Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the pharma sector. 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, you will discover 5 promising startups developing solutions for infectious diseases.
Heat Map: 5 Top Startups Tackling Infectious Diseases
Using our StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 1.379.000+ startups & scaleups globally, we looked at innovation in the field of pharma. For this research, we identified 499 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 tackling infectious diseases. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 499 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
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Vir Biotechnology – Immune Therapeutics
The common cold and influenza-viruses are widespread in many parts of the world. Usually, antibiotics aid the immune system in helping the patients recover. However, the excessive use of antibiotics over a prolonged period has led to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant strains of infection-causing bacteria. This gives emerging pharma companies the scope to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in drug development to treat infectious diseases that have increased resistance to antibiotics.
The US-based startup Vir Biotechnology is working on solutions tackling antibiotic resistance in certain strains of hepatitis B, influenza A, SARS-CoV-2, HIV, and tuberculosis. The startup implements a multi-program, multi-platform approach to developing successful drug candidates for antibiotic resistance. With the help of their antibody platform and T cell platform, the startup isolates rare antibodies and uses them to boost the immune system and overpower pathogens, essentially preventing their replication.
Appili Therapeutics – Broad-Spectrum Anti-Fungal
Novel therapeutics aim to treat fungal infections such as fungal eye infections and ringworm infections. AI-powered drug discovery techniques are extremely useful for identifying potential treatments, in a swift and scalable manner. Emerging companies create innovative solutions to tackle various fungi-based infectious diseases, such as cryptococcal meningitis and multi-drug resistant candida, which currently have a considerably high mortality rate after hospitalization.
Canadian startup Appili Therapeutics offers multiple pharmaceutical solutions to treat invasive fungal infections. The startup’s portfolio comprises drug candidates at various stages of development. Its lead candidate, AT-2307, is a novel broad-spectrum anti-fungal that is currently undergoing Phase II clinical trials. This anti-fungal helps manage and treat difficult-to-treat types of fungi.
Biotangents – Farm Animal Diagnostics
Farmers rearing livestock are constantly wary of their animals’ health, due to infectious diseases such as brucellosis, tuberculosis, Johne’s disease, and leptospirosis. Diagnosing and isolating the infected animal at the right time saves the complete herd from getting infected. For instance, timely identification of bovine viral diarrhea saves farmers the loss of animal productivity as well as its slaughter value. Startups develop in-vitro therapeutic solutions to tackle infectious diseases in farm animals.
British startup Biotangents creates Moduleic Sensing, an isothermal amplification technology for farm animal diagnostics. The startup’s in-vitro diagnostic solution enables the identification of specific pathogens that cause distress in farm animals. The test involves two steps and automatically generates results. With a quick turnaround time after diagnostics, this solution is also easily integrable with standard laboratory tests.
SelectImmune Pharma – Immunity Boosters
Pathogenic organisms exhibit remarkable genetic versatility and continuously evolve to pose novel threats to humans. Antimicrobial resistance in infectious diseases creates a plethora of complications for medical professionals seeking to deliver suitable healthcare. The healthcare industry is moving towards the integration of technologies such as big data and AI in various pharmaceutical processes. This later allows startups to develop suitable drugs for infectious diseases.
Swedish startup SelectImmune develops substances that strengthen the immune systems of patients. The startup uses IL-1 receptor antagonists to treat acute infections and prevent tissue damage. The startup’s nerve cell receptor, NK-1R inhibitors, prevent pain and tissue damage during acute infections. Further, the IRF7 inhibitor helps reduce the risk of contracting sepsis.
Curetis USA – Resistance Markers For Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia
In addition to pneumonia being contagious, it also mutates, increasing the risk of contracting another version of the disease. Resistance markers differ from patient to patient, disease to disease, as well as combinations of different patients and diseases. Identifying the patient-specific antibiotic resistance markers enables medical professionals to prescribe suitable medicines after diagnosis. Startups develop innovative solutions to rapidly identify patient-specific resistance markers to reduce the trial-and-error method that currently prevails.
The US-based startup Curetis helps optimize the lower respiratory tract infection panels to identify the right antibiotic treatment for hospital-acquired pneumonia. Unyvero, the startup’s flagship product, uses multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and identifies pathogens that exhibit antibiotic resistance in a significantly shorter time-frame. Further, Unyvero‘s results are not affected even if a patient has a history of using antibiotics.
What About The Other 494 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 that enables you to achieve your goals faster. The 5 infectious disease solutions showcased above are promising examples out of 499 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
