Page 3 - Maerki Baumann & Co. AG | Journal

Entrepreneurship
Science meets
entrepreneurial spirit
At Neurimmune, Roger M. Nitsch combines medical innovation with entrepreneurial vision.
With his antibody therapy, neurobiologist Roger M. Nitsch is breaking new ground in the study of age-related diseases. To bring new drugs to market maturity, he needs per- severance – and a bank that can provide him with expert support.
the natural immune response of healthy el- derly people and uses this insight to generate blueprints for therapeutic antibodies against age-related diseases.
One milestone was the development of the
Alzheimer’s drug Aducanumab, which was ac- AtthepremisesofNeurimmune,artandscience quired by the US pharmaceutical company
come together in an inspiring way. Portraits of centenarians line the
walls – these are not air-
brushed ideals of beauty,
but rather authentic faces full of dignity and joy for life. The works reflect a search for the secrets of a long and happy life – conveying the company’s philoso- phy of “transforming the wisdom of a lived life into medical innovation”.
As CEO and President of
the Board of Directors at
Neurimmune AG, Roger
M. Nitsch knows each
face and its story. For
the neuroscientist and emeritus professor at
the University of Zurich, the focus of his work
is not on diseases, but rather the mechanisms
of healthy ageing. At the heart of Neurim- the second generation of the Alzheimer’s drug, mune’s research is a technology that analyses providing a beacon of hope for millions of people.
Biogen. Even if there are still hurdles to over- come on the road to commercialisation, the
scientific success is un- disputed. Aducanumab was proven to remove harmful deposits in the brains of Alzheimer’s pa- tients. The breakthrough put Neurimmune on the global biotech map.
It also showed, however, that quantum leaps in medicine require staying power. Roger M. Nitsch compares his approach to that of a mountain guide: “If I hit a rocky outcrop, I keep my eye
on the goal, turn and look for the next path up to the summit”. Today, Neurimmune’s labs based at the Bio-Technopark in Schlieren are working on
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