Spin off companies

Although this is by no means expected from ICREA researchers, it so happens that sometimes they hit on something that shows promise of becoming a powerful new technology, but it seems impossible to develop that further without significant investment of time and money. In these cases, many choose to explore the option of creating a spin-off company dedicated to the concept.

List of spin off companies

  • Minoryx Therapeutics

    Supported by the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and ICREA.
    Entrepreneur: ICREA Research Professor Xavier Barril
    Born in October 2011. 

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    Minoryx Therapeutics

    minoryx.com

    Minoryx Therapeutics develops treatments for Inborn Errors of Metabolism, a group of rare diseases of genetic origin affecting 3,700 newborns every year in Europe. Such diseases are life threatening and highly debilitating, usually with neurological manifestations and affect most severely the pediatric population. The social and economic impact of these diseases cannot be overstated and, with 90% of cases lacking curative treatments, there is a high unmet medical need. Minoryx develops new drugs to improve both the quality of life and life expectancy of the patients.

    Minoryx has developed SEE-Tx (Site-directed Enzyme Enhancement Therapy), a technological platform that incorporates computational methods developed in the Barril’s lab at Barcelona University. SEE-Tx enables us to develop a new generation of drugs: the non-competitive pharmacological chaperones, which recover the functionality of mutated proteins, thus attacking the root of the disease. We have discovered non-competitive pharmacological chaperones in a range programs, which are at various stages of preclinical research.

  • MiWEndo Solutions

    Supported by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and ICREA.
    Entrepreneur: ICREA Research Professor Miguel Á. González Ballester.
    Born in September 2019.

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    MiWEndo Solutions

    miwendo.com

    MiWEndo Solutions develops MiWEndo, a novel medical device that applies microwave imaging technology to colonoscopy. MiWEndo aims to contribute to improving prevention and diagnosis of colorectal cancer, as well as serving as an exploratory tool to increase the scientific knowledge about this type of cancer. MiWEndo automatises the detection of  polyps and raises an alarm when one is detected. Furthermore, it augments the field of view to 360º and provides quantitative tissue classification, without any modification to current clinical procedures.

    Colon cancer is a highly prevalent and devastating disease. The current push for screening programs worldwide has led to an increase in colonoscopy procedures. Detection of polyps in these explorations highly relies on the experience of the clinical expert, and is therefore subject to subjectivity and fatigue. MiWEndo aims at providing a novel valuable tool to the clinician, thus contributing to reduce the number of missed polyps in colonoscopies.

    The global market for colonoscopy is approximately 1550M€, with a yearly increase of 5%. The main target markets for MiWEndo, at present, are Europe, USA and Japan. MiWEndo is a patented device, and it is safe, complementary to existing colonoscopes and low-cost. MiWEndo will lead to increased polyp detection rates and better decision support, by providing more information about the malignancy of the tissue. It will also reduce time and cost, in terms of faster explorations, less repeated colonoscopies, reduced patient preparation time and earlier detection and treatment of colorectal cancer.

    Further information:

    [1] González Ballester et al. (2017), European patent no. EP3195786A1.

    [2] Guardiola et al. (2018), Medical Physics, vol. 45(8), 3768-3782.

    [3] Guardiola et al. (2019), IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 67(8), 4968-4977.

  • MOSAIC BIOMEDICALS

    Jointly supported by the Vall d’Hebron Institut d’Oncologia (VHIO), the Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR) and ICREA.
    Entrepreneur: ICREA Research Professor Joan Seoane.
    Born in April 2013.

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    MOSAIC BIOMEDICALS

    mosaicbiomedicals.com

    Mosaic Biomedicals is a drug discovery and development company located in Barcelona. Mosaic is focused on the development of personalized cancer treatments with a dual mechanism of action to eliminate cancer stem cells (CSC) and reactivate the tumor’s immune system.

    On the one hand, CSCs are believed to be responsible for tumour relapse, metastasis and resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. CSCs are, thus, critical therapeutic targets. On the other hand, the immune system plays a critical role in cancer. The genomic and epigenomic alterations of tumours generate immunogenic antigens that engage an immune response. However, many tumours develop mechanisms to escape the immune system normally by co-opting immune-checkpoint pathways to generate immunosuppression. As a consequence, treatments designed to block the cancer-induced immunotolerance lead to tumour eradication.

    Taking these evidences together, treatments with this dual mechanism of action targeting CSCs and the immune check-point should lead to safer and more effective therapies for cancer patients. In addition, a companion diagnostic test will complement each new therapeutic agent in order to identify those patients that would benefit from the therapy, giving rise to the personalized medicine. This approach increases the success rate for oncology drugs and decreases development time and associated costs.

    Mosaic Biomedicals was generated as a result of the European Research Council Proof of Concept, ERC PoC “Glioma” and a PROVA’T (CERCA and FEDER) grants. Mosaic has established collaborative projects with leading international academic laboratories and is the coordinator of a National project with VHIO awarded with the Retos de Colaboración initiative (Ministry of Science and Innovation). Mosaic has been granted with an Empresa Nacional de Innovación S.A. (ENISA) public funding instrument and has received the support of the private investors Versant Ventures, a prestigious Life Sciences Venture Capital firm with headquartes in Silicon Valley (CA, US) along with the largest venture capital firm in Spain, La Caixa Capital Risc, and local Business Angels.

    In 2017, Mosaic has signed a transformative deal with Celgene and Northern Biologics that accelerates clinical trials of our lead candidate MSC-1. In recognition of this outstanding achievement, Mosaic was awarded with the Bioèxit award 2017 granted by CataloniaBio, the association of companies in the health and life sciences arena in Catalonia.

    In addition, Mosaic was recognized in 2012 as the “Biosciences Start-up with the Greatest Growth Potential” voted by 25 experts from the biotech industry and venture capital as the “Best Biotech Project in Spain 2012” by the Spanish Association of Biocompanies (ASEBIO), The Science and Technology Spanish Foundation (FECyT), the Spanish Association of Biotechnology (SEBiot) and the Spanish Association of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM). 

  • NOSTRUM BIODIVERSITY

    Supported by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), the Institut de Recerca Bioèdica de Barcelona (IRB Barcelona) and ICREA.
    Entrepreneur: ICREA Research Professor Victor Guallar.
    Born in December 2015.

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    NOSTRUM BIODIVERSITY

    Nostrum Biodiscovery is a biotechnological company focused on the computational biology sector and specifically; in the structure-based drug design area dedicated to early drug discovery and development based on rational design techniques.

    For 12 years, Dr. Modesto Orozco and Dr. Victor Guallar supported by top-tier public research institutions as Barcelona SuperComputing Center (BSC), Institute for Research in Biomedine (IRB Barcelona), ICREA and Universitat de Barcelona (UB) have been developing innovative in silico tools to reduce pharmaceutical and biotechnological R&D costs while improving the productivity and future profitability of the drug discovery process.

    Nostrum Biodiscovery technologies represents a unique breakthrough in this field since they will be bringing key features to pharmaceutical discovery users as the new approach to molecular simulation, target characterization, drug recognition and an integrated molecular dynamics into the drug value chain. 

  • OMNIA MOLECULAR

    Jointly supported by the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB), the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona) and ICREA.
    Entrepreneur: ICREA Research Professor Lluís Ribas de Pouplana.
    Born in June 2005.

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    OMNIA MOLECULAR

    omniamol.com

    Omnia Molecular SL (Omnia) is a drug discovery
    company focused on the development of new
    antibiotics, antifungals, or anti-parasitic drugs.
    The company was founded in 2005, and started
    laboratory operations in 2008. Since that time
    Omnia has raised over 4 M€ to finance its
    operations, and has employed over 15 scientists
    at its laboratories in the Barcelona Science Park.
    Today the company continues its search for a
    new drug to fight antibiotic-resistant infections,
    particularly those caused by gram (-) bacteria in
    hospitalized patients.
    Omnia’s proprietary platform for new drug
    selection represents a powerful tool for the
    discovery of new anti-infective compounds.
    Omnia’s approach depends on an innovative use
    of the human protein synthesis machinery that
    allows fast screening for active, non-toxic
    molecules that inhibit the growth of pathogens.
    The company actively pursues joint projects
    with other drug discovery companies and
    academic groups, and has good experience in
    the coordination of European projects. From
    2010-2014 Omnia is the coordinator of three
    successful applications for European projects,
    involving seven partners from five different
    countries. Similarly, the company pursues and
    develops collaborative projects with large
    pharmaceutical companies that share our same
    interests.

    “ICREA’s commitment to the support of
    intellectual property transfer by its scientists
    was instrumental in the birth of Omnia. From its
    inception the company was determined to allow
    the societal forces that supported its preliminary
    research to participate in its potential
    commercial gains. This attitude, however, needs
    to be matched by the willingness from public
    institutions to remove hurdles and facilitate the
    complicated circumstances that a new start-up
    will always encounter. The legal support and the
    motivation provided by ICREA contributed, for
    example, to our success in raising a first round of
    investment and the recruitment of our major
    investing partner”. Lluís Ribas de Pouplana.
     

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