This sector of activity is immersed in an active movement of both corporate consolidation operations such as the one carried out by Progenika and Griffols as well as by several start-ups that are trying to carve out a niche for themselves in the complicated world of healthcare.
Corporate operations: Grifols acquires Progenika
The Catalan plasma derivatives multinational Grifols has bought 60% of the capital of the Basque biotech firm Progenika Biopharma 37 million in March 2013.
Grifols is the world's third largest producer of plasma-derived biological drugs, and is a pioneering group in the research and development of therapeutic alternatives.
Progenika specialises in the development of technology for personalised medicine, and focuses its activity on the design and production of genomic and proteomic tests for in vitro diagnosis, disease prognosis, response prediction and drug therapy monitoring.
In 2012, Grifols increased its profit fivefold, from 50.3 million euros in 2011 to 256.7 million euros at the end of last year.
The year-on-year profit growth of 410.2 % is explained by the acquisition of its US competitor Talecris, which it closed in June 2011, and the company's strong performance abroad, especially in the US and Canada.
Startups in action: Sword Diagnostic and Chronix
On the other hand, new initiatives are emerging, seeking new rounds of funding, which foresee the further development of new diagnostic systems. Some of these cases are:
– Sword Diagnostics
Espada Diagnostics high-throughput screening technology significantly improves the overall performance of biomedical assays and tests.
– Chronix
Chronix Biomedical, Inc. is a molecular diagnostics company, developing primarily blood tests for cancer, including companion diagnostics and tests for the detection of minimal residual disease.
More active funds: significant presence of VCs linked to pharmaceutical companies
In the first few months of 2013 we have seen VC funds related to multinational pharmaceutical companies enter the diagnostics sector. An example of this has been the Roche Fund's entry in March in Maculogix.
Diego Gutiérrez Zarza
ABRA INVEST
Web: www.abra-invest.com
Blog: http://abrainvest.wordpress.com/