The Basque Bioregion has consolidated its growing international presence with its participation in June at the sector's most important convention worldwide. The 15 Basque biotechnology companies that took part at the BIO 2008 International Convention and Exhibition in San Diego (USA), led by the BioBasque Agency, made the most of their presence at the exhibition to enter into commercial agreements, establish contacts and lay the foundations for future business with various companies from around the world, including major multinational pharmaceutical companies.

For the second year running at the exhibition, Basque biocompanies also managed to strengthen established links and put out feelers for possible future partnerships with representatives from US and European companies. As María Aguirre, the BioBasque Agency representative, pointed out, "the Basque Bioregion continues to consolidate its international reputation, but perhaps the most important thing is that the companies have reported much better results in terms of visibility and relations with customers, partners and distributors”.

During BIO 2008, Genetadi Biotech closed two agreements with customers in France and Germany, and it also established important contacts for the future. European companies showed great interest in the work of Vacunek and talks have begun for a possible partnership with a Mexican laboratory.

Grupo Noray BG (comprising NorayBio and Histocell) made 10 new contacts with international distributors for its products and with direct customers for NorayBio and Histocell. This group, whose central offices are in the Bizkaia Technology Park, also used its time in San Diego to establish negotiations with companies in South-east Asia and the United States, which may lead to future agreements.

During the exhibition in California, DRO Biosystems showcased its two business lines: on the one hand, it offers services to develop processes to produce biotherapeutic substances and, on the other hand, the SSB (Static Support Bed) technology used in different stages of the biopharmaceutical production process, including the production of cells for cellular therapies. This latest application of technology to cultivate cells has aroused most interest among the companies in the cellular therapy markets and some of them have expressed their interest in acquiring SSB technology to incorporate into their products. The Pharmakine stand aroused interest among various international representatives interested in distributing its products throughout Europe and the United States.

The other Basque companies that went to BIO 2008 also expressed their satisfaction with the outcome. During the exhibition, Abyntek Biopharma, Progenika, Proteomika, Biobide, Midatech, Owl Genomics, BTI Biotechnology Institute, Innoprot and MD Renal established a good number of contacts at different levels: international and national customers, partners and competitors.

The BioBasque Agency manager, María Aguirre, consider it to be "very positive" that "for the second year running, the Basque presence at the most important international convention of the biotechnology sector was so strong”. At the same time, the fact that the 15 companies at San Diego received significant institutional backing is particularly noteworthy.