Research center in Berlin
Scholz hopes for “Boston on the Spree”
21.06.2024, 18:34
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At the forefront of basic research, but in practice Germany is still occasionally “lost in translation”. A new center in Berlin is set to change this. The Charité and Bayer want to advance cell and gene therapies there in the fight against incurable diseases.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz sees great potential in cell and gene therapies for the fight against incurable diseases. At the laying of the foundation stone for the Translational Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at the Charité University Hospital and the pharmaceutical company Bayer AG in Berlin, he said that the aim was to transfer the basic research that has been successful in Germany directly into therapies. This center could become the core of an entire organism of gene and cell-based therapies, with which a “Boston on the Spree” could emerge in Berlin, as he said, referring to a similar center on the American east coast.
The Charité holds two thirds of the shares in the translation center in Berlin, and Bayer AG holds one third. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025. According to Scholz, the aim is to develop therapies that help patients around the world to get healthy again or stay healthy. “Because that is exactly the gap that we want to close with this center, from basic research to practice,” said Scholz. “We are traditionally at the forefront in Germany in basic research. But on the way to practice we are occasionally ‘lost in translation’. We want to change that.”
It is clear that such new technologies require state funding at the beginning and therefore the federal government is supporting the project with around 80 million euros. However, Scholz was convinced that the center would become economically viable “very soon”. In the long term, useful technologies have always prevailed. In the case of the Translation Center, these are also technologies that can save or improve lives.