Biomedical companies in Catalonia achieve 102 million in investment in 2017

Catalan biomedical companies attracted investments worth 102 million euros during 2017, with an average of 3.4 million per operation, which will allow them to advance in the development of innovative drugs and medical technology as reflected in the Study of investment in biomedicine in Catalonia: Successes and future challenges prepared by  CataloniaBio & HealthTech and EY.  Venture capital continues to be the main source of financing for companies developing products (33%), while service companies opt for private debt (74%). Most investors are from Catalonia (76%), although international capital is increasing (from 12% in 2016 to 16% in 2017).

Venture capital experts highlight that 2017 has yielded positive results and several improvements that go beyond the investment figure. Specifically, investors state that there are three important consolidated trends: larger rounds, greater participation of international funds and qualitative evolution of management teams. Regarding the team, it should be noted that the capabilities of other members such as the scientific director and the medical director are increasingly analyzed as they are considered key for the implementation of clinical studies. In 2017, 32 license agreements were signed through which companies expect potential revenues of 13 million euros. As a success story, at the beginning of 2018, we find the sale of STAT-Diagnostica. The Catalan company has completed the entire process: from its founding as a start-up, through the regulatory approval of its diagnostic product, to being sold to the Dutch corporate group Qiagen.

Jaume Amat, president of CataloniaBio & HealthTech and CEO of Specipig, highlights the good trend of investment in biomedical companies in Catalonia and the volume of foreign investment: "We have more international funds looking to invest in the bioregion. We hope that their contribution will be greater in the near future as we foresee a significant number of companies that will open advanced-stage financing rounds that cannot be covered only by local investors". In this context, the ecosystem will have to reinforce its international visibility.

For her part, Silvia Ondategui-Parra, Global Life Sciences Partner at EY, highlights that "the Catalan biomedical sector is advancing in its consolidation, in a global context where the industry faces the challenge of demonstrating the value of innovation, increasing the efficiency of its R&D, confronting growing regulatory pressure, and ensuring its competitive strategy against the entry of new competitors from the digital environment into the sector."

CLOSER TO 'MARKET ACCESS'

The CataloniaBio & HealthTech and EY study has also identified that the pipeline of companies evolved to more advanced R&D stages throughout 2017. More specifically, 7% of biopharma projects are in the regulatory approval phase, 26% of pharma projects are in the approval-market phase, and 19% of MedTech projects have already been introduced to the market. The predominant therapeutic field is oncology (30%), followed by the nervous system, infectious diseases, cardiovascular, and respiratory. One of CataloniaBio & HealthTech's objectives is to promote collaborations so that excellence research moves from academia to business and reaches patients as quickly as possible. In this regard, companies in the ecosystem signed 146 collaborative projects with other sector agents in 2017, following the trend of 2016. Research centers and universities were the choice in 56% of projects, new companies (spin-offs or start-ups) 27%, and other entities the remaining 17%.

NEW HEALTH INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN CATALONIA

Catalan investment firms —including Alta Life Sciences, Caixa Capital Risc, Genesis Ventures, Healthequity, Inveready, and Ysios Capital— carried out 31 operations valued at 56 million euros, mainly in drug discovery. The value of these operations increased by 74% compared to 2016. In addition, in the first months of 2018, the creation of Asabys Partners in Barcelona was announced, which plans to create a fund of 60 million euros, and one of the reference groups, Inveready, is about to launch the Biotech III fund with 25 million euros.

THE CATALONIABIO & HEALTHTECH AND EY STUDY

The Biomedicine Investment Study in Catalonia is published every year with the aim of collecting the main indicators and providing an analysis of business investment in the biomedical ecosystem to highlight its value and make it more attractive to investors, companies, and international talent. It is an initiative of CataloniaBio & HealthTech with the collaboration of EY, a leading international company that has provided it with methodology, rigor, and reliability.

Available in digital format here.