Tag: André Kobelt
Company News: Heraeus takes a major equity stake in Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics Inc.
– Agreement includes Right of First Refusal for an orthopaedic indication
Heraeus Holding (Heraeus), a Fortune 500 technology group, has announced the completion of an equity investment in Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics Inc. (Ankasa), a California-based regenerative medicine company.
Ankasa is focused on pharmaceutical preparations for reactivation of stem cells for organ and tissue regrowth, tissue repair and healing. The company is focusing on the development of the stem cell growth factor WNT3A, which is found in humans and functions in the maintenance of bone growth and repair, but the level of which declines with age. Ankasa intends to develop a proprietary localized therapy involving WNT3A for spinal fusion surgery patients as well as the use in additional bone and other tissue repair applications.
Ankasa´s solution is strategically relevant for Heraeus Medical GmbH, a subsidiary of Heraeus Holding. Heraeus Medical, awarded as a TOP 100 innovative company in Germany, develops biomaterials and medical devices for orthopedic surgery, traumatology and biosurgery.
Following recent early-stage investments, Heraeus continues to actively seek enabling technologies and development partners in the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine in order to accelerate its product development pipeline.
Financial terms of the investment by Heraeus were not disclosed.
Company News: Curetis Presents First Data on Novel Unyvero™ i60 ITI Application for Implant and Tissue Infections
– New cartridge detects 114 targets
– Roll-out in collaboration with Heraeus Medical expected in early 2014
Curetis AG today announced first details on its new Unyvero™ i60 ITI application for the diagnosis of implant and tissue infections. The cartridge has been developed in close collaboration with Heraeus Medical GmbH, a company focused on orthopedic biomaterials. The data were presented at this year´s 65th Joint Annual Meeting of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology and the German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGHM/DGI 2013) in Rostock, Germany.
The new Unyvero™ System cartridge covers a broad range of infections common after abdominal as well as bone and joint surgery, trauma (e.g. burns) or skin and soft tissue infections, including diabetic foot disease. In combination with the unique Unyvero™ L4 Lysator it is also possible to process biofilm samples, an important prerequisite for the fast and reliable diagnosis of implant infections (catheters, joints etc.).
The multiplex panel of the novel i60 application covers a total of 114 targets – 91 pathogens (gram-negative & gram-positive bacteria and fungi) and 23 resistance markers – relevant for eight clinical indications. At the conference, Curetis presented data from first evaluation studies demonstrating that the panel is able to detect pathogens in orthopedic and surgically relevant fresh and frozen samples, such as synovial and sonication fluids, swabs, and tissue material. All results were confirmed by standard microbiology culture. Of note, the i60 application also detected additional pathogens not covered by standard methods, e.g. anaerobic bacteria known to be involved in biofilm-formation on orthopedic implants.
Following the successful completion of assay development, Curetis is now running validation and verification tests. The company aims to run a clinical CE performance evaluation study this fall with a goal of obtaining CE-IVD marking for the Unyvero™ i60 ITI cartridge by the end of 2013.