BioNTech and Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, two German biotechology companies, have opened a 108,000-square-foot headquarters and research facility. The new facility brings together 300 employees and is located near academic institutions, hospitals and cancer research institutions.

BioNTech and Ganymed scientists will work in state-of-the-art lab space on a range of preclinical and clinical programs mainly in the field of highly personalized cancer therapies.

Founded in 2008, BioNTech develops and produces individualized cancer immunotherapies with a focus on novel and disruptive technologies, such as mRNA-based biologicals or innovative antigen-receptor/T-cell-receptor therapies. BioNTech is organized into six fully-integrated companies including a cGMP production site for gene and cell therapy and RNA therapeutic products. BioNTech has 300 employees, of which over 200 will be based in the new research facility.

Ganymed—a spin-off in 2001 from the Universities of Mainz and Zurich—currently has 90 employees located in Mainz. Its highly selective antibody (IMAB362) against stomach/esophagus cancer is in advanced stages of clinical trials. After the majority of 21 patients treated in a phase IIa trial showed a significant slow-down of the cancer, Ganymed recruited 210 patients for a phase IIb trial. In addition, a second antibody (IMAB027) against ovary cancer entered phase I/II trials in early 2014.