News and Trends 26 Jun 2019 Biotech Company in Mallorca Receives Spain’s Largest Biotech Fundraise Mallorcan biotech Sanifit has broken the record for the largest private fundraise in the Spanish biotech sector raising a total of €72.2M. The fundraising consists of a €55.2M Series D round plus €17M in convertible bonds. The money will be used by Sanifit to fund an upcoming phase III trial of its lead drug candidate […] June 26, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 12 Jun 2019 How Vaccines Could One Day Beat HIV Vaccines are humanity’s biggest achievement against infectious diseases. But could they defeat HIV, a particularly crafty virus? José Luis Cabero, CEO of Spanish biotech AELIX Therapeutics shared his experience developing an HIV vaccine at Labiotech Refresh in Barcelona. The concept of a vaccine is simple — priming the immune system against a pathogen so that […] June 12, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 5 Jun 2019 How Spain is Building a Strong Biotech Ecosystem The biotech sector is rapidly gaining momentum in Spain. At Labiotech Refresh in Barcelona, Raúl Martín-Ruiz, Partner at the venture capital firm Ysios Capital, shared his experience investing in Spain’s biotech industry over the last decade. Ysios Capital made its first investment in 2008. The recipient was a cell therapy company based in Madrid. Then […] June 5, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 9 May 2019 A 20-Year Journey to Nail Down an Undruggable Cancer Target The ultimate goal of cancer research is to bring to the market a drug that improves the treatment of patients lacking options. Laura Soucek, CEO of the startup Peptomyc, shares the story of her journey to take a cancer treatment against an until now undruggable target to the clinic. It all started when Soucek was […] May 9, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 8 Apr 2019 Francis Mojica, the Spanish Scientist Who Discovered CRISPR Contrary to popular belief, Francis Mojica was the first person to discover the CRISPR mechanism and give it its name. He told me how the discovery came about, discussed the wide potential of the gene editing tool and shared his favorite CRISPR application. You’ve likely heard of CRISPR/Cas9, a gene editing tool that has taken […] April 8, 2019 - 11 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 29 Mar 2019 This Biotech Repurposes Drugs to Fight Huntington’s Disease Barcelona-based SOM Biotech is developing treatments for incurable diseases such as Huntington’s disease with drugs that are already on the market for other diseases. Mission: To repurpose commercially available drugs for the treatment of neurological diseases lacking effective treatments. Using existing drugs to treat these rare, orphan diseases lets the company get the treatments to […] March 29, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Nov 2018 Silk Biomaterial Could Regenerate the Brain After a Stroke A group of researchers in Spain has developed a silk biomaterial that can increase the survival of transplanted stem cells into the brain, improving recovery after a stroke or brain injury. The nervous system has limited capacity to recover after an injury, such as those produced by a stroke or brain trauma. Stem cell transplants […] November 19, 2018 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 29 Oct 2018 Plasma Replacement Therapy Promising in Alzheimer’s Patients A blood plasma replacement therapy from Spanish company Grifols reduced cognitive decline by 61% in patients with moderate Alzheimer’s disease compared with placebo. The researchers monitored the cognitive symptoms of 496 patients with Alzheimer’s disease in the Phase IIb/III trial. Over 14 months, the therapy had no effect in patients with mild Alzheimer’s, but the […] October 29, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Oct 2018 Spanish Biotech Partners Gilead to Develop Functional HIV Cure AELIX Therapeutics and Gilead will run a clinical trial testing a combination of treatments that has potential to let HIV-infected people ditch lifelong therapy. The trial, which will run in Spain, is planned to start in early 2019 and will recruit around 90 patients in the early stages of HIV infection. After receiving the […] October 19, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 8 Oct 2018 Behind the Scenes of the Spanish Biotech Industry’s Boom The Spanish biotech industry is booming, but from my conversations with industry players elsewhere in Europe, it seems the country’s biotech industry keeps being a mystery for many. I caught up with experts at the Biospain conference to draw an overview of how biotech in Spain is doing in 2018. When we talk about biotech […] October 8, 2018 - 5 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 31 Jul 2018 Recycled Forestry Waste Could Make Cosmetics, Plastics and Biofuel An EU project is using forestry waste to make 2,3-butanediol, a chemical with a wide range of industrial applications, from perfumes to synthetic rubber and food additives. Rehap, an EU project, has found a way to produce 2,3-butanediol, a chemical building block used in a range of industrial applications, using sugars purified from forestry waste. […] July 31, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Jul 2018 This Transgenic Rice Could Prevent HIV Infections Researchers in Spain have created a strain of genetically-engineered rice that could provide a cheap alternative to produce medicines for HIV prevention. The risk of HIV infections can be significantly reduced with oral medication. However, pricing is a big issue for people living in impoverished or developing countries who are at risk. Researchers at the […] July 30, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email