• MHH spin-off Cardior will be taken over for up to EUR 1.025 billion including an upfront payment and additional payments if certain development and commercial milestones are achieved.
• Cardior has pioneered a new approach for the treatment of heart disease by targeting distinctive non-coding RNAs.
• Cardior’s Phase II candidate CDR132L is supported by strong Phase I and preclinical data suggesting the compound is safe and able to achieve cardiac functional improvements.
   

dentalXrai and Tube Pharmaceuticals were both acquired by international key players in their respective fields. The transactions add new momentum, development and marketing power to the start-ups’ projects.

Ascenion supports spin-offs from their partner institutes on their long-term growth trajectory. Recently, four of our portfolio companies have received different awards and prizes – sincere congratulations!

Through its spin-off program, Helmholtz Enterprise finances the establishment of start-up teams and the implementation of start-up projects in the Helmholtz Association.

Leopard Biosciences GmbH, founded in July, is developing a new diagnostic platform that can detect multiple markers in a single test. The translation of the technology was made possible by funding from the Helmholtz Association.

Ten female-led startups competed in the finale of the Female StartAperitivo startup competition. Ascenion’s portfolio company TimeTeller received the most votes in the public ballot for a method to make chemotherapy more effective and less harmful to the patient.

Ascenion's portfolio company OMEICOS has received a significant grant by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (“BMBF”) to co-finance a Phase 2a study evaluating their lead product candidate OMT-28 in Primary Mitochondrial Disease (PMD) patients.

The Berlin start-up develops AI-based software for predicting complications after major cardiac surgery. New business angels and family offices have now invested in the company, alongside the existing investor consortium around IBB Ventures.

The investment round is led by TRUMPF Venture with the objective of translating iThera Medical’s optoacustic imaging technology into routine clinical use.

Recovery Cat has developed software to improve the care of around six million patients in Germany with severe mental disorders. The investors are IBB Ventures’ Impact Fonds, Springboard Health Angels and a family office from Heidelberg.

Bioventure and IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH are financing the Hamburg biotech company for the next four years – to build the necessary infrastructure for research and production.

Ascenion’s portfolio company has dosed the first patient with its lead candidate TK-8001, a new therapy to target MAGE-A1 positive solid tumours.

With the new round of funding, Aignostics aims to continue growing their team, putting a stronger focus on the US market, and accelerating their investment into their platform and regulatory excellence.

The financing round was supported by a selected network of investors from medical and financial sectors. It enables the start-up to advance its fully automated ‘lab-in-a-box’ system for the molecular diagnosis of skin diseases to the market.

The company will use the proceeds to advance its groundbreaking optoacoustic imaging technology into clinical practice. If successful, it would provide a superior, non-invasive alternative to established diagnostic procedures in many diseases.

25 August 2021, Munich – Cardior Pharmaceuticals has closed a Series B financing round totalling EUR 64 million (USD 76 million). The round was led by…

The start-up has also been certified as a medical device manufacturer in the EU. Its x-c-bleeding product uses AI-based software to predict the risk of post-operative bleeding in patients in intensive care units.

The start-up has dosed the first participant in a Phase I study with its lead candidate HRX-0215. The small molecule holds strong potential to restore the liver’s natural capacity to regenerate itself, both in acute and chronic liver disease.

Initiation of the IMAGE1NE Phase 1/2 clinical study of TK-8001, a TCR-T cell therapy for MAGE-A1 positive solid tumors, in Q4 2021

Biomax Informatics AG, a well-established start-up from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, has been acquired by Horizonte Venture Management. The proceeds from the sale of Ascenion’s equity will be distributed as research grants via the LifeScience Foundation.

The Berlin start-up uses AI to recognize post-operative complications before they become critical. IBB Ventures and several business angels have invested in the company.

Ascenion’s portfolio company HepaRegeniX achieves an important preclinical milestone indicating beneficial therapeutic effects of its lead candidate in certain liver carcinomas.

Ascenion’s portfolio company iThera gained regulatory approval for a pivotal trial evaluating its MSOT imaging technology for the assessment of colon inflammation. If successful, it could provide a superior, non-invasive alternative to colonoscopy.

BERLIN, 28 August 2020 – Aignostics, a spin-off from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) pioneering…

• T-knife’s proprietary humanized mouse platform (HuTCR) T-cell Receptors expected to provide superior affinity/specificity properties
• Series A round led by Versant Ventures and RA Capital Management, with strong participation from seed investors Andera Partners and BIVF

HepaRegeniX has demonstrated proof-of-efficacy in acute liver disease in preclinical studies performed in collaboration with the University Hospital of Tübingen (Germany) and the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA).

Newly founded dentalXrai provides a unique, AI-based platform to improve and speed up the analysis of dental X-ray images. Ascenion, technology transfer partner of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, holds equity in the start-up.

Ascenion and Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg acquire equity in Hamburg start-up – innovative therapeutic approach enters clinical testing

Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH has published results of preclinical in vivo studies in Nature Communications showing that its lead compound, CDR132L, can significantly improve the functioning of pathologically altered hearts.

Lead liver disease candidate to enter clinical trials this year

The NUVISAN group, an international service provider for clinical studies, contract development and manufacturing (CRO/CDMO) with headquarters in…

Ascenion’s portfolio company Photonion GmbH offers innovative mass spectrometry systems that allow a more detailed analysis of air pollutants,…

New drug delivery system to enable needle-free application of drugs

Ascenion’s portfolio company Berlin Cures has initiated a Phase IIa clinical study with its lead compound BC 007. The two-armed, randomized,…

Simultaneously Closes Strategic Growth Investment from Ampersand Capital to Create a Leading Provider of Genomic and Cell and Tissue Analysis Products…

Ascenion’s portfolio company OMEICOS dosed a first patient in a Phase II clinical trial for its lead program OMT-28. The placebo-controlled,…

Ascenion Negotiated Additional Licence Agreement between Helmholtz Zentrum München and Medigene

9 January 2019, Munich – The Helmholtz Zentrum…

Three months following the first closing of its Series C financing, iThera Medical completed a second closing with Occident Ventures, BayBG and Falk…

Following the successful completion of a Phase I trial with its cardioprotective lead candidate OMT-28, OMEICOS has now closed a Series C financing…

This year’s technology transfer award from Braunschweig’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce goes to scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection…

Ascenion has negotiated a licence agreement between Medical School Hannover (MHH) and its spin-off Cardior Pharmaceuticals providing the company with…

Drug developer Berlin Cures announced the successful completion of its Phase 1 study of its lead candidate BC 007 for the treatment of cardiomyopathy.…

Boost for the first new tuberculosis vaccine in nearly 100 years 

21 August 2018, Munich – Ascenion GmbH, the technology transfer partner of the…

Ascenion’s portfolio company OMEICOS reported positive Phase I data for its lead candidate OMT-28, a small molecule with strong anti-arrhythmic and…

Berlin Cures, one of Ascenion’s portfolio companies, has announced positive Phase I results for its lead candidate BC007 for the treatment of heart…

Making cancer surgery more precise

23 October 2017, Munich – SurgVision BV, a spin-off from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, has been acquired by…

OMEICOS Therapeutics, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), announced the second closing…

Unique RNA-based approach for the treatment of heart diseases

11 May 2017, Munich – Cardior Pharmaceuticals has completed a EUR 15 million Series A…

OMEICOS Therapeutics, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), announced the first closing…

Tubingen (Germany), January 05, 2017 – HepaRegeniX GmbH, a new Biotech company developing innovative treatments for liver diseases, announced today…

amcure, a company that received support from Ascenion’s Spinnovator coaching program from the beginning, reports a significant milestone: At the end…

Berlin Cures, one of Ascenion’s investment portfolio companies, has announced the start of a clinical trial with its lead candidate BC007. The Phase I…

For the first time, a German team has won the world’s biggest life-science start-up competition. Captain T Cell, founded by Dr Felix Lorenz and…

The first clinical trial of MSOT, iThera’s innovative imaging technique, has made it onto the cover of the prestigious journal Science Translational…

amcure, a spin-off from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), has received a further EUR 1.9 million funding from the German Federal Ministry…

Recent Publication in Key Scientific Journal Supports amcure’s Therapeutic Approach in Cancer

Ascenion’s portfolio company OMEICOS, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin, has received further funding of…

Ascenion takes equity in the MHH start-up Zellkraftwerk

BigChem GmbH was founded this October to commercialize validated IT products and services developed at the Helmholtz Zentrum München. The research was…

As recently announced by Ascenion’s portfolio company Protectimmun, the three parties have agreed that Janssen will financially support preclinical…