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CORIMMUN receives seed funding from High-Tech Gründerfonds, Bayernkapital and BioM AG (lifescience.de)
CORIMMUN GmbH announced today that it has completed a seed funding round with the High-Tech Gründerfonds, Bayern Kapital (Seedfonds) and BioM AG. Funding totaled an amount of 680.000 Euro for which High-Tech Gründerfonds, Bayern Kapital and BioM AG acquired company shares and additionally provided a subordinated convertible loan. CORIMMUN‘s founding members PD Dr. Dorothea Siegel-Axel, PD Dr. Roland Jahns, Prof. Dr. Martin Lohse, Prof. Dr. Meinrad Gawaz participated in this round, as well as the company management PD Dr. Götz Münch and Prof. Dr. Martin Ungerer.

The company will now embark to develop high-profile new drugs to treat congestive heart failure and atherosclerosis, the most common causes of mortality in developed countries. The new medical developments aim to be especially efficient, and are characterized by reduced side effects compared to conventional drugs. Two innovative products COR-1 and COR-2 are currently in preclinical development. COR-1 is a peptide drug candidate to prevent the auto-antibody-mediated propagation of heart failure. Auto-antibodies are an increasingly recognized phenomenon in any form of heart failure with a large and previously unmet medical need. COR-2 is a biological which prevents foam cell formation in atherosclerotic plaques with the potential to reverse plaque progression.

All of CORIMMUN‘s founderss are very pleased about the successful financing of the company: "This confirms the quality of new compounds, and further shows how research work can be translated into new applications in the context of the drug development process" said Corimmun´s CEO Götz Münch.

Marco Winzer, Investmentmanager at High-Tech Gründerfonds said: "The reason we invested in CORIMMUN was the high potential of drug candidates as well as its experienced team coordinated by CEO Dr. Götz Münch. We are confident that this team will meet the demands of pharmaceutical and biotech companies by providing promising drug development candidates."

About CORIMMUN
CORIMMUN is a spin-off from the universities of Würzburg (research groups of PD Dr. Roland Jahns and Prof. Martin Lohse at the Rudolf-Virchow-Centre for Biomedicine and the Department of Cardiology) and of Tübingen (research groups of PD Dr. Dorothea Siegel-Axel and Prof. Meinrad Gawaz at the Department of Cardiology). Both groups have developed new promising compounds. The projects are funded by two grants of the GoBio project of the BMBF. GoBio is a perfect means to transfer research projects into commercially oriented projects in Biotech.
The founders of Corimmun bring together excellent knowledge and reputation in research and clinical medicine together with biotech experience. Corimmun´s management has previously built up and successfully merged the biotech company ProCorde with London based Trigen to Trigen Holdings AG with headquarters in Martinsried. Research activities are carried out at the university departments and parallel drug development is propagated in the premises of Corimmun in Martinsried. With the combined activities at Corimmun, active drugs to treat patients with life-threatening diseases will now be developed in a highly competent and efficient mode.

Alternative link:
http://www.bayernkapital.de/presse-corimmun.pdf

Transkript Nr. 4, 13. Jahrgang 2007, S. 8

mit GoBio-Preisträgern

Mit der Corimmun GmbH in Martinsried hat der High-Tech-Gründerfonds (HTGF) einem Entwickler von Biotech-Medikamenten auf die Beine geholfen. Neben dem HTGF investierten der Seedfonds von Bayern Kapital sowie die BioM AG. Zusätzlich zu der Finanzierung legte das Konsortium ein Nachrangdarlehen auf, so dass die gesamte Finanzierung 680.000 Euro beträgt. Corimmun entwickelt mit COR-1 und COR-2 zwei Wirkstoffkonzepte zur Therapie von Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen. COR-1 ist ein Peptid, das sich gegen Autoimmun-Antikörper richtet, die zu einer pathologischen (Über-)Stimulation von adrenergenen Rezeptoren und damit zu Herzfehlern führen. Die wirtschaftliche Umsetzung dieser Technologie, die Dr. Axel Jahns an der Universität Würzburg entwickelte, wird vom BMBF im Rahmen der GoBio-Initiative unterstützt. Genauso verhält es sich bei Dr. Dorothea Axel-Siegel, die mit COR-2 einen Ansatz zur Therapie von Arthereosklerose durch eine Verminderung der Cholesterinaufnahme durch Blockierung der entsprechenden Lipidvesikel (LDL) in die neue Firma einbrachte. Rechnet man die beiden GoBio-Förderungen mit dem HTGF-Investment zusammen, verfügt die Firma bereits über mehrere Millionen Euro Startkapital. Mit Dr. Götz Münch (Geschäftsführer) und Prof. Dr. Martin Ungerer (Wissenschaftlicher Vorstand) besitzt das Martinsrieder Start-up darüber hinaus ein erfahrenes Management - führten die beiden Unternehmer doch die Münchener ProCorde GmbH in die Fusion mit der britischen Trigen plc.

Life Science Bavaria, Bayern Innovativ, S. 6, Edition 1/2007

From lab to economy

GoBio makes entrepreneurs of bioscientists - 20.10.2006 (www.biotechnologie.de)

GoBio winner with the German Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan and two members of the jury (from left): Dorothea Siegel-Axel, Erich Wanker, Michael Weyand, Özlem Türeci (agency for Ugur Sahin), Roland Jahn, Annette Schavan (Federal Minister), Jan-Michael Heinrich, Joe Lewis, Christian Stein (jury), Michael Boutros, Harald Labischinski (jury), Dirk Bumann, Raquel Martin, Igor Tetko (prizewinner Carsten Mehring not pictured) GO-Bio winner with the German Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan and two members of the jury (from left): Dorothea Siegel-Axel, Erich Wanker, Michael Weyand, Özlem Türeci (agency for Ugur Sahin), Roland Jahn, Annette Schavan (Federal Minister), Jan-Michael Heinrich, Joe Lewis, Christian Stein (jury), Michael Boutros, Harald Labischinski (jury), Dirk Bumann, Raquel Martin, Igor Tetko (prizewinner Carsten Mehring not pictured)
Quelle:www.biotechnologie.de

In the first round of the GoBio competition, twelve projects will be receiving funding totalling 20 million Euros over three years. With this money, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is encouraging scientists in Germany to think in business terms and to transform their scientific ideas into products for the market. At a press concerence in Berlin Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan congratulated the winners. "The drive to found new companies in Germany should not lose momentum", she stressed. Usable research results should be marketed commercially in a company context – an aspect that was already pointed out in the German government’s high-tech strategy.

According to the minister, the central goal of the funding program is to connect scientific realizations with commercial conversion: "The GoBio competition aims to encourage scientists to convert their good ideas into products. In Germany we need researchers who can also think in business terms."

Over the next three years, each of the twelve chosen projects will receive an average of 1.7 million Euros. With these generous funds it will be possible for the scientists to examine and advance the commercial usability of their research results in their own working group. After three years, successful participants will be able to move over into a second funding phase, in which they will receive funding to found new company.

Personalities in demand

In the first round of the competition a total of 176 researchers have applied for funding. A jury made up of representatives from science and economics worked together to choose the twelve winners. Representing the jury at the press conference, Professor Dr. Harald Labischinski, from the board of directors of the biotech enterprise Combinature Biopharm AG, stressed that in the selection of the winners, scientific excellence was not the only factor that was being recognized, but also personalities and entrepreneurship.

From neuroprostheses to agricultural protection agents

The concepts selected to receive funding are mostly medically oriented, including the development of new medicaments and therapies, as well as projects tackling development of neuroprotheses and the employment of nano-biotechnology in the production of biofunctional surfaces. In the field of plant biotechnology the development of innovative active agents for the protection of plants are also being funded. The groups of researchers behind these developments are both, young up-and-coming researchers and scientists with company and/or clinical experience.

The next GoBio round begins

The Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) will make approximately 150 million Euros available for the GoBio funding competition over the next ten years. Altogether, five funding rounds are being planned, with the second now in progress.

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