Transforming RNAi into Antivirals
Emerging viral diseases are among the most immediate threats to mankind. alpine antiviral develops RNAi based drugs as rapid response therapeutics against current and future pandemics.
Our Company
alpine antiviral GmbH, founded in 2021 and based in Martinsried, Germany, is a startup biotech company translating the advances in RNAi technology in efficient antiviral therapeutics. While fighting the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has priority, alpine antiviral keeps its focus on what might come next. As such, increasing the pandemic preparedness by establishing a platform against rapidly emerging viral disease is at the core of our efforts. alpine antiviral GmbH sets out to employ the efficiency of RNAi to combat viral infections. As viruses offer little opportunity for classical therapeutic intervention the RNA genome of many viruses represents the ideal type of a molecular target. Own research has identified mixtures of carefully selected siRNAs against mutiple viral targets which prevent proliferation of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. To enable research on pathogenic viruses alpine antiviral collaborates with the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI) and benefits from their unique laboratory and animal house facilities. To date alpine antiviral seeks funding from private and institutional investors to fund development through preclinical to clinical research.
Our Mission
Getting prepared now for the pandemics to come.
We attack pathogenic viruses with RNAi based drugs at their most vulnerable spot: their genome!
By amalgamating advances in RNAi research and state of the art targeted drug delivery technologies alpine antiviral develops the tools for a safer future.
Management
Dr. Michael Hannus
After his PhD at EMBL Heidelberg, in 2001 Michael joined Cenix Bioscience, the first company devoted to the newly discovered RNAi-technology. His expert knowledge and experiences with RNAi laid the framework to the concept of complex siRNA pools and founding of siTOOLs Biotech in 2013, a company devoted to the development of siPOOLs as research reagents which he leads as managing director. In 2021 Michael co-founded alpine antiviral where he is managing research activities and preclinical development.
Dr. Reijo Laaksonen
Reijo, MD, PhD is a clinical pharmacologist and has worked as Chief Research Scientist at Viikki Drug Discovery Technology Center, Helsinki, professor at Tampere University and medical director of the Finnish Clinical Biobank. Currently, he is holding a position as Director of the Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center at Tampere University. Since 2007 Reijo has been part-time CMO of Zora Biosciences Oy, Espoo, Finland and co-founded alpine antiviral in 2021. There he keeps track of medical affairs and investor relations.
Cofounders
Dr. Dirk Buehler
Dirk Bühler specializes in the management of product-related patent portfolios in the fields of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and personalized therapy and diagnostics. His extensive experience enables him to bring strategic IP consultancy and patent portfolio creation/management into alignment with the economic interests of his clients in a rapidly changing market environment. Clients value his interdisciplinary approach of combining questions relating to patent law with regulatory requirements for marketing authorization of medicinal products in order to achieve the fullest protection possible. Dirk has received numerous awards for his professional activities as patent attorney and regularly publishes articles on various aspects of patent law.
Dr. Frank Becker
Frank has started his biotech career at GPC Biotech and cofounded Intana Bioscience GmbH in 2008. As managing director Frank manages commercial research project of clients from pharma and biotech industries. At alpine antiviral GmbH Frank takes over responsibility for regulatory affairs and manages business operations within the company.
Dr. Stefan Hannus
Stefan has started his career at GPC Biotech and founded Intana Bioscience together with Frank in 2008. At alpine antiviral Stefan takes over responsibilities for corporate communications and manages research funding and interactions with private and institutional investors.
Scientific Collaborators
Prof. Dr. Stefan Finke
Prof. Dr. Stefan Finke is head of the Department of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Island of Riems (research institute under the Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture) and professor at Greifswald University. He is interested in the cell biology and molecular pathomechanisms of high consequence (BSL3/BSL4) animal and zoonotic viruses, with a strong focus on respiratory tract and neuroinvasive infections (e.g. rabies virus, henipaviruses, influenza viruses, coronaviruses). State of art technologies in virus manipulation (reverse genetics), imaging, and proteome analysis are being used to study the molecular pathogen-host interface in cell lines, complex in vitro models (e.g. air-liquid interphase lung epithelium cultures) and various animal models.
Prof. Dr. Olivia Merkel
The Merkel lab is based in the Department of Pharmacy at LMU Munich and focuses on novel non-viral and targeted nanosized RNA delivery systems. Prof. Merkels group is especially interested in local drug, gene, mRNA, and siRNA delivery with an emphasis on pulmonary delivery for applications in cancer immunology, inflammatory diseases, and respiratory viruses. Her combined experiences in the fields of siRNA formulation and lung delivery make her and ideal partner for the research and development lying ahead of us.
Contact:
Dr. Michael Hannus
managing director
Tel.: +49 89 12501 4800
alpine antiviral GmbH
Lochhamerstrasse 29A
82152 Martinsried/Planegg
Germany