Latest news with #Darmstadt
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Intersnack to invest €85m in Alsbach plant to expand production
Germany-based snacks manufacturer Intersnack plans to invest €85m ($98m) in its plant in Alsbach. Intersnack said in a statement it is planning a 10,000 square-metre extension to its factory near Darmstadt, including a production hall with an integrated logistics area. According to the company, it is looking to modernise the plant to expand production capacity, complete with sustainability initiatives. By switching to renewable energies, the group hopes to more than halve its CO2 emissions. The modernisation project will also secure the jobs of the 470 employees at the site and create new prospects for future growth. Managing director for operations at Intersnack in Germany, Jan van den Broek, said: "As one of the market leaders in the salty snacks category, we want to continue our growth of recent years. 'Important prerequisites for this are sufficient capacities, state-of-the-art production technologies and qualified and committed employees. 'For this reason, we are investing in a long-term and secure future for the Alsbach site. A special focus is on increasing sustainability and optimising our production processes." Construction of the extension at Alsbach is currently scheduled to start in the summer of 2026, Intersnack said. The Cologne-based salty snacks company operates five production plants in Germany. The peanut butter brand Whole Earth was added to its portfolio in 2024. Intersnack also owns the Estrella and McCoy's brands. "Intersnack to invest €85m in Alsbach plant to expand production" was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Times
09-07-2025
- Health
- Times
Doctors operate on teddy bears to ease children's fear of hospital
If you should go down to the Darmstadt clinic today, you're sure of a big surprise. At first glance the hospital ward looks much like any other, with an operating theatre, an x-ray machine and a pharmaceutical dispensary. The only anomaly is the patients: a plush toy whale with a tear in its underbelly, a stuffed dinosaur with a broken leg, and a teddy bear called Fridolin who complains of stomach pains after swallowing too much cotton wool. For a few days each summer the western German city's teaching hospital, which trains medical students from the distinguished universities in Frankfurt and Heidelberg, is converted into a triage centre for cuddly toy animals. This year more than 600 children from Darmstadt's nurseries, the largest cohort yet, were invited to visit the facility in an effort to educate them about the basic mechanics of the human body and ease any fear they might have of doctors or medical procedures. The kindergarteners, between the ages of three and six, are advised to bring their own soft toys for treatment and dress up in scrubs and masks to carry it out themselves. The 'teddy bear hospital' is staffed by 20 medical students approaching the end of their practical year. The highlight is a demonstration of live surgery on Fridolin, whose chest is opened up to reveal his heart. Across eight rooms, the children watch the students applying bandages, taking x-rays and measuring their toys' temperatures. Those deemed to require drugs can obtain imitation pills from a trainee pharmacist. There is also a dedicated ambulance from the German Red Cross, manned by volunteers and another teddy bear named Tom. Bettina Brandt, the student co-ordinator who organises the teddy bear hospital, said: 'It's always great fun for both the children and the students. [The students] also learn a lot from interacting with the children and conducting the medical examinations.' The programme is sponsored by a Darmstadt citizens' initiative, an organic supermarket, a car dealership and a pharmacy. 'Promoting health starts with the very youngest,' said Clemens Maurer, a spokesman for the hospital. 'We want them to lose their angst around medical professionals or a stay in hospital, since the whole thing no longer seems so alien to them afterwards.'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Completes Acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics to Accelerate Sustainable Growth of its Healthcare Business
SpringWorks immediately adds revenue and accelerates mid- to long-term growth for Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany's Healthcare business sector Acquisition marks the formation of a rare tumor business for Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany including SpringWorks portfolio and pimicotinib SpringWorks rare tumor portfolio includes Ogsiveo, a first-in-disease systemic therapy for adults with desmoid tumors and Gomekli a first and only approved therapy for adults and children with NF1-PN Not intended for UK-based media DARMSTADT, Germany, July 01, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, today announced that it has closed the acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc., for an enterprise value of $3.4 billion (approximately €3 billion)*, following regulatory clearances and the fulfillment of other customary closing conditions. The definitive agreement between Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and SpringWorks, based in Stamford, Connecticut, was announced on 28 April, 2025. It represents one of the biggest M&A deals in the global biopharma sector so far in 2025. The business combination will immediately contribute to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany's revenues and is expected to be accretive to the company's earnings per share pre (EPS pre) by 2027. "Today, we officially welcome SpringWorks to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The acquisition of SpringWorks illustrates our decisive portfolio approach to further position Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany as a globally diversified science and technology powerhouse," said Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. "This is the largest acquisition we have made for our Healthcare business sector in nearly 20 years, marking an exciting new chapter for Healthcare. Furthermore, we remain committed to identifying M&A opportunities across our three business sectors, with a focus on Life Science, prioritizing strategic fit, financial robustness, and long-term value creation." "This acquisition is a significant step forward in bringing innovation to patients living with rare and often debilitating tumors—many of whom are young and facing a long, uncertain journey with limited treatment options," said Danny Bar-Zohar, CEO of Healthcare and member of the Executive Board at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. "By combining our global reach with SpringWorks' expertise, we are expanding access to life-changing therapies for patients around the world. At the same time, this move strengthens our foundation for further expansion in rare tumors and adjacent disease areas. I'd like to warmly welcome the SpringWorks team to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany." SpringWorks' portfolio features two highly innovative products for the treatment of rare tumors in areas of high unmet need where limited treatment options exist. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, OGSIVEO® (nirogacestat) is a first-in-class therapy for the treatment of adult patients with progressing desmoid tumors who require systemic treatment. In June 2025, the European Medicine Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion recommending the approval of nirogacestat. GOMEKLI® (mirdametinib) is the first and only FDA-approved therapy for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 2 years of age and older with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) who have symptomatic plexiform neurofibromas (PN) not amenable to complete resection. In May 2025, the CHMP adopted a positive opinion recommending the approval of mirdametinib. SpringWorks' portfolio complements Merck KGaA, Darmstadt Germany's progress in building a rare tumor business with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany having worldwide commercialization rights for pimicotinib, an investigational therapy developed by Abbisko Therapeutics Co., Ltd. for patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT). Global regulatory filings for pimicotinib are underway. The joint portfolio will serve a broad range of patients with rare tumors who have high unmet medical needs. Shares in SpringWorks will no longer be traded on the Nasdaq, with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany now being the sole owner of SpringWorks. SpringWorks shareholders are being paid US$ 47 per share in cash. *Based on SpringWorks' cash balance as of 31 December 2024 About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across life science, healthcare and electronics. More than 62,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From providing products and services that accelerate drug development and manufacturing as well as discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2024, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of € 21.2 billion in 65 countries. The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark "Merck" internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, operate as MilliporeSigma in life science, EMD Serono in healthcare and EMD Electronics in electronics. Since its founding in 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company's technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the EMD Group website. In case you are a resident of the USA or Canada, please go to to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service. View source version on Contacts Media Relations Phone: +49 151 1454-9591 Investor Phone: +49 6151 72-3321 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
On Smaller Opera Stages, Daring Art Has More Room to Breathe
Near the end of Judith Weir's opera 'Miss Fortune,' there is an uncanny duet between the main character, Tina, and her fate. Tina is sung by a soprano, and Fate by a countertenor. Although their music is similar, the difference in their vocal timbres creates an unsettling clash. At a recent production of 'Miss Fortune' that I attended at the Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim, a small city in northern Germany, that scene had a memorable charge. Its strange lyricism was undercut by the humor of Tina telling her destiny to butt out as one might set boundaries with a problematic ex. It was a great operatic moment, and it played to a sparse audience in a city of just over 100,000 people. During the past season, Germany's leading opera houses — in Berlin and Munich, in Stuttgart and Hamburg — offered largely familiar though well-rendered pleasures, along with a handful of new works by marquee artists in contemporary music. But, unlike almost any other country in the world, Germany also has a large network of smaller professional opera houses that step up, offering modernist masterpieces, overlooked rarities and work from this century. (According to the German Music Information Center, the country has 83 institutions presenting opera and music theater.) In addition to the Theater für Niedersachsen, I traveled to opera houses in Darmstadt, Dessau-Rosslau, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Bielefeld and Kassel throughout the season. Although the performances were often at a lower technical level than in the country's opera capitals — the orchestral playing less polished, the singing rougher, the stagings and acting more beholden to clichés — they also showed a scene whose vitality remains unmatched, thanks to generous but increasingly precarious government funding. Germany's smaller opera houses allow up-and-coming artists to hone their craft, giving onstage experience to generations of performers. Sonja Isabel Reuter, who gave an assured interpretation of Tina in 'Miss Fortune,' is Theater für Niedersachsen's only ensemble soprano. Last season, she sang four completely different vocal roles in the space of a week: Mimi from 'La Bohème,' two different operetta characters and the solo soprano part in Dvorak's cantata 'The Specter's Bride.' Her three seasons at the house, she said in a phone interview, 'were like a crash course in how to be an opera singer.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's Center for Drug Evaluation Accepts Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany's Application for Marketing Authorization of Pimicotinib for Treatment of Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor
First global filing for potentially best-in-class TGCT treatment based on strong positive data from Phase 3 MANEUVER study Potential for pimicotinib to be first systemic TGCT therapy approved in China, following recent granting of Priority Review by CDE Additional applications planned in the US and other markets around the world Not intended for UK-based media DARMSTADT, Germany, June 10, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, today announced that the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) officially accepted the company's application for marketing authorization of pimicotinib as a Class 1 innovative drug for adult patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumors (TGCT) requiring systemic treatment. The submission follows the granting of Priority Review to pimicotinib by the CDE in May for the treatment of patients with TGCT who require systemic therapy, which is expected to expedite the review process. Pimicotinib, a potentially best-in-class investigational colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) inhibitor in development by Abbisko Therapeutics Co., Ltd., also has been granted breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) by the NMPA. "With the acceptance of our application for pimicotinib and the initiation of the priority review, we aim to offer patients in China the first approved systemic therapy for TGCT, addressing a tremendous unmet need in this country," said Hong Chow, Head of China and International, Healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. "Pimicotinib has demonstrated the ability to not only shrink tumors that affect their joints but also improve outcomes like mobility, pain and stiffness, highlighting its potential to be a best-in-class treatment for TGCT. In parallel, we are working to file a New Drug Application to the US Food and Drug Administration, with additional filings planned in other markets." TGCT is a locally aggressive and often recurring tumor of the joints that can cause high morbidity associated with swelling, pain, stiffness, and limited mobility of the affected joints, significantly impacting daily activities and quality of life in the primarily working-age population that it affects. If left untreated or in recurrent cases, TGCT can result in irreversible damage to the bone, joint and surrounding tissues. This highlights the need for well-tolerated and effective systemic treatments that can impact tumor growth while relieving the symptoms of the disease. The application is based on results from Part 1 of the global Phase 3 MANEUVER study, in which once-daily pimicotinib demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in the primary endpoint of objective response rate (ORR) assessed by blinded independent review committee (BIRC) compared with placebo at week 25 (54.0% vs. 3.2% for placebo; p<0.0001). The study also demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in all secondary endpoints related to key patient-reported outcomes in TGCT, including improvements in active range of motion and physical function and reductions in stiffness and pain. The data were presented earlier this month at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting. About MANEUVERThe pivotal Phase 3 MANEUVER study is a three-part, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the efficacy and safety of pimicotinib in patients with TGCT who require systemic therapy and have not received prior anti-CSF-1/CSF-1R therapy. The study is being conducted by Abbisko Therapeutics in China (n=45), Europe (n=28), and the US and Canada (n=21). In the double-blind Part 1, 94 patients were randomized 2:1 to receive either 50 mg QD of pimicotinib (n=63) or placebo (n=31) for 24 weeks. The primary endpoint is objective response rate (ORR) at week 25, as measured by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1 by blinded independent central review in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population. Secondary endpoints include tumor volume score, active range of motion, stiffness by Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), pain by Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), and physical function measured by Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). After the double-blind Part 1, eligible patients could continue to the open-label Part 2 for up to 24 weeks of dosing, results of which are expected in mid-2025. Patients who complete Part 2 may then enter the open-label extension phase (Part 3) for extended treatment and safety follow-up. About Pimicotinib (ABSK021)Pimicotinib (ABSK021), which is being developed by Abbisko Therapeutics, is a novel, orally administered, highly selective and potent small-molecule inhibitor of CSF-1R. Pimicotinib was recently granted Priority Review by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for the treatment of patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) who require systemic therapy. Pimicotinib has been granted breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) by China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and priority medicine (PRIME) designation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, holds worldwide commercialization rights for pimicotinib. Advancing the Future of Cancer CareAt Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, we strive every day to improve the futures of people living with cancer. Building on our 350-year global heritage as pharma pioneers, we are focusing our most promising science to target cancer's deepest vulnerabilities, pursuing differentiated molecules to strike cancer at its core. By developing new therapies that can help advance cancer care, we are determined to create a world where more cancer patients will become cancer survivors. Learn more at About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, GermanyMerck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across life science, healthcare and electronics. More than 62,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From providing products and services that accelerate drug development and manufacturing as well as discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2024, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of € 21.2 billion in 65 countries. The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark "Merck" internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, operate as MilliporeSigma in life science, EMD Serono in healthcare and EMD Electronics in electronics. Since its founding in 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company's technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the EMD Group website. In case you are a resident of the USA or Canada, please go to to register for your online, change your selection or discontinue this service. View source version on Contacts Media Relations Phone: +1 (781) 427-4351 Investor Relations Phone: +49 6151 72-3321 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
