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Spain might be best known for its sunny beaches, tapas, and flamenco, among many other things, but in the last decade or so, its biotech industry has also quietly become an integral part of the country. The sector has grown dramatically, with international investors taking more of an interest in the country’s scientific landscape, turning it into one of the most competitive industries globally. In this article, we take a look at 10 of the top biotech companies based in Spain today.
Table of contents
Aelix Therapeutics
- Technology: Vaccines
- Disease area: HIV
- Recent news: Gilead acquired Aelix’s HIV vaccine program
Aelix Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech company based in Barcelona, in the northeast of Spain. It is a spin-off of IrsiCaixa, a Catalan organization founded to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and has been focused on developing a new therapeutic vaccine for HIV that can be included in cure and eradication strategies.
The company’s vaccine program is based on an innovative T-cell vaccine immunogen design that directs the body’s immune defense to the most vulnerable parts of the HIV virus. The immunogen, called HTI, is based on the observation that T-cell responses to certain HIV regions are enriched in people with a non-progressor clinical phenotype. Therefore, HTI brings these beneficial regions together within a single vaccine.
AELIX-002, the first clinical trial run by the company, started in September 2017. It was a phase 1 trial that studied the HTI vaccine in early diagnosed, early treated HIV-infected individuals. The results showed that the vaccines were well tolerated, refocused killer T cells on more protective epitopes, and showed in a subgroup of participants that those who generated a stronger immune response were able to remain without antiretroviral treatment for longer periods of time and with a lower viral load compared to those who did not receive the vaccine or did not respond to the vaccination.
As part of an ongoing partnership with Gilead, Aelix announced positive topline results in February 2023 from its phase 2 AELIX-003 trial, which evaluated the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity, and efficacy of the company’s vaccine in combination with Gilead’s investigational Toll-Like Receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist, vesatolimod (VES), in people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. The study met its primary and secondary endpoints for safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity.
In November 2024, Gilead subsequently decided to buy Aelix’s vaccine program for an undisclosed amount. At the time of the announcement, Aelix’s executive chairman, Thomas Hecht, highlighted that this agreement would enable further progress toward the development of a transformative strategy against HIV.
Highlight Therapeutics
- Technology: RNA-based therapies
- Disease area: Dermato-oncology
- Recent news: BO-112 met its primary endpoint in a phase 2 trial in combination with pembrolizumab
Based in Valencia, Spain, the dermato-oncology biotech company Highlight Therapeutics is focused on developing groundbreaking dematology and oncology treatments to battle rising skin cancer rates. The company’s lead RNA-based drug candidate, BO-112, works by mimicking a viral infection and activating the innate immune system. It has been demonstrated to initiate a powerful immune response, leveraging a unique multi-target approach to turn ‘cold’ tumors ‘hot’, making them visible to the immune system so that it can fight the cancer cells.
BO-112 is being investigated in several clinical trials. In combination with Merck’s pembrolizumab, the candidate recently met its primary endpoint in a phase 2 trial, indicating that the combination could be a viable strategy to overcome anti–PD-1 resistance in patients with advanced melanoma who have developed resistance to anti–PD-1 therapies. The drug is also currently being investigated as a monotherapy for the treatment of primary basal cell carcinoma and in combination with immune-checkpoint inhibitors and radiotherapy for sarcomas and non-small cell lung cancer.
The collaboration between Highlight and Merck is ongoing after Highlight signed a second phase 2 trial collaboration with Merck in 2020 to evaluate the BO-112 and pembrolizumab combination in patients who have progressed on anti-PD-1-based therapy in refractory advanced malignant melanoma.
Integra Therapeutics
- Technology: Gene writing tools
- Disease areas: Genetic diseases, oncology, and autoimmune diseases
- Recent news: Signed a licensing agreement with Caszyme for the use of Caszyme’s novel Cas12l nucleases
Based in Barcelona, Spain, biotech company Integra Therapeutics is working on engineering the next generation of gene writing tools that can help to improve the scope, efficiency, and safety of advanced therapies, with an aim of curing genetic, oncological, and autoimmune diseases with high unmet medical need.
The company’s lead technology, called FiCAT, is a best-in-class platform geared towards resolving the current limitations in gene writing: size, precision, and stability. It combines proteins modified with CRISPR-Cas (the find module) and PiggyBac transposase (the cut-and-transfer module), allowing the company to program the precise insertion of small and large fragments of DNA into the genome. PiggyBac functional domains are engineered to provide increased on-target integration while reducing off-target events. FiCAT can be used for in vivo and ex vivo therapies, and also has the potential to tackle the prevention and treatment of a wide range of genetic, oncological, and autoimmune diseases.
In November 2024, Integra signed a licensing agreement with Caszyme for the use of Caszyme’s novel Cas12l nucleases to develop safer and more efficient gene and cell therapies. Under the agreement, Integra said that it will incorporate Cas12l into its FiCAT 2.0 platform, following successful in vivo and ex vivo studies that yielded positive results in terms of safety and functionality in human cells.
Furthermore, in July last year, Integra announced that it would be receiving a grant of €2.5 million ($2.9 million) and an equity investment of up to €8 million ($9.3 million) from the European Commission via the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program.
Minoryx Therapeutics
- Technology: PPAR-γ agonist
- Disease area: Orphan genetic diseases of the central nervous system
- Recent news: Submitted a marketing authorization application for leriglitazone to the EMA for the treatment of cALD
Minoryx Therapeutics is focused on the discovery and development of novel therapies for severe, orphan genetic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) with high unmet medical needs. The company’s lead candidate is a PPAR-γ agonist called leriglitazone. The drug has demonstrated brain penetration and a favorable safety profile, and showed robust preclinical proof-of-concept in animal models of multiple diseases by modulating pathways leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, demyelination, and axonal degeneration.
Minoryx has completed a phase 2/3 study of leriglitazone in adult patients with X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy in the European Union (EU) and the U.S. X-ALD is an orphan disease caused by a mutation in the ABCD1 gene that presents two main neurologic phenotypes, one of which is cerebral ALD (cALD), characterized by demyelinating brain lesions that may become rapidly progressive, leading to acute neurological decline and death. In the trial, leriglitazone was found to significantly reduce the progression of cerebral lesions and reduce the incidence of progressive cALD in adult X-ALD patients. In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Minoryx the green light to begin a phase 3 trial of leriglitazone to treat X-ALD patients with cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD).
However, Minoryx announced last year that the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) had recommended not to grant marketing authorization for leriglitazone as a treatment for cALD following the completion of a re-examination procedure. Minoryx’s chief executive officer (CEO) said in the press release update that the company would continue to generate evidence from two ongoing trials in order to get the drug approved. In July 2025, Minoryx announced that it had once again submitted a marketing authorization application for leriglitazone to the EMA for the treatment of paediatric and adult male patients with cALD, and that it is under review by the CHMP.
The Spain-based biotech company also recently announced that it had dosed the first patient in a phase 2a study that will assess the safety and efficacy of leriglitazone for the treatment of Rett syndrome.
Ona Therapeutics
- Technology: Antibody-drug conjugates
- Disease area: Oncology
- Recent news: Partnered with REVEAL GENOMICS to accelerate the clinical development of ONA-255
A spin-off of the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and the Barcelona Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), Ona Therapeutics specializes in the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that “exploit the molecular underpinnings” of advanced cancer.
The company’s lead candidate is called ONA-255, which is a first-in-class ADC that is being developed to treat breast cancer and other solid tumors. The drug targets a novel protein linked to tumour adaptation and resistance mechanisms in advanced cancers. Earlier this year, Ona joined forces with REVEAL GENOMICS, a biotech company dedicated to redefining the role of biomarkers in oncology, to accelerate the clinical development of ONA-255. As part of the collaboration, REVEAL GENOMICS will conduct a comprehensive molecular analysis of tumor and blood samples from the phase 1/2 trial of Ona’s drug candidate, which will help to define patient populations, identify predictive biomarkers, and deepen the understanding of ONA-255’s mechanism of action.
In December 2023, Ona also entered into an agreement with Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals to develop ADCs targeting solid tumors. Under the terms of this agreement, Biocytogen grants Ona access to evaluate its proprietary RenMice-derived fully human antibodies against a specific tumor target, with an option to exclusively license selected antibodies for ADC development, manufacturing, and commercialization in mutually agreed indications and territories.
Back in 2020, Ona closed a €30 million ($33 million) series A funding round, which at the time marked the largest round ever achieved by a biotech company in the preclinical stage in Spain. Additionally, in 2021, CataloniaBio & HealthTech recognised the Spanish biotech with the Biosuccess award for its consolidation, investment attraction, and growth as a spin-off.
Oncomatryx
- Technology: Antibody-drug conjugates
- Disease area: Oncology
- Recent news: Awarded funding from the EIC Accelerator under the EU’s Horizon Europe 2021-2027 Research and Innovation Program
Oncomatryx is developing ADCs, either as monotherapies or in combination with existing chemotherapies and immunotherapies, that target cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the tumor microenvironment, which are in constant interaction with the tumor cells and play a key role in tumor invasion, growth, metastasis, and immune suppression.
The Spain-based biotech company’s lead candidate, OMTX705, is currently in clinical trials targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP) in aggressive tumors with high unmet medical need. Encouraging clinical data were presented at ASCO 2025, with Oncomatryx announcing that the drug showed an outstanding safety profile with no dose-limiting toxicity, as well as long responses in patients expressing FAP.
In May 2025, building on their earlier partnership for the phase 1 trial of OMTX705, Oncomatryx and TFS HealthScience (TFS), a global Contract Research Organization (CRO), announced that they would be expanding their collaboration, with TFS supporting a newly initiated phase 1b clinical trial evaluating OMTX705 in patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The trial will be conducted across sites in Spain and the U.S.
In January, Oncomatryx raised $25 million, enabling it to fund phase 1b to phase 2 clinical trials for its lead candidate. Additionally, in July, the company was awarded funding from the EIC Accelerator under the EU’s Horizon Europe 2021-2027 Research and Innovation Program, including €2.5 million ($2.9 million) in grant funding, along with a €10 million ($11.7 million) equity investment in its upcoming financing round.
Oryzon Genomics
- Technology: Epigenetic personalized medicines
- Disease areas: Neurological diseases and oncology
- Recent news: Submitted clinical trial protocol for phase 3 study to the FDA to initiate trial to evaluate vafidemstat in borderline personality disorder
Oryzon Genomics is focused on the development of innovative epigenetic personalized medicines for the treatment of neurological diseases and cancer. Epigenetics is the study of how behavioral and environmental factors can cause changes in gene expression without changing an individual’s DNA sequence. Epigenetic switches also occur in normal biological or disease processes. Regulation of gene transcription and translation is a key biological determinant for cellular differentiation and function, and transcriptional imbalances play a significant role in several human diseases.
Oryzon’s therapeutic strategy is to target lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), which is a histone-modifying enzyme that is involved in the regulation of the expression of many genes that are important in the onset and progression of cancer and central nervous system (CNS) disorders.
The company’s most advanced candidate is called vafidemstat, an oral small molecule that has been optimized for CNS indications and acts as a covalent inhibitor of LSD1. Although last year the drug failed to meet its primary endpoint of improving the symptoms of borderline personality disorder at weeks 8 to 12 as measured by the Borderline Personality Disorder Checklist – which measures instability, recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, threats or self-mutilating behavior – in a phase 2b trial, it did meet its secondary endpoint of disorder severity across the same time span using a scale called Borderline Evaluation of Severity, and a statistically significant improvement in agitation and aggression was also seen.
This has prompted Oryzon to move forward with vafidemstat, and the company recently submitted the clinical trial protocol for its phase 3 study to the FDA to initiate a registrational trial to evaluate vafidemstat in patients with borderline personality disorder.
In April 2025, the company announced the successful completion of a €30 million capital increase.
Peptomyc
- Technology: Myc inhibitor
- Disease area: Oncology
- Recent news: First patient was dosed in a phase 2 trial of OMO-103 in pediatric and adult patients with advanced osteosarcoma
Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, biotech company Peptomyc is working on the development of a Myc inhibitor to treat cancer. Myc is a transcription factor that is expressed in over 70% of human cancers and is central to cancer proliferation, survival, and resistance to treatment.
Peptomycs candidate, OMO-103, is a miniprotein – commonly defined as being less than 100 amino acids long – that targets Myc. It consists of 91 amino acids, which have a unique ability to enter the cancer cell and penetrate its nucleus, meaning that it has the potential to overcome the challenges that small molecule therapeutics have previously encountered in targeting Myc – small molecules cannot recognize a protein that changes its shape all the time. OMO-103, on the other hand, is designed to chop Myc into a shape that cannot change; once Myc binds to OMO-103, it can no longer bind to DNA and therefore becomes inactive.
After a successful phase 1 study, in which 22 patients with various types of advanced tumors were enrolled, Peptomyc announced in 2023 that OMO-103 would be tested in a phase 1b trial in combination with the standard-of-care regimen Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) – the most common form of pancreatic cancer – patients. Most recently, the company said that the first patient had also been dosed in a phase 2 trial of OMO-103 in pediatric and adult patients with advanced osteosarcoma.
In October 2023, Peptomyc was awarded a €5 million ($5.8 million) blended financing from the Horizon Europe program.
SpliceBio
- Technology: Gene therapy
- Disease area: Ophthalmology
- Recent news: Raised $135 million in series B financing
SpliceBio’s initial focus is on developing a gene therapy for Stargardt disease, which is a rare genetic eye condition that occurs when fatty material builds up on the central part of the retina, called the macula. The disease primarily affects children and young adults, causing vision loss.
Stargardt disease is caused by an alteration in the ABCA4 gene. With its large size of 6.8kb, it is too large for single adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to package enough genetic material to treat it, so SpliceBio is focusing on harnessing the potential of inteins to overcome this limitation. Inteins are a family of proteins that carry out a process known as protein splicing, sticking peptides together to form new proteins, and the company’s co-founders were able to develop engineered split inteins for therapeutic use.
SpliceBio’s lead candidate, SB-007, is the first dual adeno-associated viral (AAV) gene therapy cleared by the FDA to enter clinical development for Stargardt disease. It has also received regulatory clearance for clinical development from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
In July 2025, SpliceBio secured a hugely impressive $135 million in series B financing, which will be used to advance the clinical development of SB-007, including the ongoing phase 1/2 ASTRA study and the observational POLARIS study.
In October 2023, the gene therapy company also entered into a collaboration with Spark Therapeutics – a member of the Roche group – to develop a gene therapy for an undisclosed inherited retinal disease.
Tyris Therapeutics
- Technology: Gene therapy
- Disease area: Genetic diseases
- Latest news: Partnered with Almirall to develop gene therapies for debilitating genetic dermatological conditions
Based in Valencia, Tyris Therapeutics is working on the development of next-generation gene therapies for rare genetic diseases with both systemic and local delivery. The company has a DNA-based medicines platform that includes proprietary technology to produce linear closed DNA, just containing the sequence of interest, and novel non-viral vectors that do not trigger an immune response, have no limitation in cargo capacity, and enable re-administration of any gene therapy treatment. According to the company, this means that its platform can overcome current challenges in viral gene therapy, achieving more efficient and safer therapeutics for any genetic disease.
Tyris has a preclinical pipeline initially focused on dermatological indications, as well as on renal, hematological, and pulmonary indications. It is also exploring further applications for its technology platform to fuel innovation in more prevalent therapeutic approaches, such as vaccines, CAR-T therapies, or monoclonal antibodies (MABs).
In November 2021, Tyris entered into a strategic partnership with Almirall – a Barcelona-based pharmaceutical company focused on medical dermatology – to develop gene therapies for the treatment of debilitating genetic dermatological conditions.
The growing biotech scene in Spain
In 2019, the Spanish biotech sector invested over €940 million ($1.06 billion) in research and development (R&D), having doubled the amount in the space of 10 years. And, in 2023, the activity of biotech companies in Spain generated more than 13,000 million euros of income, which represents 1.1% of the national GDP. Furthermore, Spain has climbed the research and development (R&D) ladder in recent years, with the country having the highest participation in clinical trials of new medicines in Europe.
These factors, among others, are contributing to the growth of the biotech industry in the country. And with more and more biotech companies joining the scene in Spain, the industry will likely continue on its upward trajectory.
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