Joan Puig: “In inorganic growth in Europe, cultural difference is one of the most important challenges”.

Joan Puig, a graduate in Pharmacy and in Business Administration and Management, and with a General Management Programme (PDG) from IESE, has an extensive background in the field of analytical and biopharmaceutical services. Throughout his career, he has led teams and business growth strategies in the health sector, driving innovation and internationalisation of biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He is currently CEO at Kymos Group, where he is leading the consolidation and expansion of the group as a European benchmark in biopharmaceutical analysis services. He is also Vice-President of Catalonia Health, Director of Mitelos and Trustee of the Nou Mil·lenni Foundation, where he promotes collaboration between science, business and society.

Kymos was born as a result of the restructuring of the R&D department of a pharmaceutical company. Do you think the company would have emerged without that circumstance? In your opinion, was the entrepreneurial spirit of the founding team born out of necessity or was it already latent before that event?

At that time there were very few contract research and drug quality certification service companies, especially in Spain, and the pharmaceutical companies themselves had little culture of outsourcing. However, seen from the inside of a pharmaceutical company, this under-filled need was evident. So the opportunity was diagnosed, but it is true that the circumstance you mention had a decisive influence. It was also influenced by the fact that at the same time the Barcelona Science Park was about to be inaugurated, which offered a novel model of public-private collaboration that sought to unite private companies and public groups in the same space, facilitating collaboration and technology transfer. Having such a space also facilitated the decision.

After moving from being part of a pharmaceutical company to acting as an independent CRO, what learnings from that stage have most influenced the culture of Kymos and the way you relate to clients?

Although I promoted the project and supported the initial group of founders of the company, I did not join the company until 10 years later. However, I can say that the culture I inherited was the same culture that I continued. And this was and is based on putting quality above all other considerations and managing our clients’ projects with the same determination and commitment as if they were our own company’s projects. And I believe that the client has always perceived this, which is precisely why we can proudly say that we have a very loyal client portfolio over the years. The vast majority of the customers we had in the first 2-3 years are still Kymos customers today, more than 20 years later.

In your inorganic growth, which criteria are the most important when deciding on an acquisition, technical capacity and access to new technologies or sectors, or geographic expansion?

All the factors you mention have been taken into account. In the three inorganic operations we have closed in the last 10 years, the capacity to extend our portfolio with new innovative services has been a determining factor. But also the capacity to grow with new laboratories and equipment, as well as the opportunity to have a greater presence in other markets.

You have incorporated research units, as in the case of Ipsen, or companies such as Pharmaprogress in Italy or Prolytic in Germany, both of which are located outside Spain. What have been the main challenges in your integration processes: cultural differences, national legal frameworks, harmonisation of processes and quality systems, or perhaps talent management?

Fortunately, in the European Union the regulatory frameworks are very similar and this has not been a particular challenge. On the other hand, cultural differences are more important and we have to learn to manage them, without trying to impose a model, but rather convincing people of the need for it. Trusting and building on existing teams has always been our hallmark and a key factor for success. I am proud to say that all our management team in the different laboratories, around twenty people, have been the result of internal promotions, as well as a large part of our management team.

Looking ahead to the next three to five years, how do you imagine the evolution of Kymos and what strategic objectives would you like to have achieved by then?

This is precisely the question we have been asking ourselves recently and, as a result of the need to know where we want to go, we have drawn up a Strategic Plan 2025-2030 with the participation of external experts and the management team itself. The strategic objectives that we have set ourselves have been diverse, but I would like to highlight the two main ones: growth and innovation.

In terms of growth, we plan to maintain the strong double-digit organic growth of recent years, which has been particularly positive in 2023 and 2024 with increases of over 20%, underpinned by strong commercial activity. But we are also open to take advantage of the possibility of growing inorganically if we identify companies that accelerate our growth in complementary services that we do not have well covered. In the short term by strengthening our presence in Europe and in the medium term by considering other continents, and the United States in particular.

And as far as innovation is concerned, at Kymos we have always been very conscious of providing added value to our customers, investing in technologies in areas where the market was in its infancy at the time. As a result of the commitment we made years ago in the field of biological products, today we are happy to say that we are leaders in the market for testing biological products, with the world’s leading manufacturers of biosimilars among our clients. As for the future, we are currently facing a strong investment to become a reference laboratory in the field of advanced therapies, hand in hand with a public-private collaboration with the Joint Viral Vector Unit UAB – VHIR.