IZB Martinsried/Munich IZB: leading life science business development
In an exclusive interview with Life Science CLUSTERS, Dr Peter Hanns Zobel, Managing Director of the Innovation and Startup Centers for Biotechnology (IZB) located near Munich, Germany, outlines the aims of the biotech incubators and their plans for the future.
IZB was founded in 1995 by the Bavarian Ministries of Economy and Finance in Germany to help life science companies establish themselves in the Munich area. The organisation was founded with a mission to offer optimal conditions for young life science entrepreneurs and for start-ups to bring their life science product and service ideas to the market. IZB offers entrepreneurs optimal building infrastructure at fair rental prices in a life science competence campus that sets a worldwide benchmark. “Scientists whose research and technologies no longer belong to the area of pure research but are not yet ready to be marketed can start their work here immediately and profit from our extensive experience and network,” says Dr Peter Hanns Zobel, Managing Director of IZB. “In this respect, individual solutions and strategies are often required. Since 1995, IZB has overseen the founding of more than 100 companies – Morphosys, Medigene Micromet, 4SC are listed on the stockmarket – and has grown up to 25,000 sq m at two locations, Martinsried and Freising-Weihenstephan, near Munich.” IZB has no specific rules on how long a company can stay in the innovation centre, but once companies reach a certain size, it can no longer fullfil their needs. In these cases, IZB tries to keep them in the general area by finding them new buildings nearby. “The majority of former IZB companies are located nearby and form the backbone of Bavaria’s Life Science Cluster,” says Zobel. Typical newcomers are spin-offs from university or research institutes, but IZB has also attracted a US company, Exosome, which was keen to establish its European business within IZB. Another important tenant type are service companies that can help and sustain the business of classical drug discovery or diagnostic services. IZB also hosts some companies developing and manufacturing new analytical instruments supporting drug discovery and development. IZB has good co-operation and relations with other organisations in the Munich area and with the Bavarian life sciences centres in Regensburg, Straubing and Würzburg. IZB is also in contact with other incubators and regularly welcomes visitor groups from other centres worldwide.
“IZB’s intention is to maintain its status as one of the top life science locations,” says Zobel. “We are planning the construction of
personalised medicines, we in IZB are aiming to set up the best conditions to make advances possible.
“IZB is a real success story and our vision is to always enrich our campus with new ideas and companies, and always to be one step ahead in order to remain at the forefront in life science business development.”
IZB company news
a new meeting area where international scientists will be able to have constructive dialogue with all the life science institutions, organisations and companies within IZB and in the Munich region to discuss future co-operation and collaborations. We are also supporting plans for an underground line connecting the campus in Martinsried with the city of Munich and the campus in Garching.
“Life sciences represent one of the leading science areas of the 21st century,” states Zobel. “They will bring us the key to cure terminal illnesses and for finding new applications for new drugs. They will also provide new solutions to protect the environment and to ensure food supply. Whether a company is looking to develop a blockbuster-type drug or to develop
4SC AG, an IZB company working in discovery and development of targeted small-molecule drugs for autoimmune diseases and cancer, has released its financial results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2011. Key results in the third quarter of 2011 include the FDA granting orphan drug status to the company’s lead oncology compound resminostat in the indications of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL); the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommending resminostat for designation as an orphan medicinal product in the EU in the indication of HCC; and the announcement of positive top-line results from the Phase 2 SAPHIRE study of resminostat in HL. After the end of the reporting period (October 2011) the EMA recommended resminostat as an orphan medicinal product in the EU for the treatment of HL. In addition, 4SC announced the final results of its Phase 2b COMPONENT study with the
IZB, the Innovation and Founding Center for biotech start-ups located in Martinsried/Munich
Life Science CLUSTERS Supplement 3
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