18 September 2019
Oncoheroes Biosciences Inc, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, and Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH have signed a worldwide licensing agreement for the anti-cancer compound volasertib.
Boehringer Ingelheim assigns to Oncoheroes the intellectual property of volasertib, with exclusive rights to R&D, sell and sublicense the compound.
Oncoheroes is a Boston-based biotech company focused on the development of innovative medicines to treat cancer in children and adolescents. The company was co-founded in 2018 by Ricardo Garcia and Cesare Spadoni, two parents touched by childhood cancer and determined to change the outlook for these young patients.
“This is probably the first example of ...
18 September 2019
The new fund ICF Venture Tech II has invested €0.5 million in the biotechnology company Vytrus Biotech, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member.
The Catalan Finance Institute (ICF) investment is part of a financing round of €1.5 million aimed at boosting the growth of Vytrus: 70% of the remaining round has been obtained through different institutional and minority investors, and the other 30% will be closed in this crowdfunding campaign at Sociosinversores.com.
Vytrus bases its business on a technology of vegetable stem cell culture used to develop, produce and market vegetable active ingredients of high added value used ...
11 September 2019
Idneo, an engineering company associated with CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has set up an additive manufacturing unit kitted out with a cutting-edge 3D printer at its headquarters in Mollet del Vallès (Barcelona).
Through this new service, the company is committing to offer more sustainable and economic manufacturing for prototypes, tools and small series for medical devices, IoT, mobility and industry.
Idneo has a team made up of 400 people and they have recently appointed executive Pau Planas as the MedTech Business Unit Director.
9 September 2019
GoodGut has closed a €500,000 round of funding through the Capital Cell platform, raising 25% more than its initial goal. The funds will go towards finishing clinical validation of a non-invasive RAID-CRC test for colorectal-cancer screening using intestinal microbiota.
The company estimates that RAID-CRC will cut unnecessary colonoscopies by 30% and save up to €60 million per round of screening.
Mariona Serra, co-founder and CEO of GoodGut, is thankful to the more than 200 small investors, physicians and patients who have believed in the project. “This is the final push that will allow us to enter the valuable in ...
3 September 2019
Manremyc, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has closed a €250,000 round of investment on the Capital Cell crowdfunding platform, with 45 new small investors joining the company’s stakeholders.
Instead of developing a drug to cure tuberculosis or a vaccine to prevent it, Manremyc has developed a probiotic that is highly effective at preventing the spread of this disease. Development of this product is cheaper, faster and less risky. Now the company has raised this capital, it will strengthen the launch to market of Nyaditum resae® after having signed 65 sales deals with pharmaceutical companies.
“In late September, we’ll have ...
2 September 2019
Kaneka Corporation is now the majority shareholder in Catalan biotechnology firm AB-Biotics (66.33%), after launching a friendly takeover last July, according to Europa Press.
Kaneka joined the AB-Biotics shareholders in 2018 and previously held a 39.76% stake in the company. The takeover paid €5 per share, costing the Japanese group a total of €16.7 million. One of the investors’ main goals is for AB-Biotics to soon stop trading on the Spanish Alternative Stock Exchange (MAB).
Founders Àngel Bonachera and Sergi Audivert still have 12% of shares.AB-Biotics, based at Esade Creapolis in Sant Cugat del Vallès ...
1 September 2019
Oryzon Genomics, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has carried out a €20-million capital increase through private international investors, after presenting promising clinical results at several congresses.
The company, which specialises in innovative epigenetic therapies, has recently finished recruiting patients for its Phase IIa clinical trials to assess the safety, tolerability and efficacy of vafidemstat (ORY-2001) in various psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.
Vafidemstat is an oral molecule that curbs cognitive degeneration, memory loss and neuroinflammation, as well as showing neuroprotective effects. In preclinical trials, Vafidemstat restored cognitive deterioration and eliminated aggressiveness in SAMP8 mice, a model with advanced ageing and ...
30 August 2019
After the success of the first edition, Banco Sabadell is launching a new BStartup Health call for proposals to support three start-ups in the healthcare sector with an investment of €100,000 and strategic mentoring in exchange for an equity share. The deadline for applications is 30 September 2019.
The projects will be evaluated based on their potential for growth and scalable, innovative business models.
Genesis Biomed will analyse the proposals received and the scientific committee, made up of Montserrat Vendrell, DamiàTormo, Carlos Gallardo and Clara Campàs, will choose the three winning projects.
Banco Sabadell’s commitment to health sector is ...
24 July 2019
The Innovadores supplement of the newspaper La Razón has done a feature on Syna Therapeutics, joint venture of Reig Jofre and Leanbio created in 2018, explaining that the company is developing two biosimilar drugs for haemostasis and immuno-oncology.
Going from research to industrialisation and marketing with biosimilars was complicated in Spain before Syna was founded. Nowadays, Reig Jofre and Leanbio bring their expertise to the table to address the whole value chain and bring these drugs to patients.
Developing top-quality biosimilars and innovative molecules is a growing line of business in the pharmaceutical market to treat serious diseases. “Biosimilar drugs ...
23 July 2019
Marc Pérez Pey is the new president of the Spanish Federation Healthcare Technology Companies (Fenin) in Catalonia, taking over for José Luis Fernández. Fernández will be vice president until new elections are held in 2021.
Marc Pérez Pey is currently regional director for Western Europe and North Africa for Hartmann laboratories. The executive will continue with the board’s lines geared towards promoting innovation in the sector and maintaining communication and collaboration with the Catalan government and other stakeholders in the ecosystem to tackle new challenges.
23 July 2019
Asabys Partners, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, and Alantra have reached a strategic partnership agreement, where Alantra will acquire a 35% stake in the venture capital firm specialized in investments in the life sciences and health sectors.
Alantra will also invest in the first fund of the firm (Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments) and will support the company in its search for new investors to increase the fund size to over 80 million euros.
This transaction represents Alantra’s first venture capital deal led by Ana Segurado, managing partner of Alantra for VC projects, and former executive of Telefonica.
Photo ...
22 July 2019
Some 300 executives, entrepreneurs and investors from the health and biomedicine sector in Catalonia participated in the summer barbecue hosted by CataloniaBio & HealthTech on 18 July at the Specipig headquarters. This year the BBQ received support from investment funds Asabys Partners, Alta Life Sciences, Genesis Ventures, Invivo Ventures and Ysios Capital.
“In an innovation-based sector, like ours, people are the driving force and the BBQ, beyond the companies, is about the people,” highlighted Jaume Amat, president of CataloniaBioHT, when addressing the guests. Amat also made reference to the fact that “the cyclical activities CataloniaBioHT puts on are ...
16 July 2019
President of CataloniaBio & HealthTech and CEO of Specipig, Jaume Amat participated in this year's commission set up by the ACCIÓ Catalonia Clusters programme, on 11 July in Gavà (Barcelona), along with the rest of the presidents of the 30 accredited clusters.
The meeting was led by Catalan Minister of Enterprise and Knowledge Àngels Chacón, ACCIÓ CEO Joan Romero and ACCIÓ Head of Clusters Joan Martí.
According to data announced at the meeting, the number of companies and knowledge stakeholders that belong to Catalan clusters has quadrupled over the past 10 years to a total of 2,300 members (30 ...
12 July 2019
Devicare, a company specialising in therapeutic urological solutions which and CataloniaBio & HealhtTech member, has closed an investment round of more than €1.6 million through Capital Cell.
The funding is to accelerate the company’s growth, principally, to enter new markets and to finish the development of the Lit-Control® app.
In total, more than 150 small investors signed up as partners in the company “It is an honour for us here at Device that prestigious endourologists, patients, business angels and the employees themselves support our project” highlights Rosendo Garganta, the founder and CEO of Devicare.
Devicare, with headquarters in the ...
9 July 2019
Reig Jofre, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has acquired Bioiberica’s portfolio of finished pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, representing a turnover of € 26 million.
The pharmaceutical group managed by Ignasi Biosca is focussing on a new therapeutic area, Joint Health and Pain.
Osteoarticular disease is one of the most prevalent physical complaints in the world. It is estimated that between 5% and 20% of the population suffers from such afflictions, a figure that reaches around 80% in people aged over 65 in industrialized countries.
The operation also includes the incorporation of a team consisting of 51 people from the ...
9 July 2019
Patconsult Lab, the only laboratory in Spain dedicated exclusively to experimental pathology with Good Laboratory Practice certification (GLP) and a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has inaugurated its new facilities at Parc Tecnològic del Vallès (Barcelona).
Patconsult Lab provides services to companies in the biomedical arena such as histological processing of organ and tissue samples from preclinical studies (regulatory or non-regulatory), efficacy studies, analysis of experimental models and biocompatibility studies, as well as histopathology studies and expert reports.
After working in the field of toxicologic histopathology for researching new medical products for human and veterinary use for 30 years, Jordi Alumà ...
4 July 2019
Pharmacelera, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed a strategic agreement with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) to share expertise on virtual screening and machine learning in order to help the centre’s scientists accelerate discovery of new drugs.
The CCDC is a renowned British drug discovery centre and Pharmacelera will contribute innovation, with latest-generation software like PharmScreen® (3D).
Recently, Pharmacelera has also announced research into new Parkinson drugs with the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Photo: The Pharmacelera team at the company's offices in Barcelona - © Pharmacelera.
We recommend this video of CataloniaBioHT interviewing them:
4 July 2019
Peptomyc, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has received €2.2 million in funding from the second phase of the SME Instrument, under the EU Horizon 2020 programme, to start clinical trials with its new cancer therapy Omomyc.
Omomyc is the best inhibitor discovered to date of Myc, a gene that is key in the growth of most tumours. The results from studies in mice have been positive.
Founded in 2014 by Dr Laura Soucek and Dr Marie-Eve Beaulieu, Peptomyc is a promising spin-off of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology and ICREA. In 2017, the company raised €4.2 ...
26 June 2019
Transplant Biomedicals, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, announces the positive results of the clinical trial of Vivian®, a medical device used for the transportation and preservation of kidneys.
The results show an excellent safety profile with no events directly related with the use of Vivian® and no organs being discarded before implantation.
The study included Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Vall d’Hebron Hospital and Bellvitge Hospital.
Dr Fritz Diekmann, Head of Renal Transplant Unit at Hospital Clinic and principal investigator of the study, commented: “These results are very encouraging for patients undergoing kidney transplantation and surpasses our clinical daily experience and ...
25 June 2019
The Catalan Healthcare Service (CatSalut) has announced the 18 projects that will receive €30 million in funding through the new innovative public procurement programme for entities in the public healthcare network.
Catalan Minister Alba Vergés highlighted that they are geared towards “improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare service”.
The call for these grants was opened in 2017 and received 33 applications. Of these, 18 were chosen from 10 different entities: Catalan Institute of Health (ICS), Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Hospital Clinic, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Hospital Sant ...