Roche, Merck Serono and Abbott in BioRN cluster

European drug majors Roche and Merck Serono and the USA's Abbott Laboratories are joining forces in the development of the Biotechnology Cluster Rhine-Neckar (BioRN) towards a leading position in the field of medical biotechnology in Europe. The BioRN cluster was recently awarded a 40.0 million-euro ($50.6 million) federal grant by the German Ministry for Education and Research as one of the top five high-tech clusters in that country. In addition, BioRN is the host of this year's BIO-Europe, which has established itself as the world's largest stand-alone partnering conference, according to its organizer.

"The success of the BioRN cluster, which brings together some 100 partners in business and research, rests partly on the excellent pioneering research being done here in the Rhine-Neckar region and on the presence of several major corporations, many of them global leaders in their field such as Roche, Merck Serono and Abbott," said Jurgen Schwiezer, chief executive of the Roche Diagnostics Division.