A roundup of some of the top stories coming out of Spain’s life sciences sector, including Brookfield’s ongoing interest in Grifols; Rovi’s change of heart about selling its CDMO business; Reig Jofre’s partnership with startup DyCare for an AI-powered digital rehabilitation platform; Almirall’s European filing for its triazole antifungal compound; biotech Gate2Brain’s EMA orphan drug designation for paediatric cancer, and Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology’s breast cancer CAR-T breakthrough.
Brookfield mulls $7.4 bln bid for Spain’s Grifols, El Confidencial says (Reuters)
Spanish drugmaker Rovi to keep third-party manufacturing business (Reuters)
Reig Jofre partners with DyCare to offer artificial intelligence-based remote physiotherapy services (RH Press, in Spanish)
Catalan pharmaceutical company Reig Jofre has partnered with startup DyCare to offer remote rehabilitation services powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
The collaboration between the two entities arose from the Open Innovation Challenge organised by Acció, the company’s competitiveness agency, during the Health Revolution Congress 2023, with the aim of developing a personalised digital rehabilitation platform that allows users to exercise at home using AI tools.
Eli Lilly/Almirall share positive long-term results for Ebglyss in atopic dermatitis (PMLive)
Eli Lilly and Almirall have announced positive long-term results for their targeted IL-13 inhibitor Ebglyss (lebrikizumab-lbkz) in moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD).
The ADjoin long-term extension study has been evaluating two dosing schedules of the drug in patients who completed 52 weeks in the phase 3 ADvocate 1 or 2 trials.
Almirall’s efinaconazole a step closer to European patients (The Pharma Letter)
Spanish dermatology specialist Almirall (BME: ALM) has announced the successful completion of the decentralized regulatory procedure in Europe for efinaconazole.
The triazole antifungal compound is indicated for the treatment of fungal infection of the nail, known as onychomycosis, under the trade name of Jublia.
Gate2Brain Receives EMA Orphan Drug Designation for Its Groundbreaking Pediatric Cancer Treatment (ASEBio)
Gate2Brain, a cutting-edge technology platform focused on enhancing drug delivery to the brain, has reached a major milestone in the fight against pediatric brain tumors by obtaining Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its innovative product, G2B-002.
This designation recognizes G2B-002 as a potential treatment for a rare and severe disease, specifically granted to drugs aimed at conditions affecting fewer than 5 in 10,000 people in the European Union, and which offer significant advantages over limited or non-existent alternatives.
Caszyme and Integra Therapeutics sign licensing agreement for novel CRISPR Cas12l nucleases (ASEBio)
Caszyme (Vilnius, Lithuania), a pioneer in the development and application of CRISPR gene editing technology, and Integra Therapeutics (Barcelona, Spain), a company leading the way in creating advanced therapies based on next-generation gene-writing tools, today announced a licensing agreement for the use of Caszyme’s novel Cas12l nucleases to develop safer and more efficient gene and cell therapies.
Spain: Syntegon acquisition of Telstar closes (Investors in healthcare)
Germany-based Syntegon, a partner for processing and packaging solutions to the pharmaceutical and food industries, has closed the acquisition of Spain-based Telstar, a manufacturer and supplier of equipment for the global life and health science industries, from Japan-listed Azbil Corporation. Syntegon is a portfolio company of CVC.
The acquisition expands Syntegon’s pharmaceutical processing and packaging business. With the joint offering of fill-finish equipment, isolator systems, freeze-dryers, loading and unloading systems as well as further upstream and downstream equipment, customers now have access to a technology and service portfolio for the production of antibiotics, vaccines, or biologics. The firm will be in a better position to offer both pharmaceutical manufacturers and CMOs seamless line solutions from a single source.
Dual-responsive CAR-T achieved in preclinical models of HER2+ breast cancer (Diariofarma, in Spanish)
The Growth Factors Group at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (HMRI) have developed a new therapy with CAR-T cells capable of activating a potent anti-tumour response against cells that express the p95HER2 protein, specifically present in one third of HER2+ tumours, and of secreting a bi-specific antibody that recognises HER2-overexpressing cells and activates both CAR-T cells and the rest of the immune cells in the tumour microenvironment.
This next-generation CAR-T therapy has been tested in preclinical models of p95HER2-positive HER2+ tumours derived from patients in which a complete, durable and safe anti-tumour response has been observed.
Spain, the seventh EU country with the highest GVA in the pharmaceutical industry; 24,000 million (Diariofarma, in Spanish)
The Spanish pharmaceutical industry contributes a total of 24,002 million euros in gross value added (GVA), making it the seventh country in Europe with the highest contribution, and with 265,325 jobs generated, which places Spain as the fourth European country in this section, only behind Germany, France and Italy; this is according to a report by the consultancy firm PWC for the European Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Efpia), which was published on Wednesday. The economic footprint of the pharmaceutical industry in Europe provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of the pharmaceutical industry on the European economy in each of the Member States and compares this impact on our continent with other regions of the world.
