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Research & development
We conduct pre-clinical and clinical research to identify and develop innovative new treatments and ensure their safe use.
We focus our R&D efforts on disease areas where there is still significant need for better treatment options and where we believe our skills will help us achieve our vision of providing new health solutions advancing human life.
Preclinical R&D
Preclinical R&D is the research and development work we undertake before we create a new medicine.
Plasma
Our preclinical plasma research and development work is carried out at our state-of-the-art site in Vienna, Austria. There, we develop novel plasma-derived products. We also create new technologies to improve our work and new devices to help patients infuse at home or in hospital. We maintain a strong focus on key regulatory, production, life-cycle management and plasma quality.
Recombinant R&D
Recombinant R&D involves the development of therapeutic recombinant proteins that resemble the respective proteins in human tissue or blood. We develop these proteins using human cell lines so these proteins are most likely to mimic the proteins naturally developed by the human body. This research work is carried out at our Heidelberg site, in Germany.
Molecular biochemistry
The molecular biochemistry group in Berlin, Germany, develops technologies to examine the structure and function of plasma-derived and recombinant proteins. It has developed new ways to decode the relationships between different plasma proteins and their influence on the immune system.
Global virus and prion validation group
All of our therapies must meet strict viral safety standards for the safe use in humans. We meet or exceed these strict standards. It is the global virus and prion validation group that does much of the work to ensure this. The group tests and verifies the pathogen inactivation or removal methods used in all Octapharma production processes. The group is located at our facilities in Frankfurt, Germany.
Pharmacology and toxicology
The pharmacology and toxicology department in Vienna, Austria, assesses the safety of all new therapies before they are put forward for clinical trials and regulatory approval. It is this team’s responsibility to ensure that the formulation and performance of our therapies are not affected by contact with anything they are stored or distributed in. The department also works with all other teams to manage and enhance product life-cycle management.
Clinical R&D
Clinical R&D is the research and development work we undertake once a medicine has been developed and has shown the potential to go into production.
Our clinical research departments are responsible for all our product trials and for the life-cycle management support of all our marketed therapies.
Our clinical R&D sites are in Vienna, Austria; Lachen, Switzerland; and Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. Octapharma conducts several Phase 3 clinical trials in Europe, Canada, USA, Russia, Asia and Japan.