5 Up and Coming Biotech Startups Worth Watching
Stefania Longo
on
October 7, 2021
Biotechnology companies aim to develop products and technologies that can solve the many health-related problems that plague our world today. The biotech industry has seen immense growth over the past few years, which only continues to accelerate. According to Grand View Research, “[t]he global biotechnology market size is expected to reach USD 2.44 trillion by 2028” .1 Fueling this immense growth are the myriad of biotech startups that seem to be sprouting up everywhere you look. Due to the overwhelmingly large number of biotech companies out there, it can be difficult to determine the kind of work each is doing and what kind of problems they are solving as a result. To make it somewhat easier, we selected a handful of up and coming biotech startups that should be on your radar.
- Founded: 2017
- Based in: Cambridge, MA
Beam Therapeutics is at the forefront of precision genetic medicines through their exploration of base editing as a means of providing life-long cures to human diseases. Beam Therapeutics likens their technology to a pencil, because much like how a pencil has the ability to erase and rewrite at any point of a sentence, base editors can rewrite individual letters of the genome. Compared to existing gene editing technologies, base editing appears to be a more promising approach. Base editing has the ability to “correct disease-causing point mutations, modify genes to create protective genetic variations, activate gene expression, silence gene expression, or multiplex-edit several sites simultaneously”(Beam Therapeutics).2
- Founded: 2019
- Based in: Cambridge, MA
EQRX is leading a “revolution” against the outrageously high prices of life-saving medicine by providing more affordable alternatives for the people that need it most. Their mission is three-fold: “to make medicines more affordable for people who need them”, “to bring back trust between the pharma industry and patients”, and “to make drug pricing transparent” (EQRX).3 They believe that no patient should have to compromise the care they need because the cost of obtaining it is out of their price range. As a means of cutting the steep costs typically associated with finding new biological targets, EQRX plans to focus on known biological targets for their drug development, which will allow for lower pricing and shorter timelines (Forbes, 2020).4
- Founded: 2016
- Based in: Los Angeles, CA
Bionaut labs are pioneers in the realm of CNS disorder treatment, utilizing a revolutionary technology called Bionauts™, “custom-engineered therapeutic micro-robots” (Bionaut Labs) to treat patients with severe brain disorders.5 Bionaut labs hopes to focus on diseases that have high medical need but limited treatment options, like Parkinson’s disease and glioma. Though tiny in size, these Bionauts™ contain a great deal of power and potential within them to treat the most complex CNS disorders.
- Founded: 2019
- Based in: Boston, MA
The next startup, Motif Foodworks, will appeal not only to your intellect but also to your taste buds. Motif is utilizing science and innovative technology to discover new approaches to creating plant-based foods. They focus on the smallest of details when it comes to finding plant-based alternatives that closely resemble the look, taste, and feel of animal products. To do this, Motif utilizes oral processing physics, rheology, interfacial science, neuroscience, and much more throughout their research process (Motif).6 Their partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks enables them to find the proteins that are crucial for creating the highest quality and most nutritionally beneficial culinary experience (Motif).6 Utilizing fermentation as a means of creating these proteins reduces the need for their animal counterparts (Motif).6
- Founded: 2017
- Based in: Cambridge, MA
Using their cellarity maps and 3-step process7, Cellarity is revolutionizing cell-behavior targeted medicine. Cellarity approaches drug discovery from a “cell-centric vantage point” (Cellarity).8 By doing this, they are able to more effectively understand diseases and discover methods to address and combat them. Using “proprietary machine learning algorithms and AI-augmented drug design” (Cellarity), Cellarity is leading a new wave of drug-discovery aimed at altering cell behavior .7 They are currently focusing on programs in hematology, metabolism, immuno-oncology, and respiratory diseases.9
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References
- Biotechnology Market Growth & Trends. (2021, March). Grand View Research. Retrieved September, 2021, from https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-biotechnology-market
- Beam Therapeutics.* Our Science.* Retrieved September, 2021, from https://beamtx.com/our-science/
- EQRX. Our EQ. Retrieved September, 2021, from https://www.eqrx.com/
- Rosenbaum, L. (2020, January 12). A Pharma Startup Launches With $200 Million In Funding And A Strategy To Make Drugs Faster, Cheaper. Forbes. Retrieved September, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2020/01/12/a-pharma-startup-launches-with-200-million-in-funding-and-a-strategy-to-make-drugs-faster-cheaper/?sh=730ae5be59d3
- Bionaut Labs.Science. Retrieved September, 2021, from https://bionautlabs.com/science/
- Motif. * Approach.* Retrieved September, 2021, from https://madewithmotif.com/approach/
- Cellarity.The Platform. Retrieved September, 2021, from https://cellarity.com/platform
- Cellarity. Retrieved September, 2021, from https://cellarity.com/
- Cellarity. Medicines. Retrieved September, 2021, from https://cellarity.com/medicines