14 November 2018
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 ...
13 November 2018
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 ...
12 November 2018
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).
Photo ...
11 November 2018
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 ...
7 November 2018
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 ...
6 November 2018
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:
2 November 2018
The digital therapeutics company Devicare, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, and the multinational company Exeltis have signed an agreement to market the Lit-Control® family of products in Spain.
Lit-Control® is the world's first digital therapeutics solution that allows the most common urological diseases to be prevented and treated effectively from home while also improving patients' adherence to the treatment.
“We're excited to work with Exeltis to expand the use of Lit-Control® and provide a response to the uncovered medical needs in the area of urology thanks to the constant work with the scientific-medical community and patients” says Rosendo ...
30 October 2018
The biomedical industry entrepreneur Antonio Parente has joined the Specipig board of directors as an independent member. Parente will combine this position with his roles on the governing bodies of GP Pharm and BCN Peptides.
Parente's experience will be key in the Catalan company's international consolidation phase, five years after it was founded. Specipig is the only company in the whole of Europe to offer the whole process from pig breeding to CRO services for biomedical research. 80% of its turnover is already from other countries.
Dr Parente was a founder of CataloniaBio, and in 2010 and 2014 was president ...
29 October 2018
Oryzon Genomics, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, announced the successful closure of the subscription of a capital increase of 13 million euros through ordinary shares. The offering included corporate investors specialized in healthcare and life sciences from the USA and Europe.
On the other hand, the biopharmaceutical company started the inclusion of the first patient in a Phase IIa clinical trial with Iadademstat (ORY-1001) in elderly Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The study named ALICE (AML trial with LSD1i in Combination with azacitidine in the Elderly) is conducted at two Spanish hospitals, La Fe in Valencia and Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona ...
26 October 2018
Aelix Therapeutics, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, and Gilead Sciences Inc. have entered into collaboration to jointly evaluate proprietary research products in a strategic clinical study aimed at achieving a functional cure for HIV.
The collaboration will allow them to conduct clinical study Aelix-003 to assess the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and efficacy of a regimen of the Aelix HTI T-cell vaccine and the Gilead Toll-Like Receptor 7 agonist vesatolimod in HIV-infected individuals already on antiretroviral therapy. The Aelix-003 trial is expected to begin in early 2019.
Aelix Therapeutics has its headquarters at the Barcelona Science Park.
Photo: Dr ...
25 October 2018
Comser —previously Compliance Services— has been chosen the best business initiative of 2018 by the Cecot employers' association. The awards were given out on 23 October at the Nit de l'Empresari (Businesspeople's Night) at Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (National Theatre of Catalonia) before an audience of 900 people.
"We are very proud of being recognised for the company's progress since it was founded in 2013. This award strengthens our confidence in our values to tackle the future enthusiastically," commented Jaume Vallet, founder of Comser.
Comser, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, provides consulting, auditing, validation and engineering services for the ...
25 October 2018
The University of Barcelona Production and validation centre of advanced therapies (Creatio), a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, is coordinating the Advanced Stem Cell Technologies for Neurology (ASCTN-Training) programme that has been launched with €3.8 million in funding from the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme.
ASCTN-Training brings together eleven public and private institutions, providing training in interdisciplinary research and high-level transversal skills for fourteen young researchers to develop cell therapies applied to neuronal disorders.
It should be noted that another Catalan entity, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), is also participating.
Additionally, this week Creatio has been accredited ...
25 October 2018
Mabia, a Barcelona based registered financial analysis firm with a long track record in the Spanish Alternative Stock Market (MAB), has been selected as Spanish equity research partner for Euronext’s Trade & Leverage programme, part of its European Tech SME initiative to assist tech companies in developing their business on a greater scale through capital markets.
Jordi Rovira, CEO of Mabia, says "we are very proud to have been selected as Spanish equity research partner for German, Italian, Spanish and Swiss tech companies newly listed on Euronext".
Photo: Jordi Rovira - IMB Grup
19 October 2018
Twenty biomedical research projects and nearly thirty business development experts and mentors participated in the fourth edition of Health & Bio Team Dating in Barcelona, the only business speed-dating event in the sector hold on 17th October in Barcelona. This edition of Health & Bio Team Dating hosted 90 speed dates, with scientists presenting their research to professionals with business experience interested in growing these projects as mentors, entrepreneurs or business developers.
Health & Bio Team Dating is promoted by Banc Sabadell BStartup, Biocat and CataloniaBio & HealthTech, and took place for the first time under the framework ...
12 October 2018
Bionure, a biotech company specialized in neuroprotection member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, announces the appointment of Dr. Laurent Nguyen as the new CEO and strengthens its scientific team with the arrival of Dr. Amit Bar-Or, a multiple sclerosis specialist.
Nguyen is doctor in Medicine and has a solid experience in the pharmaceutical industry at Hoechst-Roussel, Merck, F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Pierre Fabre. He then moved to the biotech sector where he became CEO of a French academic spin-off that he developed into a publicly traded clinical biotech company.
The ongoing Phase I clinical trial of its neuroprotective and remyelinating compound ...
8 October 2018
CataloniaBio & HealthTech has launched a Regulatory Affairs Workgroup (WG) in order to help members stay up-to-date on regulatory changes and implementations, boost institutional relations with agencies, foster the transfer of expertise and know-how to start-ups, and give companies the chance to express their concerns, propose activities and participate in carrying them out.
This WG is coordinated by Lidia Cánovas (Asphalion) and Lluís Chico (NEOS Surgery), both of which are board members, with support from Melqui Calzado (secretary general). "We hope members will participate actively to make this a quality WG that is useful to all," highlighted the coordinating ...
7 October 2018
Institut Marquès, a global benchmark in gynaecology, obstetrics and assisted reproduction with its main headquarters in Barcelona, has opened a new facility in the modern Beacon Court medical services centre in Sandyford (Ireland). The city of Sandyford is well connected to the centre of Dublin, where the clinic has a surgery for medical appointments.
Created by generations of gynaecologists, InstitutMarquès became a member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech in 2018 and has a scientific division led by Dr Alex Garcia-Faura that is working on several lines of research.
The centre has the latest technology, such as the most modern genetic analysis ...
6 October 2018
Pangaea Oncology, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has named Alejandro García Moncayo the new corporate general manager of the company.
García Moncayo has a degree in Business Administration and Management from Pompeu Fabra University and studied a Management development programme at Iese and a master in Corporate finance at Esade. With more than 11 years of experience, he has worked at companies including AB-Biotics and Renta Corporación. The executive says the project is "highly ambitious and very interesting".
Founded in Barcelona in 2007, Pangea Oncology is a medical services company focusing on precision oncology through its clinical care division at ...
26 September 2018
Ysios Capital, venture capital firm specialised in life sciences and member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, announced that it has appointed Guillem Laporta as Principal and Claudia D’Augusta and Lance Berman as new Venture Partners to strengthen the strategic area and analysis, as well as international projection.
Laporta started his career at Caixa Capital Risc. Since 2013 was Associate at Edmond de Rothschild group (now Andera Partners).
D'Augusta has an extensive experience in the financial management of biotechnology companies and currently is General Manager at TiGenix. Prior to joining Ysios, Berman was CMO and Senior Vice President at Relypsa in ...
26 September 2018
Minoryx Therapeutics, a company specializing in the development of new drugs for orphan diseases member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, today announces the completion of a Series B funding round of €21.3 million, the most important in the Catalan biotechnology sector so far this year.
The funding round was led by Fund+, joined by SRIW, SFPI-FPIM and Sambrinvest, in addition to all Series A investors (Ysios Capital, Kurma Partners, Roche Venture Fund, Idinvest Partners, Chiesi Ventures, Caixa Capital Risc and HealthEquity).
“The proceeds of the round will allow the company to demonstrate the potential of MIN-102 in new indications,” ...