Berlin / Bonn, 13 December 2013 -- The human heart beats 60 to 100 times a minute – on average about 42 million times a year. Disturbances of the heart’s rhythm – so called arrhythmias – are not uncommon, especially in older people. Atrial fibrillation, the most frequently occurring arrhythmia, and typically presents with irregular palpitations, often accompanied by shortness of breath and anxiety attacks. Today, around 5–10 million patients in Europe suffer from atrial fibrillation and this number is set to increase. This rising incidence is critical, as the disease is associated with stroke, myocardial infarction and mortality. A major increase in its economic impact on public health systems is foreseeable.
Scientists of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch – Dr Wolf-Hagen Schunck, Dr Dominik Müller, Dr Robert Fischer and colleagues – identified in close collaboration with Dr John Russel Falck from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) a natural metabolite of fish oil omega-3 fatty acids that has a stabilizing effect on heart rhythm.
Based on this discovery, the team developed synthetic molecules with a similar structure and systematically investigated their physiological function. The results are encouraging: OMT-33, one of the drug candidates, significantly reduces arrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation in different models.
Limited options for drug therapy of atrial fibrillation and the high number of patients affected result in a very high unmet medical need for a safe and efficient new antiarrhythmic drug. The commercial prospects for novel drug developments in this area are therefore excellent.
The team has now founded OMEICOS to take on the professional clinical development of the approach, and make it available to cardiac patients. The spin-off is on the BioTech-Campus Berlin-Buch, in immediate proximity to the MDC and other companies working in the field. In the period leading up to the founding of the spin-off, the team was supported by technology transfer managers from the MDC and Ascenion. The initial funding raised in this crucial phase came from Helmholtz Enterprise and the MDC’s PreGO-Bio programme.
OMEICOS is headed by the two CEOs Dr Karen Uhlmann and Dr Robert Fischer, who bring to the company broad expertise in the field of innovation management and clinical cardiology. Under their leadership the company received initial seed financing of EUR 500,000 from the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the ProFIT-Programme of the Investitionsbank Berlin. ‘The medical need for the OMEICOS drug as a novel treatment of atrial fibrillation is immense. We are very excited to be supporting the transition of the project from academic research to a start-up company with our investment,’ says Dr Matthias Dill, responsible HTGF investment manager.
OMEICOS is currently raising Series A financing for the preclinical development of an oral atrial fibrillation drug candidate due to enter clinical testing in 2016.
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About OMEICOS Therapeutics GmbH
OMEICOS Therapeutics, a start-up of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, was founded in June 2013. The company develops small molecules for the treatment of human diseases using an innovative endogenous protective mechanism. The primary focus is the development of a first-in-class oral drug for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, the most common heart arrhythmia. OMEICOS is currently building an investor syndicate to finance the preclinical development of its atrial fibrillation drug candidate.
Contact:
OMEICOS Therapeutics GmbH
Robert-Rössle-Straße 10
13125 Berlin
Dr Karen Uhlmann
Co-CEO
Tel.: +49 (0) 30 9489 4810
k.uhlmann@omeicos.com
<link http: www.omeicos.com _blank>www.omeicos.com
About the Helmholtz Association
The Helmholtz Association contributes to solving major challenges facing society, science and the economy, with top scientific achievements in six research fields: Energy; Earth and Environment; Health; Key Technologies; Structure of Matter; and Aeronautics, Space and Transport. With almost 36,000 employees in 18 research centres and an annual budget of approximately EUR 3.8 billion, the Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organization. Its work follows in the tradition of the great natural scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894).
Further information at <link http: www.helmholtz.de _blank>www.helmholtz.de
About the MDC – an internationally recognized research institute
The MDC is one of 18 research institutions of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. The MDC, like all Helmholtz institutions, is funded to 90%by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and to 10%by the state in which it is headquartered, in this case Berlin. The MDC was founded in January 1992 on the recommendation of the Science Council to build a bridge between basic molecular research and clinical research. Under the umbrella of molecular medicine, MDC scientists focus on the research areas of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases; cancer; diseases of the nervous system, and systems biology. In 2010 the MDC ranked 14th on the Thomson Reuters list of the world’s ‘top twenty’ best research institutions in the field of molecular biology and genetics. In 2013 MDC and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin founded the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) to bundle basic and clinical research, and in 2007 they founded the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) on the Berlin-Buch Campus. The MDC also participates in three of the six German Centers for Health Research. Currently, 1,675 employees from 61 countries work at the MDC, including 506 scientists and 368 doctoral students. The MDC has an annual budget of around EUR 68 million, in addition to tens of millions of euros of extramural funding.
Further information at <link http: www.mdc-berlin.de _blank>www.mdc-berlin.de
About Ascenion
Ascenion GmbH is an IP asset management company with particular expertise in the life sciences. Ascenion advises and supports public research institutions with regard to the protection and exploitation of their intellectual property (patents, know-how, materials), and initiates and mediates license agreements between research institutions and industry. The company places particular emphasis on coaching company founders and on active equity management. Ascenion was founded in 2001 as a 100% subsidiary of the LifeScience Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Research and is exclusive technology transfer partner of 23 research institutes in the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations, of the Hannover Medical School and the research institute TWINCORE. Ascenion currently markets around 750 technologies on behalf of these institutes, and closes an average of about 80 revenue-generating agreements between research and industry per year. The team has also coached numerous spin-offs through their foundation and early growth and Ascenion holds equity in 26 of these companies. Ascenion’s headquarters are in Munich, with further offices in Berlin, Braunschweig, Hamburg, Hanover and Neuherberg.
Further information at <link http: www.ascenion.de _blank>www.ascenion.de
About the High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential, high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 500,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public–private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 573.5 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 301.5 million HTGF II).
Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Schlegelstraße 2
53113 Bonn
Dr Matthias Dill
Investment Manager
Tel.: +49 (228) 823 001-33
Fax: +49 228 823 000-50
<link>m.dill@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
<link http: www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de external-link-new-window>www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de