Biotop-report 2012

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BioTOP-Report 

2012

 Biotechnology in Berlin-Brandenburg

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BioTOPics 44 | May 2012 

BioTOP-Report

Editorial

Excellence in Life Sciences and Healthcare 

3

Industry

Biotech Industry Continues to Grow 

4

Biotech Parks

The BioCampus Network Berlin-Brandenburg 

18

Life Sciences

Excellent Research in Berlin-Brandenburg 

24

Theranostics

A New Approach in Individualized Healthcare for the Future 

28

Health-IT

New Opportunities for Biotechnology on the Interface between Life Sciences and IT 

30

Biomaterials

Biotechnologically Improved Biomaterials from Berlin and Brandenburg 

32

Bioeconomy

Towards the Age of the Bioeconomy  

42

Global Business

The Role of Berlin-Brandenburg in the European Context 

44

Education

Knowledge-Based Leadership 

46

Addresses  

49

Publisher: TSB Innovationsagentur Berlin GmbH · Division Life Sciences/Healthcare · BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg

Fasanenstraße 85 · 10623 Berlin · Germany · Phone [phone] · Fax [phone] · [e-mail] · www.biotop.de

Editor: Yvonne Küchler

Design & Production: supiran.de

Translation: Textbüro Reul GmbH · Frankfurt

Photos/Figures: BioTOP or Authors and: Titel: Jankaliciak* (DNA-molecule) Kirsty Pargeter* (DNA), Andreiadis* (Molecule background), Dzombie* (Hand), 

Christoph Buckstegen (Sony Center), Andrey Armyagov* (Test tubes) Page 5: Lightpoet*, Maximus117; Page 9: Martin Joppen (Portrait Maas) Page 10: Ioana 

Davies*; Page 11: Bernd Blumrich (Portrait Siodla); Page 22: Vanillla*; Page 24: Silke Oßwald, FMP (Portrait Haucke); Page 25: MDC/David Ausserhofer (Portrait 

Rosenthal), Helmholtz/Dawin Meckel (Portrait Mlynek) Page 26: Chaoss*, Raduhuc*; Page 31: Frank Nuernberger (Portrait Tosun) Page 44: Moth*; Page 48: 

TSB/Uwe Steinert [*dreamstime.com]

Content

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BioTOPics 44 | May 2012 

BioTOP-Report 

Editorial

Excellence in Life Sciences and Healthcare

Over the past 20 years, the biotechnology industry in Berlin-Brandenburg has developed into an innovation 

driver which also influences many other sectors. Both in research and industry, we have seen continuous 

growth in the number of institutions and companies engaged in biotechnology. This growth is driven primarily 

by excellent research. The region’s unique density of prestigious science and research facilities forms an ideal 

breeding ground for the foundation and location of research-oriented health sector companies. Internationally, 

Berlin-Brandenburg now counts as one of the world’s leading healthcare and life science locations.

More than 200 biotechnology and 30 pharmaceutical companies 

are located in the German Capital Region. They include global 

corporations like Bayer HealthCare, Bausch & Lomb, B. Braun 

Melsungen, Berlin-Chemie, Pfizer, Sanofi and Nycomed Takeda. 

Along with the sector’s many small and mid-sized companies, 

they benefit from close cooperation, both with science and with 

more than 130 hospitals – among them, above all, one of Eu-

rope’s largest university hospitals: Charité – Universitätsmedizin 

Berlin.

The new capabilities of IT-based technologies open up entirely 

new potentials for biotechnology and healthcare in the direction 

of increasingly personalised diagnostics and therapy. In this re-

gard, too, the German Capital Region is a founder Mecca of the 

IT industry and boasts major companies and institutions like SAP, 

Siemens and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam. 

Based on its excellence in interdisciplinary and translational co-

operation, the Cluster HealthCapital Berlin Brandenburg is gen-

erating innovations which are to benefit patients as soon as pos-

sible. Close networking of all players in the region is essential to 

accelerate the translation of the newest research findings into in-

novative products. As part of the joint innovation strategy of the 

states of Berlin and Brandenburg (innoBB), this task was assigned 

to the cluster management organisation HealthCapital. BioTOP 

forms part of this cluster management, and we are pleased to 

present the most important developments in the life sciences, 

pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to you in this BioTOP-Report 

2012 in the new layout of the Cluster HealthCapital.

We hope you enjoy reading our report and look forward to con-

tinuing good cooperation with you.

Dr. Kai Bindseil

Dr. Kai Bindseil

Director BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg 

Cluster Manager HealthCapital

[e-mail]

www.biotop.de

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4

BioTOPics 44 | May 2012 

BioTOP-Report

Industry

Biotech Industry Continues to Grow

The Berlin-Brandenburg biotech industry has continued to develop positively in 2011. As in previous years, 

the number of employees grew by 4 %. Compared to the average growth rate of 3.5 % of the last years, that is 

a good result and a sign of the dynamism in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. Currently 215 companies employ 

4,068 people here. 

Business development in 2011 

Once again in 2011, BioTOP carried out a survey of regional com-

panies to learn about current developments and gain a compre-

hensive overview of the business landscape. In 2011, the number 

of companies increased by 17 newly registered businesses. They 

include five new start-ups, six companies that began their busi-

ness operations in 2011 and six that were newly listed. Two com-

panies ceased operations. 

The new companies are smaller units with a strong focus on ser-

vices and product developments that are close to the market. 

One example – financed by the High-Tech Gründerfonds – is the 

OakLabs GmbH, providing services and products in the field of 

customer-specific SNP analysis and focusing on the development 

of diagnostic DNA markers for complex attributes. Another is 

TissUse GmbH, which was founded by TU Berlin and is a prod-

uct of the GO-Bio competition sponsored by the German Federal 

Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The company has 

developed the following innovation: Using a multi-organ biore-

actor in chip format, substances can be tested on humans even 

before exposition, thereby enabling the prediction of consumer-

relevant reactions.

Overall, there has been little change in the size of companies 

in recent years. 62 % of all companies recorded are small busi-

nesses with fewer than ten employees. However, those compa-

nies employ less than 16 % of the sector’s workforce, while 32 % 

JANUARY 2011

RNL Bio (Korea) acquires the Berlin  stem cell company Pharmicell Europe 

++++ 

QIAGEN to acquire stake in Alacris, gaining access to biomarker pipeline 

for use in personalized healthcare assays 

++++ 

GILUPI GmbH: VC funding in 

the amount of Euro 3.6 million

FEBRUARY 2011 

MOLOGEN AG: Euro 10 Mio capital increase 

++++ 

The European Commission 

awards the newly created “Region of Excellence” label to Brandenburg

MARCH 2011

Algenol announces acquisition of Cyano Biofuels GmbH 

++++ 

Revotar Bio-

pharmaceuticals meets primary endpoint in Phase II COPD study with inhaled 

Bimosiamose

APRIL 2011 

Co.don AG: exclusive agreement with Novomedics GmbH to distribute its cell-

based therapy chondrosphere

®

 for Switzerland 

++++ 

Glycotope Biotechnol-

ogy expands GMP production facility to 11 kg antibody per year and starts 

phase I clinical trial of FSH-GEX for the treatment of anovulatory infertility 

MAY 2011

Lonza and ORGANOBALANCE enter global license agreement to develop 

and market unique probiotic (Lactobacillus anti-H. pylori) 

++++ 

The patient 

inclusion criteria for the MOLOGEN AG clinical study of the colorectal cancer 

medicine MGN1703 are broadened. This creates the opportunity to obtain the 

expected market approval for the drug independently of a specified first-line 

therapy 

++++ 

Caprotec bioanalytics increases series B financing in second 

closing to 5 million Euros

JUNE 2011

Silence Therapeutics` Atu027 demonstrates promising anti-tumour activity 

in Phase I study presented at ASCO 

++++ 

BIOTECON Diagnostics completes 

development of a rapid test for EHEC (enterohemorrhagic E. coli) to combat 

the epidemic which also provides specific proof of the circulating EHEC strain 

O104:H4 

++++ 

The start-up company Spreelabs of Freie Universität Berlin 

receives award in the business plan competition Science4Life Venture Cup 

2011 for its temperature reference plate also named “DNA Thermometer”, 

which has been registered for patent.

JULY 2011

Metanomics Health officially launches its Energy Metabolite Platform, a 

unique target platform based on metabolite profiling of the energy status of 

a biological system 

AUGUST 2011

ProBioGen licences its innovative GlymaxX

®

 technology to Boehringer Ingel-

heim 

++++ 

co.don AG cultivates cartilage cell transplants for the Asklepios 

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