Ignasi Biosca: "I encourage Catalan family businesses to go public."

BarcelonaReig Jofre, a Catalan family-owned pharmaceutical company, earned €10.5 million last year, 11% more than the previous year, and posted revenues of €337 million, up 7%, driven by a strong external push, as almost €60 out of every €100 were generated abroad. This week, it inaugurated an expansion that doubles the production capacity of its Swedish subsidiary, Bioglan. And in 2025, it celebrated its first decade on the stock market, since its merger with the former Natraceutical. The listing, which has led to around 6,000 shareholders today, has been a positive experience, according to its CEO, Ignasi Biosca, representing the third generation of owners of the company, who receivesCompanies at its Sant Joan Despí plant, where they produce high-precision anesthetics for the Japanese market. The fact is that the stock market, he adds, has been a way to reinforce the group's commitment to innovation, especially technological innovation, and also to boost its shift from traditional chemical-based medicines to biotechnology-based medicines, which offer greater flexibility, compared to prescription drugs, which, after years of public pressure to lower their prices, are reported to be selling more than they are producing.

If you had to do it today, would you go public?

— Yes. For a Catalan family business, it was a big leap, but the family is happy to have taken it. The clearest advantage is that you separate the family space from the business project and, therefore, make the two dimensions much more independent.

Does it have more advantages than disadvantages?

— Yes. There's a step you have to jump through at the beginning because you have to meet a whole series of requirements; but once that's done, the business plan is more transparent. And if you want to get into the nitty-gritty, you can do so. With a clean and transparent capital increase, you still have the ability to raise debt, and I'd even say it's easier, because banks see the project more transparently because they know you better. And the project is clearer and more open to all teams and clients. I think the advantages outweigh the benefits.

What is the conclusion?

— I encourage Catalan family businesses of a certain size to consider going public. It's not the best way to achieve a better valuation—Reig Jofre is worth more than the shares on the market—but by listing, we're not seeking to maximize value. private equityWhat we want is to give the project the maximum life, and the way to do that is to have highly professionalized governance. The markets force you to do that. If what we want is for this economic agent, which generates jobs, exports, and pays taxes, to survive, by going public you remove the risks and interference from the relationship between the family and the company.

The family now holds 63% of the capital, up from over 70%. Will it reduce its stake further?

— It was lowered for two reasons. First, because there were opportunities for growth by issuing new shares, with partners who believe in the project and want to accompany the family on this journey. There's another advantage: the family is growing and ends up debating whether to sell or continue, and it's increasingly spread out among more relatives and, therefore, more difficult to control. The stock market allows you to work in a world of shades of gray. The Reig family is in control. de factoBut it's not "Either we sell grandpa's company or we're stuck," and if someone wants to leave or join, it's easier. The family maintains control and a long-term vision. And it's combined with a short-term vision of the markets. In any case, it's good that in a company like ours, which is still a small business, there is a controlling shareholder, a strong and stable core. It would be dangerous for the family to fall below 51%.

In addition, there are two other shareholders...

— Yes, Kazaharra Corporación Empresarial, with 10%, and the Ybarra Careaga family, with 6%. These two are investors who believe in the project, the industry, and the market, and they also have that long-term vision, although certainly not as much as the family. But they do want to invest in a project they don't have a pressing need to enter or exit.

It is said that local pharmaceutical companies have neglected research.

The ability to truly invest in research into new treatments lies in the hands of very few large pharmaceutical companies worldwide. We, the local pharmaceutical companies, must somehow coexist in this world of products that are more pharmaceutical, more OTC, more focused on health than disease, and with some innovation that isn't radical—that is, developing a new drug that cures a disease. And we must invest in incremental innovation, improving the way we dose or administer certain types of treatment. The vast majority of the Catalan pharmaceutical industry is trying to achieve this incremental innovation.

And what is your model?

— We've always been committed to innovation, but in two dimensions. One is the most classic: product innovation, which isn't always easy. The other is technological innovation, like what we do with injectables at the Sant Joan Despí plant. It's about being innovative with the technologies necessary for companies, both small and medium-sized, to be able to offer the best possible service. start-ups Innovators in the Catalan ecosystem or large multinationals can rely on our technological specialization. It's about having this cutting-edge technology to provide services and monitor the elements of pharmacological therapy and medicine as they advance, but from a technological perspective, supporting the needs of these companies. This is our model. In ten years, we want to be recognized, and if we can differentiate ourselves on the product side, we will too, but above all, we believe we have a lot of room in this technological area.

You've been very critical of the drug bill. Why?

— Positions are becoming closer. In any case, with COVID, it became clear that having a local industrial network is very important. A company must be understood as an economic agent that creates wealth in the region, for workers, suppliers, but also creates wealth in society. We prepared our facilities to manufacture COVID vaccines, and that allowed us to have strategic autonomy, not depending on third countries. Conclusion? Having a pharmaceutical industry in the region, in Catalonia, Spain, and Europe, is a blessing but also a privilege, because there are many countries in the world that don't have one and are 100% dependent on third countries. We see what Donald Trump is doing to attract industry. First, because it creates jobs in the region and an entire ecosystem with a broad network of suppliers, and second, because it provides strategic autonomy that is valued, as we have seen with COVID. Having that autonomy is almost a matter of defense.

But how would the law affect?

— When it's presented as a regulation whose mechanisms pursue an ultimate goal, which is fine—increasing the level of competition to adjust drug prices—but when this is achieved by seeking the highest bidder worldwide to offer the cheapest medicine, this goes against having an industrial fabric here. Therefore, to have the 350 people working at this plant in Sant Joan Despí, we must have continuous production. Perhaps we'll increase production one semester, but the next we'll have to reduce it because the supplier may be Chinese or Indian. In a context where we have the problem of the US administration, which wants to focus on local production of medicines, Chinese and Indian suppliers will want to sell here.

Do you mean that the US tariff policy, while not having a direct impact, could have an indirect impact?

— The Trump administration's tariff policy could force Asian manufacturers, especially Chinese and Indian, to take advantage of laws like the Spanish one to find a place to enter and sell everything they can't sell in the United States. This will be great for saving a few cents, but it would undermine the entire industrial fabric and strategic autonomy. I think the law goes against what we should be doing as a country, which is first to have the strongest possible industry and then to have mechanisms to adjust prices.

And what would the impact be?

— By having overstocks, they can bring in very cheap products, force the closure of local production, make us dependent on them, and set the price. This is another thing that has happened a lot in the last 20 years. There was an innovative pharmaceutical industry, and then a generic industry grew, encouraging competition and lowering prices. All the laws were aimed at lowering prices. After these years, there are some medications that have a margin, but for many, the price has dropped to levels of 2000 or 2001. Twenty-five years and inflation have passed, and regulatory requirements have continued to rise. Therefore, today there are many medications that cost more than the price set by the government, as is the case with prescription medications. A new law is needed to allow very cheap medications to raise their prices. There are medications that cure at a price of 2 or 3 euros, and those we buy off the shelf cost 15 or 20 euros. Some have been left at too low a price, and they must be able to adjust, because otherwise, in the long run, they will not be able to be produced and will have to be manufactured abroad.

And has this caused some companies to stop producing certain medicines?

— Local producers are gradually withdrawing from producing medicines that are too cheap, and strategic autonomy is being lost. The European Commission has created a regulation to identify critical medicines and ensure we have several suppliers if there is a global overdemand. We don't take globalization into account, and more and more countries have access to new treatments. An example is an antibiotic, a type of medicine that everyone wants access to. And, because of these policies, this medicine that cures infections that killed you a few years ago has ended up being sold for €2. Having these critical medicines at €2 puts the entire supply chain at risk. There are certain medicines that we have been abandoning because their prices are too low. In reality, the price set by the government is lower than the cost of producing them here.

Do you plan to increase your stake in Lean Bio, which currently stands at 24%?

— We must take advantage of these facilities and also the know-how and the quality standards we have to make medicines that we then have to sell for less than a euro, and add value to them. We've been releasing low-margin products and introducing higher-margin ones. We're evolving from chemical-based products, which has been the entire 20th-century drug therapy, to biotechnology-based products with higher added value. Now at Reig Jofre, we're moving toward this technological commitment with more complex, higher-added-value products. When the products are chemical-based, Reig Jofre has always purchased that base abroad because it's never been involved in the chemical industry, which manufactures the active ingredients. On the other hand, in the world of biotechnology, we believe that with this technological support, in this area of specialization and technological innovation, we are in a position to carry out vertical technological integration in the world of biotechnology and, therefore, be able to produce the active ingredients. Because we didn't have the know-howWe decided to move forward with Lean Bio, with whom we were already partners. We had a small stake to get them started, and we financed a biotechnology product plant in Sant Quirze del Vallès. Ultimately, the goal is for the product, the biotechnology-based active ingredient, to be manufactured in Sant Quirze del Vallès and then transported here to Sant Joan Despí, where the finished vial will be produced. This is expected to be completed by 2026 or 2027.

What is the role of internationalization at Reig Jofre?

— We don't work for the Spanish or European market. For us, Spain is just another market among eight countries. The most important ones are Sweden and France, in addition to Spain, Italy, and Germany. We're exploring alternatives.

They have just doubled production at their Swedish subsidiary, Bioglan.

— Yes, it's a plant in the city of Malmö that produces semi-solid pharmaceutical products, creams, and semi-solid pharmaceutical gels. It's located in an important area for life science activities, close to Copenhagen. It's a very dynamic hub in northern Europe and southern Sweden.