Entries by Georg Kääb

China again: Boehringer turns to Shanghai for IBD bispecific

Boehringer Ingelheim is continuing its international shopping tour for innovative drug candidates – and once again ends up in China. The German pharmaceutical group has entered into a licensing and development partnership with Shanghai-based Simcere Pharmaceutical Group to advance a novel bispecific antibody for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Dresden biotech Seamless lands up to $1.1B Eli Lilly deal for gene therapy hearing loss

Dresden-based experts in sequence-precise gene repair, Seamless Therapeutics, have secured a heavyweight partner. The company has entered into a global research collaboration with the world’s largest pharmaceutical company by market cap, Eli Lilly, to apply its technology platform of specific recombinases to the development of gene therapies for hearing loss. For Seamless, the collaboration could generate total funding of up to USD 1.1 billion if milestones are successfully achieved.

For €170 million: Vienna gives AI and life sciences a new home

At a strategy retreat of the city’s political leadership, the governing parties of the City of Vienna agreed to build a new Life Science Center for Vienna – with the new AI institute AITHYRA as its anchor tenant. To this end, funding of €170 million has been approved, allowing planning to begin.

Board reshuffle at Rentschler

Unexpected changes at the top of Rentschler Biopharma: CEO Benedikt von Braunmühl and the Supervisory Board agreed on a swift separation in January, and COO Christiane Bardroff is also set to leave the biopharma manufacturer based in Laupheim, Baden-Württemberg, in the near future. The message from within the company: stay calm, it won´t knock us off course.

Takeover rumours at Qiagen fuel share price surge

With the departure of the current CEO of diagnostics company Qiagen NV (Venlo, Netherlands/Hilden, Germany) and before a new chief executive has been identified and presented, there appears to be activity at senior management level, according to Bloomberg, around whether a sale of the company or the admission of a major strategic partner could be an alternative. These rumours have sent the share price sharply higher.

Heidelberg-based Exciva secures €51M to tackle agitation in Alzheimer’s care

Alzheimer’s disease means memory loss for those affected. Beyond this, however, it is above all relatives and care staff who are impacted when the loss of cognitive abilities is accompanied by symptoms such as agitation, aggression, anxiety and depression, making home care impossible. This aspect of the disease is now gaining greater visibility through a major second financing round from EQT LifeScience, Gimv and Andera Partners with Exciva from Heidelberg.

2026: A year of reckoning for BioNTech

For BioNTech, 2026 could become one of the most decisive years since its pandemic-driven breakthrough. The pipeline is broad, the coffers are well stocked, partnerships are numerous, and the outlook extends far beyond 2030. Yet despite all the strategic preparation, one key question will be answered in the coming months: can the clinical data live up to the high expectations surrounding BioNTech’s cancer strategy?