Eduard Diviu, an IQS’ Industrial Engineering and Business Administration graduate, is an entrepreneur who in 2009 decided to take a chance on an unpredictable ecosystem as it is the biotech industry.
Six years later, Diviu is CEO of Sagetis Biotech, an IQS spin-off, and looks to the future hoping to turn his company into a reference in the life sciences sector.
Eduard, tell us about Sagetis Biotech. When and how did it emerge?
Sagetis Biotech is a biotechnological company founded in 2010 as a spin-off of GEMAT, the Materials Engineering Research Group at IQS (GEMAT). In the beginning it was created with the aim to transfer GEMAT technology based on polymers and materials for use in the field of drug delivery.
Which were the company founding team members?
The original team consisted of four people, Dr. Salvador Borrós, two PhD students who were finishing their thesis with him, and me, coming from the Administration and Management sector. In 2009, a year before the company was founded; we decided to apply to BioEmprenedorXXI competition, and we won it. From then on, we decided to incorporate the company with the aim of making technology transfer and be able to capitalize the prize they gave us.
We founded Sagetis Biotech with the original team members, as it was defined on the basis of the competition, although finally the two PhD students could not join the team for personal reasons. Despite this, Dr. Borrós and I decided go ahead with the project.
How did the team evolve from that moment on?
While preparing the company for an investment round in 2010, we met Xavier Rivero, with a long professional experience from the pharmaceutical sector. He initially joined us as external consultant but as months went by, he became more involved in the project, so we asked him to support us with the pharmaceutical part, and finally Rivero became a member of the board of directors. Nowadays Xavier is our Chief Operating Officer (COO).
With this incorporation the company team was completed, although there had been two additional people who ultimately did not participate in the project previously.
Has this team evolved?
The initial trio has been expanded with two persons, Anna Cascante and Josep Lamarca, each one in charge of different areas. For instance, Anna began as a lab researcher and has now become our Chief of Laboratory. She acts as a link with the rest of the team and is responsible for distributing work in the laboratory, where we have a team of 6 people, including four PhDs and two graduates.
What is the uniqueness of Sagetis Biotech?
Our uniqueness relies on a drug delivery technology for which we have found application in the field of gene therapy. In comparison with current standards, we have four new advantages. First, our polymers offer new distribution patterns; then a lower profile of cytokines, that is the limiting factor of the present technology; then we can handle multiple administration, which is now limited to one; and finally an we can provide an improved efficiency.
The combination of the cytokine profile and effectiveness of our technology is closely related to the therapeutic profile. For example, as toxicity levels are lower, it allows you to give a higher dose, whereby your therapeutic window is higher.
In its beginnings, Sagetis Biotech was presented as a drug delivery system based on polymer nanoparticles. What has changed?
We were born as a drug delivery system based on polymer nanoparticles which we applied in normal molecules, with a particular interest in the brain barrier. This was our original focus but two years later we began to pursue two additional platforms; one that has been the gene therapy platform, and the other one based on the use of material on macro scale level. Gene therapy has been the one with more impact, taking into account the number of agreements we have reached with pharmaceutical companies. We developed the right technology at the right time.
How emerged the idea of this change?
We were at a moment wherein we pursued two additional opportunities, apart from the initial one (gene therapy and macro scale level). We decided to license our gene therapy technology after realizing that it could be an interesting technology for a particular project that we carried out with an American company. It was at this point when Dr. Salvador Borrós told us that there was the possibility of collaborating with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to test the polymer. So, we decided to profit from this opportunity knowing that the technology was already licensed.
The testing results were very promising and showed that the system worked well for applications in gene therapy.
How relevant is intellectual property in a biotech company?
In a project like ours, Intellectual property is one of the most important assets. It is an essential asset that sustains all, if you don’t have the technology well protected, then, all you have is a dossier with results, which in this industry is something intangible.
Eduard, you are an industrial engineer and a graduate in Business Administration, and one day you decided to become an entrepreneur.
From early on I knew I wanted to build a business, it was something I had seen at home. It was on the last stage of the university degree when I saw the opportunity. We had to make a business plan and I got to know Dr. Salvador Borrós’ project. It was at that point when I decided to create something that allowed me to leave create something relevant and important, and in this case, I was lucky to be part of a technology-based project that makes me face mental challenges every day.
What is the most motivating challenge of Sagetis Biotech?
Here in Spain, with very few exceptions, it remains yet to be seen if it’s possible to make money in the biotechnology industry. It motivates us to imagine that we could be one of the first cases to achieve this. We belong what could be considered the second generation of Spanish biotech companies, and as result we have a know-how and mature ecosystem that could help us reach that goal.
Has the third batch of biotech companies already arrived?
Yes. Now we have a new generation of biotech companies that has found a pretty mature sector, with a variety of actors more understanding of the particular characteristics of this industry.
How important is for you to have studied a double degree?
A double degree helps you to learn different tools to develop your project. Despite, I think there are many things that are not taught in a university degree, where you only acquire a base and an important background of knowledge. You learn the most through the doing.
You’re an industrial engineer, what led you to bet on the biotech sector?
If someone told me in the second year of my bachelor degree that I would end up working in biotech, I wouldn’t have believed him/her. But the possibility emerged and I’m passionate about it.
How would you describe the daily life of a startup CEO?
Everything depends on the project stage. Normally, once you have the whole system working, which is one of the most difficult aspects, you have a series of meetings during the week to discuss how is everything running and what are the priorities that may have more impact. I think a CEO of a startup mainly spends its time building relationships. This includes meetings, teleconferences with other companies, interactions with investors, and contacts to control intellectual property, amongst others. You never have enough time to focus on writing documents, the daily life of a CEO is characterized by going from meeting to meeting.
What kind of challenges do you face when developing a biotech?
Initially the internal organization was complicated. It was difficult to generate a series of processes, learn to prioritize and distinguish the important activities that could be realized in the background. The generation of documentation autonomously was another complication that we had at the beginning. Another decisive challenge was, and it is today, find investment and financing possibilities.
And what kind of support did you encounter?
I think the fact of being a biotech company and be professionalized has enabled us to easily access to public financing. We currently have a nationwide success rate of 50%. This contrasts with difficulty to find private investment for the 2 to 10 million euros range.
Analyzing the life sciences industry, what kind of future do you predict?
I think the sector offers tools and programs for the initial stages, but the later stages still require to be developed. Perhaps that may be because the biotech sector and ecosystem are very young. I think we need to keep developing it to achieve the same maturity of the first stages.
To whom do you look up to in this sector?
I do not have a referent in particular but I think you always see projects that you admire and understand the way they have been made, such as Oryzon Genomics. We all looked at the company as torchbearer of the biotechnological sector in Spain.
Internationally I look at powerful groups of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology like Moderna Therapeutics or Kala Pharmatheuticals.
One year ago, IQS decided to create center for entrepreneurship, IQS Tech Factory. How do you think it can it help students and entrepreneurs?
I think its creation can provide many tools and advantages to the ecosystem. Those projects that come to IQS Tech Factory will be able to join the professional circuit faster.
As an entrepreneur you want someone that supports you and helps you to get to know the market. For this reason, the establishment of IQS Tech Factory is a good news.
If you had the chance, what advice would you give to an entrepreneur who wants to develop a new venture?
I’d tell him to choose the initial team carefully, build a project is a long and hard process and its organization is essential. I think the distribution of functions should be done not only thinking about the responsibilities of each member but also taking into account that each of them will be part of your life and there is a need to have an important level of understanding and synergies.
Looking to the future; where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years I hope Sagetis Biotech will be financially sustainable and will have its business model validated, which will be based on licenses to other companies. I see myself working in the company at that time although I don’t know if it will be already sold.