The scientific ecosystem has been clamoring for years to find alternatives to animal testing. Human in vitro cell models, which allow recreating tissues and organs from real cells, have consolidated as an ethical, viable, and increasingly frequent alternative, especially for large companies and pharmaceutical firms. From a small laboratory located within the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB) complex, BeCytes Biotechnologies is responsible for producing and distributing hepatic in vitro tissues worldwide.
In fact, this spin-off of the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) has found its main clients outside national borders. Currently, 98% of its business volume comes from its international activity, with a strong presence in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, the United States, France, India, and Japan. In its internationalization process, the company has also achieved milestones such as becoming the first Catalan spin-off in the biotechnology sector to establish a scientific and commercial alliance with Japan, through an agreement – still in force – with the Asian KAC Co., Ltd.
However, its trajectory has not always been linear. In fact, Jordi Xapellí, CEO of Becytes, states that its ten-year history, since a group of researchers from the field of cell therapy at Creatio, the UB's Center for Production and Validation of Advanced Therapies, decided to launch the company in 2015, "has been a long-distance race."
"From Barcelona, and with a team initially composed of only two researchers, we competed in a market and a sector that did not know us and that, moreover, was dominated by large international companies that represented —and still represent today— a market share of over 80%," Xapellí recalls. In an ecosystem, moreover, where there were no references or other leading Catalan companies in the distribution and production of in vitro tissues. And all this, with initial capital contributed by business angels close to the founders and additional financing from the researchers themselves.
Even so, the team trusted in the potential of the Catalan ecosystem, which was beginning to "stand out in the field of life and health sciences, with Barcelona increasingly becoming a very attractive city for research and clinical trials, especially in oncology," as Estephan Arredondo, the company's technical director, points out.
Thus, they began their activity focused on the isolation, processing, and distribution of hepatic tissues (belonging to the liver). A field in which research and the discovery of new drugs are essential, since for certain liver diseases there is still no treatment. In fact, despite the fact that 20% of the world's population —more than 1.5 billion people worldwide— suffers from some chronic liver disease, such as cancer or cirrhosis, current treatments are still inefficient and often very costly.
To advance towards new drugs and increasingly personalized therapeutic treatments to combat these diseases, experimental trials are essential. For these preclinical tests, animals are often used to check the toxicity or effects of the drugs in question. As an alternative, in vitro cell models allow reproducing the conditions of human tissues and experimenting without the use of animals. And it is precisely in this field that Becytes is investing, establishing itself as an essential ally for the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology companies, and research centers.
For this reason, from its beginnings, they started to establish alliances and commercial agreements in different countries. "We knocked on all possible doors and took advantage of any European project or public aid for our internationalization," Arredondo remarks. In fact, beyond its commercial activity, participation in international research projects continues to be an essential part of Becytes' mission and trajectory.
Thus, the company currently participates in several international studies, which include projects such as UNLOOC (Unlocking the data content of Organ-on-Chips), led by the German company Microfluidic Chipshop Gmbh. With a budget of 68 million euros and 51 participating European entities, the objective of this program is to develop Organ-on-Chip devices, that is, to imitate the functioning of human organs on a microscopic scale, a more precise and ethical alternative to the use of animals in preclinical trials. Likewise, the spin-off also leads the LIVERtera program, which is developed jointly with the Swiss company Doppl SA, and has the support of the CDTI and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, to accelerate the discovery of more effective therapies for liver cancer. Or, for example, the Hepapools program, with the collaboration of the Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC) and funded by ACCIÓ's R&D Nuclei program, which uses bioprinting to recreate human liver tissue.
Ten years after starting its business activity, the efforts have begun to bear fruit. As a result of having developed and applied its own technology, attracting national and international talent and its participation in large European projects, the spin-off is today capable of isolating any type of liver cell to create in vitro models, and even expanding its area of knowledge to other tissues in which it has already begun to work, such as lung tissue. In addition, in the last two years they have achieved milestones such as exceeding one million euros in total revenue and doubling their workforce, which now totals 13 employees.
In fact, "market growth and researchers' confidence in Becytes' product have allowed the company to inaugurate new facilities," as Xapellí emphasizes. A new laboratory at the PCB that will allow them to increase the productive capacity of human primary cells to continue working with pharmaceutical companies and centers around the world and, in addition, continue innovating and expanding their research into cellular models of other parts of the human body.