With expansion a prime focus for businesses
worldwide, many are looking
The latest business developments from across Europe & Middle East by Heather Hobbs To appear in our next issue, send your Business and Financial News stories to
heather@intlabmate.com
towards rapidly establishing new regions of growth, particularly in Europe and the Middle East.
Accelerator to Nurture Notebook Developer
Berlin start-up and electronic notebook developer labfolder is to benefi t from support, coaching and consulting after being chosen, along with six other companies out of 475 applicants, for the Merck Group’s global Accelerator programme. Simon Bungers, co-founder and CEO of labfolder, said: “We are thrilled to be included in the program. It not only opens doors for us to the research-based pharmaceuticals industry,
but also to the world of laboratory materials manufacturers. This combination within the Merck Group is ideal for labfolder.”
He continued, “At Merck, they know how to work in the laboratory, but they also know how to design and sell products for laboratories and what those labs need. We are also open to partnerships with laboratory equipment suppliers - such as with our SmartLAB application - and Merck is a great partner for us. They can help us to make our product more attractive from a laboratory supplier’s point of view, and at the same time, they can test our product directly in Merck’s labs from a laboratory user’s perspective.”
Munya Chivasa, head of the Merck Accelerator program added: “The labfolder team, much like Merck, is focused on developing solutions and products to help researchers succeed. We are excited to work with them through the Accelerator program to explore further developments.”
During September to November, labfolder will be sending two to three of its 20 employees at a time from Berlin to spend a certain number of days over the next three months in Darmstadt, where part of the Merck Accelerator is located in the group’s innovation centre, which was opened in 2015. The other part of the Accelerator is located in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
Simon Bungers MRC to Fund Diagnostic Test Development
Leeds University and the Avacta Group have been awarded a £3.8 million grant by the Medical Research Council (UK) to develop next generation biosensors to differentiate between bacterial and viral infections and also to determine which bacterial strain has caused the infection so that the correct antibiotic can be quickly administered. This will allow for more targeted use of antibiotics, reducing the number of wrongly prescribed treatments and increasing effi cacy for patients, which will contribute to a reduction in anti- microbial resistance (AMR).
As an engineered alternative to antibodies, Affi mer reagents can target bacterial or viral proteins with a high degree of specifi city and used to create accurate diagnostic tests and laboratory assays, or used to develop new therapeutic candidates, said the company. The development of the biosensors will take place at Leeds University in the Groups of Professors Christoph Walti (Electronic Engineering) and Mike McPherson (Biochemistry). As part of the
collaborative agreement between Avacta and the University of Leeds, Avacta will have the fi rst rights to commercialise the new Affi mer reagents and new diagnostic tests developed under the programme.
Alastair Smith, Avacta Group Chief Executive commented: “There is a growing, global need for diagnostic tests that differentiate bacterial strains. Anti-microbial resistance is a huge issue for healthcare providers and one that is only going to get worse if the prescription of antibiotics is not targeted by accurate and rapid diagnostics. This programme fi ts perfectly with our near term commercial strategy to focus on developing Affi mer reagents for rapid diagnostics. It will deliver valuable Affi mer reagents that are specifi c to key bacterial strains, which can be developed into a range of third party diagnostic platforms. In the longer term the programme will also deliver novel, microfl uidic, rapid test devices, which may surpass existing technologies.
43856pr@reply-direct.com Alastair Smith
43855pr@reply-direct.com
Business
Opportunities
Europe & Middle East
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