CataloniaBio & HealthTech has awarded the biotech company IMIDomics with the Bioèxit Award for the exemplary translation from the clinic to the business world and, in particular, for the milestones achieved in funding during 2021 in the field of biomedicine and health in Catalonia. The ceremony took place on March 22 as part of the CataloniaBio & HealthTech Gala at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, which was attended by the Catalan Minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, and more than 250 members of the association, including entrepreneurs, executives, and investors in the sector.

The jury has especially valued IMIDomics' ability to raise international funds during  2021. The biotechnology, a spin-off of Vall d'Hebron, closed a round of  14 million euros last July, led by the American firm DNS Capital, with the participation of the pharmaceutical company Brystol Myers Squibb, The Pritzker Organization and TAO Capital, among other investors. IMIDomics is working on the discovery and development of new drugs for the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and has created the IMIDomics Precision Discovery Platform, that will accelerate precision medicine in this therapeutic field and respond to needs that are not yet covered. In this sense, the jury also highlighted the trajectory of IMIDomics as a paradigmatic and successful  example of the translation from the clinic to a company.

Sara Marsal, co-founder and CMO, thanked the award via video from San Francisco, where she is working on the company’s strategic plan. On his behalf, Toni Julià received the award from the Minister of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Maria Argimon. Marsal thanked the support of all those people, patients and all those who have accompanied them in all these years of growth of the company, "IMIDomics is a collective project and I cannot conceive of this award but as a recognition to all those who have made it possible”. She reflected on entrepreneurship, saying that "it is not an easy or risk-free journey". "If I look back and think about the successes we have had, I would point at having a global and international approach from the beginning, excellence in work and team, and confidence in people," she added.

To date, the Bioèxit Award has been given to Oryzon (2015), Minoryx Therapeutics and Palobiofarma (2016), STAT-Dx and Mosaic Biomedicals (2017), Anaconda Biomed and Mind the Byte (2018), Ysios Capital and Antonio Parente (2019), Kymos (2020) and ONA Therapeutics (2021).