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Schering Lets Metagen Flex Its Muscles

By spinning off 50% of Metagen, Schering gets an opportunity to concentrate on near-term projects, leaving Metagen free to seek funding for its early stage research from other partners

Mid-sized pharmaceutical company Schering AG has spun off its Berlin-based biotechnology unit, with venture capital firm Apax Partners & Co. paying €42 million ($38 million) for a 50% stake in the company, metaGen Pharmaceuticals AG[See Deal]. Such spin-offs are rare among Germany's pharmaceutical industry, which has been slow to invest in biotechnology, not least because there was very little biotech to speak of within Germany's borders before 1996 when the government-funding program began.

That was the year Schering founded metaGen, from work carried out at the Frederick-Schiller University of Jena, near Berlin, to...

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