Únicas Sant Joan de Déu Centre
In June 2024, the Amancio Ortega Foundation and the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona signed a collaboration agreement to promote research into rare diseases. Through this agreement, the Foundation pledges to provide €60 million needed to build and equip a cutting-edge international centre called “Únicas Sant Joan de Déu” that will focus on the research and treatment of these diseases.
The centre will be located on a plot of land next to the Hospital on loan from the Esplugues de Llobregat City Council. This new six-storey, almost 14,000 m2 centre will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for the research and treatment of rare diseases: several platforms for conducting metabolomic and radiomic studies, as well as a centre for multi-modal diagnosis of children. It will also have the capacity to offer new therapies, including gene and cell therapy and neuromodulation and deep brain stimulation.
This centre will enable the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu to drive research into minority diseases and the application of new therapies. This means that children suffering from these diseases will be diagnosed earlier and have access to new advanced therapies and innovative personalised treatments.
The centre will belong to Red Únicas, a network of 30 hospitals throughout Spain promoted by the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseaes. The mission of this network is to foster the exchange of information and knowledge sharing in precision diagnostics and new therapies to benefit all paediatric patients, regardless of where they live in Spain.
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