Life-saving and life-improving technologies in Skygate: at the beginning of 2020, Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, one of the leading international immuno-oncology companies with over 100 employees, moved into its offices in Skygate at Munich Airport Business Park (MABP). The company has now received the first €14.2 million in funding as part of the €50 million Bavarian Therapy Strategy, which, together with the BMBF’s federal funding program “Research and development of urgently needed therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2”, promotes the development of novel drugs that can be used to treat potentially life-threatening diseases caused by the coronavirus in a targeted manner. Pieris intends to use the funding to accelerate the clinical development of its product candidate PRS-220.
Pieris is a biotechnology company with numerous compounds in preclinical and clinical development that researches and develops drugs based on Anticalin® proteins. In addition to inhalable Anticalin® proteins for the treatment of respiratory diseases, the company’s pipeline also includes immuno-oncology multispecifics tailored to the tumor microenvironment. As a new class of therapeutics, the proteins are proprietary to Pieris and are being validated in the clinic and through partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies. Although the company, which was originally founded in Munich, is now headquartered in Boston, USA, the majority of the workforce is based at the new research and development center in Hallbergmoos, Bavaria: At the MABP, which is also increasingly becoming an incubator for companies in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors. We spoke to Goran Martić (PhD), Associate Director Alliance Management, about location issues and working at Pieris.
Pieris now has its headquarters in the USA. To what extent does the location in the immediate vicinity of the airport play a role for your company?
Goran Martić: The Hallbergmoos location is ideal for our many interactions with the parent company in Boston, but also for our international partnerships. Not only the proximity to the airport provides additional opportunities for important and personal meetings, but also the entire infrastructure with the wide range of hotels and conference rooms enables and facilitates efficient collaboration.
And what is the focus of your work here at the site?
Goran Martić: The focus at the Hallbergmoos site is clearly on research and development, and our finance and HR departments are also located here. Our laboratories in Skygate specialize in the identification and development of new drug candidates, particularly in their functional and biophysical characterization and production. We have also built up a great deal of expertise in the establishment of assays that map the biology of the diseases we are researching (translational sciences).
This has also (unfortunately) been a part of 2020/21: A generously designed working environment has become increasingly important, especially with regard to distancing and hygiene rules. To what extent do you find conditions here that also take these requirements into account?
Goran Martić: We were lucky that the move was completed shortly before the first wave of the pandemic in Munich and the surrounding area and the associated lockdown, even though we unfortunately had to cancel our planned inauguration ceremony. We had to adapt quickly and took precautions very early on to maintain social distancing and hygiene. This also made it possible for us to keep the laboratory operations in the Skygate area, which was designed for growth, running continuously and without any significant loss of efficiency thanks to the stringently implemented measures. Sufficient space and ventilation options, as well as a modern air-conditioning system and large storage areas/stocks, ensure that important laboratory processes continue to run to this day.
What are Pieris’ next steps and goals – here locally and around the world?
Goran Martić: We want to use innovations to provide new treatment options for diseases that are difficult to cure or treat and thus improve the lives of our fellow human beings and patients. Our focus is on cancer and respiratory diseases. This is also the focus of our latest project to develop an inhaled anticalin protein for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) with the drug candidate PRS-220. In this context, a €14.2 million research grant from the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy additionally supports the accelerated development of PRS-220 for the treatment of post-acute consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the form of pulmonary fibrosis, also known as post-COVID-19 syndrome pulmonary fibrosis or “long-COVID”. This development project was recently honored by Pharma Trend with an award in the category Leap Innovation. We are naturally very pleased about this. Our goal as a company remains clear: consistent and gradual expansion into a fully integrated biotech company, with the site in Hallbergmoos/Munich continuing to play a central role as Pieris’ research and development hub.
Image material © Claus Uhlendorf
