Tromsø, Norway, and Dortmund, Germany – April 25th, 2024. KinSea Lead Discovery AS, a biopharmaceutical start-up pioneering the use of marine bioactives for the treatment of human diseases, announces the successful first closing of its seed financing round. It includes an equity investment from KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-I), an early-stage life sciences venture fund based in Germany, and welcomes the new investor Berners AS, a North Norwegian investment company. A year ago, KinSea had already secured a convertible loan from KHAN-I, which was recently converted into shares.

The financing enables the company to further develop its lead program, a FLT3 kinase inhibitor based on unique chemistry from marine sources, towards preclinical and clinical testing. Data from in vivo proof-of-concept studies suggest superior properties over existing FLT3 inhibitors, including potential broad activity against known drug-induced and drug-resistant FLT3 mutations, improved selectivity, and outstanding in vivo potency. The program originates from the successful collaboration of the founding partners, Arctic University of Norway (UiT), University of Bergen (UiB), Norinnova, and Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC).

‘We are grateful for the continued confidence and support from KHAN-I, and delighted to welcome Berners AS on board’, says Jeanette Hammer Andersen, CEO of KinSea. ‘This first closing validates the transformative potential of our approach. We are very committed to take our FLT3 inhibitors through the next stages of drug discovery and development in order to provide entirely new treatment options for AML patients that are safer and more effective’.

KinSea also plans to gradually expand its drug discovery pipeline and establish a diversified portfolio of high-potential drug candidates based on novel chemical scaffolds from the Arctic Ocean for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

‘We are excited to reaffirm our commitment to KinSea and its groundbreaking work in the field of marine-derived therapeutics. The team has made significant progress over the last year, and we are convinced that their unique approach and capable team will continue to drive the maturation and expansion of their pipeline, and eventually make a meaningful impact on patients’ lives, in particular with regard to urgently needed, improved therapies for AML patients’, comments Bert Klebl, Managing Director of KHAN-I.

Mats Sæverud, CEO of Berners AS, adds: ‘In KinSea, we found an ambitious startup company that wants to make an important impact by employing natural products from the Arctic Ocean. The KinSea team has bold visions, scalable solutions, excellent expertise and skills, and fits well with Berners´ ambitions.’

KinSea has already started discussions with further investors for a second and final closing.

###

Contact
Lead Discovery Center GmbH
Otto-Hahn-Straße 15
44227 Dortmund
Germany
Phone: +49 231 97 42 70 00
Mail: pr@lead-discovery.de

###

About KHAN-I

KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-I) is an early-stage life sciences venture fund with €70 million under management. Our mission is to create value through cooperative drug development partnerships with academic innovators in Europe. KHAN-I focuses on first-in-class therapies for attractive markets with a high unmet medical need. The fund is managed by Khanu Management GmbH, an experienced team of professionals with proven track records in early-stage drug development and academic spin-offs as well as pharma licensing and partnering. KHAN-I received an investment from the European Investment Fund (EIF) with the support of InnovFin Equity, and with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (“EFSI”) under the Investment Plan for Europe. KHANI is also supported by Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (AWS with funds provided by the Austrian

Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the Austrian Foundation for Research, Technology, and Development), Max Planck Foundation, and Thyssen’sche Handelsgesellschaft mbH. In addition, KHAN-I sustains a preferred partnership with the Max-Planck Society (Max-Planck Gesellschaft e.V.).

Further information at www.khanu.de

About Berners AS

Berners AS is a newly established, privately owned investment company, based in Tromsø, Norway. Through investments and active ownership, Berners will contribute to the development of profitable and sustainable businesses, especially within the seafood and marine sector. We aim to be a supporter of the development of brands and competence clusters in Northern Norway. Our investment strategy is based on our knowledge and love for the coast and the sea, and the opportunities that exist there. Berners is owned by Triko AS (80%) and Larren Invest AS (20%).

About Norinnova

Norinnova is one of Northern Norway’s most competent and experienced agencies for research commercialization. Norinnova connects researchers, start-up environments, companies and commercial actors to develop and utilize the region’s innovation power. For more than 30 years, Norinnova has worked closely with researchers and leading research communities in Northern Norway to harness the power of innovation in this region. This collaboration has contributed to the creation of brand-new businesses and has reinforced existing companies through new products and services. Norinnova secures rights, helps provide funding, investigates market potential, finds relevant partners, and contributes so that the scientists can get their product or service to the market.

Further information available at: www.norinnova.no

About LDC

Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) was established in 2008 by the technology transfer organization Max Planck Innovation, as a novel approach to capitalize on the potential of excellent basic research for the discovery of new therapies for diseases with high medical need. LDC takes on promising early-stage projects from academia and transforms them into innovative pharmaceutical leads and antibodies that reach initial proof-of-concept in animals as well as candidate nomination. In close collaboration with high-profile partners from research and industry, LDC is building a strong and growing portfolio of small molecule and antibody leads with exceptional medical and commercial potential.

LDC sustains a long-term partnership with the Max Planck Society and its institutes as well as with KHAN-I, and has formed alliances with AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck KGaA, Daiichi Sankyo, Qurient, InvIOS, Novo Nordisk, Cumulus Oncology, Nodus Oncology, JT Pharmaceuticals, KinSea Lead Discovery AS, HLB Pharma, the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, e.g. In addition, LDC also works with leading translational drug discovery centers and with various investors to provide its assets for company creation.

Further information available at: www.lead-discovery.de

less

Dortmund, Germany and Tromsø, Norway, October 06, 2014 – The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), a renowned translational research organization, and UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) have teamed up to discover new medicines from the marine arctic environment. The partners will focus on human diseases with high unmet medical need.

UiT has gathered unique natural product libraries from all kinds of organisms living in the Arctic Sea, an unparalleled source for bioactives highly interesting for drug discovery. The extreme conditions in the Arctic Sea have sparked the evolution of diverse marine organisms containing numerous as yet unknown compounds.
“These bioactives clearly have great potential, and I am extremely pleased to exploit their value for the discovery of new therapies, together with the UiT”, comments Dr Bert Klebl, CEO of the LDC. “Moreover, we are very much looking forward to becoming the UiT’s partner for advancing their projects to the stage of validated pharmaceutical leads.”

 Under the terms of the agreement, the LDC may use the UiT library for screening purposes using targets sourced from its academic network. In addition, the partners intend to initiate joint drug discovery and development projects based on UiT targets. The partners will cooperate closely from the target selection stage through to the commercialization of resulting leads, with the UiT contributing project-specific expertise, its libraries and financial resources, and the LDC adding its comprehensive drug discovery and development know-how, together with its first-tier industry network. Potential revenues from commercialization will be shared between the partners. The collaboration is initially planned for a period of five years.
“We are very privileged to team up with such a prestigious and renowned R&D organization, which has an impressive track record.” says Dean at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT, Edel Elvevoll. “The collaboration with LDC significantly increases our ability to discover and develop drugs based on organisms from the Arctic environment.”

About UiT
UiT is the northernmost university in the world comprising 12.000 students and 2800 staff. Quality education within all classical subject areas is offered. As an expert on the Arctic, much of the research is linked to the challenges and opportunities in the high north, and UiT is dedicated to create and disseminate cutting-edge knowledge on the Arctic regions, including marine biosdicovery research.
The successful 130 million NOK marine biodiscovery project, MabCent-SFI, was initiated in 2007. Along with project partners, including the Institute of Marine Research, a huge library/bank of marine arctic organisms and compounds has been established. The research has firmly placed UiT and Tromsø on the biodiscovery map and the project has generated several promising hits.

Further information at: www.uit.no and MabCent

Contact
Thomas Hegendörfer
T. +49.231.97 42 70 02
E. hegendoerfer@lead-discovery.de
Lead Discovery Center GmbH
Otto-Hahn-Straße 15
44227 Dortmund
Germany

less

Dortmund, September 30, 2014 – The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), a renowned translational research organization, and the Helmholtz Association, Germany’s biggest scientific organization, will be collaborating more closely in future. An initial pilot project in cooperation with Prof. Schulte’s research group at the DKTK partner site Essen/Dusseldorf has just been launched. Together with the LDC, they will be developing a novel cancer therapy approach with the aim of identifying new drug candidates for the treatment of neuroblastoma and other cancer types.

Neuroblastomas are one of the most frequently occurring tumours in childhood and adolescence. The DKTK’s new approach is the first to tackle the root cause of the disease. It’s based on a target structure that, by interacting with microRNAs, interferes with the regulation of genes playing an important role in neuroblastoma development.

‘If we are successful in bringing this approach to the clinic, it will make a big difference to affected children and their parents,’ says Prof. Schulte. ‘The LDC is a great Partner. It gives us the chance to move the project from our laboratories into pharmaceutical development.’

As part of the cooperation, the partners intend to identify and validate initial drug candidates from LDC’s compound library. In parallel, the LDC will use its industry contacts to win potential pharmaceutical partners in good time for subsequent clinical development.

The LDC and the Helmholtz Association already have their sights set on further collaborations. In order to translate innovative approaches into application, the Helmholtz Association is supporting selected projects via the Helmholtz Validation Fund (HVF).

‘Alongside the support given by our internal start-up and validation instruments, we want to enable the use of established transfer models such as the LDC, which was initiated by Max Planck Innovation GmbH,’ says Dr Rolf Zettl, Managing Director of the Helmholtz Association. ‘Wherever it is possible to bring critical mass together and exploit synergies in the German science system, we should be using cross-organization technology transfer initiatives like this one. And in the case of the highly specialized LDC, it’s clear that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.’

The Helmholtz Association is Germany’s biggest scientific organization, comprising several centres internationally recognized for their top-level health research, including the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the DKTK’s core centre.

‘We are delighted to count the Helmholtz Association among our research partners, alongside the Max Planck Society. Thanks to their particular strength in the biomedical area, they provide numerous project ideas offering very promising approaches for application-oriented drug discovery,’ comments Dr Bert Klebl, Managing Director and CSO of the LDC.

About the Helmholtz Association

The Helmholtz Association contributes to solving major and urgent issues in society, science and industry through scientific excellence in six research areas: Energy, earth and environment, health, key technologies, structure of matter as well as aviation, aerospace and transportation. The Helmholtz Association is the largest scientific organization in Germany, with 35,000 employees in 18 research centres and an annual budget of around €3.8 billion. Its work is carried out in the tradition of the great natural scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894).

Further information at: www.helmholtz.de

About the DKTK

In the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) joins up with university hospitals all over Germany. Assembled around a core at the DKFZ in Heidelberg, the consortium unites twenty high-ranked institutes from seven partner sites: Berlin, Dresden, Essen/Dusseldorf, Frankfurt/Mainz, Freiburg, Munich and Tubingen, all specialized in research and treatment focused on oncological diseases. The DKTK was found to promote translational research, bringing together scientists, physicians and associates to work jointly toward the main goal of enhancing the translation of research from bench to bedside. New approaches in prevention, diagnostics and treatment will be applied to cancer in common translational centers at all partner sites. Patients will be recruited at all partner sites for innovative studies to be carried out by the consortium as a whole. All the data from this work will be collected in a universal system. The harmonization of techniques and methods used in laboratories will ensure identical standards for all researchers and physicians in the consortium. A joint infrastructure will make them available for communal research. With the school of oncology, the consortium is additionally dedicating itself to the education of new physicians and scientists. Talented young people will be trained in cancer medicine and translational cancer research in a common effort involving all members. The German Cancer Consortium is a joint initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the participating German states, German Cancer Aid and the German Cancer Research Center. It is one of the six German Centers for Health Research (DZG).

Further information at: www.dkfz.de/de/dktk

less

Dortmund, April 16, 2014 – The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), a renowned translational research organization, and Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo), Japan, have teamed up to discover new medicines for the treatment of disease with high unmet medical needs. The partners will focus on targeted disease areas and novel mechanisms of strategic interest to Daiichi Sankyo, including oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Through an initial two-year period of collaboration, LDC will identify promising novel targets from its pan-European network of leading universities and research organizations including members of the Max Planck Society. Individual projects selected by Daiichi Sankyo will be screened by LDC using its own collection of some 200,000 high-quality compounds plus an additional 70,000 compounds contributed from Daiichi Sankyo’s corporate Pharma Space Library to generate innovative starting points for joint drug discovery projects. In addition, LDC will be responsible for assay development and hit validation. Daiichi Sankyo will contribute by research funding as well as in-kind support e.g. through its library.

For each collaboration project, Daiichi Sankyo will have a preferred option to enter into a follow-up drug discovery collaboration with LDC for taking promising compounds jointly forward up to the stage of a pharmaceutical lead.

“Daiichi Sankyo is a recognized leader in the development and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products, and we are very pleased to have them on board as our first partner from Japan,” said Dr Bert Klebl, Managing Director of LDC. “We very much appreciate their willingness to get involved in projects at a very early stage. With our combined expertise and resources we are perfectly positioned to accelerate the discovery of drug candidates based on exciting novel targets from our academic network and transform them into new medicines for diseases with high unmet medical needs.”

less

15.04.2014 –The newly founded screening services provider HDC celebrates the re-opening of the former Altana/Nycomed’s HTS and compound logistics facility with numerous guests from industry and academics.

More than hundred guests from Germany, Europe and Japan were invited to an open day of the Hit Discovery Constance (HDC) GmbH on the former Altana/Nycomed premises in Constance. At the symposium, expert representatives from European pharmaceutical companies like Lorenz Mayer from Astra Zeneca, Ingo Kober from Merck Serono, Julio Martin from GSK, and Henning Steinhagen from Gruenenthal were presenting talks covering themes around innovation in life sciences and high throughput screening. The participants from industry and academia, like the University of Constance, or the Max-Planck-Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, used the reception with finger food and cocktails as a chance for informal networking and information exchange.

During guided lab tours, prospective customers had the opportunity to have a closer look at the re-opened facilities. The three modern high-throughput screening stations and a fully integrated compound logistics infrastructure with a capacity of more than 20 million probes at -20°C had been designed and planned at times when Altana Pharma, and later Nycomed, were active on the premises, and still had ambitious plans. This infrastructure complemented by the HDC with a screening library of 240 000 small molecules, which had been compiled according to latest medicinal chemistry design principles, and inspired by the longstanding screening experience of the mother companies.

The services offered by the HDC comprise assay development, HTS with conventional biochemical, cellular and radiometric readouts, phenotypic screening by high-content imaging, as well as storage and management of large sample collections. “We are in a position to offer unique readout technologies, as the screening stations had been designed by physicists, rather than by engineers.” says Jan Eickhoff, one of the managing directors of the HDC.

In 2006, Altana Pharma in Constance had been taken over by the multinational pharmaceutical company Nycomed. In May 2011, Nycomed was purchased by the Japanese pharma giant Takeda for 9.6 billion €. Soon afterwards, Takeda began restructuring the site in Constance. Research units were shut down, and the sales department was relocated. The HDC now reopens the existing screening- and compound management labs, including key personnel. HDC is a joint venture effort between the two renowned translational research centers Lead Discovery Center (Dortmund/Germany) and Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3, KULeuven, Leuven/Belgium) as well as the established Italian research and discovery services provider Axxam (Milan).

less

Constance (Germany), January 14th, 2014 – Today Hit Discovery Constance GmbH (“HDC”), a new joint venture organisation between Lead Discovery Center (Dortmund/Germany), Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3, KULeuven, Leuven/Belgium) and Axxam (Milan/Italy) has started its operation. The new company is based in Constance (Germany) and will make use of the already established equipment and know-how of the former Takeda/Nycomed/Altana screening and compound management facilities at the site.

HDC is a service oriented company which provides high quality drug discovery research services to the Life Science industry and academic or research institutions.
The offering includes assay development, High Throughput Screening (“HTS”) using radiometric formats, as well as conventional biochemical and cellular assay formats, automated High Content Screening (“HCS”) and Biosafety level 2 (BSL2) HTS. HDC’s labs are equipped with three state-of-the-art screening stations, a Screening Collection of 240.000 compounds and offer a REMP-based compound storage & handling facility which allows high quality storage and high throughput compound picking activities. Combined with Axxam`s already established HTS services and compound storage facilities, HDC represent one of the largest screening hubs worldwide.

Stefan Lohmer, Chief Executive Officer at Axxam, commented “today`s opening of HDC, excellently positioned in the middle of Europe, is a further important strategic expansion for our service business, perfectly complementing our existing offers by providing the next level of compound management combined with fully automated Radiometric and High Content Screening, thereby responding to the increasing demands for these screening technologies. Now for all the different targets of interest, the most suitable assay format can be chosen, developed and screened”.

“The availability of such HTS and compound management hub also for academic and translational research activities is a significant step forward for the European research community and will boost drug discovery and chemical biology programs significantly in terms of timelines as well as the quality of the hit compounds identified in a screening operation. We are very happy to revive this research site in Constance which has a long-standing history in successful drug discovery”, added Bert Klebl, Managing Director at LDC.
Patrick Chaltin, Managing Director at CD3, is very pleased with the collaborative effort and joint venture spirit between the partners which has led to the establishment of the HDC. “With HDC, a new fully automated HTS centre is available for industry as well as for academic and research institutions which can become an important player in the increasing translational drug discovery efforts”.

About Lead Discovery Center
Lead Discovery Center (LDC) is a translational drug discovery company which takes on promising early-stage projects and collaboratively transforms them with its academic partners into innovative pharmaceutical leads with proof-of-concept in animal.
LDC sustains a preferred partnership with the Max Planck Society and has formed alliances with AstraZeneca, Bayer and Merck Serono as well as leading academic drug discovery centres around the globe. For more information: www.lead-discovery.de.

About CD3
The Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3) is a technology transfer platform and investment fund focusing on the discovery and development of innovative medicines for all kinds of diseases. By providing the necessary drug expertise and financial resources, CD3 ensures that biomedical research carried out by universities and small biotech companies is translated into starting points for  promising new medicines.  Subsequently, such new potential medicines can then be further developed by pharma or biotech industry or can form the basis for the establishment of new biotechs. CD3 was set up at the end of 2006 by KU Leuven Research & Development and the European Investment Fund (EIF). For more information: www.cd3.eu.

About Axxam
Axxam is a privately owned contract research and discovery company. The Company has developed a proven track record as a third party research and discovery services provider for the life science industry, including pharma, biotech, crop protection, animal health, cosmetics and nutrition. In addition, Axxam conducts several drug discovery programs for selected targets which are carried out in partnership with other companies or non-profit organizations. For more information: www.axxam.com.

For more information on HDC:

Lead Discovery Center GmbH
Dr. Jan Eickhoff
t: +49 231 9742 7005
e: eickhoff@lead-discovery.de
    
CD3
Stefaan Allemeersch
t: +32 2 16852602
e: stefaan.allemeersch@cistim.be
    
Axxam SpA
Dr. Doris Hafenbradl
t:  +39 02 2105680
e: doris.hafenbradl.dh@axxam.com

less