Big news for dealing with coronavirus and for the healthcare and life sciences sector in Catalonia: pharmaceutical company Reig Jofre, a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has reached a deal with Janssen of Johnson & Johnson to manufacture its Covid-19 vaccine in Phase III clinical trials.

Reig Jofre has extensive experience in manufacturing injectable and freeze-dried products, both its own and for third parties. In the first quarter of 2021, the company will launch a new state-of-the-art plant in Sant Joan Despí (Barcelona) that will help meet the need for fast, secure deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine. The pharmaceutical company ...

Splice Bio, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed an agreement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the United States to develop new adeno-associated viruses (AAV) to treat cystic fibrosis. 

The biotechnology firm, based at the Barcelona Science Park, will receive €282,000 in funding and collaborate with the foundations' Therapeutics Lab to advance its proprietary third-generation platform to modify delivery vehicles for gene therapy and better target specific cells in patients' lungs.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a world leader in research to find a cure to this rare disease that affects over 70,000 people around the ...

Ferrer, a pharmaceutical company and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has been granted a €50 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop innovative new treatments in pulmonology and neurology.

The R&D programme the company presented will run through 2024. Currently, Ferrer’s R&D activity is broken down into the Ferrer Advanced Biotherapeutics (FAB), Ferrer Innovation Management (FIM), and digital health and technology divisions.The deal with the EIB reinforces Ferrer’s financial solidity and complements a €220-million funding agreement reached in 2020 with several financial institutions.

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Photo: Mario Rovirosa, CEO of Ferrer.

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Tecno-med Ingenieros has been granted ISO 13485:2016 certification for clinical and regulatory consultancy services, and for implementing and maintaining management systems for quality, training and services associated with the healthcare products industry. The assessment and certification body was SGS.

“We're very happy to be the first consultancy with this specific certification for medical devices in Spain,” says Xavier Canals, director of Tecno-med Ingenieros, on the company's 25th anniversary.

ISO 13485, derived from ISO 9000, was created to support manufacturers and distributors of healthcare products in designing quality management systems that establish and maintain the efficacy of their processes ...

The Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the Catalan Ministry of Health has opened up the phase for consultation on the Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation in Health (PERIS) for 2021-2027 so companies and organisations in the sector can make suggestions and proposals to improve the document.

To participate, sign up for the information session on 16 December at 9 am, where they will explain the collaboration dynamics.

The Government of Catalonia expects to approve PERIS 2021-2027 in the first half of next year, which is in line with the strategy for the European programme Horizon Europe 2021-2027 ...

Publicly traded, formerly traded and about to go public. The latest CataloniaBio & HealthTech Lessons Learned session, held online on 3 December, brought together financial directors from Atrys Health, AB Biotics, Oryzon, Mabia and Vytrus Biotech to share their experiences on the trading floor with other start-ups and companies in the healthcare and life sciences sector in Catalonia. 

The stock market is now the second most popular source of funding among companies in the sector, according to the BioRegion of Catalonia Life Sciences and Healthcare Outlook 2020, and the main publicly traded companies rate the results positively ...

The pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have announced that their Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective at an average of 70.4% in asymptomatic patients. Its efficacy is up to 90% depending on the dose.

Preliminary results from the Phase III clinical trial were published this week in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet. The study involved 11,636 patients from the United Kingdom and Brazil. It is the first peer-reviewed publication of Phase III data from studies on a coronavirus vaccine. 

AZD1222 has been developed by a genetically modifying a common cold virus that affects ...

Cornea Project, a medical technology start-up and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has successfully closed an €872,000 round of investment through the Capital Cell platform. Its goal was to raise €700,000

The main investor in the round was Basque company AJL Ophthalmic. Pere del Campo, co-founder and CEO of Cornea Project, still holds the majority share.

These funds will be used to finish development of the firm's point of care platform for non-invasive diagnosis of eye conditions using biomarkers in the early stages, and for clinical validation. Initially, Cornea Project has focused on detecting keratoconus, a progressive, degenerative ...

Regulatory affairs consultancy Asphalion, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has received a medal for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability from EcoVadis, the global CSR assessment agency. EcoVadis has audited over 65,000 companies around the world.

Asphalion was rated on a scorecard of 21 indicators in four key practices: environment, human and labour rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.

“We are very pleased to receive this valued recognition from EcoVadis. We firmly believe that sustainability practices are increasingly important and we work daily to improve all aspects regarding this area,” said Asphalion Managing Director Núria Romero.

Asphalion currently ...

Elías Campo, director of Research at Hospital Clinic Barcelona and director of the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), has won the Gregorio Marañón National Research Award in Medicine granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

He has received this recognition for his contribution to the study of lymphoid neoplasia and to improving diagnosis and treatment of these diseases.

The award comes with a cash prize of €30,000.

Hospital Clinic is a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech.

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Oncoheroes Biosciences, a biotech start-up and CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has been granted orphan drug designation (ODD) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for volasertib to treat paediatric rhabdomyosarcoma and other rare soft-tissue sarcomas.

“All the incentives that come with ODD will help us accelerate clinical development and commercialisation of our first drug, volasertib.In the United States alone, each year 450 families are diagnosed with this type of childhood cancer,” explains Ricardo Garcia, founder and CEO of Oncoheroes. Volasertib is currently in Phase I clinical trials.

The company specialises in new therapies for childhood cancers and is ...

Almirall has selected six start-ups in the second call of the accelerator program Digital Garden: AI Derm, Ampersand, Legit, Patch Ai, Tryl and Vila Health. 

All will receive the mentorship of experts in the pharmaceutical industry. They will also have the chance to carry out pilot studies in top hospitals in Barcelona, work on Almirall projects, and access Almirall’s communication and PR networks to promote their projects, among other incentives.

Francesca Wuttke, Chief Digital Officer of Almirall, explains: "We are sure that this will be a mutually beneficial collaboration that will allow us to develop solutions that will directly ...

Biotechnology firm Oryzon, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has appointed Dutch executive Torsten Hoffmann to its management team as Global R&D Director replacing Tamara Maes.

Hoffmann holds a PhD in Chemistry from ETH Zürich and has over 20 years of experience leading drug research and development at Roche, Zealand Pharma, Silence Therapeutics and Taros Chemicals.

Tamara Maes will continue as vice-president of the Oryzon Board of Directors and president of its Scientific Advisory Board, a body that is to be strengthened with prestigious new international incorporations. Since the company was founded in 2000, Maes has been instrumental in discovering ...

Just weeks after receiving a €1.6-million grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), biopharmaceutical firm Ability Pharma has closed a €2-million round of investment through the Capital Cell platform.The funds will go towards the company's Phase II clinical trial on its molecule ABTL0812 to treat pancreatic cancer.

Ability has received approval from the FDA and the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) to begin the clinical trial in Spain and the United States. 

It is an international multi-centre double-blind placebo-controlled trial in patients with pancreatic cancer, who will be treated with ABTL0812 and Folfirinox ...

The Dutch group Qiagen, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has expanded its facilities in the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) to 2,800 square metres to double its production capacity for Covid-19 diagnosis tests.

The inauguration took place on 23 November, in the presence of the Minister of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia, Ramon Tremosa; Rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias; the head of Qiagen Barcelona, Nik Baumann, CEO of the PCB, Maria Terrades; Universities and Research Secretary, Francesc Xavier Grau; General Director of Research, Joan Gómez; and the Secretary of Business and Competition, Quim Ferrer ...

Cornea Project has opened a €700,000 round on the Capital Cell platform to fund clinical development of a device for early diagnosis of keratoconus, an incurable degenerative eye disorder. In just five days, the start-up based in Sitges (Barcelona) has raised 89% of its target amount. 

The main investor to join the company's shareholders is Basque company AJL Ophthalmic. 

Cornea Project's main partners are Barraquer Ophthalmology Centre for clinical trials in Europe and Massachusetts Eye and Ear, associated with Harvard Medical School, for studies in the United States.

Recently, the biotechnology firm also opened a subsidiary in ...

Journal Farmespaña Industrial interviewed CataloniaBio & HealthTech President Judit Anido about the state of the biotechnology and healthcare sector after Covid-19 has thrust it into the global spotlight. Anido also shared the five large-scale challenges the sector has to tackle by 2025 to boost its economic impact and role as a driving force for innovation.

Read the full interview (in Spanish on pp. 56 and 57)

A twenty of CEOs and board members from the companies and start-ups in CataloniaBio & HealthTech met with Susana de Antonio, director of Euronext in Spain and head of the Tech Hub Europa initiative, on 18 November, during the CEO Council talks.

“The situation we are going through this year on the markets is not affecting the healthcare and tech sectors. This is a very good time for companies to go public,” said Susana de Antonio. “What’s more, we have a special focus on start-ups and SMEs,” she added.

Euronext is the largest stock exchange in Europe, with ...

Leitat, a technology centre member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, is taking part in the European INNO4COV-19 project, which has a budget of €6.1 million to support commercialisation of new products to fight Covid-19 over the next two years.

The consortium consists of 11 companies and entities and is led by the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL).

In total, 30 companies (working in medical technology, sensors, protection of healthcare workers, artificial intelligence and data mining) will be selected in three calls: through 30 November 2020, through 31 March 2021 and through 31 May 31 2021.

Each company will receive ...

Listen the podcast (in Spanish)

For the Capital Radio Investment Day, journalist Miguel Sanmartín interviewed CataloniaBio & HealthTech President Judit Anido to learn about the state of the healthcare and life sciences sector in Catalonia.

Anido explained that, although this has been a difficult year, it has also confirmed this sector’s strategic role not only in tackling Covid-19 but also in any future healthcare challenges and for a knowledge and innovation-based society.

According to indicators in the BioRegion of Catalonia Life Sciences and Healthcare Outlook 2020, the healthcare sector has shown strong and sustained growth over the past 10 ...