Rousaud Costas Duran  (RCD), a partner company of CataloniaBio, continues to hold one of the top spots in the ranking of the most active legal advisers in the transactions market. This was covered by Spanish financial newspaper Expansión, which published the data compiled by TTR (Transactional Track Record), one of the main lists of market transactions. The law firm has been at the top of the list since 2015.

The TTR also lists five members of the team among the top 20 lawyers by number of transactions advised: Iñaki Frías, Carles Ros, Oscar Alegre, David Villa and Ignasi Costas ...

Ability Pharmaceuticals, a partner company of CataloniaBio, has announced the orphan drug designation (ODD) granted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for ABTL0812, for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The EMA orphan drug designation programme grants a special status to biological drugs and products aimed at diagnosing, treating, or preventing rare conditions that affect at least 5 in every 10,000 people in the European Union. This milestone follows the ODD the company received for pancreatic cancer granted by the FDA (USA) in 2016, and the ODD for childhood neuroblastoma granted by the EMA and the FDA in 2015.

ABTL0812 ...

Amgen, a CataloniaBio member company, has brought Fina Lladós on as General Manager for the biotechnology multinational in Spain and Portugal. Lladó, who joined Amgen in 1999, has taken over for Roman Stämpfli, who is now leading the company’s subsidiary in Germany.

The challenges facing this new general manager include consolidating the latest innovative drugs launched in Spain (Repatha® to treat high cholesterol and Kyprolis® for patients with multiple myeloma) and beginning to market its first biosimilar in 2018.

Fina Lladós was previously director of the Oncohaematology Unit and has been on the subsidiary’s board of directors since 2009, when ...

Five CataloniaBio companies —Ability Pharma, Inbiomotion, Mosaic Biomedical, ProteoDesign and Xenopat— explain how they’ve made fighting cancer their business model. The excellence and innovation of the life sciences sector in Catalonia attracts venture capital, but it also needs large pharmaceutical corporations to reach patients.

Ability Pharma was one of the first biotechnology firms set up in the country and has licensed a drug for pancreatic cancer (considered a minority disease); Inbiomotion is working on a biomarker to predict bone metastasis; Mosaic Biomedical (spin-off of VHIO and ICREA) develops personalised treatments and will begin clinical trials on its first ...

Alta Life Sciences has led a series-A round of funding for Peptomyc, which has secured €4.2 million. This was the first investment by the new life sciences fund led by Guy Paul Nohra in Barcelona, with partner Montserrat Vendrell (we recommend the video-interview from CataloniaBio) representing the fund on the Peptomyc board.

Healthequity and several business angels, previous investors in Peptomyc, also participated in this round of funding. Law firm RCD advised on the transaction.

Peptomyc is a biopharmaceutical company based in Barcelona that was founded by scientists Laura Soucek and Marie-Eve Beaulieu of the Vall d'Hebron Institute ...

Esteve, a CataloniaBio member company, will be moving its corporate headquarters to the Torre Marina building near Fira Barcelona in 2018. This area has great business potential. The pharmaceutical company has leased 12,000 square metres and will occupy 10 of the 13 floors in this building, which will now be called Torre Esteve.

The new building will be home to more than 400 Esteve collaborators currently located in different offices in Barcelona. The aim is to bring all the teams together under one roof to help speed up digitalisation and promote a work method that is more aligned, collaborative ...

Aelix Therapeutics, a partner company of CataloniaBio, has begun the initial clinical trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the therapeutic HTI vaccine against HIV. AELIX-002 is a Phase I randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study. The Aelix vaccine incorporates the HTI immunogen designed by Dr. Christian Brander, the company’s current chief scientist, and will be administered in a prime-boost regimen, using first a DNA vector and then a Modified Vaccinia Ankara Virus (MVA) vector. This combined administration is expected to significantly enhance immune responses to HIV.

Only individuals diagnosed within less than six months after their initial HIV infection ...

Vytrus Biotech, a member company of CataloniaBio, has opened a round of 550,000 euros on the Capital Cell platform, where InKemia IUCT is the main investor. The crowdfunding campaign ends on 31 October and, to date, the biotechnology company has already obtained 75% of the investment.

Vytrus Biotech is a spin-off of the University of Barcelona and specialises in plant stem cells. In 2014 the company launched its first product on the dermo-cosmetic market and it currently has six of its own products. It has distribution agreements with 50 countries and one of its products has been awarded by ...

Almirall has announced the launch of Nano4Derm, a research project in collaboration with the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and the Leitat Technological Centre, which focuses on nanomedicine applied to the treatment of skin diseases. Within the framework of this research project, new innovative formulations will be developed with nano-encapsulated active ingredients for the topical treatment of inflammatory skin diseases, such as acne and psoriasis.

This agreement will enable the development of two types of nanocapsules which contain active ingredients to address current unmet needs and challenges -such as antimicrobial resistance- and provide improved topical treatments in terms ...

The CataloniaBio Council brought together a dozen executives from member companies on 17 July at the Barcelona Science Park to meet with Dr Madhuri Roy, associate in the life sciences patent prosecution and counselling at Cooley LLP (Palo Alto, California), during her visit to Barcelona with the Alta Life Sciences investment fund. Cooley LLP is one of the most prestigious US intellectual-property firms with a team of 900 lawyers and 12 offices in the United States, China and Europe. 

At this intimate breakfast-gathering, Madhury Roy highlighted the importance of establishing an intellectual property (IP) strategy in line with the ...

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CataloniaBio Review (Spring-Summer 2017)

Taking inspiration from barbeques in the United States, the #CataloniaBioBBQ has become the summer networking event for entrepreneurs and investors in the healthcare arena in Catalonia. Held this year on 20 July at the Specipig headquarters, the barbeque welcomed 300 professionals in a casual setting to look for synergies and collaborations in business and research.

"We’re at a point in terms of dynamism and growth that we have to take advantage of,” said Ignasi Biosca, president of CataloniaBio and CEO of Reig Jofre. In a similar vein, Jaume Amat, CEO of Specipig ...

Mind the Byte, a CataloniaBio member company, has closed its second crowdequity campaign after raising €309,220 from 138 investors. According to the company, many of the current shareholders have chosen to participate in this round of funding as well. With the 2015 campaign, the company has now raised more than half a million euros in alternative funding.

All of the funds raised will go to fuel the international expansion of this company with headquarters at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) and the Copenhagen Bio Science Park (COBIS). Mind the Byte has recently presented a new version of its SaaS ...

AVX Pharma, a CataloniaBio member company, has announced it is beginning phase II clinical trials to assess the safety and efficacy of its ophthalmological solution AVX-012 in patients with mild to moderate cases of dry-eye syndrome.

“AVX-012 was safe and well tolerated at all doses tested in the Phase I trial. Now the initiation of this Phase II trial marks another important milestone for a disease suffered by millions of patients that are still lacking of effective treatment options,” said Patrick Tresserras, President and CEO of AVX Pharma. It is a double-blind placebo-controlled study in patients over 28 days ...

Grifols, member of CataloniaBio, reached an agreement to acquire a 44% stake in GigaGen Inc., for 35 million dollars in cash. GigaGen is a biopharmaceutical company based in San Francisco (California) specialized in the discovery and development of pre-clinical biotherapeutics.

GigaGen currently has several projects under way in collaboration with various pharmaceutical companies. The company also heads a range of in-house research projects, including the development of world's first recombinant intravenous immunoglobulin and a diverse portfolio of immuno-oncology therapies.

This transaction allows Grifols to further strengthen its R&D+i portfolio by acquiring holdings in research projects and companies that complement ...

Sagetis Biotech, a member of CataloniaBio, has received the Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) designation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its novel polymer-coated adenovirus SAG 101 for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Sagetis Biotech is a pioneer in the development of innovative coated virotherapies for treatment of cancer.

The committee for advanced therapies is the EMA responsible for assessing the quality, safety and efficacy of ATMP products and this entitiy is who granted SAG 101 to the company for meeting the established standards for gene therapy, that consists on the insertion of genetic elements as vectors ...

More than 200 social, economic, cultural, and academic entities joined forces yesterday, in a public ceremony at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona (UB), to give support to Barcelona’s candidacy to bring the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to the Catalan capital. The event was chaired by the Spanish Minister of Health, Dolors Montserrat; the Catalan Minister of Health, Antoni Comín, and the deputy mayor of the City Council of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni.

CataloniaBio, which represents more than 100 companies in the health and life sciences arena, has also signed the manifesto, along with Abertis, Barcelona Global, Banco ...

Devicare has signed an agreement with the company Inmave to market the family of Lit-Control® products in Colombia for the domiciliary control of frequent urological pathologies. Colombia is the second American country and the fourth globally, after Spain, Mexico and France, to distribute this first-in-class method.

The two companies have begun the regulation process with the Colombian National Institute for Medicine and Food Surveillance (INVIMA) with the support of ACCIÓ de Bogotá's office. Lit-Control® is expected to reach patients at the end of 2017.

"Colombia has renowned professionals, but lacks innovative medical technology,” explains Miquel González-Mut, International Business ...

Six out of ten donated organs fail during the transplantation process due to many factors, including the damage caused by poor preservation during the transport from the donor to the potential recipient. Transplant Biomedicals, a spin-off of IDIBAPS-Hospital Clinic from Barcelona devoted to disruptive innovation in this field, has sublicensed a new organ-preservation solution to a European company to overcome current limitations.

This is the most important international deal that Transplant Biomedicals has closed so far. The deal will represent an income of €6 million for the company. The next steps will be to develop the organ preservation solution and ...

Xenopat, a member of CataloniaBio, is one of the six entrepreneurship projects in the healthcare arena to be selected for the UnLtd Spain and Lilly Emprende inHealth programme. This means they will receive training, guidance, mentoring and the opportunity to participate in networking activities over eight months. It also comes with €5,000 in seed capital to help make the start-up a sustainable business.

Xenopat, headed up by Anna Portela, is addressing the need to design personalised oncology treatments. The company currently has model mice, Orthoxenograft®, which can be created for each patient in order to personalise their cancer treatment ...

Report from the last Lessons Learned session

Technology transfer (TT) should make an impact on society in the form of new medications, devices and technology to improve health. To make this happen, public research centers and industry must work together. The latest Lessons Learned session, held by the association of companies CataloniaBio and Biocat on 31 May at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), featured four experts from the business arena, academia and venture capital sharing the lessons they’ve learned in recent years in Catalonia.

Felip Miralles, director of the eHealth Unit at Eurecat, kicked off the session by explaining ...