Swedish biotech SME with validated enzyme-based technology for removing pharmaceutical pollutants from wastewater and surface water.
Pharem Biotech is a Swedish biotech SME specializing in enzymatic water treatment technology designed to eliminate pharmaceutical micropollutants — drugs, hormones, and their metabolites — from wastewater and surface water. Their core product is an enzyme-based treatment process that offers a cost- and energy-efficient alternative to conventional methods such as ozone oxidation or activated carbon filtration. The company followed a disciplined commercialization path through the EU SME Instrument program: first validating market and technical feasibility (DePharm, 2016), then funding full product development and scale-up (PFS, 2018–2020). Based in Uppsala, Sweden, they operate within a strong academic biotech corridor and address a documented regulatory gap as EU water quality standards tighten around pharmaceutical residues.
Both DePharm and PFS explicitly target pharmaceutical pollutant removal from water using a cost- and energy-efficient treatment technology, representing the company's sole documented focus.
Their technology is positioned as a water treatment process applicable to municipal or industrial effluents, as evidenced by both H2020 projects in the environmental/climate pillar.
Pharem successfully navigated the full SME Instrument Phase 1–to–Phase 2 pathway, demonstrating capability in EU funding strategy and deep-tech product development management.
Pharem Biotech shows no meaningful shift in research direction — their two projects are effectively two stages of the same innovation journey. In 2016–2017, they conducted a feasibility and business case validation (DePharm, SME Phase 1). By 2018–2020, they had moved into full-scale development and market preparation (PFS, SME Phase 2) with the same core technology. This is a sign of focus and discipline rather than evolution: they identified a specific problem, validated the solution, and scaled it — without diversifying into adjacent areas during their H2020 period.
Pharem entered H2020 as an early-stage company proving a concept; by 2020 they had completed a full SME Instrument cycle, suggesting they exited the H2020 period as a product-stage company — likely seeking industrial pilots, licensing partners, or Series A investment rather than further basic research grants.
Pharem operated exclusively as sole coordinator in both projects, which is typical for the SME Instrument scheme — these grants are designed for single companies, not consortia. As a result, the available data shows no consortium partners and no international collaborations. This does not mean they are isolated: SME Instrument recipients often work closely with research institutions and industrial advisors informally, but those relationships are not captured in CORDIS records. Any future consortium collaboration would likely be their first formal EU partnership experience.
No formal H2020 consortium partners are recorded, as both projects used the SME Instrument scheme which does not require consortium participation. Their collaboration footprint within EU project data is effectively zero, limited to Sweden.
Pharem Biotech occupies a narrow but commercially valuable niche: enzymatic treatment of pharmaceutical micropollutants in water, a problem that conventional water utilities lack cost-effective tools to address and that regulators are increasingly mandating. Unlike academic groups working on similar chemistry, Pharem is a product company that has already completed the full EU SME Instrument validation cycle, meaning their technology has passed independent technical and commercial review. For a consortium seeking a deep-tech water treatment SME with a validated product rather than a prototype, Pharem represents a market-ready component rather than a research partner.
