The life cycle of biotechnology and medical technology companies often begins at the university level, where universities like Caltech, USC and UCLA inject research funds into doctoral projects and incubate them for a few years until it is there is a proof of concept. Others are incubated at research institutions like the Lundquist Institute or City of Hope. From there, projects that choose to become startups are transformed into standalone companies and begin their hunt for venture capital.
“It’s often a perilous journey from lab to market,” Steve Gilison, COO of the Alliance for SoCal Innovation, told dot.LA. “So we don’t just think of this as an investment pitch, but as an opportunity to really build the right relationships..”
It also gives the rest of us insight into the type of cutting-edge technology that is most attractive to early-career SoCal investors. Here’s what we can glean from this year’s group of startups at the First Look showcase.
Stem cell therapy could replace current invasive treatments
Stem cell therapy continues to be one of the most important trends in disease treatment. Some of the biggest biotech companies working on stem cell therapies are based in Los Angeles; The Food and Drug Administration recently approved Santa Monica-based Kite Pharma’s CAR-T cell therapy for certain forms of cancer, which could reduce or even eliminate the need for intensive radiation therapy or other treatments laden with cancer. dangerous side effects.
A handful of biotech startups at the First Look showcase are using stem cells to fight disease in the same way. Chimera Therapeutics, a City of Hope startup, uses “mixed chimerism” – where stem cells from a donor and the patient are mixed together in the patient’s tissues – to treat autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. The goal is to use donor stem cells to help bolster a weakened immune system and potentially halt the progression of a disorder.
Simurxanother showcase attendee who is a product of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, follows local biotechs like Kite and Appia Bio in deploying CAR-T cell therapy – in the case of Simurx, to treat tumors solid.
Despite the promise of these cell therapies, the technology is still fairly new, vastly expensive, and comes with long patient wait times. Cellecho at UC Irvine aims to accelerate the process of creating these therapies through precision engineering. Most existing tools on the market require great care to accurately design the cells, which makes them difficult to scale up and can lead to longer wait times to receive treatment. Cellecho’s tool, called Acoustic-Electric Shear Orbiting Poration, is capable of delivering genetic coding molecules into multiple cells at once. It can be automated and disposable cartridges can be mass-produced, which should reduce costs.
Cultured meat can eliminate unsustainable meat farming
Lab-grown meat promises to bring humane and eco-friendly disruption to the global meat market expected to be a $2.7 trillion industry by 2040, according to CB Insights. Some of the largest meat manufacturers in the United States, such as Tyson Foods, have already invested in cultured meat that only requires a few animal cells to grow a protein. If adopted, these technologies could eventually eliminate the need for factory farming, which accounts for 70% of ammonia emissions in the United States.
Feeds for bluefin tuna, a UCLA spin-out, is entering the foray with seafood grown in the lab from animal cells. The company says its technology, if confirmed, could replace commercial fishing, which contributes to fish depopulation and ocean habitat degradation.
At this point, lab-grown meat is even more expensive than its factory-farmed counterpart. But while startups like Bluefin are able to gain traction and scale, that may not be the case in the future.
The biosensor sector could pave the way for preventive health care
As the U.S. healthcare industry strives to provide a preventative model – one that would help patients avoid disease and illness while reducing overall healthcare costs – a few fledgling companies are trying to take advantage of the technology to facilitate out-of-reach testing and treatment. to access.
UCLA ViBo Health is in the backyard of one of Apple’s favorite biosensor makers: Pasadena-based Rockley Photonics, which makes sensors that track blood pressure, hydration, and a host of other biomarkers. Wearable devices like the Apple Watch and Google’s Fitbit are among the biggest customers of biosensors that were once reserved for the doctor’s office.
ViBo’s trajectory, however, is slightly different. Rather than affixing its biosensors to the body, its scanners, which track cholesterol, glucose and heart biomarkers, will be installed in pharmacies, clinics, gyms and offices. Lowering the barrier to entry and making it quicker and easier for patients to check their own biomarkers can ease the diagnostic space, as routine testing can be expensive and time-consuming for labs that often have more urgent tests. to execute.
Zoetic Movement, a physiotherapy startup, is taking a different approach. Physiotherapy attendance for patients after stroke or injury is notoriously low, but essential to ensure full recovery and prevent recurrence. Through an interactive and fun platform, Zoetic enables physiotherapists to prescribe exercise routines that promise to improve patient engagement and help them build habits that prevent them from going to the hospital. Los Angeles-based startup and former First Look, Moving Analytics, raised $6 million in seed funding last year with a similar philosophy aimed at improving patient engagement in rehabilitation centers.
Besides Moving Analytics, several other startups that have already participated in the First Look showcase have also raised funds from investors. A notable success story is the San Diego-based RNA therapy company DTx Pharmawho has raised over $100 million since his first showcase appearance in 2019.
This year’s ambitious start-ups hope Tuesday’s event will be a platform to help them replicate that kind of success.
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