• 14 Basque companies will exhibit their latest products at BIO 2008, where over 25,000 people from the sector will gather in San Diego (California) from 17 to 20 June.

• The BioBasque Agency will showcase the emerging Basque bioregion, which has nearly 70 companies and directly employs over 1,400 people.

• This is the third time that the BioBasque Agency has attended the BIO Congress.

A delegation of Basque biotechnology companies, led by the BioBasque Agency will showcase their new products at BIO 2008, the world's leading international biotech convention, to be held in San Diego from 17 to 20 June. The important Basque delegation means that the Basque Country, after Catalonia, is the Spanish bioRegion with the most companies represented at this event, which attract 25,000 people from the sector every year.

The companies will go to BIO 2008 with a delegation of representatives from the Basque institutions, led by the Basque Government’s Director of Technology, Alberto Fernández, and the head of the BioBasque Agency, María Aguirre; the Basque Government’s Director of Entrepreneurship Promotion, Imanol Aburto; as well as various representatives of the Technological Parks, led by their chairman, Julián Sánchez; along with representatives from the Sociedad para la Promoción y Reconversión Industrial (SPRI) and from the business incubators (the director of BIC Gipuzkoa Berrilan, Marisa Arriola, and the representative of the BIOKABI bioincubator, Fernando Bovedilla).

The fourteen Basque companies that will be present at the sector’s leading international convention are Abyntek Biopharma, Biobide, BTI, DRO Biosystems, Genetadi Biotech, Histocell, Innoprot, Midatech Biogune, Noraybio, Owl Genomics, Pharmakine, Progenika Biopharma, Proteomika, and Vacunek. The Basque companies will have their respective stands, within the framework of the Basque bioRegion, where they will showcase their operations and new lines, and commercial agreements may be signed, continuing last year's successful experience.

The most recent milestones since BIO 2007 includes the setting up of the Progenika biocorporate groups (Progenika Biopharma, Proteomika and Abyntek Biopharma), and Noray BG, and the increased international activity.

The Basque Country, an emerging bioRegion

The Progenika Group, Noray BG or BTI Biotechnology Institute are just some examples of this thriving sector in the Basque Country. The Basque bioscience sector currently consists of nearly 70 companies, with a new company being created every three months, which provide direct employment for over 1,300 people and whose turnover is over 300 million euros. The companies belonging to this sector include leaders in their markets, such as personalized medicine, bioinformatics or implantology.

The companies will go to BIO 2008 with a delegation of representatives from the Basque institutions, led by the Basque Government’s Director of Technology, Alberto Fernández, and the head of the BioBasque Agency, María Aguirre; the Basque Government’s Director of Entrepreneurship Promotion, Imanol Aburto; as well as various representatives of the Technological Parks, led by their chairman, Julián Sánchez; along with representatives from the Sociedad para la Promoción y Reconversión Industrial (SPRI) and from the business incubators (the director of BIC Gipuzkoa Berrilan, Marisa Arriola, and the representative of the BIOKABI bioincubator, Fernando Bovedilla).

The fourteen Basque companies that will be present at the sector’s leading international convention are Abyntek Biopharma, Biobide, BTI, DRO Biosystems, Genetadi Biotech, Histocell, Innoprot, Midatech Biogune, Noraybio, Owl Genomics, Pharmakine, Progenika Biopharma, Proteomika, and Vacunek. The Basque companies will have their respective stands, within the framework of the Basque bioRegion, where they will showcase their operations and new lines, and commercial agreements may be signed, continuing last year's successful experience.

The most recent milestones since BIO 2007 includes the setting up of the Progenika biocorporate groups (Progenika Biopharma, Proteomika and Abyntek Biopharma), and Noray BG, and the increased international activity.

The Basque companies at BIO San Diego

Progenika Biopharma has recently opened its first Diagnostic Services Centre outside Spain. These facilities, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), have received certification by the Federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Progenika will be at BIO San Diego with its two genetic diagnostic products that are having the greatest impact internationally: Bloodchip and Lipochip. The Bloodchip (the first blood group genotype test which enhances donor-receptor compatibility and, thus, safety during transfusions) is considered to be a benchmark tool by the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT). The Lipochip, aimed at the certain diagnosis of family hypercholesterolaemia, has been recognised as the most useful tool by the European Arteriosclerosis Society. Lipochip is already used in the Basque Country and other autonomous communities, and will be internationally promoted thanks to the agreements reached with Italy, Germany and The Netherlands. Other European countries have expressed interest in the product and it will shortly be marketed in Asia and the Middle East.

Finally, San Diego will also witness the interest aroused in the pharmaceutical industry by the recent agreement signed with Auguron, a Harvard spin-off, which gives Progenika, through its Proteomika subsidiary, the exclusive rights on the NAPPA technology.

Noray BG Group (Biosciences Group) it currently has two companies, Noraybio and Histocell, and its presence at BIO will enable it to consolidate its portfolio of international clients and agreements for the group's companies, mainly on the Asian and North-American markets. Noray Bioinformatics is a bioinformatics company dedicated to designing, developing and implementing software of the biosciences sector. . It has four product lines, including biological information management and specific research software, along with software for biobanks, biopharmaceutical companies and for treating human infertility.

San Diego will be the opportunity to launch in the United States one of its flagship products, Noraymet Adme, which allows the behaviour of new drugs in humans to be predicted, within needing to resort to laboratory animals for the trials.

Histocell is a biotechnology company that specialises in tissue engineering and biological substitutes. It develops new products for regenerative medicine.

Owl Genomics the company develops pioneering applications in the area of preventive medicine, based on the identification of biomarkers using state-of-the-art technology, including the recent metabolomics. The design of early diagnostic and prognostic systems is particularly focused on hepatic and metabolic diseases.

Owl Genomics also works on identifying therapeutic targets for various pathologies related with the liver and endocrine system, which, in many cases, do not have good treatment alternatives.

BTI Biotechnology Institute is a biomedical and biotechnology company that works in four strategic areas: dental implants, regenerative therapy, biomaterials and medical informatics that backs up the other lines.

BTI is considered a scientific resource in tissue regeneration, using Plasma Rich in Growth Factors (PRGF) in different areas of medicine. The company is internationally renowned and the US office staff (Blue Bell, Philadelphia) will showcase the company’s latest products and work lines at BIO 2008.

Pharmakine is a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that designs, develops and commercializes worldwide products and technologies for cancer metastasis research and treatment (including prognostic services) and offers high added value services to pharmaceutical (including Merck, Bayer, Wyeth, GE Healthcare or Abbott Laboratories) and biotechnological companies, as well as to health centres. Pharmakine also has three molecule families that block the progression of cancer and metastasis.

One of its goals at BIO San Diego is, precisely, to search for partners to develop these therapeutic compounds and set up clinical trials.

Biobide, this Biotechnology company in Gipuzkoa is focused on developing drug potentials and specialises in the automated High Throughput Screening (HTS) of potential new drugs. It is noted for its innovative approach as it introduces a different service-screening concept into the market by using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model organism, in other works as a work tool when testing.

Innoprot is a spin-off from the University of the Basque Country and is also involved in the development procedure of drugs, particularly screening, but it focuses on generating and developing cell-based assay kits. It aims to identify, quickly and efficiently, the chemical compounds that are most likely to be turned into future drugs.

Genetadi Biotech develops new human genetic diagnostic tools in the fields of gynaecology and oncology. It is working on infertility, endometriosis and endometrial cancer.

It has recently started a new line of services and products in the field of neonatal paediatrics, which it will launch in San Diego.

Midatech specialises in the field of nanobiotechnology and has centres in the Basque Country and England. It is the world leader in the design, synthesis and manufacture of biocompatible nanoparticles called nanocells. Nanocells are being used to create a wide variety of products that have massive potential as therapeutics as they can reach specific parts of the body.

DRO Biosystems is going to BIO 2008 to market its own technology (the SSB, Static Support Bed), which it uses in the biotherapeutic production process to meet the demand of the biopharmaceutical and biotechnological sector.

As well as developing new applications of its technology, DRO Biosystems is working on producing a therapeutic molecule (immunology adjuvant) which may strengthen vaccines against tumour and viral diseases.

Vacunek a spin off of the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (Neiker-Tecnalia), continues to progress in its plan to enter the animal health market with innovative biotechnological products to detect pathogens. These products, for the poultry, rabbit-breeding and livestock sectors, are marketed as kits with all the reagents and necessary controls to perform the test. At BIO 2008, the company will showcase various outstanding products, including: AberpestiAR-VK (detection of the bovine viral diarrhoea virus, border disease virus or classical swine fever); MyxunAR-VK (myxomatosis virus in the rabbit); ParaTBKuanti-VK (paratuberculosis in cattle, sheep and rabbits); and Hegazin-VK (bird flu virus A and sub-types H5/H7).