By Robert Derham, Checkbiotech

In the past, when Germany, France and Switzerland would come together to discuss green biotechnology, it was not expected that favorable political decisions would be taken to facilitate innovation from this sector. But who said you had to wait for a politician?

Times are changing and nothing depicts that better than BioValley’s Life Sciences Week, which showcases how this trio of nations is a powerhouse in all sectors of biotechnology.

On October 11th, BioValley will kick off its annual Life Sciences Week in Illkirch, France. During the two-week event, participants from around the world will attend meetings in France, Germany and Switzerland – all within a driving radius of 45 minutes or less. The events range from partnering meetings, cutting edge research presentations, investor relations and academic developments.

New to the program this year is a special day dedicated to the first BioValley Green Biotech Day. This tri-national event will take place at the International Space University in Illkirch, France.

Checkbiotech spoke with Constance Perrot, BioValley’s organizer for the Green Biotech Day, who noted, “As speakers from European companies and laboratories will present cutting edge topics of green biotechnology, this meeting will be an opportunity to initiate partnerships and collaborative research.”

Some of the topics that the speakers will address are: transgenic plants and animals, plant and animal based systems for proteins, vaccines and pharmaceutical production drugs, biofortified foods and many other emerging fields in the sector of agricultural biotechnology.

With the amount of cutting edge research going on at the University of Strasbourg, the Plant Biotechnology Institute at the University of Freiburg, the Botany Institute and the Plant Science Center at the University of Basel, it is easy to understand why leading corporations in the green biotech sector call BioValley their home.

In BioValley France, Dow and DuPont have a large presence, while in Switzerland, Syngenta has made Basel its corporate headquarters.

Not to be out done by the bigger players, in the German region of BioValley, the young and innovative company Greenovation is the talk of the town. Working with the Plant Biotechnology Institute at the University of Freiburg, Greenovation has developed a patented-technique to produce human proteins in moss (Physcomitrella patens).

Why?

The answer is simple. The moss systems that Greenovation have developed produce proteins that more closely resemble human proteins – even when looking at the sugars attached to the proteins, which are referred to as glycosylation patterns by scientists. With the wrong glycosylation patterns, what should have been a wonder drug can lose its efficacy and even cause allergies.

Dr. Eva Decker from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg told Checkbiotech, “I believe that moss will succeed as one of a very few plant species to be used as an alternative to mammalian cell lines, or transgenic animals, for the production of recombinant pharmaceuticals.”

More than a Green Thumb

Although BioValley is a leading cluster for green biotechnology, its world-renowned status comes from its health care industry. With corporate headquarters for global giants such as Novartis, Roche, Syngenta, Synthes, Lonza, Straumann and Actelion, it is no wonder that other life science clusters in the world choose to do business in the BioValley region.

Other global pharmaceutical and life science players in BioValley include Johnson & Johnson, Dow, Basilea, DuPont, Bayer, Faust Pharmaceutical, Neuro3D that ranks, Amersham Biosciences and Polyphor.

“In greater Basel area alone, approximately 200 start-up companies have been established, many of them as spin-offs from the pharmaceutical industry, or from academic research institutions such as the Biocenter of the University of Basel, the Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI) and the National Center of Competence in Research for Nanotechnology (NCCR),” highlighted Peter Raeber, who is a Business Development Manager for BaselArea. “This trend is increasing and will create new business opportunities, especially for venture capitalists,”

When Checkbiotech asked Raeber exactly how influential BioValley is in the pharmaceutical market, he added, “About 40 percent of the world's pharmaceutical industry is established in BioValley's region.”

“Basel is the economic center of BioValley's region and Switzerland's second largest economic area. Many national and international fairs and congresses are held in the modern facilities of the Messe Basel,” Raeber noted.

“In a radius of 500 kilometers (300 miles), companies can reach 60 million consumers with 50% of the total earnings in Europe. That is a tremendous amount of buying power and has been what has attracted investors and businesses alike.”

However, Beat Glatthaar, a BioValley representative, probably summed up BioValley’s strength the best, “Whenever you have the power of three countries coming together with strong leadership, communication and most importantly innovation, good things are bound to come about. We are already there. Good things have happened, are happening, and will continue to happen in BioValley.”

So what are you doing from October 11th – 27th?

BioValley Green Biotech Day
International Space University (ISU)
Parc d'Innovation
1 rue Jean-Dominique Cassini
67400 Illkirch-Graffenstaden
France

BioValley Life Sciences Week

France Meetings
October 11-16

Swiss Meetings
October 17-21

German Meetings
October 25-27

BioValley Contacts:

Germany
Manfred Claassens
BioValley Deutschland e.V.
m.claassens@biovalley.com

France
Sylvie Debra
Association Alsace BioValley
sylvie.debra@alsace-biovalley.com

Swizterland
Beat Glatthaar
BioValley Basel AG
beat.glatthaar@biovalley.com