One breast cancer treatment and a peanut allergy shot are the two compounds that has managed to take the firm to the clinical phase, during which tests are done to learn how the drug works in people and to find out if it is safe and effective. “When we talk about medicines, many times what is behind it is not known. Chances of success are very low and guaranteeing safety and efficacy for the patient requires a process with many demands, very long. We can be talking on average between ten and fifteen years”, he explains. Maite Agüeros narrowing his eyes, as if trying to glimpse the end of that period.
Now, but in a year, more or less, it has been possible to develop a dozen vaccines against Covid-19… “It is true, it has been an unprecedented historical event. Where is the difference? Well, due to the pandemic, there have been many resources that have been invested There has been funding, support from governments and work from pharmaceutical companies. And, of course, there was a lot of research going on. Imagine what could happen if enough resources are devoted to science. And I am not only talking about governments, but also at a private level, as is the case in other countries such as the United States, although in Spain funds are appearing that invest in biotechnology, science or health because it is obvious that it is profitable. We’re going down the road for you that science we have, so excellentis translated into products and technology within the reach of society”.
“As a child I read the prospectuses of medicines in order to know what they were for. It was something that caught my attention.”
There are the two compounds of InnoUp Farma that have reached the clinical stage. It all started at the University of Navarrain the research group led by Juan Manuel Irache and around 2003, when they began to outline the technology that has made their evolution possible. “There were many years of previous, basic research. And, from there, we developed them: from 2015 the anticancer drug and, the following year, the food allergy vaccines. In 2019 we were authorized to carry out the first clinical trial and we calculate that the two drugs could be on the market in 2027”.
We do accounts. If until 2027 the medicines are not marketed, 12 years pass, to which must be added those that the company dedicated to the previous investigation. A period that we assume without income and with large expenses. The question is how it is financed: “We develop the products until we demonstrate that they are safe and effective in people, that is, in the first two clinical phases. Once that point is reached, we will license the technology to another pharmaceutical company, which will be in charge of continuing the studies in the other two clinical and commercialization phases. That is when the company will receive the proceeds from the sale of the technology, but while we finance ourselves basically with private investment and public credits”.
Maite Agüeros’ professional life has always been linked to scientific research.
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Meanwhile, InnoUp Farma advances in the administrative and bureaucratic procedures, also very complex. “Our main market is the American, especially for food allergies, and we are beginning discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to obtain authorizations. We are developing a vaccine for peanut allergies, but the advantage is that we have a technology that can be used to treat other food allergies. The same goes for the anti-cancer compound, there are many products that can benefit from this technology and that will mark our growth”. This reminds us that, in one of her public interventions, Maite Agüeros lamented the “gender investment gap”. She even denounced that there is reticence when it comes to financing if women are in charge of companies, when the return is three times greater. “Yes, I have obtained financing, but that is what the data says. In the same way that without science there is no future, without women in it either”.
ANOTHER COUNTRY IN FRONT OF THE WINDOW
The start-up of a biotech is even more complicated than that of other companies. Maite Agüeros was aware of this but accepted the challenge. Perhaps because, as she once said, it is “daring, adventurous and risky, but also methodical, rational and sociable”. She laughs at the reminder and adds that he also has patience, perseverance and passion. “Whatever I do in any of the facets of my life, I try to enjoy them.” Perhaps those character traits of his are due to the fact that he was born in 1978 in Luzaide / Valcarlos, where he lived until he was ten years old. “And that prints character,” she points out with a crystal-clear laugh. “It is that opening the window and having another country in front of you, with another language and another way of thinking makes you have a more open mind. Also, the freedom you enjoy living in a town makes you more responsible.” He came to Pamplona to study as a boarding school. “Being away from home from the age of ten also marks because makes you maturelook for life and resolve situations”.
Smiling, she tells us that as a child she used to read the medicine leaflets in order to know “what they were for, it was something that caught my attention”. So she chose Pharmacy. “And already doing the race, I realized that what I liked was the most galenic part, design and create drugs”.
Juan Manuel Irache was one of his professors at the University of Navarra and has played a key role in his professional life. He supervised her thesis, and she worked for years in his nanotechnology research group. When they managed to design a technology to develop drugs, they wondered what they could do with it. “We didn’t know what specific drugs we could put it into practice. With that purpose the company was born, we founded it Juan Manuel Irache; Manuel Rodriguez, doctor in Pharmacy and with a lot of experience in the world of the pharmaceutical industry; and I, who knew the technology very well. Let’s say we were complementary. In addition to my scientific profile, there has always been a business side within me. When I finished my doctorate I did a master’s degree in Business Administration and Management and continued training in the business area”.
“I don’t even want to think about how we would be now without the Covid-19 vaccines.”
InnoUp Farma can therefore be considered a start up from the University of Navarra, with which they reached an agreement to be able to use the patents and set out to demonstrate that they could obtain safe and effective medicines “for diseases that have no cure, such as peanut allergies, or for those whose treatments could be greatly improved, such as cancer treatments”. “We all know about the adverse effects that traditional chemotherapy has. And, with our technology, we managed to reduce its toxicity very significantly and at the same time improve its efficacy”. This vocation to help community health is also shown in the license outlined by the firm, which will be made available to laboratories interested in its technology and wish to acquire the rights of use.
AWARDS THAT GIVE VISIBILITY
The progress of the company and the relevance of its research have led its director to receive numerous awards: Young Entrepreneur 2018, Entrepreneur XXI, Amedna/Neeze Entrepreneur 2021 (Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Managers of Navarra)… He also appeared among the leaders chosen by this means to illustrate the Capital Yearbook of Navarra Economy and Business in 2019.
“Well, I’d be kidding myself if I thought this isn’t recognition for the team for getting two products into the clinical phase that we’re very hopeful will work and improve patients’ quality of life. It is possibly more evident in biotechnology than in any other sector that someone alone cannot do anything. We are between 40 and 50 to develop these drugs, there are researchers, clinicians, financiers, patent experts and the regulatory area, quality…”. A small part of them are in the company’s workforce, while the rest are external collaborators, universities and research centers. They can be anywhere in the world we look for the best”.
Agüeros has won numerous awards as a businesswoman in recent years.
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But he admits that, by awarding them to her, the prizes serve to give visibility to the role of women in science. “Not because I consider myself an example of anything, but in case my experience can inspire someone, help to carry out more technology transfer, that the fact of being scientists and businesswomen is also made visible. If I can help that, go ahead!” She considers the award that Amedna gave her important because she received it together with two other representatives of the scientific and biotechnological sector. “AND A few years ago something like this was unthinkableThat gave me great joy.”
“We have realized that supporting science is a priority for our own good, because that way we will have products that solve our lives.”
Before saying goodbye, we take the opportunity to ask you what you feel when you hear those who reject the Covid-19 vaccine. There she becomes serious and assures that she feels sorry. “The facts and numbers are there, since they started injecting deaths have been drastically reduced. Given the evidence, little more needs to be said. I don’t even want to think about how we would be without vaccines”, He comments opening his hands and leaning back in his chair, as if he wanted to avoid the coronavirus.
But, is there a danger that after the effervescence of Covid-19, and once the pandemic has left us, we will once again forget about the shortcomings of scientists to carry out their work? Maite Agüeros, after putting forward another of his personality traits – “I am very positive” -, trusts that it will not happen. “Socially, we have realized that supporting science is a priority for our own good, because that way we will have products that solve our lives. But also because it is a sector that generates a very important social and economic returnvery high quality jobs and is a strategic lever for sustainable growth”.
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