Five Biotech Startups to Check Out This Month

Ryan Bushey, Associate Editor

Welcome to Bioscience Technology’s monthly feature highlighting five intriguing startups operating in the biotech field.

This month’s batch are run by entrepreneurs tacking diverse problems such as building a formidable gene-editing business to constructing powerful new wound-healing gel.

Editas Medicine

A bevy of bold-faced names like Bill Gates and Google Ventures helped invest $120 million in two-year-old gene-editing company Editas Medicine earlier this month.

Editas CEO Katrine Bosley said in a statement [1], “With this financing, we have a strong foundation from which we can broadly develop our genome editing platform and advance multiple new therapies toward clinical trials.”

Xconomy’s Ben Fidler specified [2] this round of financing for Cambridge,Massachusetts-based biotech company was “the largest financial investment made yet in a CRISPR-Cas9 startup, adding to the quickly gathering momentum of the field’s fledgling companies.”

CRISPR-Cas9 is the name of a gene-editing technique being used to target and fix faulty mutations that cause more than 5,000 genetic diseases, writes The Boston Globe. [3] Editas seeks to eliminate these defective anomalies from genetic material and substitute them with healthy cells.

Bosley told the Boston Globe Editas is running multiple active research programs like a partnership with fellow startup Juno Therapeutics. Both organizations are working on customized cells that can target and kill different types of cancers.

Carbon3D

Carbon3D, a 3-D printing startup with a unique machine [4], received a $100 investment from a group of investors led by Google Ventures.

The manufacturer employs a technology [5] called Continuous Liquid Interface Interface Production (CLIP). A blend of light and oxygen is used to quickly produce a detailed prototype from a pool of resin.

Joseph DeSimone, the CEO of the Redwood City, Calif.-based firm, said his creation is “25 to 100 times” faster than rival printers during his presentation at the March 2015 TED conference in Vancouver.

Re/Code interviewed [6] DeSimone about next steps post-investment. He told the publication the money will help place a “couple dozen more” printers at companies trying to test it out with the general availability happening early next year.

Carbon3D is exploring possibilities in the automotive, medical, and manufacturing industries. No price has been set for the printer.

Oxitec

Oxitec, a 15-year-old biotech formed at the University of Oxford, was bought by synthetic biology company Intrexon Corporation for $160 million. [8]

The acquisition was based on Oxitec’s environmentally friendly methods for controlling insect populations and preserving crops vulnerable to damage from those pests.

The company uses a genetic modification technique to create a specific strain of sterile insects that can’t reproduce effectively, according to the university’s announcement [9]. An entire population can be eliminated once these sterile creations are raised and released into the wild.

Intrexon became interested in this procedure in part of Oxitec’s ability to target one particular species of insect without resorting to harmful insecticides that can harm the surrounding environment.

As part of this deal, Intrexon will help Oxitec with continuing its research on protecting communities from the mosquito-spread dengue fever along with battling pests that pose a threat to global food supplies.

DNAnexus

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is partnering with genomics analysis startup DNAnexus to build a new research platform called “precisionFDA.” [10]

It’ll be an open sourced, cloud-based tool for members of the medical community to provide genomic information all in one hub, reports Xconomy. [11] The ultimate purpose of this project is to help the FDA find a traditional method for evaluating DNA-sequencing-based medical diagnostic tests.

A test run is planned for December 2015.

Suneris

Veterinarians will soon have access [12] to a futuristic-sounding wound care gel made by Suneris, a biotech company in Brooklyn.

The enterprise’s product is named Vetigel. Vets apply the gel to an animal’s wound where the substance takes on the properties of the contacted tissue. A clot is formed which stops the bleeding in under 12 seconds.

Joe Landolina, the 22-year-old founder of Suneris, was one of the featured presenters at the first-ever White House’s demo day. This event invited various startups [13] to the White House to showcase and celebrate their respective projects.

Vetigel arrived in the U.S. veterinary market earlier this summer. [14] Vets in the U.K. will have access to it early next year.