Herbst Kinsky has advised its longstanding client Haplogen GmbH on a collaboration and license agree-ment as basis for a perennial research and development cooperation with Bayer AG in order to develop new treatment methods in the area of respiratory diseases as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.

Haplogen is a privately held biotechnology company in Vienna, Austria, with drug discovery programs to combat viral infections and other diseases. Haplogen’s therapeutic programs are based on novel mech-anisms that have been discovered using a functional genomics platform based on haploid genetics in hu-man cell lines. Haplogen was founded in 2010 as a spin-out of CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and is located at the Vienna BioCenter, a life science research and biotechnology hub in Austria.

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agricul-ture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2017, the Group employed around 99,800 people and had sales of EUR 35.0 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.4 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.5 billion.

"This collaboration between Haplogen and Bayer is a landmark transaction for the Austrian biotech scene and we are delighted to have advised Haplogen on this visionary project", says Phillip Dubsky, partner at Herbst Kinsky.

"We are very happy to have had the support of the experienced Herbst Kinsky team through the whole development process of the cooperation agreement", says Georg Casari, managing director of Hapolgen GmbH. Herbst Kinsky´s team was led by Phillip Dubsky supported by Alina Regal and Rosa Rünzler.