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The data shows that in Spain there is a lack of companies that provide high added value in innovation, women entrepreneurs and a female vocation for science. Isabel Portero (Salamanca, 1970) is a woman, doctor, businesswoman and founder of a start-up -which already has 24 employees- in the biotechnology sector. It was six years ago when he decided to give up a highly paid job in a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland to give shape to an idea: design biomedical tests to personalize treatments for diseases related to the immune system, inflammation or trauma. The result was Biohope, a company already in the process of commercializing its innovations to help patients better tolerate transplants.
By the time she was close to turning 40, Portero had practiced as a doctor in various hospitals, had been a university professor, had worked in the pharmaceutical industry and also in biotechnology. "That 360-degree vision was the basis for me wanting to take the risk of founding Biohope at a certain point, because it was a very high risk," she explains in this interview with which she tries to launch various messages.
I unite with European politicians to abandon the short-term vision and bet on science; another to investors from the Old Continent to take risks -as their colleagues from the United States and Asia do- and invest more in biotechnology companies; another to parents to give more support to their daughters from the cradle so that they dedicate themselves to science; and another to the businessmen to whom, as a doctor, he explains that they must help the woman reconcile in the first year of the baby's life without this weighing on her professional career.
The founder and CEO of Biohope, Isabel Portero.Silvia Pérez El Español
What exactly does Biohope do?
It is a small biotechnology SME. We are dedicated to personalized medicine and specifically, we invent and develop biomedical tests that allow us to design the medical treatment of certain diseases. Where we work the most is in the field of the immune system. In drugs that modulate the body's defenses.
How did this idea come about?
The reason I founded this company is because I realized that in different fields of medicine, personalization is very established. An example is that of cancer treatments that are now very different from 30 years ago and the biggest difference is personalization. Cancer is studied very well to see what treatment is the most appropriate for that person. This concept, which is well established in oncology and other areas, in the world of the immune system, inflammation, and trauma, has not been introduced. So I wanted to create tools that would allow those concepts to be applied in a different area.
And for that, it needed public investment. How does public-private collaboration work when starting a business in a field as promising as yours?
It is very different to create a company of this type in Europe than to do it in other continents. In other regions of the world, such as the Americas and Asia, the private sector is used to investing and financing this type of adventure. The amount of investment that is injected there into biotechnology companies can be up to 10 times higher than that of other more conservative parts of the world, such as Europe.
Being conservative has its pros and cons, but for this kind of thing it has more cons than pros. The average European investor is used to having an insured capital where the risk is relatively low. But biotechnology is a risky venture. It may go very well or it may not turn out what you expect. It is inherent to the sector. In other regions, investors diversify, they invest in 10 companies so that one comes out. But in Europe, it is the public sector that ends up pulling, at least in the beginning.
So the problem isn't just Spanish...
It is common throughout Europe. Without public funding, it is impossible to get something like this off the ground. The European Horizon 2020 program allowed us to develop Biohope. Now we have returned to compete for another public financing. Without those pieces, it would be impossible. For this reason, it must be explained that in order to make a biotechnological advance, investment is needed. In the case of biomedical tests, it is between 15 and 20 million euros from the beginning of everything until it sells well. But in the case of other biotechnology companies that develop drugs, they are investments that can reach 50 million euros. In the United States, that money comes from large corporations, investment funds and very rich people, and in Europe it is better if you can get part of it from public funds.
Because once you invest, how long do you have to wait until the return arrives?
The wait is long. Being honest, profitability can come 10-15 years later with a few exceptions. The application of a technology already developed to a parallel field greatly shortens the times. That has happened with Biotech, the company that has developed one of the best-known vaccines against Covid. They had a technology developed and it was doing its long cycle in the field of oncology. But they realized that with small changes they could apply it to the virus and they were able to make the vaccine very quickly.
The pandemic has shown the importance of investing in these types of companies in Europe. Are you optimistic about what can be done with European funds?
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I might better answer in six months to find out what's really going on. The pandemic has shown how important the creation of value in health is. Before it seemed that we were geeks and now we think that it was a good thing that there were some geeks in Germany, those from Biotech.
I am optimistic, but these investments are long-term and that is something counter-cultural for the entire political class. They are strategic decisions in the medium and long term. I would like to get the message across that technology companies are worth investing in, not just healthcare. Spain could be a technological pole in southern Europe. This sector ends up selling expensive high-level products abroad because all innovation in health is global. The creation of highly competitive jobs would be encouraged and it would be a good message for young people.
How did you make the leap from doctor to entrepreneur?
It's a tremendous change. I am a professional with mixed experience and that 360 degree view was what made me want to take this risk. He had the idea of developing things that would be useful in the world of biotechnology to personalize treatments because he had seen it in other fields. I did not want to be left with the doubt of whether it could be done and if it could be done from Spain. When I made that decision, I turned down a job at Roche in Switzerland, a very well-paid job with good prospects.
The founder and CEO of Biohope, Isabel Portero.Silvia Pérez El Español
At the time, he was in his early 40s. But I didn't have children, that would have made a difference, but I didn't and I said: 'if I don't try, I'm going to spend my whole life thinking about whether or not it was possible to create it.' So I decided to take the risk. Just thinking about wanting to do it is not enough because you need money. But I met a person to whom I told my idea and my doubts. I didn't know that I was a person with possibilities, but he liked my idea and he gave me an initial capital that allowed me to found the company and start up. Behind that, we were able to ask for European funds and we have come this far in these 6 years.
Does motherhood make women less entrepreneurial?
Actually, yes. I recognize that not having children weighed in the balance and I understand that women who have them weigh in. In my case, it was a good salary from Switzerland, but in a job not as interesting as doing something like that. It was a very good job and I understand that at a given moment, that scale is delicate. Entrepreneurship is associated with a very specific profile: male, young. And if it's a woman, young too. But a middle-aged woman who does something like that is very rare, we are very few because of the risks because it is true that it can go wrong. I understand that the decision is not easy because women tend to protect the family, the home, and that works against us. The funny thing is that the same thing would happen to men, but they take it differently.
It happens to us like European investors, are we more conservative than men?
I would say yes because I know very talented women, although this does not go by gender. I am very meritocratic and admire the person regardless of gender. But women traditionally assume more of the family burden. That backpack weighs us down.
Even before they were mothers, studies say that there is a lack of girls in STEM and in careers with a scientific vocation...
I have done several collaborations to encourage girls to study science careers. Before there was discouragement because 'men were smart for science' and women were more 'caring', but that is rapidly changing. I would tell the girls that the world is theirs. My mother miraculously went to college because her parents were against her studying. She paid it all off: she was a hero of her time. That world no longer exists, fortunately.
My message is not so much for girls as it is for parents. When girls back down in this type of career it is because they feel insecure because they have been given a distrust. It is transmitted to them that they are not going to have the right character because of course, they are intelligent, like children.
Does this happen more in Spain than in other countries?
It is worldwide, but here there are differences by specific countries. Where the situation is obviously worse is in the Arab countries. In the case of Europe, the dregs take generations to change. 50 years ago it existed in all social classes, now not so much, but there is a certain buzz that is more evident in some families than in others. The fundamental work is of the parents who must transmit to their daughters self-confidence.
You are the CEO of Biohope, do you run a gender-balanced company?
Coincidentally, of the 24 of us there are a little more women than men, but I'm not a fan of setting quotas, although I know this is controversial. I am very meritocratic, what I certainly do not do is leave a woman out in any way because she gets pregnant or has children or is young. That is, the women who are with me is because they have the merit of being there. And they are all on an equal footing. I think that's how it should be. This is where reconciliation comes in.
As I am a doctor, I understand that a baby in the first year of life needs a lot from its biological mother and that is something that must be respected at a social and business level. But that does not have to derail a woman from her professional projection and from putting her talent into practice.