Almirall, Esteve, Ferrer, Grifols, Reig Jofre or Uriach They are some of the pharmaceutical and health companies born in Catalonia and present throughout the world. Barcelona and its metropolitan area are the embryo of the Catalan health sector and thanks to the commitment they made decades ago in research and development, currently the territory also has world leaders in the sector such as Novartis, Sanofi, Roche, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Hartmann. The field of life and health sciences in Catalonia is made up of 1,400 companies and 91 research entities. 94% are concentrated in the province of Barcelona and 89% of the business community are SMEs. Companies and services in the health field add up to nearly 264,000 jobs, a figure that represents 6.5% of the employed population in the territory and throughout last year, industry (4.1%) and health activities (3.8%) generated a economic impact on the GDP of Catalonia of 7.9%. In fact, Catalonia and the metropolitan area of Barcelona receive the constant arrival of international and multinational innovation centers, which in the last five years have created 25 new hubs of excellence.
The year 2023, 88.5% of Spain’s clinical trials were carried out in Catalonia, with 5,308 active trials. In this aspect, Catalonia is located internationally in fifth position in Europe and in eighth position in the world. The president of AstraZeneca Spain, Rick R. Suarez, announced in mid-March that the British pharmaceutical company was doubling its commitment to the Barcelona R&D hub and will reach 2,000 workers and invest 1.3 billion euros, which is 500 million euros more than it planned to invest when it announced the news. This makes the hub the largest international investment made to date in Catalonia. In this sense, the manager thanked the synergies that he has found between all the administrations, the talent and the local innovative fabric.
The center of AstraZeneca It will be located in the Estel building (former Telefónica headquarters in Barcelona’s Eixample) and will occupy 25,000 square meters of surface. In this hub, the company will integrate innovation and its Alexion branch, the group’s rare diseases division, and will focus mainly on oncology, cardiovascular, kidney, respiratory diseases and vaccines. With this project, foreign direct investment in the sector in 2023 was 110% higher. According to the latest report from the BioRegion 2023, Between 2019 and 2023, investments by foreign companies in the sector generated more than 4,600 jobs.
Challenges of the sector in Catalonia
One of the agents in the sector is Biocat, a public-private foundation that was born with the impulse of the Generalitat and the Barcelona City Council with the objective of identifying the needs of the BioRegion and implementing a strategy and an action plan to maximize the economic and social impact of the life sciences and innovation ecosystem in Catalonia. According to its director, Robert Fabregatall that glitters is not gold, since it ensures that Catalonia needs to organize itself and have more international production companies. “The Catalan health ecosystem is at a moment of maturity, we are very powerful and strong, but we need production capacity and attract larger companies. It would be ideal for multinationals to produce in Catalonia because it would allow us to become larger, create more jobs and make the entire value chain to transfer it to the health system. At the same time, the manager claims that the different agents organize and go “all in one” to “take advantage and optimize all resources.”
The director of the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technologies (CIMTI), Anna Gomez, agrees and adds that “we are pioneers in many aspects, but we have to implement solutions.” In this sense, the professional points out that in terms of innovation and health “we are quite good in Catalonia in terms of creating start-ups, attracting talent and research and we stand out above other territories, even ahead of Madrid,” but recognizes that the system needs to “organize itself and draw up a good roadmap.” “Catalonia is a pioneer in R&D, but it has to take the step of converting knowledge into impact and that it reaches the entire population.
A third challenge that the Catalan health system has is the aging of the population and its care in health centers. The result is that the economic and human resources allocated are insufficient to maintain the quality of patient care. “During the pandemic we had to get our act together, and now what we need is to distinguish well which tools work and which don’t and incorporate them effectively,” says Fabregat, who adds that primary care was the first to collapse during the covid. -19 and also the first to be digitized due to “necessity and urgency.” Therefore, he claims debureaucratize the sector, more agility and connections between different agents. “It is work that provides little value for health professionals and if it were digitized it would allow doctors and nurses to dedicate themselves to what they really have to dedicate themselves to.”
Digital health, a business on the rise
One of the changes that were perceived in the sector derived from the outbreak of the pandemic was the emergence of digital health. Catalonia has 331 companies dedicated to this field that, together, generate a business volume of 592.5 million euros (35% more than in 2022) and employ 4,810 people (56% more). In 2023, the global value of digital health reached $309.9 billion worldwide, with an annual growth forecast of 13% until 2032.
The key to the success of digital health is that it is a young business fabric where 65% of businesses are less than 10 years old. In fact, of the more than 2,100 start-ups present in Catalonia, The health technology segment is the largest and represents 17% of the total. By areas of activity, they operate mainly in the development of clinical tools (18% of the total), the technology consulting (18%), the digital therapies (12%) and the medical decision support (10%). In addition, Catalonia has an attractive location for attracting foreign investment.
Emerging companies and commitment to AI
With respect to start-ups in this field, in 2023 they totaled 220 million euros, according to Biocat, which clarified that these investments occurred in a “complicated” year due to the global geopolitical and economic context. Despite the reduction, the indicators showed that the sector continues to place Catalonia as one of the “most dynamic and competitive health innovation hubs in Europe”. Venture capital remained the main source of investment for emerging companies, with 114 million euros (52%), although there was a decrease compared to the previous year because 2022 was “exceptional”, with 445 million. The entity also highlights that 85 health start-ups and scale-ups are working on the application of the artificial intelligence.
Regarding the main trends in the sector, the study points out AI and the massive use of data, as well as a greater evolution of remote care, the use of virtual and augmented reality, or issues related to privacy and cybersecurity as key elements in its immediate future. Finally, another rising trend will be the medical use of bioprinting and 3D and 4D printing.
Budgets of 12,132 million allocated to health
The Health budget for 2024 reaches 12,132.3 million euros, the highest in history. In absolute terms, Health is the second department that grew the most this year, with 424.1 million euros more. After announcing this item, Manel Balcells, Minister of Health, highlighted that “the Health budgets for this year are good budgets” and 6.3% higher than in 2023. In addition, he added that “they have to help consolidate the transformation of Catalonia’s health system and make it sustainable” and stressed that “strengthen the policies of change and this transformation of the health system.” The 7 main axes of this year’s Budgets go through primary care, professionals, mental health, intermediate care, integrated and social care, research and innovation and public health.