Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZIRIBOLUTION Health GmbH founded in Leipzig
The new biotech start-up in Leipzig, Germany, aims to improve diagnosis and therapy of complex diseases such as cancer, chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases. First planned products are tests for diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer that offer higher accuracy compared to conventional processes.
The foundation for the successful development of the newly formed enterprise is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary biomarker platform which was developed in collaboration with five Fraunhofer institutes over the past five years. Through the RIBOLUTION Project ("RIBOnucleic acid-based diagnostic soLUTIONs"), funded by the Fraunhofer-Zukunftsstiftung (Fraunhofer Future Foundation), non-coding ribonucleic acids ("ncRNAs") were identified as the source for novel biomarkers for a variety of diseases.
Highly specific biomarkers are the prerequisite for the development of a new generation of diagnostic tests with improved performance in comparison to existing procedures. As a result of the work performed within the RIBOLUTION Project, various promising biomarker candidates for the diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer were discovered and successfully tested on over 250 patients in collaboration with the Dresden University of Technology. Further biomarker programs in the fields of cancer, chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases are in earlier stages of development.
"The close collaboration between Fraunhofer and the newly founded company will provide us with outstanding perspectives to play a leading role in the rapidly expanding market for so-called “Next Generation Diagnostics," explains Dr. Christoph Sachsenmaier, Managing Director of RIBOLUTION Health GmbH.
"The results of our studies were so promising that the commercialization through the new company was the next logical step for us," explains Professor Friedemann Horn of the University of Leipzig's Faculty of Medicine, and coordinator of the RIBOLUTION Project.
"The ncRNA biomarkers that we identified represent a clinically highly relevant class of substances which can now be implemented in diagnostic and therapeutic processes," states Professor Manfred Wirth of the Dresden University Hospital, who previously brought his clinical expertise to the research project and now to the new company.
Market launch of the first products for diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer are planned for the end of 2017.