OWL Genomics team

The Board of Directors of the Basque company OWL Genomics has authorised the entry of Iñigo Alvarez de Toledo Renal Foundation as a new company partner through an exchange of shares of the Basque biotechnology company MDRenal. The recent share exchange operation between both companies marks yet another step towards the consolidation of OWL Genomics position as a leading company in the Metabolomics sector.

OWL Genomics, based at the Bizkaia Technology Park, develops pioneering applications in the field of preventive medicine based in the search for biomarkers using state-of-the-art technology. Its activity focuses on the development of systems for early diagnosis and prognosis of liver and metabolic diseases.

In turn, MDRenal, a spin-off from CIC biomaGUNE established in 2008, develops metabolite identification tools and metabolomic data software analysis. Its highly-qualified team has created a beta version of their first product, TotalMatch, which is able to identify up to 100 predetermined metabolites in biological samples, and its analysis software. The founding partners of MDRenal are, as well as CIC biomaGUNE, CIC bioGUNE, the Barcelona Clinic Foundation and the Iñigo Alvarez de Toledo Renal Foundation (FRIAT).

As a result of the operation, FRIAT becomes a partner in OWL Genomics, and the number of directors increases allowing the allocation of one director to FRIAT. Therefore, FRIAT enters a powerful consortium which provides further guarantees of success for its aim of applying new early detection techniques to liver diseases.

At the same time, with the acquisition of 70% of MDRenal shares, OWL Genomics undertakes the full management control of the company through its Managing Director, Julián Sánchez Alegría, achieving major strategic, operating and economic synergies.

In February, the company, currently based in San Sebastián, is relocating its headquarters to the Bizkaia Technology Park’s bioincubator. In consequence, a number of clear operating synergies between both companies will be obtained, among which it is worth highlighting the implementation of a more robust Metabolomic platform consisting of three additional development and marketing lines: diagnosis, prognosis and drug response biomarkers; metabolite identification tools; and analysis software of Metabolomic data.