July 2010

 

Relocation of Octapharma Biopharmaceuticals GmbH to Heidelberg

Octapharma AG invests in the Technology Park Heidelberg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 2008

 

ibpn international blood/plasma news

Octapharma AG will invest more than 25 Million Euros in a new building of a research center in the Technology Park in Heidelberg. The foundation stone for the fourth construction phase of the technology park was laid on July 8 by Octapharma founder Wolfgang Marguerre, mayor Dr. Eckart Würzner, Carola Schröder general manager of Octapharma Biopharmaceuticals GmbH and the architects Bert and Björn Burger.

The initialization of the building in Heidelberg is shown in the video portal of the Rhein Neckar television. The Rhein Neckar newspaper reported the story of the foundation stone laying:” A dream boat to wing research” (published on July 9, 2010).
The opening of the new facility in direct vicinity to the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) is planned for the beginning of 2012. Main focus will be basic research in alignment with the company’s core competences: immunology, hematology/blood coagulation as well as intensive and emergency medicine. The stakeholder of the new research center is Octapharma Biopharmaceuticals GmbH, a biotech research company with its core competence in protein expression with human cell lines.General manager Carola Schröder and staff will move from Martinsried nearby Munich to Heidelberg and will recruit additional highly qualified employees from the metropolis region. With the opening of the new location it is intended to increase personnel. It is firstly planned to reach a head count of 60 employees, while later on up to 100 employees are to conduct research in Heidelberg.

Swedish scientists at OCTAPHARMA AB report that they have developed a B-domain deleted recombinant factor VIII that can be expressed in a human cell line. Use of the human embryonic kidney cell line HEK293 in lieu of current small rodent cell lines is expected to produce a factor VIII molecule with a human glycosylation pattern, potentially resulting in improved function and reduced product immunogenicity.

The method of production uses a gene construct for a B-domain deleted factor VIII protein and stable clone cell developed at Munich-based Octapharma Biopharmaceuticals GmbH. The product harvested from cell culture in a serum-free medium is purified by five chromatography steps, and includes solvent detergent treatment and nanofiltration steps to inactivate and remove viruses, respectively. The final product has a factor VIII specific activity in excess of 9,000 IU/mg protein. In a direct comparison, this factor VIII protein demonstrated 40 % higher von Willebrand factor binding affinity than murine-based recombinant factor VIII products.