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Conversation highlights:
- Mabxience evolved from a small research-driven Argentine biotech into a global biosimilars player, leveraging strong academic foundations and a pivotal partnership with Insud Group to scale into complex monoclonal antibody manufacturing.
- Rather than vertical integration, Mabxience operates a B2B model, partnering with leading local pharma companies in each market to navigate regulatory and commercial landscapes, enabling expansion from Argentina and Spain into Europe and beyond.
- Early adoption of single-use bioreactors and a focused expertise in antibody production positioned the company as a flexible, high-quality manufacturer, capable of supplying global markets.
- COVID-19 was a proof point for industrial capability. The AstraZeneca vaccine collaboration demonstrated Mabxience’s ability to operate at a global scale, executing complex tech transfers across multiple countries and highlighting the strategic importance of regional manufacturing infrastructure.
- Argentina’s biotech ecosystem stands at an inflection point. With strong scientific talent and growing entrepreneurial momentum, the country is shifting from replication to innovation, and Mabxience aims to act as a platform to translate regional science into globally competitive biotech solutions.
EF: You started as the first company to create monoclonal antibodies in Argentina, and 15 years later, you're valued at 900 million euros globally. When did you realize this had genuine global potential?
EC: Argentina had a strong foundation of scientists working in life sciences for many years — institutions like Fundación Instituto Leloir were central to that. In the 1980s, the country moved into biotech very early, at a time when only insulin and interferon alpha were on the market. We had the people and the academic background.
When I joined the pharma industry, which was opening a Bio division, we were four of us at the genetic engineering lab, and I was coming from the research sector. Later, with a group of scientists, we decided to set up our own company, and we started with cytokines — interferon, IL-2, and others. We later built a strong relationship with Rhein Biotech, a German company based near Düsseldorf, that had developed a hepatitis B vaccine but was stuck between licensing deals and product approval. We convinced them to do a joint venture in Argentina instead of licensing, even though we didn't have a dollar to our names. It worked. We eventually sold it to Sanofi, and they're still producing that hepatitis B vaccine in Argentina today.
That opened our eyes to what was possible. Then we met Insud Group, founded by the Hugo Sigman family, which completely changed our reach and scope. They wanted to move into monoclonal antibodies. We pushed back at first - it was more of an industrial challenge than a scientific one, requiring cell culture and large-scale volumes rather than the small-scale cytokine production we knew. However, we accepted the challenge and started working on the development of a few antibodies.
The real turning point came around 2012 or 2013. We hired a consulting firm in Germany to review our development program for one of our antibodies. The consultant asked us, "Why are you only thinking about Latin America? This could go to Europe — the quality of research and the product is solid." That completely reframed our business. We were able to address Europe and the USA. In August 2022, 55% of mAbxience was acquired by Fresenius Kabi, reaffirming mAbxience as a key player in the biosimilar market.
EF: How does your B2B model differentiate mAbxience in the biosimilars market?
EC: Being a B2B business was a deliberate strategic decision, and I think it's been the right one. We don't run our own commercial operations — we're not fully vertically integrated, and that wasn't an accident or a resource constraint. It was a choice.
Look at the generics market: you have manufacturers producing the API, and then local players handling the commercial side because they know their markets, their regulatory environments, and their commercial landscape. They have the structure for it. Meanwhile, large pharma companies that once dismissed biosimilars as impossible have since entered the market themselves. But they operate as fully integrated businesses.
Our model is different, and it's allowed us to reach a number one or two position in many territories. We introduce products first in Latin America based on patent expiry, then pursue the global market in Europe and the US. That approach gives us flexibility and lets us lean on local expertise in each market.
EF: How did producing the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine affect your capacity and strategic thinking?
EC: We had just opened our new facility when the COVID crisis hit. AstraZeneca was looking for fill-and-finish capacity, but we told them we could manufacture the Bulk Drug substance, as we have cell culture capabilities. AstraZeneca's model was compelling: given the need to produce hundreds of millions of doses, they distributed manufacturing across many companies worldwide. The technology transfer effort was enormous, but it worked.
What I took away from that experience is that COVID was a scientific challenge, but the industrial dimension was even bigger. Supply chain was everything. The number of doses produced was equivalent to twice the world's total annual vaccination output. That reinforced something important: infrastructure matters, and delocalization, having manufacturing facilities spread across regions rather than concentrated in one place, provides real resilience. That experience strengthened our conviction about maintaining facilities in both Europe and Latin America. Most countries now want localization advantages precisely because of the supply security lessons from COVID.
EF: How do you balance resource allocation between Argentina and your external markets?
EC: The region represents a proportion of our total business, but in terms of manufacturing capacity, our Argentina facility is equivalent to our plant in León, Spain. Argentina has received EMA approval, so we can also supply Europe from here. The two plants are interchangeable for the European supply. The goal is the flexibility to supply from wherever it makes most sense — though supply and commercial are two different conversations, and those depend on country-specific pricing and market dynamics.
Brazil, for example, has incentives for local production. We've transferred our technology to a Brazilian partner who produces for that territory under our technology. That kind of flexibility lets us adapt to different market requirements.
One key enabler has been our early adoption of single-use technology back in 2010. With single-use bioreactors instead of stainless steel, you need gases and oxygen rather than complex piping and steam systems, which makes technology transfer far more manageable. We've even transferred to China, which I never would have imagined possible.
EF: What would you say to young scientists considering a biotech career in Argentina?
EC: There's now a genuine and strong innovation ecosystem in Argentina. There are many life sciences startups with ideas that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. When we started, I never looked beyond biosimilars because a full innovation cycle felt out of reach. But now you see companies with real business and investment support behind them, so they don't have to build everything from scratch.
When we launched the AstraZeneca project, we had around 100 people in Argentina. By the end, we had over 200 — we brought in 100 university-educated people in a single year, graduates and advanced students alike. That's possible because of the density of universities here, particularly around hubs like Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Tucumán, and Rosario.
I was born here, built my company here, and it never crossed my mind to do it anywhere else. Fortunately, we now have both the human capital and an actual industry; we're no longer outliers in this space.
The science itself is extraordinary right now: CAR-T, cell therapies, CRISPR-Cas. It's a remarkable moment to be entering the field. You learn by doing, so jump in. If I had to choose a career again, I'd choose this one.
My larger dream is for mAbxience to become a vehicle for Latin American innovation. Having more than 500 people working in this company creates a pipeline through which innovation can flow. Without that infrastructure, the end game is always licensing to companies on other continents. Great ideas can emerge anywhere, but the distance between an idea and a product is enormous. We can help bridge that gap.
EF: What would your dream project for mAbxience look like?
EC: I want mAbxience to be a bridge for Latin American innovation, and for European innovation too.
When you travel, you run into Argentines everywhere who had to leave. Recently, in Italy, I met a company doing viral therapies; the CEO is Argentine. There are people in Florida who've built companies from there. I never left because my roots are here, in the south of Buenos Aires, where I live.
I'd like to connect that diaspora of talent back to something built here. We finally have reasonably integrated capacity — from production through regulatory and clinical pathways. The dream is to be the bridge for innovation that doesn't require people to leave their home countries.
EF: If you had to choose an element from the periodic table to represent yourself, which would it be?
EC: Carbon — or maybe oxygen and hydrogen, all three together. What you can do with just those elements is extraordinary. And I'd add nitrogen, sugar, and phosphate, because nucleotides are remarkable. The whole of organic chemistry fascinates me — how combining one thing with another produces something entirely new. That still fills me with wonder.
It's a fitting metaphor for biotech. When the field began, the idea was imitation — you're lacking insulin, I'll make insulin. Now it's something else entirely. We say: I'm going to create something that didn't exist before. That creative freedom is exciting. If you're young, get into biotech. Argentina is a genuinely good place to do it.
