Gene editing from Dresden attracts pharmaceutical giants with billion-euro investment
A strong signal for Dresden as a biotech and start-up location: TU Dresden produces around 20 start-ups every year
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Pioneering cooperation for the development of outstanding biotech solutions: The biotech start-up "Seamless Therapeutics", a spin-off from the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), has signed a cooperation agreement with Eli Lilly worth over one billion euros. Eli Lilly is one of the world's largest and most research-intensive pharmaceutical companies. The company is known for pioneering drugs for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and cancer, among other things.
Prof. Frank Buchholz, whose research group at the Chair of Medical Systems Biology is investigating effective and safe cell and gene therapies, is co-founder of the TUD start-up "Seamless Therapeutics".
© Medizinische Fakultät der TU Dresden
Seamless Therapeutics is based on patented research results from TUD and has received extensive support from the Transfer and Startup Center TUD|excite and the SaxoCell future cluster since the early research phases. The startup has developed a technology that can be used to correct genetic spelling mistakes directly in the genome. With this so-called gene editing platform, diseases - such as genetic hearing loss - can not only be treated, but also essentially repaired.
With around 100 patent applications, TUD is one of the most patent-rich universities in Germany and Europe and produces around 20 start-ups every year, which strengthen the economic power of the Dresden region.
Prof. Ursula M. Staudinger, Rector of TUD: "The billion-euro research cooperation between the TUD start-up Seamless Therapeutics and Eli Lilly is more than just an economic success - it is an example of how cutting-edge university research can be turned into a globally active biotech company that sustainably strengthens Saxony as a location for innovation and business. Seamless Therapeutics stands for a new generation of precise gene therapies using a pioneering genome editing technology developed in Dresden. The investment volume impressively underlines the potential of this technology and the international competitiveness of our research. At the same time, this milestone shows how consistently and successfully the TUD lives the idea of transfer. As one of the most patented universities in Germany and Europe and with around 20 spin-offs every year, we have built up a powerful transfer and start-up ecosystem with TUD Excite, which systematically translates scientific excellence into economic and social value creation."
Prof. Frank Buchholz, Professor of Medical Systems Biology at TUD and co-founder of Seamless Therapeutics: "The collaboration with Eli Lilly is a confirmation of our gene editing platform and its disease-modifying potential. Based on our research, it offers a promising opportunity to use our technology to treat patients and further expand its therapeutic potential."
TUD|excite: Consistent transfer and start-up support
The TUD|Excellence Center for Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship (TUD|excite) is the central service center of TU Dresden for the transfer of knowledge and technology to companies and for the support of start-ups from science. TUD|excite offers a wide range of services, with which commercially relevant research results are protected by patents at an early stage, research results are made accessible to companies and these are closely integrated as strategic partners. Researchers are comprehensively advised and supported on the path to their own start-up company through information and qualification formats and various incubation programs.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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Topic world Gene therapy
Genetic diseases once considered untreatable are now at the center of innovative therapeutic approaches. Research and development of gene therapies in biotech and pharma aim to directly correct or replace defective or missing genes to combat disease at the molecular level. This revolutionary approach promises not only to treat symptoms, but to eliminate the cause of the disease itself.
Topic world Gene therapy
Genetic diseases once considered untreatable are now at the center of innovative therapeutic approaches. Research and development of gene therapies in biotech and pharma aim to directly correct or replace defective or missing genes to combat disease at the molecular level. This revolutionary approach promises not only to treat symptoms, but to eliminate the cause of the disease itself.