Biotech milestone in Salamanca: Neurofix seals agreement to develop its pioneering drug

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Salamanca-based biotech company Neurofix Pharma has reached the biggest milestone in its trajectory by reaching an agreement with Laminar, a pharmaceutical company, to license NFX88, the pioneering drug it has been developing since 2015 to treat neuropathic pain in patients with spinal cord injury. This agreement, one of the most important in the history of this sector in Castilla y León, will reach 220 million euros over a period of between 10 and 15 years, this means that the company will multiply its value by 20 times the value it had just seven years ago, a period during which it has been based in the Science Park of the University of Salamanca.

It was in 2016 when its heads, Álvaro Sanz and Miguel Ángel Ávila, signed the agreement with Juan Manuel Corchado, who was then the Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer of the University of Salamanca and Director of the Science Park, and was aware of the potential of Neurofix as a biomedical research company. Since then, the development of the Salamanca-based biotech company Neurofix has been highly successful thanks to its research into a drug that alleviates the pain suffered by people with spinal cord injuries. This agreement represents the culmination of Neurofix's initial goal for the development of this drug, which months ago successfully completed phase IIA of its clinical trial, demonstrating its excellent safety profile and providing evidence of its efficacy, which means that it is now ready to begin the next clinical milestone IIB.

Under the agreement, Neurofix Pharma will receive significant stable and ongoing revenues in addition to royalty payments from future profits from the commercialisation of NFX88 and milestone payments. In addition, Neurofix Pharma will also receive additional royalties from the commercialisation of the drug under development by Laminar Pharma against brain tumours, which is currently in its last clinical phase before being launched on the market. This increases the security and scale of the transaction, which, according to the proposal's estimates, is expected to reach 220 million euros over a period of 10 to 15 years.

Neurofix Pharma CEO Miguel Angel Avila says: "It is extraordinarily difficult to take a drug development company to the clinical level we have reached. Only 1-3 molecules out of 10,000 reach this point. But it is even more difficult to move from value to profit in this complex sector, as it requires large investments, strict controls to obtain approvals from international organisations, and to synchronise complex teams, patents, galenics, hospitals, regulatory, financial, capital, structure, strategy, etc. It has been some thirty years since Castilla y León had reached this level of clinical development of a drug in a company such as Neurofix. A milestone that has been achieved in Salamanca and with a modest investment compared to what the sector is used to. This has allowed the shareholders to obtain a significant return on their investment and at the same time the objectives set out at the beginning will be achieved".

University Support

Since it took its first steps, the University of Salamanca has supported the company and Professor Juan Manuel Corchado has been confident about its potential, first by encouraging the company's inclusion in the Science Park, and then by supporting it as an independent advisor. "I am very proud of its excellent results, of having contributed to its establishment in Salamanca and of having been involved in its business development, as it is a company that I practically saw come into being in the Science Park", said Juan Manuel Corchado. "Since I became an advisor to the company, its valuation has gone from several tens of millions of euros to more than two hundred, an extraordinary success in less than a year", and he emphasised that Neurofix Pharma is already a benchmark in its sector.

"Best Company NEOTEC", "Innovative SME" and 'EU Horizon 2020 Excellence' awards are some of the recognitions that the Salamanca-based biotech Neurofix has received since its establishment in 2015. In addition, the progress of NFX88's clinical trial has enabled its integration into the Pre-Market Environment (EpM) training programme of the BME (Spanish Stock Exchanges and Markets), as a step prior to the company's leap into the capital markets. The company also has prominent investors, including the Matutes family's Family Office.

Other Biotechnology Success Stories from Salamanca 

The success of this company consolidates Salamanca as a reference point for companies in the field of biotechnology. The region has major companies in the health sector, such as Cytognos, a company based in the Santa Marta de Tormes industrial zone dedicated to carrying out developments linked to the field of flow cytometry - a cellular analysis tool used in the field of cancer. At the beginning of 2022 it was acquired by one of the largest medical technology companies, Becton Dickinson, an American multinational that has expanded its presence in Spain to Salamanca.

The powerful pharmaceutical company Novartis has also chosen the province of Salamanca to open a pioneering factory for the creation of drugs in the fight against cancer. It will invest 10 million euros to build the most modern factory in Europe in Castellanos de Moriscos, where it will manufacture an innovative oncological therapy based on radioligands, a type of nuclear medicine that is beginning to be used for breast and prostate tumours.

For its part, Salamanca City Council is promoting the construction of an incubator aimed at Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Health projects. Construction work is already underway on the new agri-food campus, next to La Platina, and the idea is for it to start operating with 20 companies ranging from personalised medicine to rare diseases.

In addition, the veterinary drug manufacturing company Merck Sharp & Dohme Animal Health SL has a project underway to expand its facilities in Moríñigo with a large investment that would allow it to multiply the number of jobs that the company currently has, also based in the El Montalvo industrial area in Salamanca.

Inmunostep, a biotechnology company that has played an important role in the development of different types of tests, such as those used in the Covid-19 pandemic, was born in the heart of the University of Salamanca.

In this line, the Salamanca Tech brand was launched almost a year ago, promoted by the AIR Institute with the BISITE Research Group of the University of Salamanca and the collaboration of the Salamanca City Council. This initiative seeks to promote innovation and technological development in the city. The aim of Salamanca Tech is to make Salamanca a benchmark in innovation, bringing together the pillars of science, sustainability, entrepreneurship, technology, logistics and health. Experts in aeronautics, quantum supercomputing, sustainability and AI, tourism and the primary sector have already met at the diverse conferences, showcasing the possibilities of Salamanca as a technological city. In this context, the EDIH DIGIS3 and the IoT Innovation Digital Hub play an important role.

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Author: Rosa Domínguez León