News

Dr. Thilo Enderle appointed as new Chief Executive Officer of Hit Discovery Constance GmbH Jan 10, 2019 Milan (Italy)/Constance (Germany) – Axxam announces the appointment of Dr. Thilo Enderle as Chief Executive Officer of Hit Discovery Constance (HDC), a joint venture company held by Axxam, the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3) of KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) and Lead Discovery Center GmbH (Dortmund, Germany). Thilo’s arrival will strengthen further the collaboration between Axxam and HDC in offering high quality discovery services, including high-throughput screening in a range of different modalities including fluorescence, luminescence, radiometric as well as high content screening. Stefan Lohmer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Axxam, said: “We are working with our colleagues at HDC as an integrated team and we are very pleased to welcome Thilo to the group and looking forward to leveraging his tremendous industrial HTS and lead discovery experience for the purpose of continuously delivering outstanding results to our partners and clients”. For more information please open the Press Release from HDC Open PDF document  

Axxam SpA expands to Denmark; opens office in Copenhagen Sep 27, 2018 Axxam SpA (Milan/Italy), a privately-owned innovative Partner Research Organization (iPRO) with a strong and leading expertise for the identification and characterization of bioactive compounds, announced this month the opening of its first Scandinavian office, located in the Copenhagen Bioscience Park (COBIS) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Open PDF document

Axxam SpA is a member of an international consortium for the further development of a promising drug against neuropathic pain Milan (Italy), 20 September 2018 Axxam is proud to announce its participation to a consortium of international partners, held by the Danish Hoba Therapeutics, for the further development of a promising drug against neuropathic pain. The consortium has received DKK 18.4M (≈USD3M) from the Innovation Fund Denmark, for the continued development of the drug candidate HB-086. Axxam will contribute to the success of the project with its experience in developing cell-based assays for the further evaluation of HB-086. For more information please see the Press Release from the consortium below. Open PDF document

Axxam SpA is a member of the RESOLUTE consortium Milan, 4th July 2018. Axxam is proud to announce its participation to the RESOLUTE (Research empowerment on solute carriers) consortium, a public-private research partnership supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), to accelerate research in the field of solute carrier (SLC) class of transporters and to potentially establish them as a novel target classes for effective new therapies. Axxam will make available its expertise in cell-based assays and high-throughput screening in order to contribute to the success of the project. For more information please open the Press Release from the RESOLUTE consortium. Open PDF document

Acousia Therapeutics Announces €10 Million Series B Financing to Advance its Hearing Loss Portfolio May 14th, 2018 – Milan (Italy) – Axxam is proud to announce that Acousia Therapeutics (Tubingen; Germany), a biotech company participated by Axxam and focused to develop therapies for the treatment of hearing loss, raised €10 Million in Series B Financing round. The financing was led by new investor LBBW Venture Capital, and joined by other new investors, Creathor Ventures and Bregua Corporation. Existing investors, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) also participated in the round. For more info please open the Press Release from Acousia Therapeutics. Open PDF document

Axxam S.p.A. collaborates with GenSight Biologics S.A. to support Clinical Trials of an optogenetic-based gene therapy drug for sight-threatening diseases April 24th 2018 – Milan (Italy) – Axxam S.p.A. announced today a collaboration with GenSight Biologics S.A. in the field of optogenetic gene-therapy drug development, with the goal to support GenSight effort of establishing innovative therapies to preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases, such as Retinitis Pigmentosa. GenSight is an innovative clinical-stage gene therapy company with an initial focus on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapies for severe retinal neurodegenerative diseases. Its unique know-how in using optically controlled gene products for orchestrating cellular functions in miniaturized HTS-compatible functional assays, made Axxam the research partner of choice for the development of a cell-based potency assay to be used to validate GenSight GS030 drug product batches for the use in clinical-stage experimentation. Axxam started the collaboration with GenSight with the establishment of a miniaturized in-vitro assay aimed at robustly and quantitatively measuring the biological effects linked to GS030 therapeutic properties, namely photoactivated cellular excitability. The potency assay, specially developed by Axxam for GenSight, is now ready to process for the method qualification in order to meet the regulatory requirements for clinical and further commercial stages. Open PDF document  

AXXAM expands its natural products service business Thursday 22nd March 2018, Milan – Axxam SpA (“AXXAM”) announces today the acquisition of all shares of IMAX Discovery GmbH (“IMAX Discovery”) held by IMD Natural Solutions GmbH (“INS”) to make IMAX Discovery a subsidiary of AXXAM. In the course of this transaction, IMAX Discovery acquired the natural products libraries of INS. With this acquisition and through IMAX Discovery, AXXAM has expanded its discovery services portfolio to the food & beverage industry and emphasizes its commitment to building its service business with unique offerings in natural product innovation as well as flavor solutions. As a consequence, AXXAM will also transfer its service business within the fragrance field into IMAX Discovery. Open PDF document

Axxam and Proximagen enter into a strategic collaboration for the discovery of novel molecules against targets for CNS disorders, pain and inflammation January 10th 2018 – Milan (Italy) and Cambridge (UK) – Axxam S.p.A. and Proximagen Ltd. today announced a strategic drug discovery collaboration for the identification and optimisation of small molecules as potential therapeutics in the fields of neuroscience, pain and inflammation. Over the course of the collaboration, Axxam and Proximagen scientists will collaborate to identify novel molecules modulating validated and promising biological targets of therapeutic interest for a range of disorders requiring novel therapeutic approaches. Starting from assay development and high throughput screening campaigns, using the Axxam AXXDIV3.0 library, the subsequent hits will be progressed through optimisation at Proximagen. This collaboration is the latest evolution of an existing relationship between the two companies. Open PDF document

Rewind Therapeutics, founded by Axxam and CD3, focusing on myelin-related diseases, raises €15.2 million in Series A Financing Round January 4th, 2018 – Milan (Italy) – Axxam is proud to announce that Rewind Therapeutics, a Belgian biotech company recently founded by Axxam itself and KU Leuven’s Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3 – Leuven, Belgium), has completed a €15.2 million Series A round that will finance research programs directed towards the development of novel re-myelinating therapies for patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and other myelin-related diseases. The round was led by life science investors Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), Merck Ventures BV (MV) and Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV), together with CD3 and KU Leuven Gemma Frisius Fonds (GFF).  For more info please open the Press Release from Rewind Therapeutics. Open PDF document

leadXpro and Axxam enter collaboration on a GPCR lead discovery project Milan, Italy, & Villigen, Switzerland, 1st of November 2017 – Axxam SpA and leadXpro AG announce today a collaboration for the discovery of novel small molecule lead compounds for a newly discovered GPCR involved in inflammatory processes. In the collaboration, Axxam and leadXpro will combine their expertise in assay development, high throughput screening, membrane protein generation, structure determination and application of biophysical methods to investigate the interaction of small molecule ligands with challenging membrane protein drug targets to facilitate the discovery and optimization of novel lead molecules. Open PDF Document