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The Parc Científic de Barcelona participates in biomedical public-private sector collaboration projects financed by the Ministry of Industry

By 22 de March de 2006No Comments
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 22.03.2006

The Parc Científic de Barcelona participates in biomedical public-private sector collaboration projects financed by the Ministry of Industry

Five years after its establishment, the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB, Barcelona Science Park) has once again demonstrated its capacity to promote collaboration between public and private sectors in the development of biomedical R+D+i projects. In this regard, through several technology platforms, joint research units, research groups and enterprises located at in its facilities, the PCB participates in three biomedical projects, subsidized through the CENIT programme, by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. These projects have been promoted mainly by the pharmaceutical sector in Catalonia.


The programme Consorcios Estratégicos Nacionales en Investigación Tècnica (CENIT) has earmarked 200 million euros over 4 years to fund sixteen large R+D+I projects, which include the biomedical projects Genius Pharma, ONCNOSIS and NanoFarma, which will receive a subsidy covering 46.4% of their budgets, that is to say, a total of almost 50 million euros.

The CENIT programme is a qualitative advancement in R+D+I collaboration between enterprises and public research centres that provides more than 135 million euros to universities, public research bodies and technology centres, among which the PCB figures. One hundred and seventy-five companies are expected to participate in these projects.

The Genius Pharma project, directed by the pharmaceutical companies Almirall, Esteve and URIACH and the biotech enterprises CrystaX and Enantia, both at the PCB, aims to discover new drugs by applying pioneering technology in molecular design and using cutting-edge resources such as supercomputation and the new synchrotron in Vallès. In addition to the PCB, this project, assigned a budget of 40 million euros, will also involve other public research centres such as the National Centre of Genotyping, at the Municipal Institute of Medical Research of Barcelona.

The Grup Ferrer Internacional, Laboratoris LETI and biotech enterprises Oryzon genomics and Advancell, both at the PCB, have directed the ONCNOSIS project. This is an ambitious research initiative which aims to identify early diagnostic markers for several kinds of cancer. With a budget of 28 million euros, the project comprises 21 public research centres, including the PCB, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the Vall d’Hebron Hospital and the CNIO. The project, which also involves the multinational SIEMENS and four Spanish biotech enterprises, combines the use of state-of-the-art technologies such as genomics and nantechnology.

Finally, the third project, NANOFARM, is directed by the pharmaceutical companies Pharmamar, ROVI, and FAES, and also the Catalan group LIPOTEC, which includes companies such as BCN peptides, GP PHARMA, Diverdrugs and LIPOTEC itself. Funded by 38 million euros, the project aims to develop nanotechnology platforms for drug delivery systems (DDS). The overall objective is to improve the therapeutic properties of the active compounds of the enterprises participating in this initiative. NANOFARM is an integrated multidisciplinary project that involves more than 25 public research institutions, among these the PCB, IDIBAPS, the Hospital Clínic Foundation, the CSIC and the University Miguel Hernández.