Kenta Biotech makes strategic move by relocating to Bio-Technopark in Zurich-Schlieren

In its new Zurich-Schlieren headquarters, Kenta Biotech now rents state-of-the-art laboratories, which will allow it to boost research efforts and remain firmly committed to developing fully human monoclonal antibodies against life-threatening infectious diseases, mostly hospital-acquired infections. Kenta has invested extensively in new equipment and technologies to further and faster expand its research and preclinical pipeline. Among the new site’s advantages are its proximity to the top-class academic research centres in the city of Zurich, the backup provided by the local authorities as well as the convenient transport connections and high quality of life in the surrounding area.

 

„This is definitely a strategic move for the company and we are now located at the best possible place for a young and innovative biotech company in Switzerland”, says Franco Merckling, CEO of Kenta Biotech. “We feel very inspired and thrilled to be surrounded by so many successful neighbours. They all began like Kenta and their examples tell us that good science and hard work always pay off.”

 

 

The first six years of the company’s build-up took place at the Berne facility of Crucell, developing its proprietary MabIgX® technology and bringing its first lead compound KBPA101 (panobacumab) through a successful phase IIa study. Its second lead product KBSA301 is currently entering clinical trials and its development will profit largely from the orphan drug status, which it has been granted recently by the European Commission. KBSA301 is aimed to treat severe pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus. In addition to KBSA301 and KBPA101, Kenta Biotech’s pipeline contains several additional compounds targeting severe bacterial and viral infections.

 

Nosocomial (hospital acquired) infections are a major burden: They affect an estimated 10% of all hospitalised patients, with highly associated morbidity and mortality, and there is a very high unmet medical need for drugs that effectively fight severe infections, and that are also well tolerated by the patients. It is expected that monoclonal antibodies will represent an important treatment option to fight infections more effectively in addition to current antibiotic therapy.

 

 

In Schlieren there is a healthy spread of firms at varying stages of business development. The companies range from recent start-ups from the nearby Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the University of Zurich to global players. These firms are joining forces in the non-profit organization BIO-TECHNOPARK® with the owner of the Wagi site, the town of Schlieren and the regional Department for Economic Development in order to maximize synergies and improve infrastructure.