World-leading plasma companies collaborate to accelerate the development of a potential COVID-19 hyperimmune therapy. Takeda has been working intensively on the development of a potential plasma-derived therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 since the beginning of the corona crisis. At the beginning of April, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and CSL Behring announced the establishment of a global plasma alliance to accelerate the development of a potential therapy to treat people with serious complications from COVID-19. Four other plasma companies have already joined the alliance, such as Biotest, BPL, LFB, and Octapharma. “Unprecedented times call for bold moves,” said Julie Kim, President of Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit, Takeda. “We collectively agree that by collaborating and bringing industry resources together, we could accelerate bringing a potential therapy to market as well as increase the potential supply. We invite companies and institutions focusing on plasma to support or join our alliance.” Thomas R.…

Checklist for conducting virtual meetings

Thursday, 09 April 2020 11:21
Most of us are in home office and are experiencing many virtual meetings with various tools like skype, zoom, slack, gotomeeting. Leading teams in real life is a challenge, leading teams virtually even more. Together with Irene, an expert in meeting design and team leading, our staff member Andrea has co-edited a virtual meetings checklist. You can download the checklist for free (in English and German) from Irene’s website.

Research funding

Wednesday, 08 April 2020 09:25
The Corona Crisis has also impacted research funding. Many new opportunities arise and most deadlines for grant applications have been postponed. Here are two: Austrian Government rolls out 23 Mio funds for the research of corona therapy. https://www.ffg.at/ausschreibung/emergencycall-covid-19   Horizon 2020, the EU programme for Research and Innovation, prolongs its’ deadlines for grant-applications https://www.ffg.at/europa/h2020