Annual report 2023/2024
DE
DE
Download Center

Letter from the CEO

To our shareholders

Our 2023/24 financial year represented a milestone in many respects. Most importantly, we achieved two important breakthroughs, both of which will have a lasting impact on BRAIN Biotech Group:

Firstly, we signed a “royalty monetization” agreement with Royalty Pharma, which can deliver proceeds of up to € 129 million to BRAIN Biotech. This deal is transformational in three ways: it provides us with cash much earlier than otherwise would have been the case, the sheer size of the deal shows what is possible for BRAIN Biotech’s technology, and it proves that our BioIncubator monetization strategy works. We are extremely proud of the team that identified and delivered the API compound to our partner Pharvaris.

Secondly, we prepared a licensing agreement with Akribion Therapeutics GmbH for the use of one of our CRISPR-Cas genome-editing tools in therapeutics. Why was this also a breakthrough for us? On the one hand, it will significantly reduce our cash expenditure, which helps us towards our primary goal of becoming a profitable and cash generative business. On the other hand, the pharma-specific application of this technology enjoys the best chance of success thanks to the support of a consortium of venture capital partners specializing in the pharmaceutical industry. If this technology reaches the market, BRAIN Biotech will also continue to benefit in the longer term. In this case, too, we are very grateful for the excellent work of one of our teams.

Our core business: BioProducts

Next, I would like to highlight the progress we have made in our core business. Now that we have arranged these two major deals mentioned above, we can focus to an even greater extent on our strategic direction, which is to become a leading enzyme company in specialty segments.

Our products business is progressing well. The four enzyme-focused businesses have been successfully merged under the Biocatalysts name. The teams are now working together effectively and the shared vision and goals have helped us to capture synergies.

The next logical step we are taking is merging the BioScience business in Zwingenberg with the BioProducts business. This is reflected in our new division “BRAINBiocatalysts”, which we recently announced. This division has two brands, BRAIN and Biocatalysts, although the teams are working together intensively to meet customer needs. By merging our science and our products businesses we are able to be much more innovative than other companies of our size. We are now far better leveraging our in-depth scientific knowledge for our products and services: this creates an unbeatable offering as we combine this approach with agility and rapid response to our customers.

The second line: our BioIncubator

In terms of our BioIncubator business, BRAIN Biotech Group has always been known for its exciting scientific approaches and the promise these hold for major breakthroughs. Today, in addition to our core BioProducts business, our incubator is a division that will deliver substantial shareholder value. However, the incubator business is volatile by nature, and as our aim is to become sustainably profitable, the first thing we are focusing on is our products business. With existing and still-promising incubator projects such as our Aurase® enzyme for wound healing (clinically developed by SolasCure), Brazzein as a novel natural sweetener, and Biogold derived from urban waste, our goal is to work intensively with capable partners that will help us monetize our exciting scientific work. This is in addition to the above-mentioned Royalty Pharma and Akribion Therapeutics transactions where we have already crystalized initial value, with more to come over the next years.

What sets us apart from others: our scientific knowledge, proprietary technologies and customer-centricity

We will continue to make effective use of our strong scientific base. Besides our traditional discovery and engineering skills, we have developed several core capabilities that will help us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. To mention just the most eye-catching developments:

  • High-yielding strains: In our microbial strain development department, we have continued to develop high-yielding “hosts”. These workhorses of any bio-based industrial production – now our Plug & Produce production strains – will allow us and our customers to improve production cost. It is that simple: we have achieved real breakthroughs that will support both our BioScience business as well as our BioProducts business.
  • Customer-centric product development: In our customer-facing science-based application development, we have made great progress by merging teams and creating best practices. We are continuing to invest in customer-centric product development and our applications centers are key in driving this forward. To show our commitment to customer-facing innovation, we have introduced the slogan “Science to Application” in our BRAIN BIOCATALYSTS division.
  • Access to more efficient enzyme products: In our enzyme technology department, we have developed the MetXtra™ platform to identify novel enzymes integrating proprietary metagenome databases from the BRAIN Biotech Group. The platform provides access to untapped genetic diversity as well as bioinformatics and artificial intelligence to find and design unique enzyme solutions. MetXtra™ sets the stage for more efficient enzyme products enabling our customers to stay ahead of their competition.
  • Advanced downstream processing tools: In our bioprocess development department, we have achieved particularly good progress in improving the efficient recovery of target products with advanced downstream processing tools. Again, this is reflected in lower production costs for both our partners and us.

Our driving forces

Please allow me to remind you of what is driving us at BRAIN Biotech Group: it is doing something good for the world, for our societies, as well as for health, food and the environment. I have been passionate about the Biotech promise for over thirty years, and at BRAIN Biotech we are a group of like-minded individuals who share this passion. This is reflected in our pursuit of the ESG goals and in the company’s commitment to supporting the United Nations SDGs wherever we can.

Our highly skilled employees are also one of our driving forces. Talent and capability development are key priorities in anything we do. I am pleased to report that in our transition from a science-based network company to a BioProducts company with a scientific foundation, many of our talented colleagues have come through successfully. This is reflected in cross-company promotions and career development steps.

What lies ahead?

The future of industrial biotechnology in general and of BRAIN Biotech Group in particular looks very bright. We have a good and solid foundation on which to build, our markets are large and attractive, and we have the tools to succeed.

To help us achieve that success, we also need you, our shareholders, to help us realize our potential. Our five-year goals include a doubling of our revenue, plus improved profit margins. This alone creates substantial shareholder value. If you add to this the project pipeline of the BioIncubator and the aforementioned commercial agreements that we have already successfully arranged, I am sure you will agree that BRAIN Biotech is on the right track.

Adriaan Moelker
CEO BRAIN Biotech AG