newsdigest
July
In this section, biotechnologie.de has summarised a number of recent and relevant biotech news from the past month:
BASF and Monsanto expand plant biotechnology alliance +++ Hamburg biotech company Evotec takes over Develogen +++ BMBF: High-Tech Strategy 2020 adopted +++ Vattenfall: Algae cultivation plant for CO2 recovery in operation +++ New anthrax pathogen detected
BASF and Monsanto expand plant biotechnology alliance
The Ludwigshafen-based chemicals corporation BASF and the US agricultural corporation Monsanto will collaborating even more closely in plant biotechnology in the future. Plans have been finalised to expand their joint development pipeline to include higher yielding and more stress tolerant wheat plants. Both companies announced the strengthening of their existing cooperation, which has been in place since 2007, on 7 July. To date, BASF’s plant biotechnology arm BASF Plant Science and Monsanto have collaborated in the development of genetically modified (GM) maize, soy, cotton, and rape. BASF and Monsanto are now planning further investment of over one billion dollars on top of the original budget of approximately 1.5 billion dollars. The alliance is being expanded following recent successes in the identification of genes for crop yields and stress tolerance, said Peter Eckes, President of BASF Plant Science. This is already the world's largest collaboration in the biotechnology sector, according to BASF. The first jointly developed product, a drought-tolerant GM maize variety, is set to arrive on the market in 2012. The maize achieved and even surpassed the target yield increase of six to ten percent during testing in the Western Great Plains, one of driest areas in the US. The joint pipeline will now include wheat. After maize, the world's most important agricultural crop, the corporations have above all the major agricultural markets in North America and Australia in their sights for their new wheat. The first high-yielding and drought-tolerant wheat is hoped to arrive on the market in 2020. Within the framework of the cooperation, both companies are working on unrelated programs for the discovery of new genetic characteristics, known as traits. Identified promising genes are then jointly developed. Monsanto – the largest producer of genetically modified seeds worldwide – markets jointly researched products and takes 60 percent of net profits; the remaining 40 percent go to BASF.
Hamburg biotech company Evotec takes over Develogen
Evotec AG has acquired the Göttingen-based biotechnology company Develogen AG. The Hamburg residents have bought 8 million euros in shares, and are taking on additional debts of 2 million euros. If the move is successful, the Develogen owners will receive further payments, as well 3 million euros of freshly issued shares. Evotec CEO Werner Lanthaler said that the Göttingen site would remain “for the foreseeable future,” and that 20 scientific staff would be retained. Cord Dohrmann will move from his position as top man in the Lower Saxony firm to the Evotec board, where he will be responsible for science with immediate effect. The Develogen acquisition provides Evotec with the opportunity to bring on board a specialist in metabolic diseases – an indication area not yet covered by the Hamburg company. The central driver of the deal, however, is likely to be Develogen’s two alliances with large pharmaceutical partners. Firstly, the Southern German company Boehringer Ingelheim has signed a partnership with Develogen for a preclinical insulin-sensitising agent, with the option of collecting milestone premiums of 237 million euros. In keeping with convention, a third of the selling shareholders will derive from Develogen itself. This is also true of the second pharmaceutical alliance, which is focused on Develogen’s earlier promising candidate, DiaPep277. The agent for the treatment of type 1 diabetes was in development in Göttingen for some years, with a correspondingly high financial commitment, but was eventually sold to the Israeli company Andromeda Inc. According to Clinicaltrials.gov, phase III trials are underway, with results expected in the coming year at the earliest. Hopes were recently raised when Israeli generics giant Teva also invested in the program. Not included in the deal is the phase II Somatoprim program, Develogen’s main project. “This has nothing to do with the quality of the program. Our strategic orientation prevents us from taking on the financial risk of a non-partnered phase II program,” said Lanthaler. The deal is unlikely to have meant good business for Develogen shareholders. The Göttingen-based company has been one of best financed in the industry in recent years, bringing in more than 60 million euros in investment. The largest company shareholder is TVM Capital.
BMBF: High-Tech Strategy 2020 adopted
On 14 July in Berlin, the Federal Cabinet approved the ‘High-Tech Strategy 2020 for Germany’, which will outline new priorities for research and innovation policy for the coming years. Federal Minister for Research Annette Schavan had earlier presented the new concept to the Cabinet, which will continue the work of High-Tech Strategy launched by the Federal Government in 2006: “This is needed now more than ever, especially in view of the efforts for a consolidated budget: We must invest in research and development to ensure the future prosperity of our society,” emphasised Schavan. Questions relating to the five priority areas of climate/energy, health/nutrition, mobility, security and communication stand in the focus of the High-Tech Strategy 2020. Biotechnology is viewed here as a key technology. This applies in particular in the ‘demand area’ of Energy, and the use of renewable resources. The BMBF is currently working on an internationally competitive strategy towards a knowledge-based bioeconomy. In the area of Health, biotechnology is set to contribute to the development of individualised treatment strategies, among other ways. The new health research program will name important fields of action, which will be presented by the BMBF later this year. These will take in research into common diseases, nutrition research, genomics research, systems biology, and aging research, among others. The BMBF also wants to use the High-Tech Strategy to drive forward innovation, and has set itself the goal of improving the start-up climate and the conditions for an internationally competitive venture capital market. Research in medium-sized companies will be strengthened through the continuation of the initiative SME innovative. Industry representatives welcomed the new version of the High-Tech Strategy. Hans Heinrich Driftmann, President of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, praised the fact that “future topics of research and innovation will not be cut inappropriately, despite the necessary fiscal consolidation.” The German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) welcomed the Federal Government’s plans to improve venture capital financing, but complained that no mention was given to tax breaks for research. Green Party research expert Krista Sager also voiced criticism: “Four years after the initiation of High-Tech Strategy, the promised strategic development and focus is yet to arrive.” She also called for targeted research tax breaks for small and medium-sized companies.
Vattenfall: Algae cultivation plant for CO2 recovery in operation
The energy corporation Vattenfall has put an algae breeding pilot plant into operation at the site of its Senftenberg coal power plant in Brandenburg. The research project uses microalgae to filter the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the plant’s flue gases. Vattenfall announced on July that it would first be examining which types of algae are suitable for breeding using CO2 from the combustion of coal dust, and how the climate balance is affected. “The microalgae use the greenhouse gas CO2 to build up valuable, versatile biomass. The new facility is thus an important building block in the development of new perspectives for the use of CO2,” said CEO of Vattenfall Europe Mining & Generation, Hartmuth Zeiß. The project, titled “green MiSSiON” (Microalgae Supported CO2 Sequestration in Organic Chemicals and New Energy), is a joint research project by Vattenfall and its engineering and support service subsidiary company GMB. The project, scheduled to end in 2011, has a volume of around two million euros; Vattenfall has provided funding of around one million euros. A further one million euros is being provided by the Brandenburg-based ILB investment bank and the European Union. Energy companies have long been looking for alternative means of disposing of their climate killing CO2 emissions. From E.ON in Hamburg to RWE in Niederaußem and beyond, algae is highly rated as a carbon dioxide exterminator and producer of biomass. At the Vattenfall pilot plant, unfiltered flue gases are passed through a bioreactor filled with green algae in a liquid nutrient solution. The next stage in the process involves twelve so-called flat plate reactors from the biotechnology company Subitec GmbH, a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute IGB in Stuttgart. These flat tanks are constructed from a translucent synthetic material. This allows the algae enough light for photosynthesis. The growing algae produce biomass, which can be used as a raw material for the food industry, the cosmetics industry, or for biogas plants. Another type of facility is planned for this second step, involving the installation of “hanging gardens” from the Austrian firm ecoduna OG. These hanging gardens can rotate with the sun, allowing for a continuous harvest of biomass.
New anthrax pathogen detected
Microbiologists in Berlin and Göttingen have decoded and analysed the genome of a novel variant of the anthrax pathogen. It is the first bacterium known to cause anthrax that does not belong to the group of the well-known form of the anthrax pathogen, Bacillus anthracis. The researchers from Berlin's Robert Koch Institute and the University of Göttingen have published their work in the journal PLoS ONE (July 2010, online). Researchers from the Robert Koch Institute and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology discovered the anthrax variant in chimpanzees in a national park on the Ivory Coast a number of years ago. The animals had perished of anthrax. The genome analysis highlights the variability of the anthrax pathogen. The work will also contribute to appraising and improving modern methods of diagnosis to ensure that pathogens are not overlooked by current detection methods. This is especially important for pathogens such as Bacillus anthracis – an infection with anthrax can be fatal, but is treatable with antibiotics. The ‘chimpanzee strain’ is similar to the known strains of Bacillus anthracis spread by ruminants, in that the blueprints for the dangerous bacterial toxins are found on rings of DNA known as plasmids. These plasmids are essentially identical in both the new and the classic anthrax pathogens. However, there are differences on the chromosome: The new strain carries all the genes for the formation of a locomotor system. Bacillus anthracis lacks these genes. They are found, however, in the closely related Bacillus cereus group. The new variant most probably arose from a Bacillus cereus, which, in the course of evolution, acquired the plasmids from B. anthracis, suspect the researchers. It remains open whether this strain is able to infect great apes, and whether there are other anthrax-causing variants that differ from the classical strains in their infection behaviour. Studies are underway as to how the chimpanzees became infected, and how broadly the new anthrax, previously only found in the Ivory Coast and Cameroon, have spread. The new variant is yet to be detected in humans.
Link to the publication:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0010986
