Almirall, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has been selected by the IBEX Technical Advisory Committee to join the IBEX 35, the benchmark stock market index of the Madrid stock exchange (Spain). 

The pharmaceutical company was founded in 1943. In 2017, Almirall refocused its strategy on medical dermatology.

Currently, Almirall has a direct presence in 21 countries through 13 subsidiaries, with more than 1,800 employees. The newest entrant to the IBEX 35 operates an three R&D centres in Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona), Reinbek (Germany) and Exton (USA); and three plants in Sant Andreu de la Barca (Barcelona), Sant ...

Mitelos, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed a deal with Faes Farma to market the new OtiFaes Borisec® spray for acute external otitis in Spain.

Also known as “swimmer’s ear”, this conditionis an infection of the skin in the external auditory canal. The main triggering factor is excess moisture remaining after daily hygiene, water sports, excessive sweating, etc. The components of OtiFaes Borisec® dry up excess moisture, encourage proper pH levels and protect the skin ofthe ear canal, all of which helps prevent infection.

This is the third agreement between the companies that has added products to Faes Farma’s ...

The Girona Medical Association, with the Eurecat technology centre and the Stimulo product-design agency, among others, has created a reusable mask that can be equipped with FFP2 or FFP3 filters to ensure the safety of professionals in healthcare and industrial environments during future Covid-19 outbreaks. Both Eurecat and Stimulo are CataloniaBio & HealthTech members.

The mask, called Aleu in honour of Dr Dolors Aleu i Riera, is currently being tested by the Aitex laboratory for approval. 

The goal “is to provide PPE that offers maximum protection, can be recycled and is reusable in order to avoid over-taxing the supply ...

Vice-president of the Government of Catalonia Pere Aragonès and Director General for Research and Innovation in Health Robert Fabregat visited the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) yesterday, where they met with Biocat, CataloniaBio & HealthTech, start-ups and investors to learn about the healthcare and life sciences sector’s potential as a driving force for Catalan innovation and competitiveness after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The PCB was represented by CEO Maria Terrades and Biocat, by its CEO, Jordi Naval. Representing CataloniaBioHT at the event were Judit Anido, president of the association and general manager of Mosaic Biomedicals; Jaume Amat, first vice-president of the association ...

Ysios Capital, a venture capital firm based in Barcelona and member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, today announces its third fund with a committed amount of €155 million and a final target size of €200 million.

Throughout its 12 years of experience, Ysios Capital has invested in 26 companies and managed €346 million through three funds: Ysios BioFund I (€65 million), Ysios BioFund II Innvierte (€126 million) and Ysios BioFund III (€155 million) open to new investors.

Ysios BioFund III will invest in up to 15 companies, mainly in Europe, that develop disruptive therapeutic products and platform technologies to address clear ...

Palobiofarma is one of 22 companies that have been given fast-track approval from the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) for urgent R&D projects to help tackle Covid-19. The biopharmaceutical company will receive funding from the CDTI through the preclinical phase for a new antiviral compound.

Julio Castro, founder and CEO of Palobiofarma, explained that “his work focuses on designing and developing a drug that inhibits the enzymatic activity of the ACE2 protein and stops respiratory viruses, like SARS-CoV-2, from binding to cells in the respiratory system.”

Castro, along with three other businesspeople, had a video-conference with ...

Aquilino Peña, founding partner of Kibo Ventures, has been appointed as president of the Spanish Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (ASCRI) for the 2020-2022 period. Peña will replace Miguel Zurita, managing partner at Altamar Capital.

Kibo Ventures is a venture capital firm with €115 million in AUM and which has invested in more than 50 high-growth companies. Aquilino Peña has been linked to the digital and tech sector since 1995 and from multiple angles: entrepreneur, operator and investor. 

ASCRI also has appointed four new members to its Board of Directors: Oriol Pinya, founding partner and CEO of Abac ...

Boehringer Ingelheim has acquired two preclinical antibodies from Canadian firm Northern Biologics with the aim of further strengthening its global position in cancer immunology.

The assets acquired from Northern Biologics in this deal are designed to target two aspects of what is known as the tumour microenvironment: stroma, or connective tissue made up of different cell types, and myeloid cells.

The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, although the companies said the agreement includes an upfront payment as well as other potential payments tied to progress of the drug candidates.

Northern Biologics, which has the support of investor Versant ...

The technology Anaxomics has developed based on artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in a ground-breaking study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, which has revealed that the efficacy of malaria vaccines can be predicted using molecular biomarkers. The results have been published in Science Translational Medicine.

Additionally, Anaxomics has also recently worked with the Immunology of Diabetes Group at the Institute for Health Science Research Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), which is researching a drug that reprograms pancreatic cells in rats with type-1 diabetes. This drug was selected using AI as the best candidate from a list of ...

Laboratorios Hartmann, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has distributed over 50 million surgical masks in Spain since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They are type II and IIR surgical masks imported from suppliers in Asia that have passed the company’s quality audits and have CE marking.

Hartmann is currently working to help ease the lockdown, providing healthcare systems, care homes, chemists, etc. with masks, virucidal hand sanitisers (Sterillium) and protective gloves (Peha-fol).

Since February, Hartmann has increased production capacity by 20% at its two plants in Mataró and Montornès de Vallès (Barcelona).

More information (in Spanish)

This week Ferrer has presented the second edition of Ferrer 4 Future to respond three new innovation challenges: care for patients with movement disorders, reduction of dependence in patients with cognitive behavioural disorders, and support for finding the optimal dose of analgesia in patients with chronic pain.

The initiative invites start-ups and companies to develop health solutions through the use of novel technologies. The call is open until 28 August, 2020.

Olga Fidalgo, Chief Scientific and Business Development Officer of Ferrer, explains Ferrer's commitment to a model of open innovation in digital health began two years ago: "We are convinced ...

Chemotargets, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has signed a strategic agreement with the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) for the discovery and development of new oncological therapies.

The IMIM Cancer Research Program develops pioneering research in cancer biology, understanding new mechanisms of tumor progression, evaluating new therapies such as immunotherapy, or detecting markers of response to treatment. This program contributes to the creation of new treatments and strategies that optimize therapies from the beginning, avoiding ineffective treatments with multiple side effects, and progressing to a personalized high-quality medicine. 

Thanks to the computational technology that Chemotargets will provide ...

Vytrus Biotech, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member that works in plant stem-cell cultures for the cosmetic sector, has just launched an innovative ingredient for biological deodorants.

Deobiome Noni, made from Morinda citrifolia plant stem cells, is presented to the market as an alternative to conventional products, respectful with the skin's microbiota and the environment, and a solution against body odour (axilla, feet and scalp). In an in vivo assay, it saw that the odour intensity was reduced by 30%.

Òscar Expósito, co-founder and CSO of Vytrus Biotech, says: “The launch of Deobiome Noni is a great achievement for our company ...

Alta Life Sciences and the Centre for Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI) have invested €7.6 million in the new Barcelona-based company Accure Therapeutics, which will develop a portfolio of new medicines to address CNS diseases. Accure has integrated the assets of biotech start-ups Bionure and Iproteos.

Accure has a team with consolidated experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. It will build on existing assets to create further value for patients, doctors and shareholders.

The company will start work on three medicine programmes (ACT-01, ACT-02 and ACT-03) focusing on four CNS disorders: optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and ...

Minoryx Therapeutics, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has started a phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of leriglitazone drug in pediatric patients with early-stage cerebral X-ALD (cALD). The first patient, a ten year-old-boy, was dosed at the Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Children's Hospital.

The first results of the study, called NEXUS, are expected in 2021. In addition the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the proposed Pediatric Investigational Plan for leriglitazone for the treatment of X-ALD, allowing the company to file for an MAA in Europe based on the NEXUS trial, subject to positive results.

"cALD ...

Sequentia Biotech, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has expanded the functions of its GAIA 2.0 microbiome-analysis software to provide support for researchers working on SARS-Cov-2 studies.

GAIA was launched in 2016 and has had over 800 users and analysed 20,000 samples in 2019. The current version can be used to detect and analyse NGS data for the virus very precisely, quickly and with high sensitivity, as well as identifying viral strains, even in complex viral matrices. 

It works with Amplicon and Shotgun sequencing, with data from any NGS platform (Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, PacBio, IonTorrent) and starting from ...

MJN Neuroserveis, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has obtained the CE mark certification for a non-invasive medical device to help people with epilepsy improve their quality of life, together with the notified body BSI Group. 

"We have achieved the most important milestone of the project, the certification for commercialization in Europe. The entire MJN team would like to express our gratitude to all the people and entities that have helped us" says Salva Gutiérrez, co-founder and CEO-CFO at MJN.

In the coming months, MJN will launch the medical device on the market: in Spain through its websitemjn.cat ...

Reig Jofre, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member,  is the force behind a clinical study to evaluate the efficacy of the Manremyc® in 300 health professionals exposed to the risk of contracting Covid-19.

Manremyc® is an oral food supplement based on heatinactivated Mycobacterium s. manresensis bacilli for tuberculosis, result of the research over more than 10 years by the Experimental Tuberculosis Unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP).

The study will be carried out in coordination with the IGTP together with the Institute for Research in Primary Care Jordi Gol, and led by Dr Pere-Joan Cardona.

The pharmaceutical ...

Grifols, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has completed the development of a TMA (Transcription-Mediated Amplification) molecular test that permits the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in plasma, blood and respiratory samples, with a sensitivity equal or even superior to that of other molecular tests currently available, such as those based on PCR.

The company has developed the test in record time in a global coordinated effort of its facilities in San Diego, Barcelona and Bilbao, and has recently received the authorization of the Spanish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (AEMPS). Grifols has a productive capacity of one million tests ...

CataloniaBio & HealthTech has published three infographics summarising the main recommendations for preventing the spread of Covid-19 for essential workers and when non-essential professional activity resumes.

The infographics are designed for CataloniaBioHT member start-ups and companies, as well as other organisations interested in using them as an internal communication tool (post them on notice boards, send them to the team, etc.).

They have been compiled based on information from the World Health Organization and Labour Relations Council of Catalonia.

Download infographics: