The EU-funded consortium GAPVAC, with members that include BCN Peptides and Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron Hospital, has conducted a clinical trial showing the positive effect of personalised vaccines for brain cancer (glioblastoma). The study was published in the journal Nature.

BCN Peptides' role in this consortium has been to manufacture the GMP peptides library to produce the vaccine used in the trial.

BCN Peptides believes personalised medicine is a strategic field. "We've been working intensely to come up with solutions to the challenges of manufacturing the active ingredients and the ad-hoc formulation for each patient," explained Dr Jordi Piró, sales ...

Spiral Therapeutics, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, secured $3.7 million as part of a Series A financing round co-led by Savoir Capital and Camden Partners to continue to advance its pipeline.

Specifically, the clinical stage pharmaceutical company will initiate the Phase I clinical trial of LPT99, its lead investigational drug candidate targeting prevention and treatment of hearing loss.

Spiral was launched in early 2016 by Hugo Peris and is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its R&D lab is located in Barcelona. Peris is a board member of Salvat.

More information

Photo: Hugo Peris, founder and CEO of Spiral ...

RheoDx, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has opened a round of investment to raise €350,000 on the Capital Cell crowdfunding platform. The funds will go to finish technical development of a portable medical device that improves monitoring of patients with haematological diseases (anaemia, liquid cancer, clotting disorders, etc.). 

This medical device can detect anomalies in blood cells immediately and affordably, from just one drop of blood. It is a patented technology that came out of research led by professor Aurora Hernández-Machado with Centre de Recerca Matemàtica.   

RheoDx was created in 2018 by Oliver Balcells, CEO; Samantha López ...

Ability Pharma has raised €1,230,000 in crowdfunding through Capital Cell. This is the largest round the platform has raised so far. The campaign opened in early September.

This round is bridge funding towards a round to raise between €3 million and €5 million in venture capital to complete phase II clinical trials on the drug ABTL0812 for lung and endometrial cancer in Spain and France.

ABTL0812 is administered in combination with chemotherapy as a first-line therapy and maintenance therapy.

Both Ability Pharma and Capital Cell are members of CataloniaBio & HealthTech.

More information

Photo: Carles Domènech, CEO of ...

Innovamed, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has expanded the production centre in Barberà del Vallès (Barcelona).

Created in 2004 by the founders of Grupo Gema, and currently managed by José Ortíz, Innovamed is focused on providing services cleanroom for medical and pharmaceutical sector: injection and microinjection of plastic parts or components, coupling and packaging services, and contract manufacturing.

More information

Avinent, CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, will invest €8 million to expand its facilities by 7.000 square metres in Santpedor (Barcelona). The construction of the building, designed by the architect Manuel Guerrero, will finish in 2022.

The company’s new building is a reflection of the ambition, modernity and technological spirit of the firm. Last year Avinent has made a commitment to 3D printing, apart from its dental implant solutions. In this sense, new areas will be created for 3D printing in metal and polymers, laboratories of new technologies of 3D printing and bio-printing, a space for innovation and R & ...

On 5 December in Barcelona, Biocat presented the 2017 Biocat Report, the benchmark study that analyses the life sciences and healthcare sector in Catalonia. More than 300 professionals attended the event chaired by President of the Catalan Government, Quim Torra.

The life sciences and healthcare sector accounts for 7.2% of the country's GDP. On average, a new start-up company opens every week in the medical and life sciences sector. In 2017, the sector had 1,060 companies, nearly 58,000 employees and a joint turnover of some €17.8 billion, with an average annual growth of 2.4% between ...

Photo gallery

More than 60 executives from companies and stakeholders that are members of CataloniaBio & HealthTech participated in the first UnConference, held on 29 November at the Sant Pere de Clarà Farmhouse in Argentona (Barcelona), to debate the future of therapeutic solutions for healthcare in Catalonia and the world. The sector currently makes up 7.2% of the Catalan GDP and companies are raising more than €100 million in investment each year.

The welcome session was hosted by Jaume Amat, president of CataloniaBio & HealthTech and CEO of Specipig, and Albert Barberà, director general for Research and Innovation in ...

Accompanied by the director general of research, Joan Gómez, the president of the Government of Catalonia, Quim Torra, visited on 30th November the company Rob Surgical in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona). The company designs and develops new robotic systems for minimally invasive surgery.

During the visit, the president and the director general of research attended a simulation of the Bitrack System carrying out a nephrectomy with Dr Lluís Peri of Barcelona's Hospital Clínic. 

"It is encouraging to see innovative companies such as Rob Surgical that are international right from the start. We hope to bring this technology to ...

Lamentem comunicar-vos la defunció sobtada de l'Àlex Casta, membre de la nostra associació i bon amic de molts de nosaltres. En nom de la junta volem expressar el més sentit condol a la seva família i amics per aquesta trista pèrdua. L'Àlex ha estat l'ànima d'UPF Ventures, un projecte empresarial en el qual tenia dipositada una gran il·lusió i estava realitzant un excel·lent treball. Anteriorment va ocupar càrrecs de responsabilitat a Caixa Capital Risc, Biocat i la Fundació Bosch i Gimpera, a més de fundar l'start-up RadisMed.

La vetlla es farà el dimarts 11 de desembre de 16 h ...

The co-founder and CEO of GoodGut, Mariona Serra, was honoured with the Fidem 2018 award for innovation at a gala held on 29 November in CaixaFòrum Barcelona. Serra received the award from the Catalan Minister of the Presidency, Elsa Artadi, who took part in the event alongside the Minister of Enterprise and Knowledge, Àngels Chacón.

For the last 21 years, the International Foundation for Women Entrepreneurs (Fidem) has through this award recognised successes and initiatives by women who, through good management of their businesses, contribute to economic and social development.

More information

The biotechnology company Iproteos and the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), CataloniaBio & HealthTech members, and the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) are set to develop an innovative treatment to slow down, stop and even reverse the growth of solid tumors, which represent more than 90% of cancer cases. 

The project, which received €935,000 from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, through of the call 2017 Retos, will focus in its first phase on two of the most common solid tumors in children and adolescents, rhabdomyosarcoma and neuroblastoma, as well as in lung and colon ...

Kymos Pharma Services, a Contract Research Organisation that provides quality control and R&D services for the biopharmaceutical industry and a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has added Dr Montserrat Barceló to its Board of Directors as an independent external advisor. The company has therefore completed the process of gradually filling its executive bodies with professionals in order to tackle new challenges associated with international expansion.

Barceló has a degree in medicine from the University of Barcelona and a master from the ESADE Executive Programme for Women in Upper Management. She is currently director of operations at TFS and a founding partner ...

Kymos Pharma Services, una Contract Laboratory Organization que ofereix serveis d'R+D i control de qualitat per a la indústria biofarmacèutica associada a CataloniaBio & HealthTech, ha incorporat la Dra. Montserrat Barceló al consell d'administració com a consellera externa independent. La companyia culmina així un procés gradual de professionalització dels seus òrgans de direcció per abordar nous reptes d'expansió internacional.

Barceló és llicenciada en Medicina per la Universitat de Barcelona i màster de Programa Executiu de Dones en l'Alta Direcció d'ESADE. Actualment és directora d'operacions de TFS i sòcia fundadora de l'Associació Espanyola de Executives i Conselleres (EJE & ...

Grifols presented AMBAR (Alzheimer Management by Albumin Replacement) top line results phase IIb/III at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s disease congress hold on 27th October in Barcelona.

Dr Antonio Páez, Grifols Medical Director and Head of the AMBAR Clinical Program, confirmed that "the analysis of AMBAR data in moderate patients has shown positive, highly relevant results in a cohort of patients suffering from moderate Alzheimer’s disease."

The combination of Plasmapheresis, a well known and safe procedure used in plasma exchange, with Albutein® (Albumin) may offer a new treatment pathway for the illness. 

Fundació ACE in Barcelona and ...

FreeOx Biotech, a spin-out of Hospital Clinic Barcelona-IDIBAPS created in 2017 that is developing a new class of neuroprotective drugs, has closed its first round of funding with €500,000 from private investors Montserrat Esteve and Francisco Javier Alsina. 

The biotech member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech has two highly promising molecules in its pipeline to treat stroke and other diseases of the central nervous system (CNS): Ox-01 and Ox-02.

With this funding, they will carry out formulation and preclinical trials with in vivo testing on Ox-02. Also, “it will allow us to prepare to start phase III clinical ...

iVascular,  a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has acquired 10% of the shares of the American start-up NaviGate Cardiac Structures for €8,7 million. With this purchase, iVascular becomes part of the Board of Directors of the Navigate.

The agreement between both companies, contemplates the joint development of a new product: the tricuspid valve with percutaneous access. Clinical studies are currently underway in the United States and Europe to analyze the efficacy and safety of this valve, that is estimated to be ready for clinical application by 2020.

iVascular has its headquarters in Sant Vicenç dels Horts (Barcelona).

More information

Photo ...

Ahead Therapeutics, a company promoted by ZBM Business Connect in 2017, is preparing for a new funding round to start the clinical trials. The first round amounted to a total of 2 million euros.

The biotech aims to develop new drugs against autoimmune diseases (type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, pemphigus and thyroiditis). Its technology comes from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA).

ZBM Business Connect, division of ZBM Patents & Trademarks and a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member ...

Reig Jofre has inaugurated the expansion of its plant in Toledo, which has a total of 15,200 square metres. This additional space is used for a new line specialising in penicillin-derivative antibiotics.

The pharmaceutical corporation, led by Ignasi Biosca and a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has invested €10 million in the new facility, which will meet the company's current needs in the national and international markets and allow it to enter the United States market in 2019.

The event, on 23 October, featured President of Spain Pedro Sánchez, President of Castile-La Mancha Emiliano García-Page, Mayor of Toledo Milagros ...

Laboratorios Rubió has invested €4 million in its factory in Castellbisbal (Barcelona) with its sights set on the United States, according to newspaper La Vanguardia. The pharmaceutical corporation led by Pelayo Rubió produces 6 million units of its drugs each year.

"We hope to market our products in North America by 2020," said Pelayo Rubió.

The company saw revenue of €30.7 million in 2017, up 20% from 2016, and is present in 47 countries.

We recommend this video of CataloniaBio & HealthTech interviewing Pelayo Rubió: