Bavaria International German-Japanese Cooperation for Global Innovation The InnoMuNiCH Project Since 2017, BioM coordinates the InnoMuNiCH project. The acronym stands for “Innovations through Munich-Nippon Cooperations in Healthcare” and reflects the project’s aim to increase global innovations in the biopharmaceutical industry and to pool German and Japanese expertise in research and development for the benefit of global healthcare. InnoMuNiCH is part of a funding program for German top clusters, “Internationalization of Leading-Edge Clusters, Forward-Looking Projects and Other, Comparable Networks”. The project was awarded to BioM by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2017. Amongst other activities, two German-Japanese R&D projects were identified during the conception phase with the help of the Bavarian cluster management. The Munich-based companies Immunic AG and Bicoll GmbH are leading the respective consortia, which will receive co-funding from the BMBF for their projects over three years with a € 1.4 mio. (Bicoll) and € 1.3 mio. (Immunic) budget. Interview with Bicoll and Immunic, two Partners of the InnoMuNiCH Project The interview was conducted by BioM with Dr. Maria Lamottke, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors at Bicoll, and Dr. Hella Kohlhof, Chief Scientific Officer of Immunic. The project initiated by Bicoll is titled “Precision medicine: individualized discovery of compounds through lab-on-a-chip technology using plant libraries (Bicoll Plant ProfilesTM) and patient samples for the treatment of inflammation processes: PTID”, the project initiated by Immunic is titled „The regulation and metabolism of inflammatory T helper cells in autoimmune diseases and the identification of pharmacologically influenced inflammation-associated biomarkers“. Dr. Maria Lamottke Dr. Hella Kohlhof © Bicoll © Immunic Therapeutics BioM: InnoMuNiCH provides a platform for German-Japanese cooperation, with the aim to initiate and accelerate bi-national research and development projects. Why was Japan and the InnoMuNiCH program so interesting for your company? Bicoll: Japan is one of the leading countries in the global field of pharmaceutical research. The identification of potential collaborators, and finally concrete project partners becomes more and more challenging. The InnoMuNiCH umbrella offered us the unique opportunity not only to bundle our business development resources, but also to benefit from BioM, which is regarded as a valued cluster in Japan. Immunic: At Immunic, we also could build up on our long-term, established relationships with Japanese companies and collaboration partners. As an example, we licensed our third development program, IMU-856, from Tokyo-based Daiichi Sankyo. This reflects the value that we place on both the high scientific standards and the level of integrity held by our Japanese partners. BioM: What challenges did your company face in finding the optimal research and development partners? And how can such a project initiated by your cluster management make a difference? Immunic: In addition to the important financial funding, the InnoMuNiCH platform facilitates cultural exchange and provides invaluable networking opportunities with business partners and international experts in the areas of drug development, small molecules, immunology, autoimmune diseases and IT, which is not so easily available otherwise in such a compromised form. Bicoll: Finding the optimal research and development partner has never been easy, neither in Japan nor elsewhere. Beforehand, Bicoll had very limited connection to the Japanese market in general and to Japanese people in particular. The first challenge was the market scouting. But also getting an entry and starting business is still very resource demanding and needs significant time investment. With BioM and the InnoMuNiCH network, Bicoll has an accessible partner on the local campus in Martinsried, with whom the needs and demands for an ideal matching of collaboration partners could be discussed. That BioM employed a Japanese speaking project manager in the conception phase was the clue to success for the partner search in Japan, and helped with building trust later in the project on both sides. Read the entire Interview Bavarian Biotech News, August 2020 www.bio-m.org 7