Photo: In the laboratory © Charité | Janine Oswald
Spin-offs from Charité demonstrate the potential of translational research
Berlin, December 22, 2025
Spin-offs enable the faster translation of medical research findings into clinical practice. This leads to the development of innovative therapies, diagnostic procedures, and digital applications that directly benefit patients. Charité BIH Innovation (CBI), the joint technology transfer arm of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), supports its own scientists in launching their companies, together with Charité and BIH’s commercialization partner, Ascenion GmbH. The two BIH funding programs, SPARK-BIH and BIH Digital Health Accelerator, also make a significant contribution. As a result, four spin-offs were launched this year.
Charité BIH Innovation (CBI), the joint technology transfer unit of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), supports its researchers in this endeavour, together with Charité and BIH’s commercialization partner, Ascenion GmbH. “Spin-offs are crucial for rapidly translating scientific innovations from the university into practical applications. They contribute to continuously improving treatment options and ensuring the future viability of medical care. The fact that we were able to launch four new companies this year demonstrates the enormous potential of our research for society and the economy, and also shows that we can be successful in the field of innovation together with the BIH,” says Prof. Joachim Spranger, Dean of Charité.
The range of applications is broad and this year extends from gene therapies and new diagnostic applications to specialized telemedicine.
An overview of the current spin-offs:
RareLink digital health GmbH
RareLink offers a specialized telemedicine platform for the care of people with rare and neurological diseases. One of its products is “MyaLink,” a monitoring tool for the remote care of myasthenia gravis patients, designed to detect symptomatic deterioration earlier and reduce hospital stays. The platform is a certified medical device and complies with data protection regulations.
Kernevo GmbH
Kernevo aims to improve urine diagnostics. The company is developing an innovative medical urine cup (“Urikon”) that enables the analysis of cells in urine through chemical fixation, thereby opening up new diagnostic procedures. The company plans to manufacture and certify the Urikon system for various cell-based testing approaches. Clinical application is currently being prepared in collaboration with Labor Berlin GmbH.
APTA Therapeutics GmbH
APTA Therapeutics focuses on the treatment of diseases caused by regulatory autoantibodies. Autoantibodies are antibodies that target the body’s own structures. Based on the latest research findings, APTA Therapeutics is developing DNA-based aptamers—small, specialized molecules—for the treatment of disease-causing regulatory autoantibodies.
Epithelica GmbH
Epithelica is a biotech startup developing local gene therapies for severe genetic skin diseases. Using painless laser microporation, microscopic channels are temporarily created in the skin, through which optimized lipid nanoparticles deliver targeted therapeutic gene editors. This scalable approach enables precise, mutation-specific treatments with curative potential for a broad spectrum of genetic skin diseases.
Spin-off funding from Charité BIH Innovation (CBI)
CBI is the central service point for technology transfer at Charité and BIH. Its mission is to facilitate biomedical translation, i.e., the transfer of research findings and solutions from everyday clinical practice into products and services through licensing and spin-offs. CBI advises on the protection and commercialization of intellectual property, provides information on funding opportunities for spin-off projects, and supports all spin-offs from Charité and BIH during the start-up phase. CBI collaborates with the external service provider Ascenion in the valuation and commercialization of intellectual property.
CBI supports early-stage development projects in the structured accelerator programs SPARK-BIH and BIH Digital Health Accelerator (DHA) through milestone-based funding, education, and mentoring. CBI paves the way for collaborations between national and international start-ups and clinical and scientific expertise within Charité. This benefits patients, society, the economy, inventors, and the institutions Charité and BIH. Since 2014, 51 spin-offs have been established from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH).