- a rapid increase in the number of researchers over the past decade (almost 1000 life science specialists) and a new University Medical Center set to open before 2020.
- creation of 4 biotech start-ups every year.
- creation of 2 biotech company incubators in 2009 and 2014.
- a dynamic network of more than 73 companies.
- 5 universities (Nantes, Angers, Tours, Poitiers, Rennes)
- 3 highschools (
Audencia, Oniris, Ismans)
- 51 research units
- 41 core facilities, providing hi-tech services to industry and academia.
- 9,000 students in the life sciences.
- 14,000 healthcare professionals.
Competencies
The goal of the Atlanpole Biotherapies cluster is to become an international benchmark in the development of diagnostic and therapeutic solutions in the biotherapy field
A growing, innovation-focused environment
Atlanpole Biotherapies is clearly one of the most attractive and dynamic places for biotherapy development.
The biotherapeutic value chain
Atlanpole Biotherapies gives you access to extended skills, from biodiagnostics to biomedicine. For pharmaceutical and biotech companies or research laboratories looking for high-level partners devoted to healthcare and biotech, Atlanpole Biotherapies is a biocluster that draws together a network of innovative companies, fundamental & clinical research organizations and higher education institutions. It offers comprehensive, competitive solutions along the entire biotherapeutic value chain (from discovery to the patient) within 4 areas of excellence: immunobiotherapies, radiopharmaceuticals, regenerative medicine and Innovative technologies for biotherapies.
Activities along the entire value chain - drug discovery
Several cluster companies and research labs are working to develop new drugs or new diagnostic tools and provide patients and the market with new kinds of treatment - especially those based on personalized medicine.
Vector development and drug targeting
The Atlanpole Biotherapies cluster comprises a set of unique skills in bioformulation for the delivery of DNA, siRNA, proteins and small molecules. This includes not only biomolecule targeting and delivery activities but also cutting-edge academic expertise (especially in the Particulate Vector Engineering Unit).
Biomanufacturing
The biomanufacturing sector is organized as a cross-sector, full-service solution from cloning to cGMP production in the fields of cell & gene therapy, recombinant proteins, viral vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. The high-energy cyclotron
Arronax adds the ability to produce radiopharmaceuticals. Leading cluster stakeholders provide industrial-scale services in compliance with pharmaceutical regulatory standards.
Preclinical & clinical trials
The Nantes Veterinary School (Oniris) offers a preclinical biomedical testing service, which notably includes an imaging facility and a study centre for large-scale experiments (with up to biosafety level 3 containment). This installation has already enabled validation of the efficacy of gene therapy protocols under strictly monitored conditions.
Transfer into the clinic is then facilitated by the new Biotherapies Clinical Investigation Center, which offers regulatory & logistics support for more than 130 research programs and has a dedicated gene therapy zone.
Biomarkers
The
CIMNA dedicated immunomonitoring platform offers comprehensive expertise and an integrated solution with several units: cytomics, transcriptomics, biostatistics, clinical operations, bioinformatics and Q-PCR.
Several groups are also successfully working to identify new biomarkers: in 2010, it was shown that the “Arhgef1” protein is involved in hypertension.