News
akampion Meets…Dr. Roman Rittweger, Founder and CEO of Roman Rittweger Advisors in Healthcare and Organizer of the IIHC Conference
akampion: You are organizing a new conference called Innovations and Investments in Healthcare (IIHC). What is the idea behind this new event?
R.R.: I had been organizing an exclusive, invite-only German event for the past five years in Munich, but I felt it was time to open the format for new ideas and new people and also attract a broader, international audience. The past conferences have been very successful because we were not relying on the typical company presentations, but instead hosted interactive panels consisting of four experts and one senior partner of Roman Rittweger Advisors in Healthcare. No boring slides! The new event takes the concept even further and is, among others, inspired by the TED conferences.
akampion: So what exactly is the goal of the IIHC?
R.R.: Our goal is to present exciting international developments to healthcare players in Germany. We want to confront German opinion leaders with the latest business ideas from the US, Asia etc. As an example, take the mobile health businesses that arrived in the US and large parts of Asia already, but not here. We are also taking a look at how other countries organize and re-organize their healthcare systems, for example emerging countries. What is their cost-benefit assessment of proven and novel products?
akampion: Can you tell us more about the program?
R.R.: The program is a good mix of interactive panels, three-slide presentations in front of an expert jury, and so-called “speed-dating sessions”, which gives selected attendees the opportunity to tell others about his business. And the keynote is extremely important, too – this year, we got Brian David Johnson, Futurist and Director, Future Casting and Experience Research at Intel Labs, U.S. We even have panelists from Abu Dhabi and Kazakhstan, where the healthcare systems are currently being completely re-invented. Moreover, a trauma surgeon will introduce telemedicine approaches to improve the treatment of traffic accident victims, we will talk about the “quantified self”-movement and how health and gene data can help to improve quality of life and the healthcare system. We will also discuss what drives investments in healthcare, what regulators require these days from innovations and what pharma and medtech companies can learn from a venture capital fund.
akampion: Who is your target audience?
R.R.: We are primarily targeting German decision makers, but will increase the number of international attendees over time, e.g. from Scandinavia or Eastern Europe. It is important to us that we attract representatives from both start-ups and emerging markets, as well as established companies and countries. Regulators and payors are key target groups, too.
akampion: Sounds very exciting! Last but not least – why did you choose a venue in Berlin?
R.R.: We are fully aware that the informal part of a conference is extremely important, especially for networking and attracting a broader international crowd. Therefore, we have decided to host the conference in Berlin. We will also have evening receptions and offer our attendees the opportunity to explore Berlin´s fascinating nightlife.
More information about the IIHC can be found at www.iihc.eu
Company News: bubbles & beyond and Fraunhofer Center Nanoelectronic Technologies collaborate on the development of novel, eco-friendly cleaning solutions for microelectronics
bubbles & beyond, a technology company focusing on customized intelligent fluids®, and Fraunhofer Center Nanoelectronic Technologies (CNT), Dresden, today announced their collaboration to jointly develop novel cleaning solutions for the microelectronics industry.
During the two-year collaboration, bubbles & beyond and Fraunhofer Center Nanoelectronic Technologies will create novel decoating products for semiconductor applications with the goal to provide a more efficient, more cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to currently available surface treatments, which are primarily composed of aggressive chemicals. The novel cleaning approach is based on bubbles & beyond’s proprietary phase fluid technology (intelligent fluids®), which is already used successfully for other microelectronic applications. Fraunhofer CNT brings the necessary semiconductor expertise, the respective research know-how and comprehensive, highly precise measurement analysis to the project.
The collaboration focuses on the assessment and optimization of the efficacy of customized cleaning solutions. Moreover, semiconductor-specific criteria will be analyzed, e.g. critical materials, process stability and contamination risks. Based on the findings, it will be examined if the new technology is suitable for the removal of lithographic laquers. Subsequently, the assessment will be expanded to other process steps.
Innovation Radar: A Novel Way to Prevent Restenosis?
Angioplasty is the most common medical intervention in the world today – more than 2 million coronary artery patients are treated each year with balloon dilations or stents to widen coronary arteries with the goal to restore normal blood flow to the heart. While the procedure is beneficial in the first place, restenosis is a frequent event in the months after the intervention. It occurs in 10-20% of patients who received coronary artery stents and in up to 50% of patients who had undergone balloon angioplasty. In patients receiving drug-eluting stents (DES), restenosis rate is about 5%. However, these stents in the long run pose the risk of thrombosis. So far, no causal treatment of restenosis is available.
Restenosis is caused by a physiological reaction that is trying to repair the damage induced by the angioplasty procedure. It develops by increased proliferation of vascular smooth muscles cells (VSMCs) in the vessel walls. VSMCs respond to changes in the local environment by adjusting their phenotype from contractile to synthetic, and failure of VSMCs to acquire and maintain the contractile phenotype plays a key role in this process.
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research have now developed a novel treatment approach. They found that small non-coding RNAs (miRNAs 143/145) specifically expressed in VSMCs control the cells’ phenotypic variation. Therefore, modulation of miRNAs 143/145 levels through activators or stents eluting miRNA 143/145 mimetics may be a very promising approach inhibit restenosis and/or to combat arteriosclerosis.
The technology is being offered by Max-Planck-Innovation.
Company News: InDex Pharmaceuticals Starts Phase III COLLECT Study with Kappaproct®
– TLR9 Agonist for the Treatment of Chronic, Active, Treatment-Refractory Ulcerative Colitis –
InDex Pharmaceuticals today announced the start of the COLLECT trial, a European multicenter Phase III study to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Kappaproct for the treatment of chronic active ulcerative colitis (UC) patients not responding to available therapy. Kappaproct is a DNA-based immunomodulatory sequence (DIMS) targeting the toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9).
UC is a chronic, relapsing-remitting disease caused by inflammation of the colon. Although current UC treatments are effective for many patients with mild to moderate disease, a significant unmet medical need still exists for patients with severe UC. Many of these patients have failed all available pharmaceutical therapies – therefore, surgical removal of the colon by partial or complete colectomy is currently the only remaining treatment option.
The primary endpoint of the COLLECT study is induction of clinical remission in these severe UC patients, who have failed all other medical treatments and have been elected for colectomy. Preliminary results are expected for Q1, 2014.