Healthcare industry

CureVac N.V. today announced that it has dosed the first patient with its investigational cancer vaccine CVGBM in a Phase 1 study. CVGBM is based on CureVac’s proprietary second-generation mRNA backbone and features a single mRNA, encoding eight epitopes derived from known tumor-associated antigens with demon­strated relevance in glioblastoma. A first data readout is expected in the second half of 2024.

The recently established ITCC-P4 gGmbH provides academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies with a comprehensive repertoire of modern laboratory models of pediatric tumors. The aim is to systematically test new treatment options for children and adolescents with cancer and to contribute data to regulatory approval processes in order to make the development of new cancer therapies for children and adolescents more attractive.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive and deadly form of breast cancer with limited treatment options. Tumor growth and relapse of TNBC are driven by breast cancer stem cells, and improved therapies that can eliminate those hardy cells are urgently needed. Researchers from the University of Frieburg discovered that coordinated differentiation and changes in the metabolism of breast cancer stem cells make them invisible for…

Acute Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a life-threatening complication after leukemia treatment with allogeneic stem cell transplantation i.e. the transplantation of cells from another person. GvHD occurs when the transplanted immune cells are overly active and damage the receiving patient's healthy tissue. Researchers found that an endogenous molecule can mitigate this misdirected immune response.

On December 13, 2022, the European Commission granted approval to a drug against metastatic prostate cancer whose active ingredient was developed under the leadership of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in collaboration with Heidelberg University Hospital and Heidelberg University. The drug can significantly improve the survival chances of patients.

Why do metastases often only appear after the original tumor has been surgically removed? Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University have now published an explanation for this phenomenon. They were able to identify a messenger substance of the cancer cells that locally promotes the growth of the primary tumor.

Apogenix, a biopharmaceutical company developing next generation immunotherapeutics, announced today that asunercept showed statistically significant benefits for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the ASUNCTIS trial. The open-label multi-center phase II trial investigated efficacy and safety of asunercept in 435 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease.

CureVac N.V., a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on mRNA, today announced the start of a Phase 1 study of the modified COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate CV0501, administered as a booster dose to previous COVID-19 vaccination. Developed in collaboration with GSK, CV0501 is based on CureVac’s second-generation mRNA backbone and is designed to specifically protect against the Omicron variant.

RHEACELL GmbH - 28/07/2022

Innovative stem cell therapy for chronic wounds

Non-healing, chronically inflamed wounds can be very painful and carry the risk of serious infections. The Heidelberg company RHEACELL has developed a unique drug based on ABCB5-positive mesenchymal stem cells that helps reprogramme the relevant immune cells and promote healing.

Does COVID-19 vaccination increase the risk of cancer patients undergoing therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors to suffer a dangerous immune complication known as a "cytokine release syndrome"? A team of Heidelberg physicians and scientists has now shown in a clinical study: Increased serum levels of the characteristic cytokines occur frequently in cancer patients, but clinically relevant cases of the dreaded syndrome were not…

Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases are associated with inflammatory processes in the brain. German researchers have succeeded in identifying a group of proteins in the liquor that could provide information about such inflammatory processes. As so-called biomarkers, the proteins could help to better understand disease processes in the future and to test the effect of potential drugs against brain inflammation.

Certain childhood tumors have an extreme need for amino acids. Scientists at the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University of Heidelberg, and HI-STEM* gGmbH have now discovered the molecular mechanisms underlying this and how the cancer cells could be turned off.

COVIC-19 clinical trial - 07/04/2022

Convalescent plasma for COVID-19 therapy: clinical trial should bring clarity

Does it help to treat COVID-19 sufferers with antibodies from people who have recovered from the disease? It seems an obvious idea and has been tested thousands of times. However, there is not yet enough evidence to prove the clinical efficacy of treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma. The transfusion physician Prof. Dr. Hubert Schrezenmeier from Ulm is planning to carry out a follow-up clinical trial to find the missing evidence.

On March 23, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to the first targeted radioligand therapy against metastatic prostate cancer based on a joint patent of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University of Heidelberg. The agent significantly improves the chances of survival for those affected.

CureVac N.V. a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”), today announced that the first participant was dosed in a Phase 1 study of COVID-19 second-generation mRNA vaccine candidate, CV2CoV, developed in collaboration with GSK.

Through the Endeavour Awards, the Mark Foundation supports research projects that bring together scientists from different disciplines to advance the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. One of the only four Endeavour Awards presented this year goes to a project coordinated by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).

In order to develop approaches for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's dementia in clinical trials, it would be helpful to be able to identify people with a particularly high risk of developing the disease. But which biomarkers can indicate an increased likelihood of disease early on in symptom-free people who actually develop Alzheimer's later?

CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”), today announced that it has dosed the first participant in a Phase 1 study of its seasonal influenza second-generation mRNA vaccine candidate, CVSQIV, developed in collaboration with GSK.

At the University Hospital Tübingen, clinical evaluation of an in-house developed vaccine (CoVac-1) against SARS-CoV-2 was started in November 2020 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Juliane Walz in the CCU Translational Immunology of the Medical Clinic (Medical Director Prof. Dr. Helmut Salih). Now the results of the Phase I study are available and demonstrate a potent activation of the T-cell response against the coronavirus.

Treatment resistance is a central problem in the treatment of cancer. Bone and soft tissue tumors – known as sarcomas – in adolescents and young adults often stop responding to treatment too. This is because cancer cells develop a large number of new characteristics as the disease progresses and often become resistant to drugs that were originally effective.

Doctors and scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and from Heidelberg University's Medical Faculty Mannheim have successfully tested a neoantigen-specific transgenic immune cell therapy for malignant brain tumors for the first time using an experimental model in mice.

A team of engineers and biotechnologists at the University of Freiburg has for the first time shown in mammals that the concentration of antibiotics in the body can be determined using breath samples. The breath measurements also corresponded to the antibiotic concentrations in the blood. The team’s biosensor – a multiplex chip – will in future enable personalized dosing of medicines against infectious diseases on-site.

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have developed antibodies that have two antigen-binding sites and can couple cancer cells with effector cells of the immune system. In laboratory tests, these bridging antibodies, together with an enhancer antibody, were able to specifically mobilize the body's own immune defenses and destroy breast cancer cells.

CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”), today announced the publication entitled “Therapeutic HNF4A mRNA attenuates liver fibrosis in a preclinical model” in the peer-reviewed Journal of Hepatology.

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University Hospital have for the first time been able to delay the development of hereditary colorectal cancer with a protective vaccination. Mice with a hereditary predisposition to colorectal cancer survived significantly longer after vaccination than unvaccinated animals. Combining the vaccination with an anti-inflammatory drug increased the protective effect.

Article - 08/07/2021

Individual operation risk assessment by the Cognitive Medical Assistant

Despite modern surgical techniques and anaesthetic procedures, serious complications can occur during surgical interventions. An interdisciplinary team at Heidelberg University Hospital has launched a project called the Cognitive Medical Assistant (German: Der Kognitive Medizinische Assistant, KoMed for short), designed to better assess the individual risk of these interventions. The project’s goal is to systematically and comprehensively analyse…

Article - 22/06/2021

Using virtual reality in the clinic to rehabilitate patients with cognitive disorders

Outdated and inadequate methods of neurological rehabilitation are still being used for patients with neurological diseases or injuries – and what’s more, the treatment is usually too late. This is because cognitive training is especially important in the critical phases when the brain is particularly plastic. The Heidelberg-based company living brain proves that early treatment is possible using an extremely innovative method – with concentrated…

Effective drugs for the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system do exist. However, the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain as the body's control center, makes it especially difficult for therapeutic biomolecules to pass through. Thus, researchers from an international consortium coordinated by the Fraunhofer IGB have spent the last four and a half years developing a novel system in the EU project "N2B-patch"…

Article - 10/06/2021

New study: vaccine therapy for treating patients with chronic leukaemia

Personalised peptide vaccination is expected to improve the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. A research team from Tübingen has started a Phase I clinical trial with CLL patients who will undergo ibrutinib treatment. Other leukaemia sufferers as well as cancer patients in general are also expected to benefit in the long term.

Atriva Therapeutics GmbH, a company that is pioneering the development of therapies for the treatment of viral infections, has secured up to €11.4 million in federal funding. The company, founded in 2015, announced today that it was selected for research funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Atriva will use the funds to advance its drug ATR-002 towards market maturity as quickly as possible.

Article - 14/04/2021

Calling for quality seal for implants

Today's seniors are older and more active, which is why implants remain in the body longer and are subjected to greater strain than before. Improved surfaces are expected to ensure that the implants heal and integrate into the bone optimally. In an interview with BIOPRO, Dietmar Schaffarczyk, CEO of Konstanz-based stimOS GmbH, explains why a voluntary quality seal makes sense and gives consumers a better chance of recognising high-quality…

Tumor vaccines can help the body fight cancer. Mutations in the tumor genome often lead to protein changes that are typical of cancer. A vaccine can alert the patients' immune system to these mutated proteins. For the first time, physicians and cancer researchers from Heidelberg and Mannheim have now carried out a clinical trial to test a mutation-specific vaccine against malignant brain tumors.

New method for analysing blood samples - 26/11/2020

Personalised therapy monitoring for malignant melanomas

Immunotherapy has greatly improved the survival chances of patients with malignant melanoma. A study has now begun at the Department of Dermatology at the University Hospital of Tübingen to develop a way to monitor the course of treatment as effectively as possible. It involves personalised monitoring using liquid biopsies in addition to conventional PET/CT examinations. This analysis procedure of blood samples could enable closer monitoring of…

Inside the fight against COVID-19 - 28/10/2020

A new immunotherapeutic agent for treating severe COVID-19 cases

Apogenix, a Heidelberg-based biopharmaceutical company specialising in innovative immunotherapeutics, has initiated a Phase II clinical trial with asunercept, the company’s lead drug candidate for treating severe cases of COVID-19. The fusion protein blocks the CD95-ligand-mediated death of epithelial cells in the lung and thus prevents damage to the organ.

Atriva Therapeutics - 21/10/2020

COVID-19 pioneer drug in Phase II clinical trial - with double the power

The effective treatment of people with severe COVID-19 is a major goal during the corona pandemic. ATR-002, an oral small molecule that targets RNA viruses such as influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, has a dual effect: it impairs viral propagation and also has an immunomodulatory effect. And what’s more, due to its unique cellular mechanism of action, the efficacy of Atrivia Therapeutics’ drug candidate is not reduced by virus mutations and…

Affimed GmbH - 01/07/2020

"Innate cell engager" fighting against cancer

In the fight against tumour cells, d Affimed GmbH from Heidelberg relies entirely on the weapons of the innate immune system. Affimed has developed special innate cell engagers, which are bispecific antibodies that recognise tumour cells and bring them together with natural killer cells and macrophages of the innate immune system, which then kill the tumour cells. Clinical trials using the AFM13 molecule are ongoing.

Vaccine development - 02/06/2020

CureVac as a pioneer of mRNA technology - what is behind the novel COVID-19 vaccine?

All eyes are on vaccines against the coronavirus. The Tübingen-based company CureVac is doing pioneering work in this field, and intends to initiate clinical testing of its lead vaccine candidate in June. At the same time, Curevac is manufacturing the material for this vaccine candidate. But that’s not all: the novel mRNA technology also has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of cancer and metabolic diseases. What makes the method so…

Article - 22/03/2019

Personalised therapies for treating metastasing breast cancer

Breast cancer is characterised by broad genetic diversity. Successful treatment is made even more difficult by the fact that, in advanced breast cancer, the properties of metastases often differ significantly from the primary tumour. The Heidelberg CATCH study is now collecting genetic profiles from patients' metastasis tissue samples, which can be used to tailor therapy to individual requirements.

Dossier - 15/10/2013

Adult stem cells hope for regenerative therapies

Adult stem cells have the lifelong ability to generate new specialised cells. They secure the continuous replenishment of cells therefore enabling the constant replacement of dying cells with new ones. Progress in the characterisation isolation and specific differentiation of adult stem cells over recent years raises hopes for the future use of the cells in the therapy of degenerative diseases. Knowledge about adult stem cells also has the…

Dossier - 21/05/2013

No new drugs to be placed on the market without clinical trials

New pharmaceuticals are subject to approval by drug authorities. Prior to approval of a new pharmaceutical several hurdles such as preclinical and clinical studies need to be cleared. Clinical trials are performed to ensure the quality efficacy and safety of a medicinal product. Clinical development is a time-consuming and costly process and takes on average ten to fifteen years before a pharmaceutical company can apply for the approval of the…

Dossier - 15/04/2013

Bioactive plant foods more than just filling

The increasing demand for functional foods clearly shows that the role of food is no longer just to meet an essential need. Food that offers additional nutritional benefits is becoming increasingly important for example food that is able to prevent or treat diseases. This kind of food is therefore interesting for consumers the food industry and the healthcare sector alike. Products based on plant raw materials are particularly in demand due to…

Dossier - 01/04/2013

Retroviruses from infectious agent to therapeutic assistant

Viruses are infectious particles that use the machinery and metabolism of a host cell to replicate. Despite some similarities with accepted forms of life viruses are not considered as such. The family of retroviruses is particularly known for its most notorious representative i. e. the human immunodeficiency virus HIV which leads to AIDS and for which no cure or effective vaccine is currently available. However retroviruses are not only of…