The Vice-President of the Government of Catalonia presents the first Biocat Report

Catalonia, a leader in biomedical research, is home to 25% of Spain’s biotechnology companies.

The sector needs to promote the incorporation of talent into companies, technology transfer and access to venture capital.

The 2009 Biocat Report is the first specific study on the sector in Catalonia.

The Vice-President of the Government of Catalonia and Vice-President of the Biocat Board of Trustees, Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, and the President of Biocat’s Executive Committee, Dr Manel Balcells, present the main data and conclusions of the first Biocat Report on the state of biotechnology, biomedicine and medical technologies in Catalonia. This first snapshot of the sector will be presented to more than 500 businesspeople, researchers and managers as part of the 2009 BioRegion Forum, which will be held on 3 December at Casa Llotja de Mar in Barcelona.

Among the features that characterise the sector, the report highlights the clear predominance of red biotechnology (drugs and therapies for human health); generally small companies (60% of biotech companies have fewer than 10 employees) and very young ones (more than half were created after 2000); and research centres and institutes that are benchmarks at national and international level, employ highly qualified staff and focus their research particularly on areas such as oncology (60% of centres), the nervous system (42%) and cardiology (40%), but still generate a limited number of patents (with medians of between 9 and 5 applications per centre per year) and promote the creation of a low number of spin-offs (fewer than half of the centres have created any).

Investment in the biotechnology and biomedicine sector is an increasingly important chapter within the total volume of research investment. In 2008, Catalonia allocated almost €3.3 billion, 1.6% of its GDP, to R&D, 60% of which was assumed by the business sector. Of the €554 million invested in R&D by the Catalan Administration in 2008, nearly 30% went directly to biotechnology research. Across Spain, turnover for biotechnology companies in 2008 is estimated at €706 million, 22.7% of which, €160.3 million, corresponds to Catalan companies. The rate of creation of new biotech companies in Catalonia, 25% in 2008 and 27% in 2007, exceeds that of many European regions and Spain as a whole. In fact, 25% of Spain’s biotechnology companies are Catalan.

The 2009 Biocat Report offers an analysis of what these companies and research centres working in Catalonia in the fields of biotechnology, biomedicine and medical technologies are like, based on the use of information collected in the Biocat Directory —which includes an inventory of 358 companies, nearly 400 research centres and groups, as well as hospitals, universities, science parks and technology infrastructures and platforms—, nearly 150 surveys carried out in 2009, and the cross-checking and extrapolation of various sector reports at Spanish level.

As the study indicates, the BioRegion directory records 65 biotechnology companies and 70 pharmaceutical companies, out of the 145 in Catalonia as a whole, representing 45% of the total in Spain, including the six main laboratories with international presence: Almirall, Esteve, Grupo Ferrer, Lácer, Uriach and Grifols. Catalan pharmaceutical companies invested €381 million in R&D in 2008.

In addition, the medical technologies subsector is increasingly important, with the directory recording more than 150 companies in this field, and brings together a diverse group of companies, ranging from small laboratories producing biological diagnostic kits to large companies from traditional industrial sectors —optics, plastics, metalworking, and others— that have converted their activity or produce components for medical devices.

One of the great strengths of the Catalan biotechnology and biomedical sector is the convergence of research carried out by centres and companies in therapeutic areas such as oncology and the nervous system. This makes it possible to cover the entire value chain and to work from the most pioneering idea in a laboratory to the identification of biomarkers in hospitals, through translational research, including the invention of new drugs or the production of diagnostic kits for diseases with high prevalence and a strong impact on the population.

“Our goal was to have a global portrait of the sector in Catalonia and indicators that allow us to measure its evolution over time,” says Manel Balcells, President of Biocat’s Executive Committee, for whom the report “is an essential tool for building the future policies we now need.”

Among the measures that must be promoted, Manel Balcells highlights the need to drive the internationalisation of Catalan companies, support technology transfer from research entities to companies, and improve their access to venture capital.

“The report shows us that companies in the BioRegion operate mainly in the Catalan market (44%) and the Spanish market (51%). There is an increasing presence in Europe (43% of companies), but only 11% of our companies operate in the United States, the world’s leading biotechnology market. We must boost their presence in that market,” Balcells stresses.

The small size of companies and the lack of resources to tackle growth —the report notes that 35% of companies in the BioRegion turn over less than €500,000 a year and that 30% do not make a profit— are also a handicap for the development of the sector. Another challenge is the lack of personnel specialised in business management, with fewer than 40% of companies having this type of profile among their executives.

Improving the capabilities of company management teams and their internationalisation —through participation in public-private consortia, for example— are key factors for attracting international venture capital to the Catalan biotechnology sector and fostering its growth.

Another key aspect is how to bring the research carried out by centres, institutes and research groups to the business fabric through technology transfer. Catalonia is an international powerhouse in nanotechnology research and, in recent years, has seen the weight of tools such as bioinformatics grow enormously. In addition, with 25.54% of scientific publications, Catalonia holds a leading position in Spain. However, the number of patent applications generated by our centres is very low, with a median of 9 per centre per year for white and green technology products, and only 5 per centre per year for medical technologies. The Biocat Report identifies this as another challenge that must be addressed immediately, as the number of patents is a clear indicator of the sector’s capacity to turn scientific research into applications that can reach the market and drive the economy.

In addition to the statistical analysis of the reality of companies and research centres in the BioRegion, the report includes a series of introductory chapters on biotechnology trends worldwide and in Catalonia. For its preparation, Biocat has had the collaboration of Dr Pere Puigdomènech (green or agri-food biotechnology), Dr Josep Castells (white or industrial biotechnology) and Dr Lluís Pereras (medical technologies).

BioRegion Forum

The 2009 Biocat Report will be presented to the sector as part of the second BioRegion Forum, which will be held on 3 December at Casa Llotja de Mar and will bring together more than 500 people, including representatives of companies, research centres, parks and technology infrastructures, and various organisations —financial institutions, consultancies and public administration bodies— working in Catalonia’s biotechnology and biomedical field.

The Forum, which will be opened by the President of the Government of Catalonia, José Montilla, includes in its programme a talk by John Hodgson, business consultant and editor of the journal Nature Biotechnology, who will analyse the investment opportunities offered by the sector, as well as two round tables, on entrepreneurship and on the future outlook for the BioRegion in 2015, respectively.

One of this year’s new features will be the presentation of the BioEmprenedorXXI award, a business creation initiative in the field of life sciences promoted by Biocat together with “la Caixa”, Barcelona Activa, Genoma España and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.

The Vice-President of the Government, Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, will close the Forum and will be responsible for naming Dr Màrius Rubiralta, Secretary-General for Universities at the Ministry of Education, and Dr Joan Massagué, Director of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Programme at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Deputy Director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona (IRB), as 2009 Ambassadors of the BioRegion of Catalonia.

With the title of BioRegion Ambassador, Biocat aims to publicly recognise leading figures in the scientific, financial, political or social spheres who have stood out for their contribution to promoting biotechnology in Catalonia and for their support for the Catalan BioRegion at national or international level.

Biocat is the organisation that coordinates, energises and promotes biotechnology and biomedicine in Catalonia. Promoted by the Government of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council, it also brings together various leading companies and organisations from the sector.