevent HPV infections as well as therapeutic vaccines that are effective in people that are already infected are currently being developed. In addition, research has shown that other cancers can also be caused by infective…

Dossier - 05/10/2011

Biosimilars: follow-on biologics of innovator biopharmaceutical products

As blockbuster biopharmaceuticals go off patent, biosimilars are increasingly competing with them for a market share. However, the production of biosimilars is rather complex and costly. The approval of biosimilars is also subject to many hurdles. Their introduction to the very expensive biopharmaceuticals market is often associated with marginal price reductions.

Article - 12/09/2011

TransLimm brings new immunotherapies to patients more rapidly

With the establishment of the Center for Translational Immunology TransLimm the University of Tübingen has initiated a network whose objective is to quickly and effectively transfer innovative therapies into clinical application. Patients suffering from acute leukaemia might soon benefit from therapies involving antibodies optimized by recombinant antibody technology.

Article - 29/08/2011

Ute Schepers – the therapeutic potential of small RNAs and molecular transporters

Small RNAs can specifically interfere with cellular mechanisms; or more precisely, with the cells’ protein biosynthesis machinery. Scientists have therefore decided to exploit this potential by using small RNAs against cancer cells or cells damaged in other ways. But the question arises as to how the small RNAs can reach the site where their role is to prevent the generation of dangerous proteins. Dr. Ute Schepers and her team from the Karlsruhe…

Article - 25/07/2011

The mixture is key: what cells like to feed on

Dr. Aziz Cayli knows CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cells so well that he decided to establish his own company in 2005. Prior to establishing CellCa GmbH in the city of Laupheim, Cayli held posts at Roche in Penzberg and Boehringer Ingelheim in Biberach. CellCa is a specialist in upstream processing and with its current total of 15 staff, the company achieved revenues of around two million euros in 2009. We talked with Dr. Aziz Cayli who did his…

Press release - 30/06/2011

Cancer treatments: New information from fission yeast

When a cell divides the genetic information in the chromosomes must be passed on error-free to the daughter cells. Researchers at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory in Tübingen are studying this process using fission yeast as a model organism. In cooperation with researchers at the University of Tübingen they succeeded in attributing additional tasks to the Aurora enzymes which were already recognized as important cellular tools for the reliable…

Lipid Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, announced today that it has initiated a Phase IIb clinical trial with its lead product LT-02 in patients with ulcerative colitis. Lipid Therapeutics received approval for this multi-center, international trial from the authorities in Germany and Lithuania and is awaiting approval in Romania. Patient enrollment has already started in Germany and Lithuania.

Press release - 20/06/2011

CureVac presents new data for prostate and lung cancer vaccines

CureVac GmbH presented promising new data for prostate cancer vaccine CV9103 and lung cancer vaccine CV9201 at the ASCO Conference in Chicago. Final trial results confirm safety and excellent antigen-specific immunogenicity of prostate cancer vaccine CV9103. And initial promising data from phase I/IIa trial of lung cancer vaccine CV9201 further supports the potential of CureVac’s RNActive® vaccination technology in cancer immunotherapy and…

immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing advanced therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancer, announced today that the first patients have been vaccinated in the IMPRINT study, a pivotal Phase III trial with IMA901, the company’s lead cancer vaccine for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Article - 30/05/2011

Technology Licensing Office (TLB): invention and patent management

The Technology Licensing Office TLB works in partnership with science and industry and is continuously coming up with new ways to ensure the economic success of inventions from all the key fields of technology. Dr. Frank Schlotter head of Life Sciences at the Karlsruhe-based TLB provides insights into the work that his office does taking as examples innovations from the fields of regenerative medicine and diagnostics.

Article - 30/05/2011

From bench to bedside to bench

The term translational medicine does not always refer to the concept “from bench to bedside and back”, and indeed is often used to refer to many other, somewhat distant, concepts. However, the new translation centres and translational research consortia do correspond to the original meaning. These new centres and consortia have become effective structures in health research in Germany whose goal is the continuous improvement of the diagnostic and…

Press release - 26/05/2011

High Scientific Level at the Second International Workshop about Drug-Drug Interactions

The organisation team of the Second International DDI drug-drug interactions Workshop has expressed great satisfaction with the course of the scientific meeting. Thus the DDI Workshop at Marbach Castle is on its way to become an established platform for the annual exchange between experts scientists members of the industry and regulatory bodies regarding DDI affairs.

Curetis AG, an innovative molecular diagnostics company focusing on the development and commercialization of in-vitro diagnostic products for infectious diseases, today announced an extension of its Series A financing, bringing the total size of the round to € 24.5 million. CD-Venture joined the funding as a new investor, while all of Curetis' existing VC investors participated in the round. Several private investors also continued to…