Fast Company Unveils 2023 List of the World’s 10 Most Innovative Biotech Companies

Well-known business media Fast Company announced"List of the 10 Most Innovative Biotech Companies Globally"This list includes rising stars who have made remarkable breakthroughs in technologies such as DNA sequencing and cell isolation, as well as multiple innovative companies dedicated to improving existing CAR-T and gene-editing therapies and optimizing current drug development processes. These selected companies represent the vanguard of humanity’s journey in pharmaceutical innovation, and their cutting-edge technologies also indicate potential future directions for the industry.

Ultima Genomics: Breaking the $100 Whole Genome Sequencing Ceiling

Genomic sequencing technology has seen continuous breakthroughs in recent years. In the past decade, the industry has reduced the cost of sequencing each whole genome to $1,000. However, Ultima Genomics is not satisfied with this and has drawn inspiration from methods and materials frequently used in the semiconductor industry—standard silicon wafers.Ultima's sequencing instruments have enabled faster sequence read times while reducing costs, bringing the cost per sample down to around $100.！The sequencing instruments developed by Ultima Genomics have been adopted by more than a dozen major research institutions, including the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, the New York Genome Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and the Sanger Institute. In addition, Ultima has reached an agreement with Regeneron, which has acquired a portion of the company to help Ultima advance its second-generation sequencer.

10X Genomics: Detecting Gene Activity at Specific Times and Locations

Biology is the science of three-dimensional structures, and the development of 10X Genomics in the field of spatial transcriptomics will help biologists conduct more precise exploration and research within three-dimensional systems.Products developed by 10X Genomics enable ultra-precise localization of gene activity in both time and space, facilitating more effective targeted disease treatment.For example, its innovative Fixed RNA Profiling Kit allows researchers to collect "fixed" tissues or cells for whole-transcriptome sequencing. Another product, the Nuclei Isolation Kit, enables single-cell analysis of frozen tissues. The company launched these products in December of last year.The Xenium platform enables in-situ direct sequencing of genes in each cell within tissue or tumor samples, analyzing the activity of each gene with extremely high resolution.10X Genomics has also partnered with Illumina to integrate its technology with Illumina's sequencers and software, further expanding its technological applications in other fields.

DNAnexus: Managing Sequencing Data at the National Level

DNAnexus provides a cloud-based data analysis and management platform for DNA sequencing data. The company currently has over 12,000 users across 48 countries, including seven of the top ten pharmaceutical companies globally and eight of the largest diagnostic developers. In 2022,DNAnexus Collaborates with UK Biobank on Long-Term Research to Launch the World's Largest Whole Exome Sequencing Dataset, Including Detailed Health Information of Corresponding IndividualsThis database will collect data from nearly500,000 British VolunteersThe sample information is intended to be made available to hundreds of companies, non-profit organizations, and researchers worldwide.

Akadeum: Developing Rapid Cell Separation Technology for CAR-T Therapy

CAR-T therapy uses genetically engineered white blood cells to help a patient's immune system fight cancer. However, the first step in this therapy is to separate white blood cells from the patient’s or donor’s blood while maintaining the health of the separated cells. Processing a single sample typically takes several hours, making it a tedious and time-consuming task.Akadeum's buoyancy-based cell separation technology uses microbubbles to accelerate the cell separation process.The Dead Cell Removal Kit, launched by the company in August last year, enables researchers to precisely target, isolate, and remove significant and large numbers of dead cells from samples. Additionally, the Human T Cell Isolation Kit, developed by the company, became available in September last year and is intended for research use.Can reduce the processing time of white blood cells from 3 hours to 1 hour.The company's technology can separate cells, nucleic acids, proteins, or specific chemical substances from biological samples as needed.

iSpecimen: Providing scientists with hard-to-obtain research samples

Now,Through iSpecimen, researchers can quickly obtain a variety of human blood and tissue samples needed for research. iSpecimen provides a wide range of samples covering various disease types, allowing researchers to bypass the cumbersome and time-consuming processes traditionally required to acquire biological materials.In April last year, iSpecimen improved its sample search and supplier data integration, allowing researchers to directly search for the required samples within iSpecimen's network through a Google-like search bar. Currently, iSpecimen's services cover 18 countries, with clients including 70% of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies and 70% of the top 20 in vitro diagnostic companies.

Abcam: ushering in a new era of antibody production

Abcam Focuses on the Production of Antibodies for Life Science Research. From Mid-2021 to Mid-2022, the Company Launched Approximately 9,000 New Antibodies, Bringing Its Total Antibody Portfolio to 29,000 Varieties.The polyclonal antibody it launched last year can recognize multiple surface structures of the same antigen, which will help combat viruses with various mutations.Abcam Collaborated with Epic Sciences Last Year to Jointly Develop Innovative Liquid Biopsies for Prostate Cancer.

Colossal Biosciences：Restoration CompletedThe Existence of Extinct Species

Colossal, Inc. was founded to restore the existence of extinct species. To date, Colossal has published high-quality genome sequencing results for African and Asian elephants.Becoming the first company to artificially create pluripotent stem cells from African and Asian elephants, as well as long-tailed opossums.Colossal has also established an embryo laboratory for many endangered species, optimizing the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer in elephants. Last year,Colossal Collaborates with the Global Science Alliance's Vertebrate Genomes Project to Genetically Conserve Asian, African, and Forest Elephants through Genome SequencingThe company also began addressing an urgent issue — researching the mechanism by which elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus causes illness and death in juvenile Asian elephants. At the end of January this year, Colossal completed an oversubscribed $150 million Series B financing round.

Recursion: Removing Human Bias from Drug Discovery

Recursion enhances the capability of novel drug discovery by utilizing machine learning and advanced laboratory automation processes.The company conducts millions of experiments every week to produce biochemical reaction experimental data that can be searched by machines., and import these large amounts of data into its large database.By analyzing these data with powerful supercomputers, the company can make new discoveries or establish new connections, such as pairing molecules with novel disease targets or repurposing an old drug for a new use.This automated approach can also eliminate human biases in the drug discovery process, which often lead scientists to overlook promising avenues of research or waste excessive time on dead ends. In 2022, Recursion initiated clinical trials for four drug candidates in its pipeline. The company has partnered with Genentech, receiving an upfront payment totaling $150 million, to jointly identify and develop up to 40 new therapies in the fields of neuroscience and oncology.

Emulate: Develop Organ Chips to Replace Animal Testing

Emulate is a company focused on researching Organ-on-Chips for drug development. Recently, Emulate has added key new functionalities to its liver chip model — a model that integrates living cells with its microfluidic device. In December last year, the company published its findings in a subsidiary journal of *Nature*.Communications MedicineA paper on the effectiveness of the model was published in China. The data shows,Emulate's human liver chip correctly identified 87% of test drugs known to cause liver injury.These drugs have all previously passed the current industry standard - in vivo animal testing. In addition, the company launched last yearLiver Chip Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) Project Offers Researchers a New Tool for Testing Viral Transduction Efficiency and Toxicity of AAV Vector Therapies.

Metagenomi: Identifying Innovative Gene Editing Tools

MetagenomiPlanUsing artificial intelligence to search for new gene editing systems in nature, in order to generate the next generation similar toCRISPRA breakthrough that can be used for gene drug development.In June last year, Metagenomi announced a collaboration with Affini-T Therapeutics to develop T-cell receptor (TCR) cell therapies for solid tumors. In November last year, the company initiated a drug discovery collaboration with Ionis to jointly develop RNA-focused therapeutics. In this collaboration, Metagenomi received an upfront payment of $80 million and may potentially earn up to $3 billion in development milestone payments. In January last year, Metagenomi completed a Series B financing round totaling $175 million.

---------------------------------------

End

Click to Join the Gene Club - Become an Industry Elite

Currently, 600+ industry elites have joined the Gene Club.

More than 2,300 industry reports on gene technology have been published.