Interview with EastCyte Biosciences

The last interview of our interview series with participants of the 1st Batch of the Weinberg Campus Accelerator was conducted with EastCyte Biosciences. Let’s see what their project is about and what they have to say about the program.

Claudia and Thomas, could you please briefly introduce yourselves and your startup project!

EastCyte Biosciences GmbH grows three-dimensional organ structures in a microfluidic system (chip) for research. EastCyte Biosciences is a partner company of Nortis, Inc. in Seattle, a leading American company in the field of organ-on-chip technology. EastCyte Biosciences is expected to play a key role in establishing this technology in the European market.

What entrepreneurial or social impact do you see for your product?

The development and market launch of new drugs takes about 15 years and the costs amount to over one billion euros per drug. With our product, the costs could be significantly reduced and the time span shortened. A major advantage is that our product can replace animal testing and that drug testing is done on human tissues. This enables us to achieve results in preclinical tests that are more predictive of the results of subsequent clinical trials.

The Accelerator Program helped us to create a business strategy for the European market and to implement the first steps of it.

Thomas Neumann, EastCyte Biosciences

What do you appreciate about the Weinberg Campus?

The Weinberg campus offers very good conditions for our company. The good networking within the metropolitan region of Central Germany, the proximity to the Martin Luther University, as well as to the universities of Leipzig and Jena, and the location of leading institutes such as the Max Planck Institute and the Fraunhofer Institute on campus offer good cooperation opportunities for the development of our company.

Why did you decide to participate in the Weinberg Campus Accelerator?

So far our business experience has been exclusively in the American market. Although some of this is transferable to Europe, there are specifics that are relevant when doing business in Germany/Europe. The Accelerator Program helped us to create a business strategy for the European market and to implement the first steps of it. Through the program, we also made important contacts with people who can help EastCyte with further implementations.

What advantages does the program offer you? How did it help you?

The Accelerator Program provided us with comprehensive coaching in all areas of starting a company, which sometimes differ significantly from the American market. We also liked the coaching on the business model, marketing and presenting the company strategy to potential investors.

From your point of view, why should other startups or founding projects participate in the Weinberg Campus Accelerator?

It is an excellent opportunity from the very beginning to work out a good business model and avoid mistakes when developing the company. Experienced company founders take a critical look at one’s own model and give good advice.

What are you expectations on the Weinberg Campus from an entrepreneurial and very personal perspective?

Establishing itself as one of the leading biosciences campuses in Europe.

Can you think of any incidents that you associate with the Weinberg Campus?

We played volleyball together in the gymnasium on campus 30 years ago during our medical studies, and afterwards drank many a beer with the team in the locker room.

Photos by Michael Deutsch

The interview in German can be found here.

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