TEAM
Prokrea is a company founded in 2014 following the acquisition of the exploitation rights to a Spanish patent protecting the preparation and use of an intravaginal gel for the treatment of mild male factor infertility.
Prokrea is a company founded in 2014 following the acquisition of the exploitation rights to a Spanish patent protecting the preparation and use of an intravaginal gel for the treatment of mild male factor infertility.
Chairman of PROKREA, an R&D organiszation dedicated to the global development of a new treatment for male infertility, conducting research programmes in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
SUSANA RODRÍGUEZ NAVARRO is CEO and Managing Director of Cantabria Labs, a Spanish pharmaceutical laboratory at the forefront of global dermatology, present in more than 100 countries, headquartered in Spain with subsidiaries in the United States, France, China, Italy, Morocco, Mexico, and Portugal. The company distributes 56 million health and skin-care products annually, including medicines, dermocosmetic products, and dietary supplements, all scientifically endorsed. Of the more than 1,200 employees at Cantabria Labs worldwide, two-thirds are women.
She holds a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Alcalá de Henares and has completed postgraduate programmes at ESIC, IESE Business School, and CESIF. She recently completed the “From Executive to Board Member” (KPMG, AED, IESE) programme in the School for Advisors. She is also a member of PLGS (Pharmalicensing Group Spain), the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), and a participant in MIT’s Catalyst programme promoting biomedical research initiatives.
Since Susana took on her role in September 2018, Cantabria Labs has strengthened its commitment to innovation, launching new medicines and dermocosmetic products to improve quality of life, collaborating with doctors and Spanish universities such as Alcalá de Henares and the Autonomous University of Madrid, and international institutions such as MIT and the American Chemical Society in the United States, among others. The company has nearly 50 professionals dedicated to research, analysis, and development of new technologies, raw materials, patents, and other scientific innovations, as well as fostering open innovation initiatives.
Susana Rodríguez’s leadership has also fostered the company’s growth—Cantabria Labs closed 2024 with revenues of €394 million, an 11% increase on the previous year—as well as the transformation necessary to sustain this pace in the coming years without losing sight of the corporate values of entrepreneurship, proximity and the aforementioned innovation.
In the field of sustainability, Cantabria Labs launched the eco-sustainable production centre of La Concha in Cantabria in 2019 which, among other things, optimises the geothermal use of mineral-medicinal water from the La Solía spring surrounding its facilities.
MBA, Instituto de Empresa, Madrid (1989-1990).
MD, University of Navarra (1982-1988).
He has combined business management with clinical practice throughout his career. In 1991, he moved his professional activity to Laboratorios Almirall in Barcelona, joining the Licensing and Business Development team, where he assumed responsibility for the identification, licensing, and/or acquisition of new dermatology products for the company. This role was carried out for eight and a half years, until 1998. In 1998, he founded Farmatec S.L., originally founded as a Business Development consultancy for the pharmaceutical industry, collaborating with companies such as Laboratorios SALVAT and Disproquima.
In 2010, Dr Esteve Guardia co-founded PLASMIA Biotech S.L., a biotechnology start-up based in Barcelona and focused on the research and development of new enzymatic nucleoside synthesis processes, aimed at the discovery of new oncology products, the development of new tools for genetic engineering, and improvements in the production of existing chemotherapeutic agents..
In 2012, together with various members of PLASMIA Biotech and, in parallel, Dr Esteve Guardia co-founded PROKREA BCN S.L., a pharmaceutical startup focused on an innovative treatment for oligoasthenospermia, a condition characterised by reduced sperm count and motility, compromising male fertility. He served as its CEO until June 2022.
In 2017, after leaving PLASMIA Biotech, Dr Esteve Guardia founded Glycoscience S.L., a company developing second-generation insect repellents via enzymatic synthesis, where he currently serves as CEO.
J.M. Palacios earned a degree in Chemistry from the University of Zaragoza, Spain (1971), and obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1976). He completed postdoctoral training at the Neurobiology Unit of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), and subsequently in the Departments of Pharmacology, Experimental Therapeutics, and Neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
Between 1981 and 1991, he was Head of Laboratory, Project Leader, and Member of the Preclinical Research Steering Committee for the Central Nervous System at Sandoz A.G. (now Novartis) in Basel, Switzerland.
From September 1991 to December 2005, Dr Palacios held the position of Executive Director of Research and Development at Almirall, an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Barcelona, Spain.
Between January 2006 and May 2009, Dr Palacios created and led a new technology transfer unit at the University of Barcelona: the Agency for Research Development and Commercialization.
Subsequently, José M. Palacios served as Director of Research and Development at Brainco Biopharma S.L. from June 2009 to February 2013. In 2010, Dr Palacios founded Frontera Biotechnology as a vehicle for his consulting activities in both academia and industry.
Throughout his career, he was a member of the expert committee that drafted Spain’s Science Act for the newly created Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Frontera collaborates on early-stage projects evaluating new therapeutic targets originating from academic groups or start-ups, managing preclinical and full development programmes. It also provides expertise in business plan development, financing analysis, organisational and operational design, interim management, business development, and legal and regulatory aspects of such developments.
As a result of his scientific research activities, Dr Palacios has published more than 400 articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, with over 33,000 citations. He is a highly cited scientist according to the Institute for Scientific Information in the fields of Pharmacology and Neurosciences. He has served on the editorial boards of several leading journals in these fields. In 1990, he received the DuPont First Prize for Research on Receptors.
Miquel Raurell Roca has extensive experience spanning more than 35 years in the pharmaceutical industry. A trained physician with an MBA from ESADE, he began his professional career in healthcare at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. He later moved to the pharmaceutical sector, always in Marketing, Sales, Management and Administration where he has developed his professional career at companies such as Grifols, Lacer, Merck and finally Brill Pharma,
Presidente de PROKREA, organización de I+D dedicada al desarrollo mundial de un nuevo tratamiento para la infertilidad masculina que lleva a cabo programas de investigación en Europa, Asia y EEUU.
Presidente de PROKREA, organización de I+D dedicada al desarrollo mundial de un nuevo tratamiento para la infertilidad masculina que lleva a cabo programas de investigación en Europa, Asia y EEUU.