Five Notable Omissions from MIT Technology Review's 50 Smartest Companies List: Theranos, Alexion, NantWorks, CRISPR Trio, and BioMarin

MIT Technology Review previously announced its 2015 list of the “50 Smartest Companies.” Among them, 13 healthcare and life sciences companies made the list. They are Illumina (3), Counsyl (5), Juno Therapeutics (8), OvaScience (11), AliveCor (14), Gilead Sciences (15), Bristol-Myers Squibb (26), Teladoc (27), Alnylam (30), Bluebird Bio (34), Enlitic (39), Intrexon (44), and DNAnexus (45).

MIT explained its rationale for selecting these companies: “We have no difficulty in identifying promising ideas. To be included on this list, a company must possess truly innovative technology as well as a business model that is both practical and ambitious. Since ‘promising ideas’ are not the sole criterion, many companies were not selected; however, there are some noteworthy exceptions.”

1 Theranos

For MIT Technology Review, all the publicity Theranos generated this year seems to have been in vain. But this is hardly surprising: CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been attempting to distance herself from the academic community in order to keep the scientific validation of her diagnostic company’s platform confidential.

Theranos is a blood-testing company valued at $9 billion. The company offers routine blood tests for consumers, utilizing a novel technology that can perform hundreds of different assays using only a few drops of blood. Compared with traditional blood-testing methods, this new technology causes less harm to the body, incurs lower costs, and delivers results more rapidly, thereby providing substantial benefits to patients.

The company has established a partnership with Walgreens, the U.S. retail pharmacy giant. Walgreens operates more than 8,200 chain pharmacies across all 50 states. This collaboration is undoubtedly a savvy business move for Theranos.

2 Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Soliris, a drug priced at $440,000 and launched by Alexion Pharmaceuticals in 2012, holds the Guinness World Record as the most expensive drug in history. It was specifically developed for atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), a rare blood disorder that can lead to organ failure and life-threatening complications. Currently, Alexion is rapidly expanding into the fields of hematology, nephrology, transplant rejection, and neurology.

On Wall Street, Alexion continues to outperform, thanks to its recent $8.4 billion acquisition of Synageva Biopharma. Synageva’s drug, Kanuma, is set to launch in September for the treatment of lysosomal acid lipase deficiency.

3 NantWorld

Well, it’s NantWorks. NantWorld is not yet part of Patrick Soon-Shiong’s ever-expanding biotech universe.

Similar to Theranos, NantWorks has remained tight-lipped about its business model and related technologies; however, it has made some intriguing moves and is backed by substantial financial support. The company has internally developed a “Genomic Google Maps.”

4 Caribou Biosciences, CRISPR Therapeutics, Editas Medicine

CRISPR is a powerful “genome editing” technology, hailed as the most significant breakthrough in biotechnology so far this century. Researchers frequently use this technique to trim, cut, replace, or add sequences in an organism’s DNA, enabling the treatment of various genetic disorders. Over the past year, CRISPR technology has swept through the entire life sciences community, owing to its low cost and relative simplicity.

Clearly, this technology is better described as a “good idea” than as a “smart company.” Ethical considerations and technological scalability also influenced its inclusion on the list.

5 BioMarin Pharmaceutical

BioMarin’s performance continues to impress. The company recently announced that its product, BMN-111, increased growth rates in children with dwarfism, helping them grow like typical children. Children receiving this experimental treatment for dwarfism showed a 50% improvement in growth velocity. The company currently has five approved drugs, with several others under investigation. BioMarin represents one of the most successful research efforts into treatments for rare and difficult-to-treat conditions. It is a darling of the stock market, consistently producing outstanding science; unfortunately, however, it has still not made it onto MIT Technology Review’s list.

By Xu Huiting | Edited by Mo Renying