In April, Bill Anderson of the United States took up his position on the Board of Management of Bayer AG. On June 1, 2023, he will be appointed CEO, succeeding Werner Baumann, who resigned one year earlier than the end of his contract due to pressure from dissatisfied investors. Anderson has enormous room for change, according to internal sources. It remains to be seen whether a breakup of the life science company would be a consequence of his appointment. Internally, such a move would lead to strong unrest and unsettle employees more than winning their trust in him as the new leader. The trained chemist is being diplomatic: He will spend the next two months "listening" and so far sees no consensus on the issue. Reporters learned this at Bayer's headquarters in Leverkusen, where Anderson gave a speech outlining his vision for the Company. He emphasized that he wants to focus on results and progress in science.
Curing cancer is a dream of humanity. However, when looking at mRNA projects from large companies such as BioNTech or Moderna, a higher survival rate is still considered a success. Moderna, together with the US pharmaceutical company Merck, Sharpe & Dohme (MSD), has now shown that an mRNA vaccine can reduce the mortality of seriously ill skin cancer patients by 40%. This article looks at how Moderna's project relates to Defence Therapeutics, where it connects to BioNTech's projects, and why adjuvant technology is critical in mRNA vaccines.
US company Plug Power, a pioneer of fuel cell technology, is considered one of the greatest hopefuls of the global hydrogen economy. The plans for developing a holistic ecosystem for green hydrogen are huge. Everything from production, distribution, storage and delivery to energy generation is to be offered from a single source. However, there are considerable gaps between the ambitious goals and reality. Plug Power has been unable to close a quarter with a profit for more than 25 years, and even last year's targets were revised downward several times. Now there is the threat of a class-action lawsuit from disappointed shareholders.
With the shutdown of nuclear power plants in Germany, there is a huge need for additional energy sources and types of generation. In Berlin, renewable solutions are favored, although fossil fuels have been increasingly used since the Ukraine crisis began. The semiconductor industry is integral to the Greentech wave because many intelligent chips are needed to control charging cycles, energy storage and battery management systems. Today, an electric vehicle is operated with 4 times the computing power of a conventional combustion vehicle of the last generation. The semiconductor specialist Infineon, from Munich, is ideally positioned for intelligent chips, and business is booming.
Things are happening at the Canadian-German biotech company BioNxt Solutions. Just at the beginning of March, the Company acquired a technology for the enteric coating of tablets. Now things are moving in leaps and bounds. Over the weekend, BioNxt reported that a company contractor has completed initial prototypes of tablets coated with the new technology. The tablets contain active pharmaceutical ingredients and may be used in bioavailability pilot studies. BioNxt is currently exploring opportunities to evaluate its new coating technology in studies.
Canadian biotech company Defence Therapeutics has taken the next step on its journey to improve mRNA vaccines using its Accum™ technology. To this end, the Company has begun comparative studies pitting a "naked" mRNA vaccine against the combination of mRNA vaccine and Accum™. In this article, we discuss how the Canadians are proceeding, why CEO Sébastien Plouffe is confident, and which USD 43 billion acquisition may also give hope to shareholders of Defence Therapeutics.
On the EU list of the most critical metals globally, tungsten appears with a value of 7 on a scale of 0 to 8, ranking higher than iron, cobalt, copper, and titanium. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, demand for the rare element has increased again, as tungsten is used as a hardening metal in alloys for the defence and high-tech industries. In 2024, an additional 5% of the world market volume will come from the South Korean Sangdong mine, further contributing to the depleted supply market. This is an important milestone for Almonty Industries.
After a brilliant first quarter and a share price performance of over 210%, the share of the Heidelberg-based portfolio company Altech Advanced Materials is consolidating at a high level. The current correction offers attractive long-term entry opportunities. The Company is considered an innovation leader in anode composite materials for lithium-ion batteries and environmentally friendly stationary energy storage systems based on solid-state sodium aluminum oxide batteries. In the age of the energy transition, which is still in its infancy, the newcomer thus has double game-changer potential.
It is finally happening! The era of nuclear power plants in Germany has come to an end. The new government in Berlin is sticking to the coalition decisions of 2011 and will phase out nuclear power by April 15, 2023. Because of the current energy crisis, there had been a small extension, but now it is over. According to announcements by the governing Green Party, Germany will be able to generate its energy entirely from renewable sources, with nuclear energy and fossil-fuel power generation giving way to sustainable wind, solar and hydroelectric power plants. Hydrogen is to be a new addition to the game. It is now being used as an energy wildcard for all problems. But how long will it take to make industrial production sufficiently affordable? With its H2 subsidiary Nucera, ThyssenKrupp will play a major role in the race against global warming.
A few days ago, the biotech company Defence Therapeutics announced the launch of its mRNA vaccine program against cancer. The assumption behind this: mRNA vaccines become more effective when combined with Defence Therapeutics' patented drug enhancer Accum™. The Company now wants to test a specially produced mRNA vaccine in its pure form against the combination of mRNA vaccine and Accum™ in a clinical trial. Looking more closely at the challenges of mRNA vaccines, Accum™ could also make other projects more effective and become a sought-after adjuvant technology around mRNA. Find out what is behind it and how great the potential could be.