Dr. Tobias May was bestowed the Otto von Guericke Prize of the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF) on 12 June. The biochemist, who worked at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research before he became director at InSCREENeX GmbH, received the prize endowed with 5,000 Euros in Berlin.
How can today’s expensive and inefficient drug development be enhanced? This is the focus of May’s research. Only one out of ten newly developed drug candidates runs successfully through all phases of clinical trials. Such failure rates, especially in the late phases of clinical trials, result in high costs. May has developed a novel procedure that allows for the first time to establish unlimitedly dividing cell cultures that show tissue properties. “Easy handling and biological relevance make this new cell cultures excellent tools for drug development,” explains Tobias May. “They allow the pharmaceutical industry to search for new drugs more efficiently and in a cost-saving way.” InSCREENex GmbH, the company co-founded by him, transfers this technology into industrial application.
Press release of AiF (in German)
You will also find a short video portrait of InSCREENex GmbH there.
