Date: 2014-01-10
Type of information: Opening of new premises
Compound: R&D facility
Company: BioNTech (Germany) Ganymed Pharmaceuticals (Germany)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: opening of new premises
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details: * On October 1, 2014, BioNTech and Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, two premier German biotechology companies, announced the joint- opening of a new approx. 10,000 square-meters (108,000 squarefeet) headquarters and research facility in Mainz, Germany. The new facility brings together 300 employees and is located in close proximity to academic The new building is among the largest privately held research facilities in Germany, which both companies - BioNTech
institutions (Johannes-Gutenberg University), hospitals (University Medical Center) and cancer research institutions such as the leading translational oncology institute “TRON” with access to highly skilled scientists and clinicians as well as supercomputing infrastructure.
and Ganymed - lease from their main investors Andreas and Thomas Strüngmann. BioNTech and Ganymed scientists will work in state-of-the-art lab space on a range of pre-clinical and clinical programs mainly in the field of highly personalized cancer therapies:
Founded in 2008, BioNTech develops and produces individualized cancer immunotherapies with a focus on novel and disruptive technologies, such as mRNA-based biologicals or innovative antigen-receptor / T-cell-receptor therapies. BioNTech is organized into six fully-integrated companies including a world-leading cGMP production site for gene and cell therapy and RNA therapeutic products. BioNTech has 300 employees, of which over 200 will be based in the new research facility.
Ganymed - spin-off in 2001 from the universities of Mainz and Zurich - currently has 90 employees located in Mainz. Its highly selective antibody (IMAB362) against stomach / esophagus cancer is in advanced stages of clinical trials. After
the majority of 21 patients treated in a phase IIa trial showed a significant slow- down of the cancer, Ganymed has now recruited 210 patients for a phase IIb trial. In addition, a second antibody (IMAB027) against ovary cancer entered phase I/II trials in early 2014.
The grand opening was celebrated today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in thepresence of the Secretary of Commerce and Vice President of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Eveline Lemke, Minister of State for Education and Science, Doris Ahnen, Mayor Michael Ebeling as well as the investors Andreas and Thomas Strüngmann.
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