Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on innovative solutions for the biotech industry. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising bacteriophage solutions.
Heat Map: 5 Top Bacteriophage Solutions
Using our StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 1.379.000+ startups & scaleups globally, we looked at innovation in the field of drug discovery. For this research, we identified 49 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies were chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and relevance of technology, among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & scaleups developing innovative bacteriophage solutions. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 49 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
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BiomX – Engineered Phage Therapy
Traditional antibiotics are effective in the treatment of chronic conditions such as irritable bowels, gastric issues, and other bacterial infections, but lead to resistant bacteria. Bacteriophages are engineered to kill specific bacterial strains, without harming other bacteria in the body. Startups are engineering phages for the precise and effective treatment of chronic diseases.
Israeli startup BiomX offers a microbiome-based drug discovery solution that utilizes bacteriophages to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other chronic diseases. The startup’s automated solution processes a wide array of phages from clinical and environmental samples and also tests them against a range of bacterial hosts. BiomX then uses synthetic biology to engineer a phage cocktail and tests it in both in-vitro and in-vivo environments. The engineered phage cocktail is effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
PhagoMed Biopharma – Implant-Associated Infections
Medical professionals use implants to treat fractures, support organs, and to monitor body functions. Both medical procedures and patient health are susceptible to contract implant-associated infections. Advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) help discover different bacteriophages for the treatment of a variety of infections, including implant-associated infections. Startups use natural bacteriophages to treat implant-associated infections effectively without compromising the good bacteria in the human body.
Austrian startup PhagoMed Biopharma develops novel phage therapies. The startup’s Directed Evolution platform inter-crosses wild-type phages to develop customized phage therapies. The resultant phages are also optimized for a wide range of therapeutic applications, including treatment for bacterial vaginosis and implant-associated infections. The startup’s lead phage candidate, PM399, is currently in the lead optimization stage.
Cytophage Technologies – Bacteriophage For Livestock Infections
Poultry, livestock, and swine farmers use antibiotics, food additives, and other supplements to keep their stock healthy and without any infections. As a result, when humans contract infections from these animals, the pathogenic bacteria are generally already antibiotic-resistant. With increasing public awareness about multi-drug resistance (MDR), the demand for free-range meat is also increasing. Startups and scaleups utilize customized bacteriophages to develop food additives that tackle any bacterial infections in free-range animals.
Canadian startup Cytophage Technologies designs bacteriophages as an alternative to antibiotics for the treatment of livestock infections. The startup’s patented Cytophage template technology enables tailor-made combinations of natural and genetically-modified phages. The startup’s proprietary feed additive tackles bacterial infections in poultry, such as Clostridium, Salmonella, and E. coli.
MYRIADE – Nanoscale Imaging For Phages
Analyzing bacteriophage for its types and properties is crucial in developing targeted treatment solutions. Traditionally, the identification of the right bacteriophage is time-consuming. However, combining machine learning algorithms and imaging technology helps considerably accelerate the process. Startups develop imaging technology that enables companies to efficiently identify the bacteriophages from any sample.
French startup Myriade offers nanoscale imaging technology to identify and classify nanoparticles such as phages, bacteria, and viruses. The imaging technology analyzes a very small droplet of any solution under a microwell, lit by a simple LED. Meanwhile, an optic system, coupled to a camera, films the movements of the nanoparticles.
DotBio – Phage Display
The phage display technique enables the creation of phage libraries that contain millions of different variants. Drug discovery and development companies use these libraries for affinity screening of various combinations of protein-ligand interactions. This then enables biotech and pharma research and development (R&D) teams to efficiently characterize ligands, receptors, and antibody-binding sites. Phage therapy has advanced considerably since its inception and startups leverage these developments to offer novel therapeutics.
Singapore-based startup DotBio is developing DotBodies, a bacteriophage-based protein, with the help of phage display technology. By combining phage display technology with a patented stabilization technology, Hot-Colony Filtration (Hot-CoFi), the startup improves the stability and solubility of DotBodies. This solution, in particular, improves the safety profile of the molecules. This filtration technology is also a validated and emerging approach to develop phage therapies.
What About The Other 44 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence and enable you to achieve your goals faster. The 5 bacteriophage solutions showcased above are promising examples out of 49 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
