The company Knauer Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH was nominated as one of ten companies for the coveted innovation award with its innovation “Impingement Jets Mixing Skids for high-flow production of lipid nanoparticles — for the production of the Corona mRNA vaccine”. The announcement was made on September 8, 2021, at a press conference held at Unicorn Workspaces in Berlin’s Brunnenstraße.
The efficacy of mRNA vaccines against Corona relies on encapsulation of the sensitive mRNA in so-called lipid nanoparticles. Encapsulation systems existed only on the smallest laboratory scale worldwide until the fall of 2020. In cooperation with two large pharmaceutical companies, the company has succeeded in a very short time in developing flexible systems, so-called IJM skids (Impingement Jet Mixing), with which lipid nanoparticles for several million vaccine doses per week can be produced.
In addition to mRNA-based vaccines, pharmaceutical companies are working on mRNA-based drugs for a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, HIV, malaria, and others. The best known of these is BioNTech, which is researching a therapy against cancer. These drugs, in order to reach cells intact, must be encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles. As a result, IJM skids of varying sizes will continue to be needed to fight diseases worldwide.
“I am pleased that we were able to successfully deliver all of our systems for vaccine production on time. It makes our team proud that we are contributing to the fight against COVID-19 in this way.”
- Lilit Avagyan, Business Development Manager
German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel paid a visit to the company on September 10, 2021. Alexandra Knauer, the managing director and owner of the family-owned business with 160 employees, together with her managing director Carsten Losch, welcomed the Chancellor. From a press statement by Chancellor Merkel, the following emerges (excerpt):
“I was very pleased to visit this company today because the highest precision technology is being developed here, especially now their latest product — after the company has been developing for many decades — something that was urgently needed in the development of the mRNA vaccines or rather for the production of the mRNA vaccines on a large scale.”
The Group has created additional jobs for the production of the LNP systems at its site in Berlin-Zehlendorf — fifteen will be created in 2021.
The jury of the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award, chaired by Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph. D., President of the University of Potsdam, selected the ten best innovations in the capital region as nominees from 168 applications in the competition for the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award.
