New drugs can only enter the market after their active agents pass a battery of time-consuming tests. Now, a new technology can make drug development safer and more efficient by analyzing drug actions faster and more cost-effectively. This achievement was honored with a cash prize and an additional package of benefits and services totaling around € 100,000 at this year's STEP Award competition. Munich-based Nanion Technologies GmbH received the award during a gala event held on the 50th floor of Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt.
The company's CSO and CEO, Andrea Brüggemann and Niels Fertig, accepted the prize while over 100 entrepreneurs, sponsors and partners of the competition looked on. The STEP Award's initiators, Roland Mohr, Managing Director of Infraserv Höchst, and Volker Sach, Managing Director of F.A.Z.-Institut, presented the trophy to the proud winners.
From basic research to a successful global player
Nanion Technologies GmbH was established in 2002 as a spin-off of the Center for Nanoscience (CeNS) of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. The Nanion team has developed two high-grade analysis instruments for electrophysiology (Port-a-Patch and Patchliner) and successfully launched them in the global market. Nanion's measuring instruments use microstructured chips in lieu of the customary glass pipette for patch-clamping (1991 Nobel prize).
The patch-clamp technique allows researchers to study the functions and properties of ion channels in cell membranes as electric current flows through them. This process causes the molecules to change briefly and influence the electric circuit. This is a rich field for researching many cell types because numerous hereditary diseases are attributed to channel dysfunction (ion channel mutation).
The innovation: microchip in lieu of a pipette
The conventional patch-clamp technique used glass micropipettes for the direct analysis of the ion channel function in order to establish an electrical connection to the interior of the cell. Now, Nanion has transferred the patch-clamp principle onto a microstructured, planar glass chip that has an extremely small aperture of only one micrometer to position and establish electrical contact with the cells. The experimental arrangement was reversed: rather than moving the pipette to the cell, suction is used to position the cell on the chip's aperture from a suspension. This new technology automates and parallelizes patch-clamp analyses and lays the groundwork for their standardized and industrial use. The new chip format enables faster, cheaper analyses of desired and adverse drug actions on ion channels, which makes new drug development safer and more effective.
Cash prize and service package for the winner
Nanion will receive a cash prize of € 50,000 and a comprehensive consulting and service package worth the same amount. The services in the package will be provided by the STEP Award's sponsors and partners to help the prize-winner during its upcoming growth phase. The package includes patent searches, strategy and business-development consulting, help finding technology partners, assistance with finances, logistics and clinical studies, access to legal seminars, communications seminars and technical workshop facilities.
Since immediate access to space and infrastructure is often a crucial success factor for expanding companies, the prize-winner will also have the option of using laboratory and office facilities in Industriepark Höchst rent-free for two years.
Excellent response to STEP Award continues
This year, the STEP Award competition attracted around 100 German, Swiss and Austrian companies in the chemical, pharmaceutical, life science, biotech, nanotechnology, medical technology and greentech industries. The competitors had to present their business model, expansion mission and competitive situation as well as their patent situation and implementation plan. After receiving all the entries, the business and science experts on the jury identified the ten finalists who met the balanced scorecard criteria (management, market/customer, processes, product/technology and finance); they were given the opportunity to personally present their companies to the jury once again in late October. Then, the jury selected the winners of the grand prize and category prizes.
Four category prizes
The prizes for the best growing businesses in the Market/Customer, Processes, Product/Technology and Finance categories went to:
Market/Customer: Activaero GmbH
Activaero is the world's technology leader in the development of drug delivery technologies that enable optimally efficient and precise inhalation therapy for controlled breathing. The Gauting-based company's innovative technologies allow safer, more cost-efficient and more effective treatment of pulmonary diseases. Activaero, a center of competence for aerosol therapy, has participated in many successful joint efforts to develop drugs for pulmonary diseases in preclinical and clinical projects.
Processes: ChemCon GmbH
Freiburg-based ChemCon GmbH specializes in the development and production of small quantities of highly effective pharmaceutical agents for rare diseases. In its innovative approach, the infrastructure and production equipment are adapted to the manufacturing process. This makes the production of ultra-pure agents fast, safe for employees and eco-friendly. This approach actively helps save lives since a few days can mean the difference between life and death, especially with rare diseases.
Product/Technology: TRION Pharma GmbH
TRION Pharma GmbH is a biopharmaceutical company based in Munich that develops bispecific trifunctional antibodies called Triomab®. These antibodies simultaneously activate several of the patient's own immune system's defense mechanisms against cancer. As a result, tumor cells are destroyed with previously unmatched precision and efficiency, and the immunological memory is activated. In 2009, Removab® (catumaxomab) became the first member of the Triomab® family to be approved in Europe. Not only is it the first approved drug for the treatment of malignant ascites (dropsy of the belly), it is also the first therapeutic antibody made in Germany.
Finance: Cabot Nanogel GmbH
Cabot Nanogel GmbH was founded in 2002 and is a subsidiary of Cabot Corporation. In this new business segment, Cabot produces and markets aerogel under the Nanogel brand name. This fascinating material is the world's best solid insulator, with roughly double the insulation value of the best conventional insulation materials. Thanks to its low weight, translucence, water-resistant surface, fine-pored structure and chemical stability, this unique material can potentially be used in countless applications. Cabot's only aerogel production site is located in Industriepark Höchst in Frankfurt.
"Spirit to expand"
The STEP Award competition was created to support up-and-coming firms who not only are close to a major breakthrough, but have also shown their commitment to the "spirit to expand" celebrated by the STEP Award. The contest was initiated by F.A.Z.-Institut Innovationsprojekte and Infraserv Höchst, an industrial-services provider and the operator of Industriepark Höchst. They have joined forces with many competition sponsors to give growing companies the support they need to evolve successfully.
Main sponsors: Commerzbank, Hessen Agentur, Merck Serono and Sanofi-Aventis
The main sponsors of the 2009 STEP Award are Commerzbank, Hessen Agentur, Merck Serono and Sanofi-Aventis. Many other companies and institutions are involved as sponsors as well.
For more information and entry forms, please contact F.A.Z.-Institut, Innovationsprojekte, Michael Klapproth, Kirsten Boeder, phone +49 69 7591-23 04,
info@step-award.de or
www.step-award.de.
STEP Award presentation ceremony:
Roland Mohr, Infraserv Höchst; Volker Sach, F.A.Z.-Institut and moderator Barbara Hahlweg (back row from left) were delighted for the award winners.
Middle row from left: Peter Kemmerling, Cabot Nanogel; Miltiadis Vlachos, Cabot Nanogel; Niels Fertig, Nanion; Andrea Brüggemann, Nanion; Dirk Pelster, Trion Pharma; Horst Lindhofer, Trion Pharma.
Front row from left: Axel Fischer, Activaero; Gerhard Scheuch, Activaero; Raphael Vogler, ChemCon
© 2009 STEP Award 
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