Czech Republic

Prague – After meetings with vaccine supplier GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Czech Health Minister Dana Juraskova announced in mid-February that the Czech Republic has cut its order of one million H1N1 doses by about 30%. Similar agreements were recently announced by other European governments, including Germany, France and Spain (see EuroBiotechNews 1-2/2010), when it became clear that a single injection shot is sufficient to prevent infection. Initially, the WHO recommended a two-shot regimen. By February, the Czech Republic had received 238,000 shots of Pandemrix, and had used over 60,000 of them.

Prague – After increasing its investment in mid-January, full-service provider CRO FGK Clinical Research GmbH has become a major shareholder in the Czech contract research organization Avemedica s.r.o. Financial details were not disclosed. With immediate effect, the Czech specialist for project management and monitoring of Phase II-IV trials will operate as FGK Clinical Research s.r.o. With the takeover, FGK Clinical Research intends to strengthen its European network. The new company is specialised in local services in the areas of regulatory affairs, project management and monitoring for their customers from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Pilzen – German antibody drug development and discovery firm Affimed Therapeutics AG (Heidelberg) has spun-out all of its antibody discovery activities into a new Czech subsidiary – AbCheck s.r.o., which is located in Pilzen. While Affimed will focus its clinical development activities on its bispecific CD30 x CD13 antibody AFM13, which targets NK cells in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, AbCheck will concentrate on antibody screening and development services. The spin-out will provide access to three different fully-human antibody libraries covering about 1010 sequentially and structurally diverse antibodies, as well as a technology portfolio that covers all aspects of generation of therapeutic antibodies, from research to lead optimisation. All three libraries display human antibodies as scFv on the surface of phage particles, but differ in the generation of diversity. The new business will be led by former Affimed Chief Business Officer Volker Lang.

Prague/Jena – German and Czech researchers under Ales Svatos have opened the door to major improvements in the application of high-throughput metabolomics and systematic analyses of small molecules via MALDI-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). Their novel MAILD technology, presented in PNAS (doi: 10.1073/pnas.0900914106), circumvents the formation of disturbing low molecular weight ions during ionisation of the analyte, which can significantly limit the detection of metabolites in blood samples, cells or other biological materials. The scientists see a huge range of potential applications for their invention, especially in medical diagnostics. As in MALDI-MS, the new technique makes use of co-crystallisation of analytes with a matrix that forms ions after irradiation with a laser beam. These are then detected by measuring of flight times in an electrical field. MALDI-MS matrices, however, are at a substantial disadvantage, since the laser beam not only forms ions from the substances of interest, but also forms low-mass ions (<500 Da) originating from the matrix. Interfering matrix-related ions are not generated with the new technique. Using it, the researchers were able to quickly and reliably determine more than 100 different analytes from single and small-sized samples.

Ceské Budejovice - The scientists from the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Science who coordinated the EU project MOBITAG have tabled a report on their attitudes towards political interference in the EU’s GMO authorisation process, and have formulated six recommendations to European policymakers. “Many European scientists are disturbed by the fact that political factors and ideology prevent unbiased assessment of GM technology in some EU countries, with a negative effect on the whole Community,” said the head of the report, Professor František Sehnal. In response, the group recommends the following
1. Decisions concerning genetic modifications should not contradict scientific evidence.
2. Breeding techniques, including GM, should be evaluated in respect to the outcome rather than the process itself.
3. Precautionary principle should be replaced by risk/benefit assessment applied to all innovations in agriculture.
4. Risk assessments should always include the benefits and comparison of parallel technologies with all their components
5. Economic assessment should also be done by comparison with parallel technologies.
6. If member states are allowed to ban technology permitted in the EU, they should also be allowed to use a technology that has not yet been approved by the EU.

Bratislava – According to a new study released by PG Economics, Slovak farmers would benefit more than counterparts in other EU countries from planting genetically-engineered Bt maize. Regional factors, as well as reducing an estimated 30% in annual economic damage caused by the corn borer, would contribute to a 12.5% advantage in maize yields compared with conventional maize lines. The improved harvest would result in an estimated 75% net increase in gross margin (a/hectare), according to the study.

Vestec – The Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University plan to build a modern biotechnology and biomedicine center, according to reports issued by the Czech Information Agency. With about 40,000 square meters of floor space, the biotech hub is to be located in Vestec near Prague, and is expected to create around 300-350 new jobs in biotechnology.

Olomouc – A new cluster with a focus on drug development and diagnostics has been established near Palacky University in Olmouc. Called MedChemBio, the centre seeks to attract companies with an interest in medicinal and biological chemistry, and offers support in the development and production of active ingredients. It is supported by CzechInvest and the EU CORMET programme.
Soon, a clinical trial unit will be established there for testing the safety and efficacy of newly developed compounds. Research at the centre will focus on anti-cancer drugs and anti-infectives, as well as on bringing together all the companies and institutions working in the field, said Marian Hayduch, one of the cluster’s founders.
Several companies have already relocated to MedBioChem, among them CRO Qunita-Analytica s.r.o., Life Sciences Capial s.r.o., reagents supplier OlChemIm Ltd., MD - Pharm, s.r.o., SciTech spol. s r.o., BioPatterns s.r.o., EUROTEX, spol. s.r.o., and STAR Czech s.r.o.

Prague – A biotech company and a pharmaceutical enterprise are the winners of this year’s “Investor of the Year” competition, which is organised by CzechInvest and the country’s Association for Foreign Investment. At the end of June, pharmaceutical company IVAX and Czech biotechnology firm CPN were granted the trophy by industry minister Vladimír Tošovský at the Troja Chateau in Prague.
IVAX Pharmaceuticals (Opava), a daughter firm of Israeli generics producer Teva, was granted the award for building a new production plant for drugs – most of which will be exported to the US – at Opava worth CZK1bn (EUR38.5m).
Biotech-start-up CPN spol. sro. (Dolni Dobruc), which belongs to the ContiPro group, took the honours in the category “Investments with the greatest innovation potential”. The company synthesises hyaluronic acid, which is used as a raw material in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. As a second pillar of its business, the firm manufactures preparations for wound-healing, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and drug delivery, according to CPN director Vladimir Velebny.
For the first time in the history of the contest, there were more projects involving research and development or services than manufacturing.

Prague – A2Z Bio, the Czech subsidiary of UK-based Yorkshire Bioscience, is investing EUR100,000 at the CKD Prague Technological Innovation Centre to launch production of research reagents and services for the biotech R&D market. The company also announced it is hiring 5-6 experts plus administrative staff. Starting in September, A2Z Bio will begin manufacturing anti­bodies, oligonucleotides, synthetic genes and related services at the Prague site. “We will also offer the opportunity to outsource research to us,” explained Slava Pavlovets, director of A2Z Bio.
“Biotechnology has a very promising future in the Czech Republic. The sector will be shaped primarily by smaller firms that nevertheless can offer leading technologies and unique know-how,” said Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of CzechInvest. According to the state promotional agency, about 10% of the countrys’ industry applications make use of biotechnologies.
A2Z Bio wants to sell products and services worth a250,000 in the first year of operations. “This is not just a one-off investment,” explained Pavlovets. “Our expansion to the Czech Republic is a long-term undertaking. We will invest much more in the Czech Republic.” A2Z Bio says it selected the Czech site because it offers an efficient connection to the whole of Europe.
“Our choices came down to southern Germany and the Czech Republic,” Pavlovets says. “In the end we decided for the Czech Republic because we will get much higher quality here for the same price.”