Zerion Pharma, a successful spin-out from our research environment
Zerion Pharma is a growing company with patents and technology that have been developed mostly by Associate Professor Korbinian Löbmann in the Solid State Pharmaceutics group. He is co-founder of Zerion Pharma and is now full time CSO of the company, where he is responsible for R&D.
Before the farewell-reception, Korbinian Löbmann had time for a talk with Pharma Communication about innovation at UCPH and his role as a researcher in Zerion Pharma.
As a co-founder of Zerion Pharma, what was your role in starting the company?
“My role was in developing the initial concept of protein-drug amorphous formulations, initiating the patent process with the
Tech Trans Office at UCPH, since founding the company I am responsible for the R&D within Zerion.”
Describe your contribution as a researcher to Zerion Pharma
“I am benefiting very strongly from the scientific background on amorphous formulations, which I was able to develop at the Department of Pharmacy, in particular in the fruitful collaborations with Thomas Rades and Holger Grohganz. This knowledge is really crucial in all aspects of the development for Zerion’s Dispersome technology and we make use of it every day within Zerion.”
How has IF and UCPH helped you as an entrepreneur and innovative product developer?
“Initially, of course by providing an environment where we freely could research in all directions as academics. Once the idea was generated and results were promising, the Tech Trans Office was important for the patenting process and the initial commercial guidance. After the company spin-out, the Department of Pharmacy has been extremely supportive providing us with shared labs and offices to rent. This allowed us to further grow the technology and to establish the company to the size it now is. I really would like to highlight how much we appreciate this support, in particular the Heads of Department Birger Brodin and Flemming Madsen (former), as well as Heads of Administration Birthe W. Houe and Anne Marie Shuhaiber Clemensen (former).
Last but not least of course also the support from the research groups of the shared labs, in particular Dorthe Ørbæk, Susanne Hermansen, Tonny Skovhus, Yang Hwan Yun, Nuzat Shaheen, Thomas Rades, Holger Grohganz, Jukka Rantanen, Annette Muellertz, Sven Frøkjær, Ben Boyd, Camilla Foged, Vito Fodera and Matthias Manne Knopp as well as all PostDocs and PhD students from 5th, 6th and 7th floor.”