Farmaindustria and Biocat connect seven Catalan research projects with pharmaceutical companies to boost the development of new drugs

Barcelona, July 3, 2025. The leaders of seven research projects and 16 innovative pharmaceutical companies connected this Thursday during the 25th edition of the Farma-Biotech Program, designed to foster clinical and translational research in the development of new drugs. 

On this occasion, the program led by Farmaindustria has been supported by Biocat, under the agreement both organizations signed last December to strengthen the BioRegion of Catalonia and promote the development of new drugs and more efficient public-private collaboration models. 

The Farma-Biotech Program aims to create a meeting point for cooperation among national and international pharmaceutical companies, Spanish biotech firms, and research groups, around the development of innovative new drugs. 

This edition reviewed 28 Catalan-origin projects, seven of which were selected for their potential and promising stage of development in the field of preclinical research. The selected projects focus on advanced therapies for treating ALS, hypertension, central nervous system disorders, several types of tumors, various incurable diseases, and novel analgesics for pain treatment. 

The researchers come from the universities of Barcelona and Lleida, Hospital Clinic-Idibaps, and the startups Nema Health, Nocturna Therapeutics, and OneChain Inmunotherapeutics. 

The event featured the participation of Robert Fabregat, CEO of Biocat, and Fina Lladós, president of Farmaindustria. Both highlighted the value of the agreement, which also aims to promote the development of advanced therapies, improve access to innovation, and support talent training and retention within the ecosystem. 

During his remarks, Fabregat emphasized that “events like today’s help foster public-private connections and raise the visibility of the portfolio of high-impact business opportunities, with a clear focus on the development of advanced therapies and other early-stage projects, and will help establish collaborative ties with the pharmaceutical industry, key drivers for their advancement.” 

Farmaindustria’s president recalled that Catalonia is the region that has submitted the most projects to the Farma-Biotech Program throughout its 25 editions, accounting for over 40% of the total. “Collaborations like this allow us to position Catalonia and Spain as global leaders in healthcare innovation and move closer to our ultimate goal, which is for patients to benefit from faster and better access to innovative treatments and advanced therapies.” Lladós noted that translational research is one of the association’s priorities, aiming to translate the success achieved in clinical trials into these early phases of biomedical R&D. 

Since its launch in 2011, the Farma-Biotech Program has reviewed over 1,000 proposals, with more than 160 selected for presentation to pharmaceutical companies capable of taking on the clinical development of new drugs. 

The Farma-Biotech Program keeps the application window for participation permanently open through our Medicamentos Innovadores platform.