Berlin (16 December 2009) - The biotechnology sector's association, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation of Germany (BIO Deutschland) today welcomes Pharmicell Europe GmbH as its 250th member. The Berlin-based company specialising in the development of stem cell therapies was founded in 2006 as the European branch of the Korean company FCB Pharmicell Co. Ltd.

Commenting on Pharmicell becoming a member of the association, Peter Heinrich, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland, said that he was very happy to welcome this highly innovative company active in the field of stem cells, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering as a new member of BIO Deutschland. He added, "We regard the constant growth in membership since the foundation of the association five years ago as an incentive to support innovative small and medium-sized biotech companies by lending them a strong voice."

Sunghee Cho, the Managing Director of Pharmicell, explained that the company had joined BIO Deutschland on account of the benefits provided by the association to new biotech companies. "Our firm is specialised in the highly innovative field of adult stem cell therapy. It is very important for us to acquire diverse opportunities for a rapid and effective exchange of views and experience with research and potential partners." Andreas Kurtz, a co-founder of Pharmicell, added, "In our opinion, BIO Deutschland can offer us these opportunities because of its wide range of activities. We look forward to participating in future association activities."

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Munich (June 25, 2009): European Small and Medium-sized biopharmaceutical companies had the opportunity to network with counterparts from the larger pharmaceutical companies at the third edition of the Business Development Conference, organised by the industry associations European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises (EBE) and BIO Deutschland.

The event attracted about 100 CEOs and senior executives from (bio)pharmaceutical companies, private equity and venture capital companies from around Europe and USA. The exclusive setting of the conference helped participants learn, network and do business. The extremely positive feedback received from attendees shows that EBE and BIO Deutschland efforts to create a select platform to do business were successful.

Despite the global financing situation the European biotechnology still shows increasing innovation potential. According to an analysis recently published, the world’s six biggest-selling drugs in 2014 will all be biotech products, underlining the importance of the sector for the global pharmaceutical industry.

During the conference innovative companies throughout Europe had the opportunity to present their last R&D achievements and novel business models. Executives from key biotech and international pharmaceutical companies, private equity and VC firms shared their experiences, presented case-studies and their views concerning the key factors for facilitating growth of the European Biotech sector.

The keynotes and panel discussions amongst others entered into aspects of financing issues due to the global economic crisis: innovative financing pathways were presented and ways for positioning a company to attract investors and other partners were discussed.

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• Business situation is good or satisfactory in 90% of the companies
• Expected increase in number of jobs
• R&D expenditure still increasing despite gloomy outlook
• Further partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry expected
• German BioRegions Council becomes a member of BIO Deutschland

Berlin (22 January 2008) - Despite the financial crisis, more than 90% of German biotech companies regard their current situation as good or satisfactory. This is revealed in a survey conducted by the Biotechnology Industry Organisation of Germany, BIO Deutschland, in cooperation with the sector journal, |transkript, the results of which were presented at a press conference in Berlin today.

A large majority of German biotech companies regards their current situation as good (48%) or satisfactory (43%). However, the number of optimistic companies decreased in comparison with last year (good: 61%; satisfactory: 33%). The largest proportion of those surveyed (49%) believes that their own situation will not change in 2009 (43% last year). However, only a third of the firms expect that their situation will improve (55% last year), while 18% of the companies actually expect to see deterioration (2% last year).

According to the results of the survey, one can expect to see a continued increase in jobs in biotechnology during 2009. The half (50%) of the surveyed biotech companies stated that they plan to expand the number of employees in the coming year (71% last year). Only one in ten of German biotech firms expect redundancies this year (3% last year).

Despite the slightly less optimistic evaluation of the situation, biotech companies will focus on Research and Development once again in 2009. Around half of the companies (52%) plan expenditure in this area on the same level as last year (44% in 2008). Moreover, some 40% want to increase their 2008 investment. However, this figure decreased by around 7% in comparison with the previous year, while the number of "savers", who will invest less than last year, remained more or less the same (2009: 7%; 2008: 8%).

While German companies mainly assessed the business climate, that is, political, economic and social conditions, as satisfactory (61%; 2008: 56%), they were relatively pessimistic about future prospects. Only one in four German companies (25%) believed that conditions will improve in the coming year. Last year, 43% expected an improvement. Around 46% expect no change in the business climate (2008: 50%), while almost one in three (29%) companies even expects conditions to deteriorate (2008: 7%).

Peter Heinrich, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland said, "The notably more cautious optimism shown in the survey results clearly indicates the increasingly more difficult times facing innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in particular." He added, "At the same time, in 2009 we also expect to see further close partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry, which provides significant funding to the sector." Heinrich stressed that it is to be expected that Germany will remain in the group of market leaders in the field of biotechnology but that companies will need at least a billion euro in private financial capital over the next three years. As the chairman of the industry association explained, a significant improvement in taxation conditions above all is urgently required in order to attract suitable investors.

Kai Uwe Bindseil, Spokesperson for the German BioRegions Council and Director of BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg, stressed the importance of regional clusters in strengthening the biotechnology sector: "Particularly in the current economic situation, it is vital that all actors work closely together to activate the enormous potential of German biotechnology. This is the reason why the German BioRegions Council has become a member of BIO Deutschland and will use the association’s structures in the future to enhance the branch."

Patrick Dieckhoff, Editor of |transkript, stated, "The situation in biotech is stable. There can be no doubt that excellent biotechnological procedures will become part of more and more industrial areas. Despite the gloomier economic environment, pharmaceutical companies, who are not affected by the crisis, are particularly dependent on biotech products. This is proved by the large sums that they spent on takeovers in 2008, especially in Germany."

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