The Barcelona Science Park is a leading ecosystem in Europe for scientific, technological, and business innovation in the field of life and health sciences. An example of its success is Stat-Dx, a company that was born in the Park in 2010 with the aim of developing, manufacturing, and commercializing molecular diagnostic systems and immunoassays for diseases automatically and precisely, avoiding the complex protocols and tests traditionally used in laboratories. Its proposal convinced the Dutch group Qiagen, which bought it in 2018 for 154 million euros.
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Two years later, in the midst of the pandemic, the technology developed by Stat-Dx, QIAstat-Dx, has adapted to the new situation, creating a PCR-based molecular diagnostic kit to detect covid-19 quickly and accessibly. The QIAstat-DxRespiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel obtained CE certification to be sold in Europe in mid-this year, and also received FDA authorization to operate in the United States.
It is a PCR molecular diagnostic system that can be prepared by any healthcare professional in just one minute and allows differentiating SARS-CoV-2 from 21 respiratory pathogens in one hour, without having to send samples outside primary care centers (CAPs), thus accelerating the detection of coronavirus and the respective treatments and isolation measures.
From the Barcelona Science Park, Qiagen commercializes this solution in more than 70 countries in the European Union, Asia, Latin America, and North America. The group, headquartered in the Netherlands, provides sampling and assay technologies for molecular diagnostics and academic and pharmaceutical research, and operates in 35 locations worldwide, with more than 5,300 employees.
With all this, Qiagen has just expanded its facilities at the Barcelona Science Park to double its development and production capacity for covid-19 diagnostic tests. The Dutch group now has a total area of 2,800 square meters in the Park, including development, quality control, administration, production, marketing, and sales spaces, and employs more than 200 professionals.
Workforce increase
In addition, the holding company plans the construction of a third production line and more space for research and development (R&D) with new investments in the coming years, which will allow them to continue increasing the development and production of new coronavirus detection systems, among other issues. Currently, the firm is already increasing its number of workers, with a plan to double the volume of its workforce in the Park.At the inauguration of Qiagen's new plant in the Barcelona Science Park this Monday, the general director of Qiagen Barcelona, Nik Baumann, highlighted the success that the QlAstat-Dx technology is having, which he pointed out has solid commercial potential. "We currently have two production lines, one in Barcelona and an additional one in Hilden, Germany, but our R&D and production capacity will be substantially increased with an additional pilot line in Barcelona and another in Germany," Baumann announced.
Also attending the inauguration were the general director of the Park, Maria Terrades, and the Minister of Business and Knowledge, Ramon Tremosa. Terrades remarked that the company Stat-Dx is "a reference of success" in Catalan biotechnology. "The company started in the PCB-Santander Bioincubator, grew organically thanks to a clear commitment to applied research and good business management and, finally, was bought by a foreign entity that has decided to bet on the Park and Catalonia as a place to continue growing the project," she explained. For his part, Tremosa defended that "public money is needed" to promote projects like those hosted by the Barcelona Science Park because, without these funds, many would not go ahead. "We need to invest in research more than ever," he maintained.