At a time when the news about lab-grown organs or designer babies are no more an awe factor, we must admit that biotech industry has moved much ahead, creating an opportunity for startups to launch themselves in this competitive and ever-evolving market. With the startups specializing in developing cancer immunotherapy, digital therapeutics, cell and gene therapy, and more, the biotech industry is piquing the interest of the venture capital firms.
After 2018, the year that touched a record number of biotech initial public offerings (IPOs), the same trend has been persistent in 2019. Especially, with the research on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and Alzheimer’s intensifying, the financial support for the startups is likely to grow without any hindrance. However, we should also note that with the government’s rising focus in the biotech industry, drug prices and treatment cost are likely to decrease while allowing more number of companies to specialize in generic drugs.
Understanding the changing times, StartupCity has compiled a list of 15 most promising biotech startups to guide hospitals, clinical research organizations, and medical colleges to understand the current trends and maximize the use of the latest technologies.
Amid this evolving market scenario, we are glad to feature New Jersey-based Anima Biotech that is pioneering the discovery of small molecule drugs with its Translation Control Therapeutics platform. Anima’s technology generates millions of light pulse images that show when, where, and how much protein is being produced in the cell in real-time. On the other hand, we have also featured Wisconsin-based Capio Biosciences, a biotechnology startup focused on developing biopsy-free and cost-effective diagnostic tests for cancer surveillance, monitoring, and diagnosis. While significant challenges in manufacturing and analytical technologies persist in the cell and gene therapy market space, an Ireland-based BioTech startup Avectas is addressing those by developing unique technology for ex vivo delivery of advanced molecules such as mRNA, proteins, and gene editing payloads for cell engineering applications. We also bring to you the story of San Francisco-based Synthego—a startup on a mission to broaden the access of CRISPR, to accelerate the basic scientific discovery of cures and develop novel synthetic biological applications. In addition to a major focus on cancer, HIV, and the likes, there are a few biotech startups focused on the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this edition, we have also featured one such biotech company named inRegen, which is developing advanced cellular therapies for treating CKD.
With the biotech industry growing rapidly, especially due to the startups penetrating and the organizations specializing in different sectors of this vast field, we can surely expect the industry to prosper further in the near future. We hope this issue of StartupCity provides you with a bigger picture of the evolving biotech industry so that you can build the partnership you and your organization need for leveraging these advancements to enhance your business.
We present to you StartupCity’s “15 Most Promising BioTech Startups 2019”.