Almirall, a global pharmaceutical company member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, launches its fifth call AlmirallShare to establish collaborations in research and identify new treatments for skin health. 

The call seeks partnering opportunities for new assets (chemical entities, biologics and other advanced therapies) in order to maximize their value as innovative therapies. 

Scientists all over the world can submit their proposal until 31 October, 2020. 

AlmirallShare, led by Maribel Crespo, is responsible for 50% of the private-public collaborations at Almirall. This open innovation platform has received more than 350 proposals since its launch in 2017.

The Centre for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technologies in Catalonia (CIMTI), an instrument of the Catalan health system that is working to valorise high-impact health innovations and make sure they reach society, has opened the CIMTI Challenge 2020 call for projects to transform and improve the healthcare model after Covid-19.

To establish the topics for the CIMTI Challenge 2020 call, the centre hosted a co-creation workshop in June, with organisations from the social and healthcare sector. CataloniaBio & HealthTech was there, represented by board member Alfons Nonell-Canals, an expert in artificial intelligence applied to health and CEO of ...

Invivo Capital, through its Invivo Ventures fund, has invested in OneChain Immunotherapeutics, a spin-off founded by the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and Dr Pablo Menéndez last June in Barcelona.

OneChain Immunotherapeutics raised €3.05 million in seed capital through this round which also included the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, through its Innvierte programme managed by the CDTI, and the Josep Carreras Foundation in a clear commitment to bringing to its patients the research carried out by Dr Pablo Menéndez’s group. Dr Pablo Menéndez is an ICREA research professor, research ...

Made of Genes, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has closed a €3-million pre Series-A capital increase led by Catalan family office FCV Equity. Other participants included the Scale Lab fund from the Crèdit Andorrà financial group and Break Off Capital (United Kingdom), as well as previous investors in the company like CG Health Ventures and business angel Albert Armengol (CEO of Doctoralia).

The capital raised will go to scale up the personalised health services Made of Genes offers, improve arrival to market and create new specialised products.

Recently, this company based in Esplugues de Llobregat (Barcelona) added a new test ...

NEOS Surgery, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has closed a €5-million funding operation, with Avançsa (Government of Catalonia) and Jiadel Medical joining its shareholders.

It is a co-investment operation resulting from a deal reached in 2018 with Jiadel Medical, an international distribution partner, that combined a capital injection and a sales deal. The capital increase with Avançsa in 2020 culminates an operation that totalled €5 million in a combination of capital, business and a €1-million loan.

“This operation is key for our company to advance towards our next business milestones, including clinical validation of the new DISC care™ solution ...

The biotech firm Archivel Farma, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has created a subsidiary called Immuni Therapeutics to apply the RUTI® vaccine for Covid-19 (it is currently being developed for tuberculosis).

Archivel will grant an exclusive licence for RUTI® to the new company to show its clinical effectiveness and prepare the regulatory framework and the productive capacity.

The initial investment required is €2M. To achieve this, Immuni Therapeutics has opened up a round on the Capital Cell investment platform. With this financing, they could conduct three clinical trials in different countries and increase production capacity for the vaccine (currently 2 ...

Six experts at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona have shared different needs identified during Covid-19 with CataloniaBio & HealthTech start-ups and companies to generate synergies and develop solutions together that would reach healthcare professionals and patients as soon as possible. The meeting was held online within framework of the Hospital Connection event, on 7 July, which were organised by the CataloniaBio & HealthTech Innovation Workgroup. This time, they collaborated with the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR).

Antonio Roman, head of Healthcare at Vall d’Hebron, said that “the challenge was our ICU capacity, and I would ask business ...

Some 40 CEOs and board members at start-ups and companies in CataloniaBio & HealthTech met with representatives of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Innovation Council (EIC), on 8 July, as part of the CEO Council talks.

Montserrat Vendrell, managing partner at Alta Life Sciences and member of the board of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, stated that the first set of investment data in Europe shows that this is currently a very special and record-breaking year since life sciences and healthcare businesses have already raised the same amount that they did in all of 2019: over €5B in the ...

An investor can view dozens of project presentations and startups each month. Beyond the potential and quality of the research in question, what can make one stand out from the rest? 

In order to help entrepreneurs define their pitch and performance through the screen, Biocat and CataloniaBio & HealthTech are launching the E-Pitch Training Program where each project or startup will receive coaching in a personalized way.

For

Start-ups and projects that need to improve their virtual presentation to investors and scouts in the life sciences and health sector. The program will help you to know what are the ...

Esteve and Leitat, CataloniaBio & HealthTech members, have entered into a strategic alliance to create a business incubator specialising in biomedicine, that will have its headquartersin the facilities that Esteve used to occupy in the Barcelona Science Park.

WeLab, the name given to the incubator, will allow Esteve to continue developing its R&D portfolio and have preferential access to the most advanced innovation and technologies in the biomedical field through the Leitat network.

According to Joan Parra, executive vice-president of Leitat, “WeLab will allow us to create a new international player in the future of pharmaceutical research ata moment where ...

Just a few days after learning about the growing investment figures for 2019 in the life sciences and healthcare sector in Catalonia, the venture capital firms Alta Life Sciences and Asabys, both with headquarters in Barcelona, have announced two rounds in start-ups worth €5.8M.

The Catalan start-up DeepUll, created by Jordi Carrera and Rafael Bru (ex-founders of STAT-Dx), has raised €3.5M to validate their platform for early septicaemia detection. Alta Life Sciences and Kurma Partners led this round.

Furthermore, Origo Biopharma, founded in Galicia by GalChimia and Julio Castro (founder of Palobiofarma) and managed by Ramon Bosser (ex-founder ...

The life sciences and healthcare ecosystem in Catalonia has created the Àlex Casta Awards in memory of Dr. Àlex Casta, a renowned professional who left us in December 2018. Àlex had held leadership positions at Biocat, Caixa Capital Risc and UPF Ventures, as well as founding RadisMed.

The aim of this initiative is to promote talent, raise awareness and incentivize entrepreneurship in the sector.

Participation requirements

Start-ups that meet the following requirements may submit their candidacy for the Àlex Casta Awards:

Allergy Therapeutics Ibérica, subsidiary of the British bio-pharmaceutical firm Allergy Therapeutics PLC and member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, has expanded its facilities in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) to conduct SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis tests through the RT-PCR test. Allergy Therapeutics Ibérica also has offices in Sant Joan Despí (Barcelona).

The new laboratory is called ATImmunolab and will be able to conduct up to 200,000 tests per year when it reaches maximum capacity. The project has received financing from the Centre for Technological Industrial Development (CDTI) and from the technological fund of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

PCR is the ...

If you were unable to attend, you can view the recorded event:

Life sciences and healthcare start-ups and companies in Catalonia managed to attract €112M of investment in 2019, a figure that has remained stable for four years in a row and is 3% higher than in 2018, according to the study presented today by CataloniaBio & HealthTech, Biocat and EY. 

Both investors and experts believe this investment to be a prelude to a very promising 2020 for the sector since life sciences and healthcare start-ups in Catalonia have almost met the capital raised in all the rounds of ...

Reig Jofre, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, is one of the three pharmaceutical firms that have been selected by Spanish Ministry of Health to product the future Covid-19 vaccine. 

Reig Jofre has a factory in Sant Joan Despí (Barcelona) that specialises in sterile injectable products and has the capacity to manufacture over 700 million doses per year. Works started on the installations in 2019, and it has brought in investment of €30M, as reported in Cinco Días. The Catalan company has experience in manufacturing animal vaccines.

To tackle the pandemic, according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and ...

The European Commission has announced that it will create a European Innovation Council (EIC) investment fund for innovative start-ups and SMEs.

The new fund will provide mixed investment (subsidy and capital) from €0.5M to €15M for companies selected for the EIC Accelerator programme, the successor of SME Instrument.

This is the first time that the EC is making direct capital investment in businesses. The European Investment Bank (EIB) will take charge of managing the shares.

This topic and other specialist financing resources for the healthcare and life sciences ecosystem will be covered in the CEO Council organised by CataloniaBio ...

Devicare and Idneo, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech members, han signat signed a strategic collaboration to develop and manufacture self-testing diagnostic devices.

Devicare will transfer the manufacturing of the Lit-Control® pH Meter device to Idneo. Furthermore, both companies will cooperate in the development of enhanced versions of the device. 

“This agreement will allow our company to scale its manufacturing capabilities and engineering resources with the aim to offer the most reliable technology to our customers, doctors and patients" says Rosendo Garganta, CEO of Devicare.

Patients and doctors use the Lit-Control® pH Meter to periodically measure, in a simple and quick ...

The Government of Catalonia has given the green light for the National Pact for the Knowledge Society (PNSC), which has been a work in progress for the past year, in order to make innovation the core focal point of Catalonia’s economic strategy. The Covid-19 crisis has even further highlighted the importance of research and innovation in responding to emergencies.

The main stakeholders in the Catalan R&D system and social and business worlds have participated in the PNSC, including CataloniaBio & HealthTech representing start-ups and companies in the health and life sciences sector. The health and life sciences sector currently generates ...

Ona Therapeutics, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has closed a €30-million Series A round of funding with Catalan investment funds Asabys, Alta Life Sciences and Ysios Capital, Belgian FundPlus and French fund BPI France.

Ona Therapeutics was founded in 2019 by IRB Barcelona, ICREA and scientists Salvador Aznar-Benitah and Valerie Vanhooren, with backing from Asabys, which was instrumental in putting together the Series A round. The company is based at the Barcelona Science Park.

"This capital injection gives us the means to develop our biological drug through the first clinical trials in patients with metastatic cancer," says Valerie ...

Grifols, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has announced the start of production of its anti-SARS-CoV-2 hyperimmune immunoglobulin with specific antibodies using the plasma of people who have overcome the disease. 

Grifols' anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin is being produced in its Clayton (US) facility as part of a collaboration agreement with US government, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), among other healthcare agencies. The company is also moving forward to establish collaborations in Europe.

The first doses will be available in July 2020 as part of a clinical trial in Spain to assess the effectiveness of ...