With 15 applicants from various fields the team had a hard time narrowing down the finalists. In the end, three applicants were invited to present their solutions and receive feedback. Hosting this “office-hour”-type format for the second year in a row was Michael Graninger, Head Biotherapeutics Process Development Europe, who shared his view on how the event went: “The Takeda R&D Science Day aims to foster an environment of open and direct communication with the local life-sciences start-up ecosystem, and we welcome the opportunity to meet regularly with exciting innovators. This year we decided to have a narrower focus on technology solutions for process development, and we were not disappointed. We were excited to see the solutions presented and to engage in a conversation about their scale-up potential.”
The participants also shared their feedback on the event. Manfred Satzer, CEO of p4b GmbH, a lab scale custom bioreactor developer, said, “Participating in the Takeda R&D event was a fantastic opportunity to engage with Takeda's process experts, learn more about their challenges and solutions, and explore potential applications—as well as potential challenges—in applying our DownScale reactor system. We deeply value the exchange of insights and ideas fostered during this conversation.”
For Saren Tasciyan from BioPeak who presented his Versa’tchip lab-on-a-chip solution, the exchange with Takeda experts brought some unanticipated ideas to the forefront: “This was a unique opportunity to gather feedback on the new versatile lab-on-a-chip technology from a leading pharmaceutical company. Given the broad applicability of this platform technology, identifying the most relevant industry needs can be challenging. However, this in-person meeting revealed some unexpected and promising use cases, which we are eager to explore further.”
Finally, Karlheinz Landauer from QBDC, an ML/AI deep tech company, commented on the quality of the conversation and the commitment of the Takeda team to sustainability: “It was an exciting and insightful meeting at Takeda during the R&D Science Day. The discussions were scientifically grounded and focused, clearly highlighting our shared interest in innovative solutions. I was particularly impressed by the team's strong commitment to sustainability and their helpful input to our DNA methylation bioprocess, which promises to shorten development timelines and enhance the robustness and quality of pharmaceutical drug manufacturing.”
Both participants and hosts were pleased with the event this year and the format of the Takeda R&D Science Day. The Takeda R&D group in Austria looks forward to organizing this event again in 2025, so stay tuned to find out what the topic will be!
About Takeda in Austria
In Austria, Takeda works along the entire pharmaceutical value chain: Research & Development, Plasma Sourcing, Manufacturing and Patient Access. Takeda is one of Austria's largest pharmaceutical employers. Every day, approx. 4,500 employees contribute to ensuring that medicines from Austria are delivered to patients in more than 100 countries worldwide and that patients in Austria have access to innovative medicines from Takeda. Takeda's Austrian product portfolio helps patients in areas such as oncology, hemophilia, gastroenterology, immunology, and neuroscience. In R&D, Takeda’s activities in Austria cover the entire pharmaceutical development process from the selection of a product candidate over process and analytical development and clinical manufacturing to the market release of the product. R&D Austria is a central player in Takeda’s global R&D engine. www.takeda.com
Contact
Denisa Lazarescu
R&D Europe Communications Lead
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Donau-City-Strasse 7
A-1220 Vienna, Austria
denisa.lazarescu(at)takeda.com
Elvira Kainersdorfer
Cluster Manager
LISAvienna
Karl-Farkas-Gasse 18
1030 Vienna, Austria
Kainersdorfer(at)lisavienna.at
