Barcelona-based regenerative technology startup Qrem pioneers a medical device capable of stopping the progression of osteoarthritis.
Q-Cytokine, also known as a lab-in-a-box by Qrem, is a desktop medical device that has an integrated bioengineering system to treat osteoarthritis.
The lab-in-a-box obtains a serum rich in cytokines from the blood of the patient, which is then infiltrated in the patient’s joint to restore the biological balance and stop the progression of the disease.
Qrem is the first to reduce the duration of the procedure from two days to 30 minutes, allowing doctors to infiltrate the serum in the same consultation with minimal manipulation.
The medical device for treating osteoarthritis received the European Conformity marking (CE), which means the development and regulatory risks have disappeared so everything is ready for commercialization as per the European Commission’s standards.
Josep Escuer
Co-Founded by Josep Escuer and Núria Noguera in 2016, Qrem’s mission is to drive standardization and scalability of autologous regenerative therapies by making Lab-in-a-box devices available to clinicians to carry out therapies at their offices in an easy and cost-effective way while addressing the unmet needs of patients around the world.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. It is a degenerative and chronic disorder associated with damage to the cartilage and surrounding tissues.
Núria Noguera
Characterized by damage and loss of cartilage, osteoarthritis causes friction between bones, as a consequence huge pain and disability.
When this occurs, joints of the fingers, thumbs, neck, back (spine), big toes, hips, and knees are commonly affected.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, about 54 million adults have doctor-diagnosed arthritis. Almost 300,000 babies and children have arthritis or a rheumatic condition.
The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which affects an estimated 31 million Americans. The number of people expected to have doctor-diagnosed arthritis by the year 2040 is more than 78 million.
The World Health Organization states that “osteoarthritis is the single most common cause of disability in older adults,” and that “by 2050, 130 million people will suffer from OA worldwide, of whom 40 million will be severely disabled by the disease.”
Qrem’s Cytokine claims to achieve 75% pain-reduction due to osteoarthritis after one year.
Apart from Qrem’s medical device, the startup also offers consulting services via the IQS Tech Fatory.
Qrem’s expertise lay in:
- Integration of own and other technologies
- Accessibility to new technologies
- Compliance with specifications
- Development of innovative projects with high technological challenges
- Construction of proof of concept prototypes and testing
- Management of global integration and mass production
- Experience in product certification and IP
- Experience in conducting market studies and business plans
Currently the IQS Tech Factory offers advice to a total of 37 startups from inside and outside the university, which since 2016 has created 156 jobs and has mobilized more than 16 million euros.
