When Roche bought Swiss antibody group GlycArt Biotechnology AG in 2005, an early move in Big Pharma’s by now frenzied biotech land-grab, GlycArt’s co-founder and CEO Joël Jean-Mairet, PhD, was freed up to take his expertise—and some of his money—elsewhere. [See Deal] He turned his attention to the biotech sector in his birthplace, Spain.
Spanish biotech remains in its infancy, held back by a lack of capital and management expertise. So Jean-Mairet is taking steps to improve the situation by setting up VC firm...