Berking BiotechnologyAltona into the tecHHub Hamburg in Innovationspark Altona Innovationspark
© Hamburg Invest Development
Alpacas, these friendly animals from South America, are known for their high-quality wool.
But they can do much more: The start-up Berking Biotechnology uses the animals to produce antibodies to combat diseases such as COVID-19 and cancer.
A coincidence led to the discovery of a new type of antibody
Antibodies are proteins that play an important role in the immune system. In medicine, they are often isolated from animal blood and used as therapeutics for various purposes, such as vaccines. A special form are single-domain antibodies, also known as nanobodies. Incidentally, the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has trademarked this term. Put simply, nanobodies are characterized by a less complex molecular structure compared to other types of antibodies and are therefore easier to reproduce.
Nanobodies were discovered by chance in 1989 at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels. Professor Raymond Hamers was conducting a routine experiment there to isolate antibodies. Due to a lack of alternatives, he used dromedary blood that was left over from an earlier study. The antibodies produced differed from all previously known types. The enormous progress that this discovery represented for medical research only became clear gradually. In 2001, it led to the founding of the biotech company Ablynx, which specialized in the development of nanobody-based drugs. It was a huge success, culminating in its acquisition by Sanofi. The company paid €3.9 billion for Ablynx in January 2018.
Interested? Further information can be found (in English) on the website of startupcity.hamburg.
