The Helmholtz Association is funding a new spin-off from the Helmholtz Zentrum München. The company Eximmium aims to use a new process to produce antibodies for diagnostics and therapy.
The medtech company Eximmium is receiving €115,000 each from the Helmholtz Association and the Helmholtz Zentrum München, a total of nearly a quarter of a million euros. The team led by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Zeidler and Dr. Kathrin Gärtner works with small bubbles called extracellular vesicles. The company uses these bubbles to produce new antibodies for cancer treatment and diagnostics. These antibodies are designed to be particularly powerful.
Eximmium can become an “attractive partner for pharmaceutical companies”
The team also aims to demonstrate the potential of their method clinically: A first antibody targeting malignant brain tumors will soon be tested in patients in a phase 1 trial. Further antibodies with diagnostic or therapeutic potential are in the pipeline. Prof. Dr. Reinhard Zeidler, head of the “Prevention and Immunomodulation” working group in the Gene Vectors Department at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, says:
“Our portfolio forms a solid basis for a spin-off.”
The goal, according to Zeidler, is to validate the antibodies preclinically and, ideally, license them to an industrial partner. Already approved therapeutic antibodies are among the most commercially successful drugs. The scientist says:
“We therefore believe that a spin-off can become an attractive partner for pharmaceutical companies.”
