lisa vr newsletter 01/2011

lisavrnewsLIFE SCIENCE AUSTRIA vienna region’s newsletter

Cooperation –The Secret of Success

01/2011

The development and production of advan-ced drugs is associated with enormous costsand a long development process. The suc-cessful development of new product ideasdepends on many success factors, mainly:determined researchers and entrepreneurs,readily accessible government support sche-mes, venture capital and/or private capital aswell as the development expertise and struc-ture of big pharmaceutical companies.Therefore, many young biotech companiesare searching for partners.

In the last year four companies in Vienna clo-sed outstanding license-deals:

ApeironIn March 2011, Apeiron Biologics enteredinto an exclusive option to license a numberof novel compounds from the ClevelandClinic. These compounds are currently indevelopment at Cleveland Clinic as drug can-didates for treatment of various cancers,designed to fight cancer based on stimulationof the immune system. This transaction fol-lows in the wake of successful in-licensingdeals that Apeiron completed in the last sixmonths: In February 2011, Apeiron acquiredexclusive rights to hu14.18-IL2 (APN301), aphase II antibody-based biologic for treat-ment of neuroblastoma, melanoma and othercancers from Merck, and in October 2010,the in-licensing deal with Polymun for re -com binant human superoxide dismutase(APN201), a naturally occurring enzyme fortreatment of cancer treatment-related side-effects, also in phase II, was closed.Apeiron’s successful out-licensing deal withGlaxoSmithKline in January 2010 (phase Iproject APN01) gave the company the possi-bility to expand its project portfolio with afocus on biologic/immunologic therapy ofcancer and related conditions by in-licensingpromising projects.

f-starIn November 2010, f-star signed a collabora-tion and license agreement with BoehringerIngelheim for joint discovery of new antibo-dy-derived therapeutic products based onf-star’s Modular Antibody Technology. Thisagreement could possibly be the biggest dealever made in Austria. Boehringer Ingelheimcan nominate up to seven therapeutic targetswhich could result in payments to f-star of upto EUR 180 million per target. partnering -NEWS™ listed the deal between f-star andBoehringer Ingelheim under the top ten dealsof 2010.

MarinomedIn June 2010, Marinomed, a company focu-sed on the development of innovative thera-pies for respiratory diseases, signed a licen-sing agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim.The aim of this deal is the marketing ofMarinomed’s anti-viral nasal spray for the tre-atment of the common cold in Europe,Russia and the CIS, South America, parts ofAsia and Australia. Boehringer Ingelheimplans to market the anti-viral nasal sprayunder the well-known cough and cold brandMucosolvan®.

PolymunIn April 2010, Polymun received a follow-upcontract from GlaxoSmithKline for themanufacturing of APN01 in CHO cells as asequel of Apeiron’s out-licensing of APN01 toGSK. In October 2010, Polymun succeededwith out-licensing the recombinant humansuperoxide dismutase to Apeiron.

Apart from license-deals, which strengthenedthe financial position of the above-mentionedcompanies, R&D cooperations with renow-ned research institutes lay the foundation tosuccess through knowledge gain. Among

others, two Vienna-based companies shouldbe pointed out:

ThemisIn July 2010, Themis Bioscience, a Viennesestart-up biotechnology company that deve-lops vaccines against tropical infectious disea-ses, formed a joint R&D program with InstitutPasteur, the Paris-based world leading rese-arch institution. The new partners join forcesfor the preclinical development of various vac-cines against tropical diseases. InstitutPasteur will be providing its renowned meas-les virus vaccine vector technology, and willalso perform specialized biological techniquesand testings. Themis will be concentrating onall industrialization and commercialization as -pects, including the manufacturing and clinicaldevelopment activities for these products.

SaviraSavira is focusing on the development ofdrugs for the treatment of influenza. The com-pany is part of a project consortium under thelead of the European Molecular BiologyLaboratory (EMBL). Within the EuropeanHealth Care Call – Influenza 2010 – of theFramework 7 program, the consortium wasawarded a grant of EUR 6 million. In this pro-ject, the consortium will exploit their recentadvances in the detailed mechanistic under-standing of the structure and function of theviral polymerase, the replication machine ofthe virus, to develop new drug candidatesthat inhibit viral replication in infected cells.

Without cooperations and relevant governmentsupport schemes biotech start-ups would onlyhave a small chance to survive. The successstories of the Viennese biotech scene showthat small companies can also close big deals!

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Dynamic biotech start-ups like f-star , Apeiron, or Marinomed demonstratethat Vienna is a hotspot for medical innovation.

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55190_Lisa_News0111_ICv2.qxp:_ 01.04.2011 12:00 Uhr Seite 1

What weoffer

editorial:

Dear Readers,

LISA VR experienced a dynamic start to theNew Year with a newly set-up team. As thenew managing dir ectors we have had abusy time since October 2010, fortunatelybuilding on the achievements of our pr ede-cessors, Eva Czer nohorszky and MichaelaFritz. The change in management was follo-wed by a change in board members of LISAVR: Wolfram Anderle, head of the businessunit Technology and Innovation at AustriaWirtschaftsservice and Eva Czer nohorszky,formerly managing dir ector of LISA VR joi-ned the boar d. In addition, the team wascomplemented by two new , dedicatedemployees: Hans-Peter Spengler , clustermanager for medical technology and MariaHinnerth, project manager for marketing &PR joined in January 2011. W e are pleasedto introduce our team in this newsletter.

Our goal is to further develop Vienna as oneof the top life science locations in Europe by

providing dedicated consulting, marketing,and training to the local community . Speci -fically, we aim to strengthen medical techno-logy in V ienna, which is a highly diversifiedsector. By fostering networking and publicrelations, we want to increase the visibility ofthis sector and highlight the importance.Financing remains a crucial success factorfor life science companies: Her e, we wouldlike to draw your attention to the current ZITFocus on Life Sciences 2011 . We alsowould like to intr oduce the BOB Winners2010 to you.Furthermore, this newsletter includes anupdate on the trade fairs we will be atten-ding in the coming months and, in addition,some interesting Life Science Events inVienna. As usual, you will find an extract ofnews in the middle of our newsletter whichupdates you on recent developments in theVienna region. Moreover, we invite you toread our articles on successful coopera-tions, navigation in the data jungle , andadvanced services in Vienna.

Finally, we would like to invite you to join usat the traditional LISA VR Standortfest“Translational Research in Medicine –Meet the Experts of CeMM & MUW” onMay 5, 2011 at the top floor of the new AnnaSpiegel Reasearch Building located at thecampus of the Vienna General Hospital.

Johannes Sarx and Peter HalwachsLISA VR Executive Board

www.lisavr.at

:: Consulting:: Marketing:: Qualification:: Networking:: Knowledge

Life Science Austria V ienna Region (LISAVR) is your key pr ofessional partner in theVienna Region when it comes to biotechno-logy, pharmaceuticals, and medical techno-logy. Whether you are an entrepreneur, aninvestor, or a r esearcher, LISA VR pr ovidesyou with essential services in Austria’ s lar-gest life sciences location.

Benefit fromour Knowledge

In 2010, LISA VR published two topic-specificbooklets: one on medical technology and asecond on production capacities, techno-logies and services in biotech and pharmain Vienna.

Both booklets can be ordered for free. Contact us atT +43 [1] 50175 358 or [email protected]

BIO International ConventionWashington, June 27-30, 2011

CPhI WorldwideFrankfurt, October 25-27, 2011

BIO-EuropeDüsseldorf, October 31 -November 2, 2011

MedicaDüsseldorf, November 16-19, 2011

Meet LISA VR abroad:

5th Research Panel of theAustrian Universities of AppliedSciencesApril 27-28, 2011

International Congress onPrevention of CongenitalDiseases - Newborn Screeningin EuropeMay 12-14, 2011

General Meeting of theEuropean Society for Animal CellTechnology-ESACTMay 15-18, 2011

eHealth 2011May 26-27, 2011

56th Annual Meeting of theInternational College of Dentists,European SectionJune 16-18, 2011

ISMB/ECCB 2011 –19th Annual International Conferenceon Intelligent Systems for MolecularBiology and 10th European Conferenceon Computational BiologyJuly 15-19, 2011

21st International Symposiumon GlycoconjugateAugust 21-26, 2011

13th World Congress of theWorld Federation for Ultrasoundin Medicine and BiologyAugust 26-28, 2011

The European Molecular BiologyOrganization Meeting 2011 –Advancing the Life SciencesSeptember 10-13, 2011

* This list is not exhaustive.

Life Science Events in Vienna*:


LISA VR started into 2011 with many newteam members: Johannes Sarx (AustriaWirtschaftsservice, aws) and Peter Halwachs(Technology promotion agency of the City ofVienna, ZIT) assumed their responsibility asmanaging directors of LISA VR in October2010, representing the respective owners ofthis joint initiative being the Ministry ofEconomy, Family and Youth and the City ofVienna. The core team of LISA VR consists offour people: Sabine Ecker, cluster managerfor biotechnology and pharma; Hans-PeterSpengler, cluster manager for medical tech-nology; Maria Hinnerth, project managermarketing and public relations; and JuergenFuchs, who is in charge of administration andcentral services.In addition, three employees of LISA VR'spartners are active in our projects: Eva MariaBeck (events, office) and Arnold Reikerstorfer(lecturer), both from aws as well as NadjaHermann (back office/controlling) from ZIT.

*

LIFE SCIENCE AUSTRIA vienna region’s newsletter

ZIT Focus on Life Sciences 2011–Financial Support for IndustrialR&D Projects

A New Year with a New Team

:: open for: all research projects of Viennese companies dealing with transfer of scientific research to innovative products and services

:: EUR 2 million for business R&DProjects

:: Grants of up to EUR 500,000per project

:: Project applications can besubmitted online from June 1 toSeptember 6, 2011

From Science toProducts 2011FACTS:: open for: all Viennese companies

active in R&D in the area of lifesciences

:: Funding budget EUR 2 million:: Grants of up to EUR 750,000

per project :: Project applications can be sub-

mitted online from March 1 toJune 16, 2011

Life Sciences 2011FACTS

*

ZIT serves as the technology promotionagency of the City of Vienna. The activities ofZIT encompass direct financial assistance(i.e. grants) to companies, providing techno-logy-specific infrastructure, as well asaccom panying services in all phases of theinnovation process.

In Vienna, the life science sector has develo-ped impressively in recent years. Many of theformer start-ups have grown up and are nowin clinical trials, also thanks to the extensiveventure capital which they have been able toraise. At the same time, the dynamic emer-gence of life science start-ups continuesunabatedly.

These developments comprise an additionalchallenge for Vienna’s technology policy. Thetechnology promotion agency of the city ofVienna wants to support all Viennese lifescience companies irrespective of theirdevelopment stage. Therefore, they arefocusing on Life Sciences in 2011. In thescope of this focus, there are two calls:

©LISA VR/Daniela Beranek

f.l.t.r: Peter Halwachs, Maria Hinnerth, Hans-Peter Spengler, Jürgen Fuchs, Sabine Ecker, Arnold Reikerstorfer,Eva Maria Beck, Johannes Sarx, Nadja Hermann

For further information please visit

www.zit.co.at/en, call T +43 [1] 4000

86 165, or contact the LISA VR experts

Sabine Ecker (Biotech & Pharma)

[email protected] or Hans-Peter Spengler

(Medtech), [email protected]


News

and energy. As of January 31, 2011, TÜVAustria Service GmbH certified SpantacGmbH to EN ISO 13485:2003+AC:2007+AC:2009 – the quality management systemmedical devices in the scope of design anddevelopment, manufacture, installation, servi-ce, and distribution of communicationsystems for telemedicine.

www.spantec.at

Biomay Appoints Rainer Henning as ChiefExecutive Officer

Biomay announced the appointment of Dr.Rainer Henning as new Chief ExecutiveOfficer. Rainer Henning looks back on a 30-year career in the pharmaceutical and bio-technology industry and in venture capitalinvesting. From 2005 to 2010, he was CEO ofFibrex Medical, Inc., a Cambridge based bio-pharmaceutical company developing pepti-des for acute care indications, including myo-cardial infarction, acute lung injury, and trans-plantation. Holding a PhD in chemistry, hebegan his career at Hoechst AG. He is the co-inventor of Tritace® and Odrik®, two blockbu-ster antihypertensives, and the author of over80 granted patents.

www.biomay.com

Nabriva completes recruitment for phaseII of pleuromutilin antibiotic BC-3781

Nabriva Therapeutics, a biotechnology com-pany focused on developing a new class ofantibiotics for serious infections caused byresistant pathogens, has completed recruit-ment of a phase II clinical trial of BC-3781 inacute bacterial skin and skin structure infec-tions. The pleuromutilin BC-3781 belongs tothe first generation of pleuromutilins to combi-ne excellent oral and intravenous bioavailabili-ty. BC-3781 is highly active against multi-drugresistant pathogens like methicillin resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

www.nabriva.com

EMCOOLS: latest development for strokepatients

In the previous year, EMCOOLS started a pro-gram to develop a novel cooling device desi-gned for fever reduction in stroke patients.With this device, EMCOOLS has once againtaken a pioneering role. The Flex.Pad will beused in the "Mainstream Arm" of the multi-center EuroHyp-study for surface cooling ofthe body. The Stroke.Pad will be exclusivelyevaluated in the "Exploratory Arm" of theEuroHYP-study for rapid cooling of the neckand carotid arteries in the out-of-hospital setting.

www.emcools.com

Marinomed’s Iota-Carrageenan effectiveagainst H1N1

Marinomed Biotechnologie GmbH, a compa-

ny focused on the development of innovativetherapies for respiratory diseases, announcedthat in vitro and in-vivo tests have demonstra-ted that Carrageenan is effective as a potentinhibitor of the influenza A virus infection(H1N1). Carrageenan is a polymer derivedfrom red seaweed which helps to create a pro-tective physical barrier in the nasal cavity andhas proven to be an effective antiviral in thetreatment of the common cold. The researcharticle entitled “Iota-Carrageenan is a PotentInhibitor of Influenza A Virus Infection” appearsonline in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

www.marinomed.com

Michael J. Fox Foundation funds AFFiRiSAG to develop Parkinson’s vaccine

With a grant of USD 475,000, the Michael J. FoxFoundation is funding preclinical development ofa vaccine against Parkinson’s disease byAFFiRiS AG. The vaccine, known as PD01, tar-gets the protein alpha-synuclein and might offerfor the first time a possibility for a treatment thatcan slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’sdisease. The basis of PD01 is the company’sAFFITOME® technology, which already delive-red, among others, two vaccines from AFFiRiSAG for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

www.affiris.com

evocatal and EUCODIS Bioscience enterinto collaboration agreement

The industrial biotech companies EUCODISBioscience and evocatal announced the for-mation of an alliance to jointly market thecompanies’ industrial enzyme products, inclu-ding alcohol dehydrogenases, lipases, andother enzymes. The two companies leveragetheir knowledge of customers’ needs in theirrespective markets as well as their comple-mentary resources to provide existing andfuture customers with a broader choice ofnovel enzymes and related services.

www.eucodis.comwww.evocatal.com

Vela Laboratories announces renewal ofGMP certificate for analytical and qualitycontrol laboratories

Vela Laboratories, a provider of analytical ser-vices to the global biopharmaceutical industry,announced the renewal of the GMP certifica-te for its analytical and quality control labora-tories until 2013. ´Good Manufacturing Prac -tice´ is a body of internationally acceptedregulations set forth by EU and US drug agen-cies. GMP compliance ensures that pharma-ceuticals, active ingredients, and medicaldevices are produced and quality-controlledaccording to state-of-the-art standards.

www.vela-labs.at

Miracor reports successful completion ofthe ‘Prepare PICSO’ clinical trial

Miracor Medical Systems GmbH announcedthe successful completion of the pilot study ofits PICSO® (Pressure-controlled IntermittentCoronary Sinus Occlusion) System, designedto improve acute coronary syndrome (ACS)revascularization following primary percutane-ous coronary intervention (PCI). The companywill now focus on starting its pivotal RAMSESclinical trial for early commercialization inEurope.

www.miracormedical.com

Intercell announces start of pivotal phaseII/III study for pediatric vaccine againstJapanese encephalitis

Intercell AG and its partner Biological E. Ltd.announced the start of a pediatric phase II/IIIstudy for the vaccine to protect children fromJapanese encephalitis. Data from a previousphase II study conducted in 2007 in India byBiological E. with vaccine manufactured atIntercell’s Scottish manufacturing site showedthat the vaccine has a comparable excellentimmunogenicity and safety profile in youngchildren (one year to under three years of age)as in adults, even if only half of the adult doseis applied.

www.intercell.com

Zytoprotec starts a phase I clinical trialfor PD-Protec

Zytoprotec develops therapies that enhancethe cellular stress response mechanism (cyto-protection). The first product based on thisnew therapy approach for the treatment ofkidney failure, PD-Protec, entered into aphase I clinical trial in February. Zytoprotec willpresent itself at BIO 2011 in Washington tolook for strategic partners for production andmarketing.

www.zytoprotec.com

Spantec is certified to the qualitymanagement system of medical devices

Spantec offers technology for innovative,electronic feedback systems within diverseareas such as telemedicine, industrial safety,

Company Newsb


sflash

established, thus bridging the gap betweenpatients, physicians and caregivers. To gua-rantee absolute security of health data, thetechnologies are based on special securityconcepts.

www.ait.ac.at/eHealth

Ignaz L. Lieben Prize 2010 and EvaLouise Köhler Research Prize 2010 go toCeMM Researchers

Robert Kralovics, Principal Investigator (PI) atCeMM is to receive the Ignaz L. Lieben Prize2010 for his discovery of the genetic andmolecular basis for a large group of chronicmyeloproliferative disorders. And KaanBoztug, PI at CeMM, was honored with the“Eva Luise and Horst Köhler Research Prizefor Rare Diseases”. He was successful inresearch on and development of targeted tre-atment for children suffering from Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome. Kaan Boztug received thehighly renowned award jointly with an interdi-sciplinary research team from Germany.

www.cemm.oeaw.ac.at

MedUni Vienna and University of Viennato set up joint research clusters

The New Year brings innovative forms of coo-peration at the university location of Vienna. AtMedUni Vienna and the University of Viennainterdisciplinary and inter-university, translatio-nal research projects will be launched in sixjoint research clusters. Based on an interna-tional evaluation, the two universities havedecided to finance the following projects fromthe total of 16 full applications:• Role of imbalanced mRNA stability in the

development of inflammation-associatedcolorectal cancer.

• Shared neural resources for music andlanguage: Verification and clinical exploita-tion.

• Chalcones and hematological malignancies– a model for the development of a drugoptimization platform in malignant disea-ses.

• Analyzing health data for the evolution ofpatient treatment processes - pilot projectskin cancer.

• Multimodal neuroimaging in clinical neuro-sciences: Assessment of neurobiologicalmarkers for psychiatric disorders.

• Microbial infections & host immune response

Vetmeduni Vienna: DNA double-strandbreak repair and the evolution of introndensity

The density of introns is both an importantfeature of genome architecture and a highlyvariable trait across eukaryotes. This hetero-geneity has posed an evolutionary puzzle forthe last 30 years. Recent evidence is consi-stent with novel introns being the outcome of

the error-prone repair of DNA double-stran-ded breaks via non-homologous end joining(NHEJ). Here researchers of the University ofVeterinary Medicine, Vienna, suggest thatdeletion of pre-existing introns could occur viathe same pathway. They propose a novel fra-mework in which species-specific differencesin the activity of NHEJ and homologousrecombination during the repair of DNA dou-ble-stranded breaks underlie changes inintron density. The paper DNA double-strandbreak repair and the evolution of intron densi-ty by Ashley Farlow, Eshwar Meduri andChristian Schlötterer is published in theJanuary issue of the journal Trends inGenetics (2011, Vol. 27, pp. 1-6).

www.vetmeduni.ac.at

New SFB "RNA regulation of the trans-criptome" approved by the FWF

The Austrian Science Fund FWF has appro-ved a new SFB (Special Research Program)"RNA regulation of the transcriptome" underthe lead of Renée Schroeder at the MaxPerutz Laboratories. The new RNA-REG SFBaims at revealing the function of regulatoryRNAs, understanding the mechanisms bywhich these regulations are achieved, andhow diverse RNA-mediated processes inter-connect to result in the observed phenotypes.Involving 11 research groups from CEMM,GMI, IMBA, IMP, the University of Vienna andthe Medical University of Vienna, the newRNA-REG SFB will be funded with approxi-mately EUR 4.3 million for the next 4 years.

TU: Mobility despite paraplegia – at theVienna University of Technology, mathe-matics helps patients to walk again

Spinal cord injuries often lead to paraplegiaand a life in a wheelchair. Signals from thebrain cannot be transmitted to the legs orarms any more. But, the spinal cord is not justa conducting cable. It has complex structuresof nerve cells, generating nerve pulses on itsown. Scientists at the Vienna University ofTechnology (TU Vienna) have studied thisphenomenon and achieved groundbreakingresults, which can make rehabilitation forpatients with paraplegia much easier.Ursula Hofstötter and Karen Minassian,mathematicians from the TU Vienna, develo-ped a method to stimulate nerves with elec-trodes. Electrical pulses from the electrodescan allow the patients to move their legsagain. No surgery is required: the electrodesjust have to be attached to the skin.

www.tuwien.at

This list is not exhaustive. Please go to www .lisavr.at for additional news.

IMP & IMBA: The weaponry ofsalmonellae

Bacteria like salmonellae infect their host cellsby needle-shaped extensions which they cre-ate in large numbers during an attack. Agroup of Vienna-based scientists headed byThomas Marlovits, joint group leader of IMPand IMBA, employed recently developedmethods of cryo-electron microscopy. Withthe help of these methods, they have beenable to clarify the structure of this infectionapparatus on the near-atomic scale. Theexact knowledge of the needles’ building planmay help to develop substances that interferewith its function and thus prevent infection.

www.imp.ac.atwww.imba.oeaw.ac.at

MedUni: Peptide prevents tumor growthand metastasis

For certain cells, it is necessary to move insi-de the body. This applies to immune cells, forexample, which have to detect invaders andalso tumor cells and render these harmless.Tumor cells often take advantage of this cha-racteristic and “capture” such cells or use thesame mechanisms to penetrate into the tissuethemselves and form metastases. In a currentstudy, researchers from the Medical Universityof Vienna have been able to inhibit the migra-tion of cancer cells with a special peptide.This enables new approaches in the battleagainst tumors.

www.medunivie.ac.at

AIT: Chronic disease management

Experts from the Austrian Institute ofTechnology developed a cutting edge ICTsystem with the goal of making a sustainableremote care management of chronic diseases(e.g. diabetes, heart failure) possible. Thesystem is based on a highly secure internettechnology platform and communicates withthe patient's cell phone. By implementingmedical treatment processes, developed inclose cooperation with AIT researchers andmedical experts, the researchers ensure thattheir development work is subject to ongoingmedical validation. Hereby a next generation“Closed Loop Healthcare” process will be

Academia NewsbYour news placed here:

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news and pr ess releases to news@lisavr .at to

contribute to LISA VR’ s online news collection

and this printed newsflash

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The attendance numbers at the competitionwere the highest ever: a total of 25 teamsparticipated in the last phase of the two-sta-ged competition. Researcher teams from allover the world, including Austria, Hungary,Germany, Poland, Singapore as well as theUS were submitting business plans. Theprize money awarded amounted to a total ofEUR 30,000 sponsored by Baxter, Boehrin -ger Ingelheim, and AFFiRis. In addition, thefirst LISA VR Medtech award in the amountof EUR 10,000 was granted.

The first prize (EUR 15,000) was awarded tothe young biotech company AyoxxA fromSingapore. The team of Dr. Andreas Schmidtcommercializes a platform that enables thesimultaneous measurement of multiple pro-teins as well as other biomolecular analytesfrom a single minute volume sample. The Viennese company Xiber Science setup by Sonja Reingruber and Peter Petzel -bauer was awarded the second prize (EUR10,000). The spinoff of the Medical UniversityVienna develops new peptides to reducemortality and morbidity of critical carepatients.And the third prize (EUR 5,000) went to theteam of Jürgen Jesenko and Horst Koinig.The Carinthian dental care company,Blueline, develops and distributes an intra -oral 3D scanner, which digitalizes dental im -pressions and leads to accurate dentalreplacements. Blueline also prevailed against

outstanding competitors from the medicaldevices industry and was furthermore awar-ded with the LISA VR Medtech Award in theamount of EUR 10,000. Four months after the award ceremony, LISAVR interviewed Dr. Schmidt of AyoxxA andasked him about the BOB participation andthe company developments afterwards.

LISA VR: How did you become aware ofthe BOB competition?If you are a biotech startup in a “small red

dot” city state likeSingapore, you realize at avery early stage that proba-bly your market, your part-ners, and potentially inves-tors are not just in front ofyour door, but actually faraway. Europe and the USappeared very early on ourscreen. Everything else isthen just Googling and loo-king for the right fit…

LISA VR: Can you explainyour submitted project inone sentence?

AyoxxA’s biochip can de tect and quantifyhundreds of proteins in a single most minutedroplet – Accura tely, Reliably, and Rapidly.

LISA VR: Did A yyoxA benefit from theparticipation in BOB respectively fromthe first prize? Well, the nice green mega-sized checkbecame the “decoration & inspiration” of ourlab and the money is still in our account. But more seriously: It was very valuablefeedback that we got from the jury. Many ofthem really hit the nail on the head concer-ning our strengths and weaknesses. I amactually in quite regular contact with some ofthe people I met during BOB. And finally ithas a psychological effect: If you work hardon pushing a “silly research project” to beco-me a serious biotech company, validation isvery important if a highly renowned jury putsa stamp of approval on your project andconfirms that there is some business sub-stance in what you are doing. So, for us, itwas very valuable by all accounts.

LISA VR: How do you rate the differen-ces in business funding between Singa -pore and Europe?It’s a completely different situation. Fifteenyears ago, Singapore basically did not existas a biotech hub. Many of the research insti-tutes and technology companies here juststarted. So by now there are quite a few sup-port schemes and government grants availa-ble in Singapore. There is also a small butdistinct community of private people willingto put their money into biotech and there areseveral schemes that attracted venture capi-tal firms to set up office here. But, of course,it is still all in an early stage. In Europe, I havethe impression that there are quite a numberof regional funding schemes as well as VCs,which are actually fairly flexible from Viennato Amsterdam and Munich to London.By this time there is even some more greatnews about AyoxxA: At the beginning of2011 they were selected as a recipient of

SPRING Singapore’s CommercializationGrant TECS in the amount of about EUR300,000. Furthermore, the Kauffman Foun -dation listed AyoxxA under the top ten of the50 most promising startups. And Dr. Schmidwas nominated as “Junior Scientist of theyear 2010” by the German weekly newspa-per “Die Zeit”.

*www.ayoxxa.comwww.bestofbiotech.at

Best of Biotech 2010:The Winners

In October 2010, the international life science business plan competition “Best of Biotech” (BOB) – funded by the Ministryof Economy, Family and Youth (BMWFJ) and organized by Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) took place for the fifth time.

© Florian Mair

© Florian Mair

f.l.t.r.: Dr. Schmidt, AyoxxA (Singapore): Winner of thefirst prize and Dr. Ehrlich, VP, Global Research andDevelopment, Baxter BioScience

f.l.t.r.: M. Losch (BMWFJ), M. Müller (Chairman of the BOBJury, MUW), J. Jesenko (Blueline), H. Koinig (Blueline), P.Halwachs (LISA VR), J. Sarx (Austria Wirtschaftsservice)


emergentec launches the BASE and BIO software platforms.

ces projects turns out to be extensive,heterogeneous, and related in a specific way.Thus, data handling itself, traceability anddocumentation has become an essentialfactor in practice. emergentec addressesthese issues with its enterprise softwaresolution BASE. The BASE technology ena-bles management of life sciences content indistributed, multi-user project settings.

Going BIOnd: data integrationand analytics

Bernd Mayer, Founder & Managing Partner:“Once the data is available in a structuredform, our BIO platform expands annotation,fosters further integration, and consequent-ly improves interpretation.”

Putting specific results into the right contextis another crucial factor besides contentmanagement. Development of diagnostic orprognostic biomarkers, therapeutic targets,or the investigation of specific molecularmechanisms have to be considered in thecontext of relevant information of scientificliterature, from patents, clinical trials, andmore. The BIO software solution is an auto-mated information extraction and contextvisualization framework for gene and protein

specific content relevant in applied R&D. BIOconveniently provides linked content togenes and proteins which are related in aneighborhood network.

Leading technology from Vienna for aninternational research initiativeemergentec coordinates the large-scale inte-grated European Union FP7 project SysKid(Systems Biology towards novel chronic kid-ney disease diagnosis and treatment). Thisproject aims to utilize a holistic view on a cli-nical phenotype for going towards stratifiedmedicine. This project, with a total projectvolume of EUR 16 Mio, assembles 25 rese-arch groups from Europe and NorthAmerica. SysKid aligns broad molecular datageneration and large-scale epidemiology onthe clinically highly relevant field of chronickidney disease in the context of diabetes andhypertension. Structuring and populating thedata graph on this disease phenotype holdsthe promise of early stage risk assessment,followed by more accurate patient stratifica-tion, in turn providing the ground for tailored the-rapy for improving outcome (ref: Bioinformaticsfor Omics data: Methods and Protocols, B.Mayer (ed), ‘Methods in Molecular Biology’, Vol.719, Humana Press (2011)).

*www.emergentec.comwww.syskid.euhttp://base.emergentec.comhttp://bio.emergentec.com

Data generation in molecular biology and cli-nical research has seen a dramatic boost inthe recent past, centrally resting on techno-logical development in miniaturization andhigh throughput approaches, all leading tothe Omics revolution. Generating such con-tent has become relatively easy, but efficienthandling, tight integration, and added-valueinterpretation have become not only a con-ceptual but also technological challenge.Particularly for translational medicine - aimedat bridging the clinical phenotype andrespective pathophysiological (molecular)basis – an integrative approach to data pro-cessing promises significant steps forward inovercoming yet unmet clinical needs. For a decade, emergentec biodevelopmentGmbH has been targeting such challenges ina broad spectrum of applied R&D projectstogether with customers and partners fromthe Life Sciences industry in Vienna, centralEurope, and worldwide. Inspired by thevision to push translational research anddevelopment via computational methodolo-gies and tools, emergentec launched theBASE and BIO software solutions for LifeSciences content handling, integration, anddevelopment.

The BASE: data handling

Arno Lukas, Founder & Managing Partner:“Before efficient integration and analysis canstart in data rich Life Sciences projects, theheterogeneous content has to become avai-lable in a structured way in the first place.”

Innovation in modern life sciences is funda-mentally data driven, spanning research,development, intellectual property, and mar-ket information. Typical content in life scien-

Navigation in thedata jungle

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© Mark Evans


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Advanced Servicesin Vienna:Quality & Safety

Quality and safety play an important part in r esearch and development as wellas in production. At the life science location V ienna, numerous service provi-ders offer their expertise in compliance with regulatory requirements. Their ser-vices range from biosafety assurance, hygiene auditing, and analytical tests toquality assurance through a validated electronic data processing system.

CAS Clean-Air-Service AG is experiencedin cleanroom measuring technology, controland consulting in most areas of medicineand manufacturing industry – in particular, inthe biotech, pharma, and medtech indu-stries.

Laboratorium für Betriebshygiene GmbH(labh) is a pharmaceutical contract organiza-tion offering analytical services in microbiolo-gy, as well as GMP and hygiene auditing,consulting and training services. The micro-biological analyses cover products and auxi-liary materials, such as water and bioindica-tors, as well as surface and air bioburden.The analytical services include routine analy-ses, validation studies and environmentaltrouble-shooting in the pharmaceutical andfood industry.

Mycosafe Diagnostics GmbH, a GMP-cer-tified service provider, is one of the few sup-pliers worldwide specializing in mycoplasmabiosafety assurance and prevention controlfor cell lines as well as biological and bio-pharmaceutical products, including vaccinesand cell therapy applications.

ofi the Austrian Resear ch Institute forChemistry and Technology is a qualifiedpartner for testing and analysis, monitoring,quality assurance, and certification. It offers abroad range of tests including chemical andphysical tests, microbiological tests and in-vitro toxicology testing. Furthermore, ofi is anexpert for development and testing of pak-kaging.

Vela Laboratories offers a broad portfolio ofanalytical testing and consulting for preclini-cal & clinical development of protein andimmune therapeutics including vaccines andmonoclonal antibodies in a GMP-relatedenvironment.

vidavis has developed a validated electronicsystem for capturing and processing thedocumentation essential to GMP production,including everything from standard operatingprocedures (SOPs) to management of testplans and raw data. Every stage in the life ofa document – from creation through chek-king to release – is carried out electronically.Once authorized for release, documents arestored in a publication system, so that onlythe current version is available. The entirehistory of each document is recorded in anaudit trail and securely archived.

ViruSure GmbH is a privately ownedGMP/GLP certified service provider speciali-zing in virus and prion safety testing of bio-pharmaceutical products. ViruSure offersclient-focused contract testing services withthe expertise to ensure meeting the regulato-ry requirements for safety testing. Both the invivo and in vitro testing facilities operateunder a state-of-the-art risk-based qualitymanagement system.

Do you want to know more about advancedservices in Vienna? Order LISA VR’s bookleton Production Capacities, Technologiesand Services in V ienna – Focusing onBiotech & Pharma

Contact us atT +43 [1] 50175 358 or of [email protected]



lisa vr newsletter 01/2011

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