Barcelona strengthens its position as Europe’s Hub at Advanced Therapies Europe 2025

For three days, Advanced Therapies Europe 2025 turned the Hotel Arts into a meeting point for 500 advanced therapies professionals, mostly from Europe (55%) and with nearly one-third of local and national representation (27%), figures that confirm Barcelona’s growing role as a European hub in this field.

The presence of the BioRegion was particularly visible in the program, with significant participation from companies and institutions linked to the ATMP Catalonia initiative. Speakers included representatives from Invivo Partners, Ysios Capital, Asabys Partners, SpliceBio, Inveready, Integra Therapeutics, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Biocat, OneChain Therapeutics, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, the Banc de Sang i Teixits, and Gyala Therapeutics, showcasing the diversity and growing maturity of the Catalan ecosystem in this sector.

Despite the progress highlighted, the conference also revealed the challenges the sector still faces. Currently, only 20% of approved advanced therapies actually reach patients, a figure that was central to discussions on how to accelerate access and make manufacturing and commercialization models more sustainable. Over the three days, key topics included the current state of the industry, investment and funding perspectives, manufacturing models and their challenges, gaps between preclinical research and clinical trials, realistic timelines for therapy development and commercialization, the situation in Spain, funding attraction, and the need to integrate a gender perspective to highlight the role of women in this growing industry. During the event, it was also confirmed that Advanced Therapies Europe will return to Barcelona in 2026.

The BioRegion also played a leading role in the main strategic debates at Advanced Therapies Europe 2025, with Montse Daban, Director of Strategic Analysis and International Relations at Biocat, participating in four sessions. As both moderator and speaker, Daban contributed the Catalan and European perspective in discussions that brought together representatives from companies, hospitals, investors, and leading institutions.

In the session on decentralized production models, featuring speakers such as Noelia Mateo from Hospital Clínic, David Horna from Aglaris, Patrick Dentinger from CellPort Software, and Daan Koper from Galapagos, participants analyzed whether this model could reduce costs and improve patient access. The debate highlighted the need to balance centralized hubs and proximity to patients, the importance of a steady flow of qualified talent, and the growing role of automation and digital platforms to manage complex networks across Europe. 

The program also included a panel focused on the Spanish ecosystem, with Claudio Santos from Gyala Therapeutics, Núria Gavaldà from Banc de Sang i Teixits, Stefanos Theoharis from OneChain Therapeutics, and Angel Lucio from Tetraneuron. Strengths such as clinical infrastructure, talent, and collaborative capacity were highlighted, positioning Catalonia, through ATMP Catalonia, as a central node in the European network. Panelists agreed on the need to attract more venture capital and make better use of EU funding and regulatory harmonization instruments to consolidate this position.

As a speaker, Daban also participated in the plenary session on the state of the cell and gene therapy industry, alongside representatives from Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator, Bayer, EuropaBio, and Novartis. The panel underscored the challenges Europe faces in maintaining leadership in a highly competitive global environment: scaling production, making treatments affordable, and ensuring equitable patient access. External pressures and movements from other regions, such as the United States and Asia, call for rapid action to turn these challenges into leadership opportunities.

The congress closing session, also led by Daban, brought together executives from Novartis, Kiji Therapeutics, NKILT Therapeutics, and T-CURX. The session summarized two days of debate and concluded that Europe has excellent science but is too slow in translating it into real therapies. Participants called for faster regulatory processes, the creation of pan-European manufacturing platforms, and closer public-private collaboration to remain competitive against other regions. The final message was clear: the next decade will be decisive, and Europe needs an agile and collaborative model to ensure therapies reach patients. This series of sessions highlighted not only the BioRegion’s leadership in the European debate but also its capacity to influence major strategic decisions that will shape the future of advanced therapies.

Barcelona reaffirms its position as a leading European hub for advanced therapies, with a BioRegion capable not only of generating outstanding scientific knowledge but also of driving strategic debate and international collaboration. Advanced Therapies Europe 2025 highlighted the need to accelerate the translation of science into clinical practice, leveraging innovative production models, strategic investment, and collaborative networks to ensure that advances in cell and gene therapies effectively reach patients across Europe and beyond.