Strengthening the life sciences activities in Nort

Strengthening the life sciences activities in North Germany

Kiel, Hamburg, March 5th, 2008. To develop innovative drugs more efficiently is the goal of the consortium NEU ² (new-square) , which consists of the Kiel based  Bionamics GmbH (Project leadership and contest applicant)  the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Evotec AG, European ScreeningPort GmbH and the German pharma corporation Merck KGaA.

The highly experienced partners have worked out a concept to significantly accelerate the development of new drugs for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
The combination of excellent drug discovery and development know-how from Germany – from basic research to clinical trials, to cover the complete value chain from research to development and commercialisation – is the intention of NEU ².
This contribution is not only crucial for the improvement of the production of urgently needed drugs, but also a strengthening of the bio-pharmaceutical activities in Germany.
Dr. Timm-H. Jessen, spokesman of the consortium, emphasises the importance of the BMBF decision: “We will bridge the gap between Academia and Pharma industry. We are very pleased that an independent institution like the BMBF has confirmed our business concept and look forward to working together with our partners”.
Dr. Bernd Kirschbaum, R&D Executive of Merck Serono, adds:” BioPharma for us is an interesting approach to innovative research in networking with academia, biotech and other pharmaceutical companies. We are delighted that our consortium NEU ² with an approach coming out of our core business has made it through the first round of this contest”.
For Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein the success is a further confirmation of its life science cluster policy.
The founding of the European ScreeningPort GmbH and the high degree of networking within the region, has supported the setup of the consortium NEU ² with the assistance of the North German Life Science Agency Norgenta.
“The fact that Merck has chosen strategic partners from North Germany shows how well progressed the cluster development in our region is”, so Dr. Kathrin Adlkofer, Managing Director of Norgenta.

About BioPharma Strategy Contest
“BioPharma – The Strategy Contest for Medicine of the Future,” the new competition-based funding scheme (€100 Mio.) of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, calls upon business consortiums to submit sustainable, long-term concepts for the improvement of the biopharmaceutical value chain. The intent is to identify biopharmaceutical research with commercially relevant results and to improve and accelerate its development into clinical application. The contest promotes not only promising science but also creative, trendsetting and productive partnerships.