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      Italian Biotech News
  		• 06.06.2007 - American CeNeRx BioPharma, Inc. partners with PharmaNess
  		• 04.06.2007 - New advanced stem cell laboratory for regenerative medicine in Palermo
  		• 28.05.2007 - Biomedical Valley of Modena features highest concentration of companies in Europe
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    Italian Biotech News
    American CeNeRx BioPharma, Inc. partners with PharmaNess
    06.06.2007  
    American CeNeRx BioPharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing innovative treatments for diseases of the central nervous system, announced it has signed an agreement with Italian PharmaNess Neuroscience giving CeNeRx the rights to a series of novel cannabinoid compounds that selectively target the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors.

    Under the terms of the agreement, CeNeRx has been granted an exclusive worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize the PharmaNess cannabinoid portfolio, currently including over a dozen preclinical compounds.

    These compounds may have broad utility, including cannabinoid agonists for pain, glaucoma and other CNS-related disorders, and cannabinoid antagonists for obesity. The collaboration between CeNeRx and PharmaNess also includes drug discovery efforts aimed at further expanding their joint cannabinoid portfolio.
     
    New advanced stem cell laboratory for regenerative medicine in Palermo
    04.06.2007  
    A top notch laboratory of Ismett (Mediterranean Insotute for transplants) carrying out research on stem cells for regenerative medicine is active in Palermo (Sicily).

    In particular cells of patients get treated and re-inserted in the organism in order, in the future, to bypass transplants of for example hart and liver. The idea is thus to deliver in the near future cells capable of regenerating damaged organs, without the need of chirurgic operations or external donators.

    The laboratory has been set up with funds for 6 million Euro and will work closely with laboratories in Miami, Pittsburgh and Shanghai, carrying out similar research.

    The Sicilian laboratory is currently the largest in this specific sector and will be active 24 hours a day.  
    Biomedical Valley of Modena features highest concentration of companies in Europe
    28.05.2007  
    Only Minneapolis and L.A. feature a higher density of biomedical companies in respect to the Biomedical Valley of Mirandola, in the Modena province (North East Italy).

    The high tech biomedical companies active in this area are 105, most of them Small and Medium enterprises with up to 20 employees, with over 36 companies world leaders in their specific sector and often linked with multinationals.

    Diagnostic and therapy tools represent the main product of this industrial cluster, that features though also major success stories as for example the creation of the first artificial kidney in Italy.

    The macro economic data of the district provide a bright picture, with export totalling 339 million Euro in 2005, with increases towards the American and Asian markets respectively of +32,5% and 28,6%.

    The cluster features over 4,000 employees and important international cooperation with multinationals that have opened local branches as: Baxter, Fregenius Medical and Hostal.  
    Japanese Nidek Technologies? new production and research facility in Italy fully active
    11.05.2007  
    The Japanese company Nidek Technologies? new plant in Padua, North East Italy, for the Research, Development and Production of technologically advanced tools for eye care, is fully active.

    The new structure employs 40 people and features 5 different production lines for diagnostic tools in ophthalmology.
    Personnel is involved on all levels, form research, to production to final marketing and commercialization of the diagnostic tools.

    The company sees the active involvement of universities and international research centers for the development as well as technology transfer for the creation of innovative instruments for diagnostics in ophthalmology, producing some cutting edge tools that have revolutionized the sector on global level.  
    Largest European Center for oncology opens in Milan
    26.04.2007  
    In Milan the largest European center, the Ifom-Ieo Campus, for oncology research has been inaugurated. Upon 22,000 square meter 320 researchers will be active in 50 different study groups on genomics research, in particular for the personalization of tumour treatment. The total investment totals 60 million Euro.

    The center will have the fundamental support of the Mario Negri Institute, the largest independent pharmacology institute in Europe, that in May will be enhanced (from 9,000 square meter to 27,000) for an investment of 80 million Euro and that will see 720 researchers employed.

    The inauguration of the new centers definitively features the Ifom-Ieo campus as the larget in Europe for cancer research and models itself upon the American Bethesda National Institute of Health and in particular on its capability to transform easily and quickly research results in effective treatments for cancer patients.  
    Italian company produces new kind of artificial ventricle
    10.04.2007  
    NewCorTec, a small Italian company, has produced a new artificial ventricle (VAD), named ?Best Beat?. The company is the result of a long history of cooperation with public and private institutions, as the National Research Center and Italian universities.

    The clinical experimentation of the device will go along for approximately a year and it involves a German, a French and four Italian medical centres.
    After the experimentation phase the company expects to receive the European certification within spring 2008, in order to start the industrial production.

    The start up phase for the device has been though very costly and NewCorTec has been able to count on funds from venture capital Quantica, that has strongly believed in the project funding the company directly with 2 million Euro.

    The new artificial ventricle of NewCorTec is technologically much more advanced than current products on the market, also thanks to an incorporated pump capable of working in perfect synchrony with the heart.  
    French group Korian buys Italian health clinics
    04.04.2007  
    The French group Korian, specialized in the management of clinics for the elderly, has decided to buy the Italian company Segesta in its same sector of activities in Italy. The operation has a value of 80 million Euro.

    Korian manages 172 different structures in France with 13,700 beds and a turnover of 620 million Euro in 2006.
    The French group has decided to expand internationally and Segesta, with its 1489 beds managed and revenues for over 44 million Euro, represents an excellent structure for entering the Italian market.

    Segesta has been founded in Milan in 1994 and manages health care structures for elderly mostly in Northern Italy.

    BNP Paribas has been the financial advisor for the whole operation, while from the vendors side Rotschild has been involved.  
    Italian biotech continues to grow according to 2007 Blossom report
    30.03.2007  
    The 2007 Blossom Associates financial and strategic analysis of Italian Biotech industry provides a bright picture for the sector. The companies active in this sector are now 222, with 85 new ventures in 2006 only.
    There is a strong predominance of companies active in health care (73%), and a net prevalence of Small and Medium Enterprises (76% of total).
    The sector counts 14,000 employees of which a relevant number engaged in R&D (4900).

    The most interesting figures though, a part from the vitality of new ventures, relies in the sales of innovative biotechnological products and technologies that have generated revenues for 4 billion Euro in 2006, while expense for R&D have reached 1,3 billion Euro.
    Forty new products are in an advanced stage of development, seven of which already in Phase 3.

    The industry performance has been outstanding, mostly for what concerns SME?s that have scored an overall + 24.2% in growth rates.

    In a nutshell the new report definitely accounts Italy as one of the top players in this sector in the global scenario.
     
    Small Italian enterprise sells license to Stem Cell Sciences
    28.03.2007  
    A small Italian enterprise, that was born less than two years ago, will provide an advanced technology in the stem cell sector to a world leader in the biotechnology product development sector. Dialectica Srl has handed its non exclusive license to Stem Cell Sciences (SCS) for the use of a proprietary technology that allows a very efficient differentiation of neurone stem cells.

    Dialectica S.r.l, born in July 2004 as spin-off of the Pharmacological Department of the University of Milan, has the mission of developing and commercializing cell models of neurodegenerative pathologies, for the development of ?optimized neurons? that are used for the study of patho-physiological mechanisms and for the individuation of pharmacological active compounds.

    The development of Dialectica has been possible also thanks to the 388/2000 law that has provided anticipated funding to the new born company for 625,000 Euro coupled with private financing by Finlombarda and Quantica for 1,25 million Euro. Finlombarda ha acquired 40% of the company?s capital, while Quantica took over 9%.  
    Navacchio Technology Pole in partnership with British counterpart
    08.03.2007  
    A cooperation agreement between the Shefflied Technology Park (UK) and the Navacchio Technology Pole (Northern Italy) has been signed.

    The Sheffiled Technology Park is a structure in the fourth English city, where two prestigious universities are located and a center based upon an economic model that is strong in digital media and biomedical applications.

    The park features also a business incubator that assist new ventures in their start up phase, exactly like the Italian Park.

    This is one of the main reasons for the agreement that will allow the companies, hosted by both parks, to cooperate and partner more easily, also thanks to a commercial network and institutional relationships at the companies? service.

    A internationalization opportunity thus for the companies in order to grow their business expansion.  
    The only European center for functional vegetable genomic opens in Verona (North-East Italy)
    05.03.2007  
    A new Center of Functional Vegetable Genomic has been inaugurated in Verona, thanks to the support of the Savings Bank Foundation of Verona, Vicenza, Belluno and Ancona, that has strongly believed in the excellence of the project.

    The center is coordinated by the Professors of Agrarian Genetics Massimo Delledonne and Mario Pezzotti.

    The new structure intends to develop basic research with a strongly applicatory orientation for the genetic improvement: for example for the quality of the product, the adaptation to the environment and the resistance to the diseases.

    Massimo Delledonne and Mario Pezzotti stated: ?We are the first center of research in Italy and in Europe to be able to dispose of a transcriptomics platform based on Combimatrix technology.
    A formidable tool that uses nanotecnologies to measure gene expression on a large scale. From the reconstruction of the data sequence and from the reading of the genetic code of a vegetable organism now it is possible to analyse globally the gene expression of a cell or of a plant tissue, set in the most varied conditions, in order to attribute a specific function to them in reply to the inside and outside stimulus to which it is subject. We are able understand how the thousands of genes working in an orchestrated way act to create the mystery of life?.  
    New research center in Padua to study paediatric diseases and oncology
    01.03.2007  
    Ten stores, 10,000 sqm, 700 researchers, 15 million Euro.
    These are the figures of the new Research Tower, a center where research will be carried out for paediatric diseases and oncology.

    The center will be realized in Padua (North East Italy) by the Città della Speranza Foundation, an ONG that will fund the project almost entirely by means of private funding and banks.

    There will be 700 researchers from all around the world working in the Tower. Among them Paolo de Coppi, the Italian researcher that recently has demonstrated the possibility to get stem cells from amniotic fluid.

    Main aim of the Città della Speranza Foundation is that of attracting to the center the best researchers form around the world and to have a come back of the Italian researchers currently abroad. The model adopted by the Foundation is that of Philadelphia (USA) where the most important center for paediatric research is located.  
    University of Ferrara spin off attracts foreign investors
    27.02.2007  
    PharmEste is a spin off of the University of Ferrara (North East Italy) that has become a company in 2003. With five proprietary patents and around ten scientific researchers and founders and an initial capital of 3,2 million Euro, the company will most probably within one and half year have 20-22 million at disposal, making it a huge success.

    Born in 2003 as a spin off of the University, thanks to an agreement with a consortium of international investors, PharmEste has been able to make the ?big jump forward?, becoming the first Italian public-private company for research in order to develop drugs against neuropathic pain.
    Comforted by the excellent pre-clinic results in vitro, PharmEste aims at offering new hopes to circa 7 million patients in the world (over one million in Italy), that ?absorb? today total expenses for 2.5 billion Euro. T

    The investor consortium has been guided by Z-Cube Srl, an Italian corporate venture belonging to Zambon Pharmaceuticals and specialized in the Life Sciences sector. Furthermore among the investors there are: Quantica SGR, Zernike Meta Venture Spa and State Street Global Investments SGRpa.  
    VASTox to cooperate with Italian Rottapharm
    23.02.2007  
    VASTox plc, a drug discovery biotechnology company that uniquely combines specialist chemical genomics technologies with synthetic and medicinal chemistry expertise, announced it has signed a long-term chemical genomics deal with the Italian pharmaceutical group Rottapharm.

    The agreement foresees drug discovery and toxicology screening collaboration with Rottapharm S.p.A. , worth up to 365,000 Euro over 12 months, which includes an upfront payment and research funding milestones.

    Under the terms of this deal, VASTox and Rottapharm will collaborate in the generation of a screening model for osteoarthritis that will test potential drug candidates and therefore accelerate Rottapharm?s unique discovery programme.

    In addition, VASTox will provide predictive safety and toxicology testing using its proprietary ?vivoTM? technology platform, which will ensure, early in the discovery process, that only high quality compounds are selected. This deal follows a successful pilot project in 2006 that used VASTox?s unique technology platform and high content screening experience and expertise.  
    University of Pittsburgh to have a key role in new center for genetics in Palermo
    19.02.2007  
    Near Palermo, thanks to 260 million Euro of funding in five years, a new center for biotechnologies and biomedicine will be raised.
    The center, managed by the Ri.Med Foundation, will have a surface of 25,000 sqm and will host, once completely operative, around 600 new employees.

    It is expected that the center will be operative in five years and that it will become a cutting edge research institute for structural biology (study of the molecules structure), computational biology, vaccines and new drug development and for regenerative medicine.

    Main aim of the center is to carry out basic research, but with a strong link with the market, in order to apply and commercialize the results of its research.
    This goal will be reached also thanks to the industrial relations and competencies of the University of Pittsburgh, that will play a major role in the new center.

    The Pittsburgh institution is actually already present in Italy since 1997, through the ISMETT (the Mediterranean institute for transplants).

    A very active role for the American university thus, that already had scored exceptional results with ISMETT, represesenting one of its most successful international cooperations.  
    American Transgenomic renews cooperation with Fiuotecnica
    14.02.2007  
    American based Transgenomic Inc. announced that it has renewed a collaboration with Fiuotecnica S.r.l. of Metaponto (Southern Italy) to produce and market a genetic panel assay to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks using Transgenomic's WAVE ®System.

    The collaboration foresees also that Transgenomic will supply its WAVE System technology and related reagents to Fiuotecnica. Upon completion of the assay development, Fiuotecnica will retain rights to market the cardiovascular panel in Italy, while Transgenomic will obtain rights to market the assay in the rest of the world.

    Dr. Antonio Mele, CEO of Fiuotecnica, stated, "We are pleased to be able to reaffirm our collaboration with Transgenomic. Fiuotecnica has evaluated other platforms, but we believe that Transgenomic's unique technology platforms, including the WAVE® System for DHPLC analysis and Surveyor® Nuclease, provide the highest sensitivity for mutation detection. Our decision to work with Transgenomic as a partner has been affirmed by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, which is supporting this important work. We feel the cardio assay is only the beginning, and we look forward to expanding our collaboration to include other panels in the future."  
    Start-up in biogenetics as spin off of MIT
    13.02.2007  
    Francesco Stellacci, a former brilliant researcher in engineering and materials science at the MIT in Boston, has founded his own start up company in Italy, in which MIT holds 10% of the stakes.

    The company is based upon a patent that allows a new method to produce microarrays, nanotechnological tools used for the DNA analysis, mostly to study diseases like Alzheimer and certain types of cancer.

    Currently the process is expensive (around 500 dollar for an array), while Stellacci?s method allows the costs to be reduced to only 50 dollar.

    The company?s name is Molecular Stamping and it has already hired its first two employees, but several others are planned to be hired soon. Furthermore the company is completing the collection of a first funding session, around 5 million dollar.

    Stellacci has been mentioned in the 2005 Technology review of MI as one of the 35 reseachers with less than 35 years that will ?change the way how the world works today?.  
    American Inverness Medical Innovations buys Italian diagnostic products distributor
    08.02.2007  
    Massachusetts based Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of rapid diagnostic products for the consumer and professional markets, announced it has acquired Italian Promesan S.r.l., a distributor of point-of-care diagnostic testing products to the Italian marketplace for approximately 3.4 million Euro.

    The acquisition of Promesan, located in Milan, marks Inverness first direct presence in Italy and provides it with an established Italian commercial and distribution network for its professional diagnostic products.
    Promesan had 2006 revenues of approximately 3.5 million Euro.

    Inverness Medical Innovations is a leading global developer of advanced diagnostic devices and is presently exploring new opportunities for its proprietary electrochemical and other technologies in a variety of professional diagnostic and consumer-oriented applications including immuno-diagnostics with a focus on women's health, cardiology and infectious disease.  
    Italian and Belgian biotech company sign agreement for innovative bio products
    31.01.2007  
    Italian Fidia Advanced Biopolymers (FAB) and Belgian TiGenix, both active in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, announced that they will join forces for the development and commercialization of novel biological implants for the repair of damaged and osteoarthritic joints.

    FAB and TiGenix have entered into a strategic partnership to develop and commercialize a new generation of cell-based products for cartilage regeneration, combining FAB?s Hyalograft® C scaffold with TiGenix? ChondroCelect®..

    Hyalograft® C is a hyaluronan-based biocompatible and biodegradable scaffold that was the first 3-dimensional cell culture matrix specifically developed for use in cartilage repair. FAB first commercialized Hyalograft® C in Europe in 2000 and, to date, approximately 5,000 patients in 14 different European countries have been treated with FAB?s tissue engineered cartilage. Five year follow-up data from clinical studies of patients treated with Hyalograft® C have shown the hyaline-nature of the cartilage and the durability of clinical benefits. Hyalograft® C is applied arthroscopically thus making the procedure surgeon-friendly and less invasive for the patient.

    ChondroCelect® is a characterized and clinically validated cell therapy product which is in pre-registration for the treatment of symptomatic cartilage defects in the knee.

    The companies will jointly develop, register and market the combination product in Europe. In addition, FAB granted TiGenix an exclusive license for the use of Hyalograft® C in combination with ChondroCelect® in the rest of the world, where FAB will contribute its know-how for the development of the combination products., FAB will also be the exclusive supplier of the biopolymer scaffold.

    Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.  
    French Naturex buys Italian Hammer Pharma
    24.01.2007  
    French company Naturex has announced the acquisition of Italian company Hammer Pharma, which is based in Milan and is specialized in the R&D and production of plant extracts for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.
    Hammer Pharma employs some fifty members of staff and generated revenues of 7.8 million Euro in 2006.

    The cost of the acquisition is estimated in 10 million Euro. Naturex will finance e 6 million of this transaction in cash and the other 4 million through company debt.

    Hammer Pharma is authorized by the Italian Ministry of Health to produce pharmaceutical ingredients. The company has also compiled E.D.M.F. (European Drug Master File) files for the main plant extracts that it produces and markets. These files authorize the integration of the extracts in finished pharmaceutical products.
    In addition, the acquisition of Hammer Pharma will mean an additional, high-quality industrial facility for Naturex . Indeed, the company's 2.5 Ha site has the capacity to extract over 3,500 tons of raw materials each year.

    According to Jacques Dikansky, CEO of Naturex , " As Hammer Pharma is ideally located at the heart of one of Europe's key industrial zones, the acquisition affords Naturex another strategic location and will reinforce the Group's positioning on the German and Italian markets which rank amongst the highest in Europe, and in which Hammer Pharma is a player. Moreover, with the acquisition of Hammer Pharma, the pharmaceuticals sector will constitute a new area of development for Naturex ".  
    Lombardy region finances innovation projects in Biotech and advanced Materials
    09.01.2007  

    The Lombardy region (Northern Italy) has issued grants for the realization of innovation projects in the biotech and advanced materials sectors. The grants are focused on the following sectors: health, energy, environment and food.

    The resources made available are only for designated for SME?s are up to 800.000 Euro for projects in the biotech sector, while they go up to 2 million Euro for those projects in advanced materials. The financing consist in a contribution in capital account that can cover up to a maximum of 30% of the expenses carried out for research.

    The requests for financing can be presented starting from Tuesday 17th of April 2007.  
    Boehringer invests again in Italy
    03.01.2007  
    The German pharmaceutical giant Boehrniger Ingelheim has decided to invest 60 million Euro to build a new plant, denominated Sintesi II, for the production of pharmaceutical active principles.
    The new plant will be located Bergamo, in Northern Italy, at the Bidachem S.p.A. premises, one of the five major chemicals structures of the multinational group in the world and will see the construction of 9 new reactors that will be fully operative in 2009.

    The new plant will have an impact on the creation of new jobs that will pass from the current 114 to approximately 190.

    The new plant will furthermore enhance the production capability of Bidachem by 60%, with a turnover that is expected to reach 100 million Euro by 2010.
    Sintesi II will produce mainly some new substances for clinical development.

    Boehringer, founded in 1885, has its headquarters in Ingelheim (Germany) and is operative on global level with 144 affiliated companies, in 45 different countries and with 36.000 employees.  
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