The venture capital manager Inveready, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has led a € 3 million round for Atlas Molecular Pharma (Atlas). It has been completed together with the public entities CDTI and EZTEN, and the participation of the company’s current partners.

With this investment, Atlas, created with the aim of developing new pharmacological chaperones for the treatment of rare metabolic diseases, will begin a Phase I study and a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the drug's effectiveness in patients with PEC, which will be conducted in the United States. Completion of studies should allow access to the FDA's ...

Sequentia, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has received an EIC grant from the European Commission, part of the EIC Accelerator program, that supports SMEs to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. In addition to financial support, all projects benefit from a range of Business Acceleration Services that provide access to leading expertise, corporates, investors and ecosystem actors.

Sequentia was one of the 99 companies that were selected to benefit from the programme and will be able to take MICK to the next level. MICK is the first translational microbiome ...

Ferrer, the international pharmaceutical laboratory based in Barcelona, and a CataloniaBio & HealthTechmember, has exceeded global B Corp standards in terms of social and environment performance, transparency and corporate responsibility in all the territories in which it has a direct presence. With the completion of the certification process, Ferrer is the first Spanish pharmaceutical company to become part of the international B Corp community, the group of companies that aim to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. 

Mario Rovirosa, CEO of Ferrer, expressed hissatisfaction with joining B Corp and explained that “being a B Corp company isthe culmination ...

Read the BioRegion of Catalonia Report.

Watch the videos of the presentation.

Investment in health startups in the BioRegion continues to grow and again surpassed the €200 million mark for the second year in a row, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, companies raised €238 million, the most to date. Venture capital funding was the main driver of this growth, with more than €187 million, or 79% of all capital, three times as much as in 2019.

83% of the venture capital raised was in operations with international investors. In fact, more than 90% of operations worth over €10 million are ...

The journal Frontiers Computational Psychiatry has  published a methods article based on the performance of a clinical in silico test (ISCT) for a head-to-head comparison between Lisdexamfetamine and Methylphenidate, two compounds used to treat patients with ADHD. It is a collaborative project between the Catalan company Anaxomics  Biotech, Takeda, the Hospital  Perpetuo Socorro in Badajoz, the Hospital Infanta  Leonor in Madrid, the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB, of the UAB), the GRIB (from UPF) and the ICREA institution.

Anaxomics' TPMS (Therapeutic  Performance Mapping System) technology has made it possible to simulate and model via Quantitative Pharmacology of Systems (QSP ...

The global  biopharmaceutical company Almirall, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech  member, focused on skin health, and the Institute for Research in  Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), announced today a  research collaboration to identify new oral treatments for immune-inflammatory  skin diseases with remaining high unmet medical needs using molecular glue  degraders, a novel therapeutic modality. These monovalent degraders offer a new  avenue to induce the degradation of potentially disease-causing proteins that  cannot be targeted with conventional therapeutic agents.

The collaboration brings together Almirall’s scientific, dermatological, and data analysis knowledge with the expertise of the IRB Barcelona’s Targeted  Protein Degradation and Drug Discovery lab, led ...

Peptomyc, the spin-off of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and ICREA, and a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has secured 8.6 million euros in funding from its current partners through a convertible loan. The next step is to open a round of funding of 25 million euros, with the aim of carrying out phase II of the clinical trial.

For the first 8.6 million, the biotechnology company has had the support of Alta Life Science, HealthEquity, Aurora Biosciences and various business angels, in addition to the CDTI, from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

The ...

Aortyx, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has received a grant of 2.5 million euros from the European Commission, part of the EIC Accelerator program, that supports SMEs to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones.

The funds will be dedicated to advancing the preclinical phase of the first product of Aortyx, the preclinical studies and the necessary regulatory stages to initiate the clinical trials and develop the market access strategy. The company has developed a patch for the treatment of aortic dissections that adhere to the damaged artery and plug ...

CataloniaBio & HealthTech has opened the election process to select the chairperson and board of directors of the association for the next four years, as was agreed in the meeting of the board this Friday, 7 January 2022, following the completion of the current Board of directors’ 4 year mandate, as established by the association’s charter.

Those who wish to run for the one Chairperson and 3 Vice-Chair positions have until 17 January to present their candidacy. At minimum, one representative from a biopharmaceutical company and one representative from a medical technology or digital health company must be included. The ...

CataloniaBio & HealthTech’s board and team wish a very Happy 2022 to the more  than 180 members, and collaborators and healthcare and life sciences professionals that make up the entity. Our greatest desire is that in 2022 we can continue to return to activities and in person meetings, as we have been doing in the last few months of 2021.

Now is a good time to look back and share the work that has been accomplished over  the year and the principal milestones that we have reached. Still subject to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we in the healthcare ...

Representatives of the Blood and Tissue Bank, the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia, Avinent, Reig Jofré and Biorem, all members of CataloniaBio &  HealthTech, have recently formalized the creation of a working group with the aim of promoting a public-private ecosystem to dynamize and facilitate  the translation of bio-printing solutions to clinical and pharmaceutical  practice in Catalonia, and contribute to the achievement of an integrated, resilient and sustainable healthcare model in the context of the Salut 2030 project.

The initiative for the creation of this working group arose after the impressions exchanged in the  last edition of Lessons Learned, which ...

Joan Puig de Dou (Barcelona, 1966). Pharmacist with a degree in Business and Administration, and GM training. He is the CEO of Kymos Pharma, a CRO supporting biopharma companies to develop their products. Last year, 2020, Kymos received the Biosuccess Award.

A short version of the interview was published in the CataloniaBio & HealthTech review.

What have been the most important milestones for Kymos’ growth so far?

The  international agreements that have allowed our strong growth over the last few  years. In particular, the strategic agreement with Ipsen in 2012 under which we  purchased part of the research centre in ...

The pharmaceutical company Laboratorios Rubió, a member of CataloniaBio &  HealthTech, has closed the acquisition of the Spanish company Fisiopharma,  which will allow them to diversify beyond prescription products and enter the  nutraceutical segment. The company did not disclose the figures of the operation.

Acquiring Fisiopharma, Laboratorios Rubió strengthens the line of food supplements, with various products aimed at neuropathies of the central nervous system and muscle and joint tissue. "Fisiopharma products complement many of our medicines as they act on the same therapeutic areas, so we are convinced that we will generate synergies, both in prevention and treatment, which ...

The medical device company USMIMA S.L. (brand name MOWOOT), a CataloniaBio &  HealthTech member, announced that its first product “MOWOOT II Intestinal Transit Management System” has been granted the breakthrough device designation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With this important recognition by the USA´s highest authority for medical devices the company joins a select list of companies to receive this designation since the program began in 2016.

"Our clinical results show clear benefits for  severely constipated patients, and we look forward to working with the FDA to introduce  our technology to the US market as ...

FreeOx Biotech, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed an exclusive licence agreement to develop and exploit the product patent of the molecule Ox-02 with the Hospital Clinic  Barcelona, the August Pi i Sunyer  Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), who own the patent.

Ox-02 is an innovative molecule with neuroprotective properties that are very beneficial for the treatment of ischaemic stroke. It was developed through years of research at the Functional Unit for Cerebrovascular Disease of the Hospital Clinic, led by Dr Ángel Chamorro, and the formulation study run by CIC biomaGUNE.

Recent preclinical ...

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Jaume Giró, and the Minister of Research and Universities, Gemma Geis, met with officials from the university world and the research centers of the Catalan knowledge system, including the  President of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, Jaume Amat. The aim of the meeting was to analyse the different sources of funding for research projects in the country and took the opportunity to present the new venture capital fund, named FITA (Fund for Investment in Advanced Technology, in Catalan), which was approved this Tuesday by the Catalan executive. It is a new venture capital instrument that, with ...

The multinational Grifols, a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has announced the sale to Synthetic Biologics of its entire stake in the Catalan biotechnology company VCN Biosciences, a company specializing in research and development of new agents for the treatment of solid tumors. The sale was made for 75 million dollars, about 66.4 million euros.

Grífols became a shareholder in the company in 2012. The company has stated that its intention is to close the operation during the first quarter of 2022, once the necessary authorizations have been obtained from the Spanish authorities and the regulators. The sale of ...

Integra Therapeutics (Integra Tx), a biotechnology company that is creating next-generation gene writing tools to boost the efficiency and safety of advanced therapies, has completed its first round of funding for €4.5 million with Advent France Biotechnology (France), Invivo Capital (Spain), both CataloniaBio &  HealthTech members, and Takeda Ventures (USA).

The funds  raised in this round will allow Integra Tx to complete the prototype of the new  gene writing technology platform, carry out preclinical validation using in vivo and ex vivo models, and manage its patent portfolio in 2022 and 2023. After that, the company plans to open a ...

The biotechnology company Archivel Farma, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has promoted the design and implementation of the Phase IIb clinical study CONSTAN to explore the effectiveness and safety of concomitant administration of  RUTI® immunotherapy with standard treatment in patients suffering from  pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) together with Dra. Cristina Vilaplana, head of the Tuberculosis Unit Experimental from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), as a Principal Investigator. The study has been approved by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS), and it is planned to include the first patient (FPFV) in early January 2022.

The clinical ...

The start-up, promoted by a psychologist and a perinatal psychiatrist, launches an app to donate support to the mental health of gifts during maternity leave. It is a company born from Qualud, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member.

The mental health of the society has become one of the first concerns in public health management and the incidence of mental disorders raised in recent years. The incidence in Spain is double in women than in men and the perinatal stage is a period of high psychic vulnerability for women. In this context, the app Laia Contigo focuses on helping women during ...