Healthcare industry

The Lake Constance region offers a broad range of cancer therapies and is home to several institutes and companies that are dealing with cancer research. The BioLAGO biotechnology network offers them a joint platform for co-operation and exchange of information.

The medical importance of vitamin D calciferol is most likely even higher than suggested by recently published studies. A study which also involves the endocrinologist Bernhard Böhm from Ulm has attracted enormous attention as it suggests that vitamin D deficiency increases mortality.

Under the agreement Nycomed will receive the exclusive worldwide rights to develop manufacture and commercialise the subcutaneous formulation of veltuzumab for the treatment of all non-cancer indications.

Frank Kirchhoff an AIDS researcher from Ulm has learnt to pose important questions and find the right answers during his post-graduate studies. This recipe has brought him and his research group international recognition and makes him one of the best AIDS researchers worldwide. Important publications within a very short time and numerous awards are clear evidence of his outstanding achievements. In addition he has just started a clinical trial…

About a year ago Prof. Dr. Martin Schwemmle and his team at the University Hospital of Freiburg discovered a new starting point in the fight against the H5N1-virus. In the meantime the scientists are working together with the company Pike Pharma to develop a compound.

DFG and BMBF will provide 15 million euros per year each starting in 2009.

CureVac GmbH has entered into a partnership with the Department of Urology University of Florida Gainesville U.S. to jointly advance its lead candidate CV9103 into the clinical development. The alliance covers preclinical studies and a US phase III trial.

Article - 28/04/2008

A milestone in the treatment of leukaemia

Blood cancer experts in the team of Professor Peter Dreger Head of the Section of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation at the University Hospital of Heidelberg have achieved a major success in the treatment of leukaemia. For the 500th time the physicians from the Department of Haematology Oncology and Rheumatology transferred blood stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient suffering from leukaemia or lymphoma.

The company Rentschler from Laupheim in the south of Germany is nowadays one of the biggest biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers in Europe. This has not always been the case. A look at the companys history shows why the company which is nowadays run by the third family generation has become what it is today.

Dossier - 24/04/2008

Contract manufacture: the order books remain full

The market for therapeutic proteins is continuing to grow in double figures. Current estimates of the total market value are in the range of 60 to 70 billion US dollars and the market is estimated to grow by 13 per cent p.a. up until 2010. Biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers have established themselves on the market and market observers estimate that the number of biopharmaceutical medicines will grow from 100 2005 to approx. 150 until 2010.

In the second article in the series on the platforms successful cooperations BioValley presents an encouraging approach for improving the quality of life of severely ill cancer patients and the successful establishment of an industrial biochip platform.

The first European Conference for Clinical Nanomedicine is to be held soon in Basel. BIOPRO has therefore discussed this promising area of application with Beat Löffler and Dr. Patrick Hunziker the founders of the European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine.

Article - 16/03/2008

New indication for lead compound of Apogenix

Isolated tumour cells use to invade healthy brain tissue during the development and growth of glioblastoma multiforme GBM. This mechanism involves the CD95CD95L death system. These results supports the therapeutic potential of Apogenix APG101 for the treatment of glioblastomas.

Dr. Gilbert Gorr has been fascinated by the moss Physcomitrella patens for many years in fact it occupies a great deal of his waking moments. The enthusiasm with which the CSO of greenovation Biotech GmbH talks about the key object of his work is both intoxicating and contagious. The latest discovery The moss produces a therapeutic antibody that is far more effective than its predecessors created in animal cell cultures.

Young medical professionals or young scientists are eligible to apply for funding.

Article - 05/02/2008

Protecting the liver from oxygen stress

The Emmy Noether junior research group in the Department of Surgery at the University Hospital of Heidelberg is to be funded with 1.2 million over the next five years. The group will focus on how tissue damage in donor livers can be prevented. The group headed by Dr. Martin Schneider.

Gender-specific differences are currently not only a subject of debate for experts but have also raised broad media interest. However there are very few specific investigations that are able to provide a clear answer said Prof. Volker Kühlkamp chief physician in the Department of CardiologyElectrophysiology at the Lake Constance Heart Centre in ConstanceKreuzlingen and specialist in cardiac arrhythmia.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Nycomeds ALVESCO ciclesonide Inhalation Aerosol in the United States for the maintenance treatment of asthma and as prophylactic therapy in adult and adolescent patients aged 12 years and older.