Josep.M Escuer y Nuria Noguera, fundadores de Qrem Regenerative
Josep María Escuer and Núria Noguera’s passion for Qrem technology comes from afar. After developing it for a period of time in the framework of a project of the multinational in which they worked, their professional career took a turn. In 2016, they turned the project into Qrem Regenerative, the startup of which they are currently founders.
The company is currently working on a lab-in-a-box capable of treating osteoarthritis through a natural and instant treatment, which reduces pain by 75%.
Núria, Josep María, when and how did Qrem Regenerative come about?
JM: The company “Tecnología Regenerativa Qrem” was constituted on July 25, 2016, based on a project that had been carried out for three years and which Nuria and I were part of at Sener, a multinational engineering services. The company decided not to continue developing its own product and it was then when we agreed to sign a license agreement with the company, to continue developing the project on our own.
N: Qrem emerged as an idea provided by a clinical researcher who needed a technology to do some procedures that were so far performed manually. We liked the idea of being able to create a technology next to the patient to help the surgeon to develop regenerative therapies because it broke much with the current trend that’sthe cells culture in the laboratory. Qrem breaks with long-lasting procedures in which handling is very high.
Which was the founding team? Has it changed? How many people are currently in?
JM: The founders and the current team are Núria and me. On our side, we’ve a team of people committed to the project who collaborate with us in an altruistic way but that can’t be incorporated until we find investors. Among them there are members of the team with whom we worked together in Sener.
If you had to briefly describe what Qrem Regenerative is, how would you do it?
N: Qrem Regenerative is a lab-in-a-box device that solves the problem of knee osteoarthritis in a totally natural way, obtaining a serum rich in regenerative proteins capable of restoring the balance of the knee and reducing pain in 75% for more than one year. It’s a desktop device, which the doctor can have in his office and in half an hour have the serum ready to infiltrate.
Serum rich in regenerating proteins capable of restoring the knee’s balance and reducing pain by 75% for over a year.
Qrem Regenerative technology comes from a spin-out, what made you bet on it?
N: The main reason was that we believed in the project, in Sener we had already identified needs and worked on it. In my case, I was in Sener since 2005, always trying to pull forward the development of own products in the area of health technology.
When Sener decided it was not going to make his own product, I felt that my professional life there was over. There arose the opportunity to be an entrepreneur, to have my own company and to work on a project that I was passionate about. That attracted me a lot and was a pillar of my decision.
JM: Another reason, was the business potential of Qrem, we had been developing Sener for three years, everything that referred to market research had already been done and we knew it fit.
What is the differential value of your technology compared to the competition?
N: The differential value of Qrem is the reduction of treatment time and direct contact with the patient. The therapy lasts a maximum time of half an hour, unlike other treatments like this one, which need two days to be able to be performed, and the procedure is always done next to the patient.
Which public can benefit most from Qrem Regenerative?
N: We believe there are two major audiences that can benefit. Undoubtedly, one of them are patients suffering from osteoarthritis caused by a degenerative issue or due to a traumatic sport. The patient with osteoarthritis is in a situation that we call pain valley, and uses drugs as painkillers that soothe the pain, but they don’t disappear nor stop the progression of the disease, which makes the use of a knee prosthesis something virtually inevitable in some cases.
In this gap, we offer a solution that consists of a natural treatment that, in the worst case, will cause the patient to not notice any pain during the period of one year, and at best, the progression of osteoarthritis is stopped. For example, we’ve the case of an 89-year-old patient, who was treated three years ago, who no longer feels pain.
JM: Another public that we believe will benefit from Qrem is the doctor because he will find a quick solution in our technology, capable of improving the patients’ condition in a very short time.
Have you identified your maximum competitor?
JM: Our biggest competitor is the German company Orthogen which has Orthokin as one of its products, which also generates a serum rich in cytokines, but its procedure is totally different. They extract the patient’s blood, put it on a fungible, take it to a laboratory, where it’s incubated for 24 hours and after different processes, they freeze the dose to send it. Our great difference is that our lab-in-a-box allows that to be done next to the patient at the same moment and with a minimum manipulation.
In what stage is Qrem Regenerative currently in? What are the next steps?
JM: Now we’re focused on three areas. On one hand, at the regulatory level, we’re doing two things, one is to accredit us by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Sanitary Products, as sanitary product’s manufacturers, and on the other, we’re launching the CE marking with a notified body, which we what to have by half this year. Our second focus is seeking investors to help us continue with the project, and third, the search for doctors, that we call early adopters, who want to test the device and give us inputs to improve the product and release its final version. Finally, looking more towards the future, we also look for distributors who can sell the product throughout Europe.
Have you already started making contacts with doctors?
N: Yes, specifically we already have three doctors who have told us that when we’ve the certified product, they will want to try it.
What were the main challenges you encountered when developing a spin-out?
N: The two main challenges were, first of all, getting used to the radical change of scenario, it’s not the same to develop a product in a multinational, then to do it in a spin-out that has no resources. That was the first major challenge that we’ve overcome and that’s consolidated. As a second challenge, the knowledge of the entrepreneurial ecosystem came, before we became a spin-out, when we worked in Sener, the investors were the multinational, and we didn’t know the entrepreneurial ecosystem. That’s why we work day by day to continue to know it.
JM: We’re very young and the main challenges are coming, right now what we’ve to work more is the world of investors.
Núria, you’re a Physicist and Material Engineer, Josep María, you’re a Mechanical Engineer, specialized in managerial development. Had you always been clear that you wanted to be entrepreneurs?
N: During my studies, I had never thought about it, and a criticism of the education system in this country is that they don’t encourage university students to think about creating their own company as they do in the United States. When finishing my studies, I went to work to the National Center of Microelectronics and there I became more familiar with project development and I began to locate in this world.
JM: I didn’t have it at all because in my family there was no such tradition. It has emerged in the last years of my professional career. It can be said that these years in Sener we’ve already been intra-entrepreneurs and our entrepreneurial spirit has been awakened. Upon leaving, we had no doubts about what we wanted to do.
How has your day to day changed since you decided to create your startup?
JM: The day to day is totally different, now you’re thinking the same thing all day. Before you had a job that was normally more than 8 hours, but you were always framed in bases that marked from direction. Now the days consist of meetings with your partner, to establish yourself the next steps, and to pull forward whenever, including weekends. Here, you make your own consensual decisions with your partner.
N: My day by day and give the project turns has not changed, because you’re always thinking about it, you live it 24 hours. The main difference is that we now have to prioritize what we do and what can give a greater impact to the project, having limited resources. Resources are more limited than before.
How do you distribute your daily tasks?
JM: The functions are given by our position, Núria oversees R+D+I, she’s more responsible of the scientific-technical and regulatory part, and I’m more of the company part, as the search for investors. Until we get investors and hire the people we lack, we do a lot of things together.
Analyzing the current situation of the life sciences sector, what future do you predict?
N: I think it has a good future, it’s not like other ICT sectors, such as mobile apps that can be a bubble with a more pronounced end because in the end you can have a limited number of apps on the mobile.
In the case of the health sector, I think it’s a sector that will always want technology, there are many things to innovate, regenerative medicine has enormous potential.
With which referents of the entrepreneurial sector do you identify with?
JM: We don’t have a specific reference, but since we created Qrem Regenerative Technology, we’ve realized that each of the entrepreneurs we’ve met have brought us knowledge. Talking with them helps you understand this world more, to see things clearer, to see things that you never thought about.
N: I recommend that entrepreneurs talk to many entrepreneurs, they explain their experiences and that’s very enriching. We put our experience at the disposal of the ecosystem to those who want to be entrepreneurs.
If you had the opportunity, what advice would you give to an entrepreneur who wants to launch his project?
JM: I would advise them to be very aware of their limitations, that where they don’t reach they should get competent people to do it, there are certain aspects that one can’t personally cover and that you need to be an entrepreneur. You must cover all the key areas of your business to correctly start a business, that costs money, but you must fight to be able to do it.
N: No hurry, but without pause, I’d say. If you’re new to this ecosystem you should go asking people, gathering information, go making your strategy. Meditate all the information you collect, mark you a goal and a timing.
If you look to the future, where do you see Qrem Regenerative in five years?
JM: 5 years from here I see Qrem with a consolidated product that will be selling throughout Europe. The ownership of the company will already depend on the investors and the agreements we reach.
N: I see myself developing an upcoming product in Qrem.
A year and a half ago, IQS decided to create an entrepreneurial center, the IQS Tech Factory. What do you think you can bring to students and entrepreneurs?
N: What we find here at IQS Tech Factory is something that we’ve not found anywhere else, they have welcomed us to help us in our weak points, such as making the company known through events like the IQS Tech Fair or supporting us in business development. We would like your work to continue growing and become a company accelerator, with a space to incubate, to continue establishing synergies, sharing contacts and opinions with all the entrepreneurs that are part of IQS Tech Factory
JM: I would add a couple of things, for us a differential fact is its industrial approach, companies that feel industrial, we feel more comfortable under this umbrella. Everything that’s done in the entrepreneurship center, is done without asking anything in return, I encourage IQS Tech Factory to keep moving forward.