EditorUriach

On November 13, a commemorative session was held in the assembly hall of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Catalonia in memory of our Trustee, Dr. Julià García Rafanell, who passed away on March 25, 2023. Dr. Julià García Rafanell (1948–2023) became a full member of the Royal Academy in 2014.

The event featured a heartfelt address by Dr. Manuel Merlos Roca, former Uriach collaborator and corresponding member of the RAFC, who recalled the life and career of Dr. Julià García Rafanell, as well as his outstanding contributions to the Royal Academy and to the cultural life of the country, with special mention of his years at Uriach.

During the session, tribute was also paid to other academicians who passed away in 2023, including Dr. Xavier Bonafont Pujol, Dr. Carlos Miravitlles Torras, and Dr. Antoni Vila Casas.

The Uriach Chair of Nutraceuticals (Uriach Foundation – Universitat Rovira i Virgili) will hold the “2nd Conference on Nutraceuticals: Bioactive Compounds and Nutraceuticals” on Thursday, April 20, and Friday, April 21.

This second edition aims to broaden our understanding of the impact of different bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals on health, while also exploring new opportunities for research related to these compounds and discussing the most recent findings in this field.

The conference will also serve as a meeting point for scientists working in this area. Sessions and roundtables will feature the participation of leading professionals in the sector, including some collaborators from Uriach’s Innovation Department.

The event will take place at the Centre Tarraconensis (El Seminari) in the city of Tarragona, and it is open to industry professionals, research centers, academics, and undergraduate and master’s students connected to the field.

On March 25, 2023, Dr. Julià García Rafanell passed away. He had been a distinguished trustee of the Uriach Foundation since 2013 and an outstanding member of the company since 1973.

The Uriach Foundation wishes to express its deepest sorrow at the loss of an exemplary colleague, a prominent member of the academic community in our country, and a person of extraordinary human quality.

Born in Barcelona in 1948, he studied Chemistry at the University of Barcelona, where he graduated with honors before earning his PhD in Chemistry, specializing in Biochemistry, with a Cum Laude distinction.

Dr. Julià García Rafanell devoted his entire professional career at Uriach to the development of molecules, first as Director of Pharmacology, later as Director of Research, and in his final stage as Director of Medical Affairs. Under his leadership, Uriach developed original molecules such as Triflusal, Flutrimazole, and Rupatadine—medicines that positioned the company as a pharmaceutical benchmark both nationally and internationally.

Upon his retirement in 2013, he became a trustee of the Uriach Foundation, where, thanks to his experience and knowledge, he soon became a key figure.

In the academic sphere, he was a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Barcelona from 1970 to 1973 and was appointed corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Catalonia in 2009.

May he rest in peace.

This past December, after 20 years in Palau-solità i Plegamans, the Uriach Foundation moved to a new provisional headquarters located in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

As a result, it is currently not possible to arrange in-person visits to the Uriach Gallery Interpretation Center or to the Historical Library of Health Sciences. However, bibliographic inquiries can still be made online through the Library section of our website.

The new address is:

Uriach Foundation
Edificio Green Sant Cugat
Avinguda de la Generalitat, 163, 167
08174 Sant Cugat del Vallès

📧 fu1838@uriach.com

Yesterday, September 29, 2022, Dr. Josep Danon Bretos (Barcelona, 1927–2022) passed away. He served as head of the Uriach Foundation 1838 from 1969 until 2010.

The Board of Trustees and the technical team of the Uriach Foundation wish to express their deepest sorrow at the loss of an exemplary collaborator, a distinguished member of the academic community in our country, and a person of extraordinary human quality.

Graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona in 1951, he later specialized in Pediatrics and Childcare, as well as in Occupational Medicine and Sports Medicine. With his thesis on the General Hospital of Santa Cruz in Barcelona, he obtained his doctorate cum laude in 1967.

Alongside his extensive work as a family physician, his passion was teaching. From 1979 he served as Associate Professor of the History of Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, becoming Full Professor in 1986 in the field of the History of Science until his retirement in 1997.

As a result of his academic work, he built up an extensive collection of historical-medical bibliography and became a recognized authority in the history of medicine and health sciences, which led to his collaboration with Uriach in 1969. That same year, together with Dr. Joan Uriach Marsal, he founded the Center for the Documentation of the History of Medicine, the precursor of today’s Uriach Foundation, established in 1989.

His connection with the Uriach Foundation lasted until 2010. Thanks to his tireless work, the Foundation became a national benchmark in its field through the acquisition and cataloguing of an important collection of historical-medical materials, unprecedented in Spain, which would later form the Historical Library of Health Sciences. During his years as head of the Uriach Foundation, he was also one of the founders and director of the journal Medicina e Historia and one of the organizers of the Uriach Prize in the History of Medicine, first awarded in 1970.

Josep Danon received several national and international awards in the history of medicine. He was a member of the board of the Spanish Society of Medicine and served as Secretary General of the XXXVII International Congress on the History of Medicine held in Barcelona in 1980, also participating in numerous national and international congresses.

In addition to his many articles in Medicina e Historia and his collaborations in other publications, such as the Boletín Informativo de la Academia de Ciencias Médicas de Cataluña or Cuadernos de Historia de la Medicina Española, he authored other works: Aportación al estudio social de la medicina en Cataluña 1768–1823 (1975), Visión histórica del Hospital General de la Santa Cruz de Barcelona (1978), El Hospital-Asilo de Granollers (1986), and Catálogo de la biblioteca histórica de la Fundación Uriach (1493–1950) (1996). He also coordinated the work La enseñanza de la medicina en la universidad española (1998–2000) and was responsible for the facsimile edition of Francisco Piguillem’s La vacuna en España o en Cartas Familiares sobre esta nueva inoculación.

A video tribute to Dr. Josep Danon, “El sofà amb Josep Danon, La passió pels llibres”, created in 2017 by Josep M. Comelles and Josep Barceló, can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/221387113.

The latest issue of the journal Farmacia, Medicina e Historia, corresponding to the year 2022, has been published in digital format and includes:

• The winning paper of the 52nd Uriach Foundation Prize: “A History of Phrenology Through Its Subjects: Mental Calculators and Their Phrenological Casts”, by Andrea Graus.

• The runner-up of the same prize: “When Republican Madrid Became the World Capital of Historians of Medicine”, by Leoncio López-Ocón Cabrera.

The journal can be accessed in the Publications section of our website.

The Foundation has recently acquired four new publications that have been incorporated into the collection of the Historical Library of Health Sciences:

• Matthioli Senensis, Andreae Petri. Apologia adversus amathum lusitanum cum censura in ejusdem enarrationes et peistolarum medicinalium libri V. Basileae: Typ. Joh. Rodolphus Genath, 1674. 236 p.

• Suárez de Ribera, Francisco. Cirugía sagrada método experimental racinal, que contra la pragmática apolínea de el doctor don Antonio Francisco Portichuelo y Zea, saco a luz su autor… Madrid: Imp. Francisco de el Hierro, 1726. 28 h. + 392 p.

• Horta, Pedro de. Informe medico-moral de la penosissima, y rigorosa enfermedad de la epilepsia. Madrid: Domingo Fernandez Arrojo, 1763. 284 p.

Among them, the most notable is the first Latin edition of:

• Hieronymi Tragi. De stirpium, maxime earum quae in Germania nostra nascuntur, usitatis nomenclaturis, propriisque differentiis, nec non temperaturis ac facultatibus, commentariorum libri tres. Argentorati: excudebat Vuendelinus Rihelius, 1552. [68], 1200, [64] p.: ill.; 4º; 24 cm.

This first Latin edition of 1552, published in Strasbourg, is considered a rare work. Its author, Hieronymus Bock, was a German botanist, physician, and Lutheran minister who initiated the transition from medieval botany to the modern scientific worldview by classifying plants according to their similarities. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern botany.

The Uriach Foundation has recently acquired a set of historical documents from the company “J. Uriach y Cía. Sociedad en Comandita.” Among these, a noteworthy piece is an advertisement published during the first half of the 20th century in some of the most prominent newspapers of the time.

One of the advertisements focuses on the company’s chemical-pharmaceutical laboratory and factory, located on Fomento Street in Barcelona. From these facilities, hundreds of products were manufactured and distributed.

The Historical Library has recently received a donation from Dr. Francesc Casas, from the Oncology and Radiotherapy Department of Hospital Clínic.

The donation consists of a copy of “Tratado de Patología y Terapéutica de las enfermedades internas” by Dr. Adolfo Strümpell, published between 1885 and 1886. The work is divided into three volumes, notable for the prologue written by Dr. Bartolomé Robert, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, and for a chapter titled “Etiology and Prophylaxis of Asiatic Cholera” authored by Drs. Jaume Ferran and Ferran Paulí.

We sincerely thank Dr. Casas for his donation, which will now become part of our library’s collection.

On April 19, the Uriach Foundation will inaugurate the exhibition “Medicines in Catalonia: Business, Science and Innovation for Health” at the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC).

Organized by the Uriach Foundation, the exhibition showcases the origins and evolution of health products—from secret remedies and magistral formulas created by pharmacists in the 19th century to today’s supplements and medicines developed in state-of-the-art facilities. The exhibition also features a special section dedicated to Biodramina, one of our most iconic brands, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2022.

The exhibition is illustrated through the company’s collections. Since its foundation in 1838, Uriach has borne witness to the social, economic, business, scientific, and technological changes in our country that have made the current situation possible.