Press releases

The human immune system can recognize and eliminate not only germs but also cancer cells. This is why treatments with weakened germs can help the immune system in its fight against cancer. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin have genetically modified the tuberculosis vaccine BCG in a way that it stimulates the immune system more specifically. Consequently, the new vaccine offers much greater protection against tuberculosis. A clinical study with patients suffering from cancer of the bladder has now shown that a therapy with VPM1002 could successfully prevent the recurrence of tumours in almost half of the patients who had not responded previously to the BCG therapy. The results could lead to the early approval of the drug for the treatment of cancer of the bladder so that as many patients as possible can profit from this quickly.

Khanu Management GmbH (Khanu), a drug discovery focused fund management team, announces the successful launch of KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-I), based in Dortmund, Germany.

In 2008, the Max Planck Society launched the Lead Discovery Center (LDC) in Dortmund. The organization, which is now independent, picks up on the results of basic research and uses them to develop substances that can then be tested by license or cooperative partners in clinical studies with the aim of establishing whether they are suitable for use in drugs. Ten years after its establishment, the LDC can look back on some impressive results: one of its research projects has managed to make the leap to the clinical stage and is currently being tested in a phase 1b study; two others will be following soon. In all, the LDC has filed 23 patent applications and granted licenses to cooperative partners for research into 15 more substances.

Alnylam Announces First-Ever FDA Approval of an RNAi Therapeutic, ONPATTRO™ (patisiran) for the Treatment of the Polyneuropathy of Hereditary Transthyretin-Mediated Amyloidosis in Adults Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ONPATTRO™ (patisiran) lipid complex injection, a first-of-its-kind RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic, for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis in adults. ONPATTRO is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for this indication. The therapy is, among others, based on patented research findings from the Max Planck Society, which have exclusively been licensed to Alnylam by the technology transfer organization Max Planck Innovation. In addition to polyneuropathy, hATTR amyloidosis can lead to other significant disabilities including decreased ambulation with the loss of the ability to walk unaided, a reduced quality of life, and a decline in cardiac functioning. In the largest controlled study of hATTR amyloidosis, ONPATTRO was shown to improve polyneuropathy –with significant benefit on the neurological components of the disease in a majority of patients – and to improve a composite quality of life measure, reduce autonomic symptoms, and improve activities of daily living.

The pharmaceutical company IBI (Istituto Biochimico Italiano Giovanni Lorenzini SpA) obtained a license from Max Planck Innovation for the use of Silibinin in the treatment of Cushing´s disease. Based on research findings from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry IBI aims to develop a non-invasive treatment option replacing conventional methods like pituitary surgery. IBI is now planning GLP preclinical trials and initiates orphan drug application.

With the European Inventor Award 2018, the European Patent Office (EPO) honored Jens Frahm of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen for his ground-breaking advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In two steps, the physicist and his team succeeded in speeding up MRI by a factor of up to 10,000 and established it in clinical practice.

ProteoPlex has exclusively licensed a technology from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and has launched the MacroDSF, an instrument aimed at helping research institutions, pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations solve problems in structural biology. In addition, ProteoPlex has also gained access to additional technologies, including a novel protein purification process and an algorithm for determining the optimum stability parameters for macromolecular proteins.

Aircloak, a leader in the field of privacy enhancing technology received a $1.3M equity investment from Speedinvest and Constantia New Business with existing shareholders Max Planck Innovation and Elephant & Castle Capital joining the round. The “Aircloak Insights” solution, which allows companies worldwide to have GDPR compliance at a click, has been approved by the independent French data protection authority, CNIL, for all data types and use cases. Aircloak was founded in 2014 to commercialize and build on privacy protection research done at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems.

Daiichi Sankyo, Max Planck Innovation GmbH and the Lead Discovery Center GmbH have signed an agreement providing Daiichi Sankyo with the option to receive the exclusive rights to a new lead compound for the treatment of cancer to be discovered and developed at the Lead Discovery Center.

The Munich-based medical technology company terraplasma medical GmbH successfully completed the first round of major financing (seed). The raised money, a seven-figure Euro amount, will be used to develop plasma care and establish the market approval. This mobile, battery-powered medical device for in- and outpatient treatment of chronic and acute wounds using cold plasma, which destroys fungi and even multi-resistant bacteria, is based on research of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics.

The technology transfer organisation of the Max Planck Society has come to an agreement with the US start-up company Lula Robotics to use a technology for “continuous motion optimization and control”. Based on the technique from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen Lula Robotics is developing robots, which can act independently in complex environments. The goal is to create the bedrock for artificial aides supporting people in everyday life in the future.

The start-up company PreOmics licenses several technologies of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried for the preparation of samples for proteomic research through Max Planck Innovation. In particular, an innovative sample preparation kit facilitates the use of mass spectrometry for research into proteins. In the future this could open up new opportunities in pharmaceutical development and diagnostics.

Under the motto "Building bridges, transcending borders", 23 start-up companies presented their research projects at the Falling Walls Venture science competition on 8 November in Berlin. The company nominated by Max Planck Innovation, Vaxxilon, emerged as the winner and was proclaimed the "Science Start-Up of the Year 2016" for its development of a carbohydrate-based agent. The new agent should make vaccinations against bacterial infections cheaper in the future and thereby also improve access to vaccines in poorer countries.

STED microscopy is a Nobel Prize awarded technology that allows to create highly resolved fluorescence images far below the diffraction limit. Earlier this year, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have proposed and demonstrated their new Protected STED concept which enhances the image contrast and reduces photobleaching in STED microscopy by up to an order of magnitude. It is expected that their invention will particularly boost life-cell and medical applications of STED microscopy.

Max Planck Innovation together with six other new members reinforces the nationwide Verband für Wissens- und Technologietransfer (Federation for the Transfer of Knowledge and Technology) from German universities and research facilities. The country's largest network for the exploitation of research results from the German scientific community offers industry access to Germany´s largest pool of patented high technology.

Sugar does not just make vaccines sweet. Some vaccines owe their effect to carbohydrates, to which sugar belongs. Vaxxilon, a company jointly founded by the Max Planck Society and the Swiss firm Actelion Ltd, will carry out research and development of these carbohydrate-based vaccines and bring them to market. The synthetic vaccines will primarily provide protection against bacterial infections. With a view to launching them on the market, Vaxxilon has acquired the exclusive rights to various preclinical vaccine candidates and methods from Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH, the Max Planck Society’s technology transfer company. The scientific basis for Vaxxilon’s business model was established by a team of scientists headed by Peter Seeberger, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam/Golm.

The ideas and inventions arising from research projects of the joint venture between Max Planck Society and Saarland University’s computer science department will in future to be further developed on campus and then marketed for application. Scientists can either set up their own companies or develop the technology to the stage where established businesses can purchase these licenses. In support of these scientists, Max Planck Society and Saarland University co-founded the IT Inkubator GmbH to create structures, which inventors and young entrepreneurs need in order to bring new technologies to market.