Novel Protein Technology Opens Doors to Danish Biotech Company

In this exclusive interview, Fintan Walton talks to Johanna Holldack, CEO of Borean Pharma. The conversation begins with a discussion on the unique aspects of Borean's proprietary technology, including its scaffold library, which is derived from a human protein, and whose compounds possess features that facilitate the process of their development. Johanna then discusses Borean's current strategy of developing its lead molecules for entry into clinical trials in 2009. The 2006 product acquisition deal between Borean and F. Hoffmann-La Roche is also discussed, and Johanna explains why Roche may have been interested in acquiring one of Borean's lead candidates. The interview then turns towards the state of the biotech industry in Denmark, and how this is backed by innovative research, especially in the field of protein engineering, that is taking place in the Denmark's research institutes and universities. The importance of international investors to small biotech companies is covered, and the interview concludes with Johanna's speculation on whether the company will undergo an IPO or an acquisition.

About Johanna Holldack

Dr Johanna Holldack is CEO of Borean Pharma. Her international management track record in Germany, the US, Italy and the Netherlands includes the strategic selection and evaluation of R&D projects, global project management, the establishment of regulatory and quality assessment procedures, and the preparation of a product launch in the US. In addition, she has extensive business experience in organisational design, budgeting, strategic planning, M&A and IPO execution for a major German biotech firm.

Dr Holldack's previous posts included Chief Operating Officer at Borean, Chief Operations Officer at MediGene in Munich, Germany, and Vice President Global Vaccines and Therapeutics at Chiron in Emeryville, US.

Before entering the pharmaceutical industry, Dr Holldack spent more than a decade as Research Associate and Assistant Professor in Paediatrics and Paediatric oncology and haematology at the Universities in Essen and Freiburg, Germany, as well as at the Harvard Medical School in the US. Dr Holldack was awarded the research fellowship of Deutsche Krebshilfe at the Harvard Medical School in the US.

She studied medicine at the Georg-August-University in Gottingen, Germany where she earned her MD.

About Borean Pharma

Borean Pharma is a Danish drug discovery and development company focused on recombinant protein technology. The company's technology platform has the potential for design, development and production of a new generation of pharmaceutical protein products. The advantage of Borean's protein products is that they have a straightforward modular structure that is easy to reconfigure. In contrast, traditional antibody molecules have a complicated structure and low design flexibility, and are costly to produce on an industrial scale. The company's antibody-analogues are based on naturally occurring human proteins, and therefore have a lower risk of immunogenicity.

The two main components of Borean's technology platform are its CTLD (C-type lectin domain) library technology and a trimerisation technology. In addition, the company has a broad set of supporting tools that cover key elements from research to product development, including the cost-efficient Escherischia coli-based production of final products.

Borean Pharma has one lead product in preclinical development for rheumatoid arthritis, and has ongoing research programmes addressing additional opportunities in the general area of cancer and immune disorders.