Emerging Company Profiles

Merck’s immuno-oncology blockbuster was the world’s best-selling drugs by revenues for the second year in a row, with an almost $12bn lead over its closest rival, Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drug Ozempic.

Emerging Company Profile: Backed by Flagship Pioneering, Empress deploys its Chemilogics platform to seek leads for small molecule therapies in inflammation, immunology, cancer and metabolic disease.

Emerging Company Profile: Efficacy data on the young group’s first pH-engineered antibody-drug conjugate could come next year, and potential partners will be watching.    

Emerging Company Profile: The eight-year-old vaccine firm is planning clinical trials in the Philippines and Brazil to see how its synthetic viral peptide vaccine technology stands up against coronaviruses and dengue fever.

Emerging Company Profile: Seaport Therapeutics believes its technology can alter old drugs to remove their flaws. Just how closely can it follow the example set by Karuna?    

Emerging Company Profile: Encouraging, but early, data on a gamma-delta T-cell therapy could position Kiromic BioPharma for deal-making.    

Emerging Company Profile: The Swedish biotech’s CEO Maria Lisa Knudsen believes that the firm’s two technologies make it an attractive prospective partner for big pharma. 

Sirius has joined the race to develop China’s first homegrown RNAi therapy and is backing its assets’ potential in chronic cardiovascular disorders, including possible once-yearly dosing, the venture’s CEO tells Scrip in an interview.

Emerging Company Profile: Armed with a new tranche of funding, the Danish group is aiming to improve the lot of infertile couples by altering the microbiome of patients with dysbiosis.  

Emerging Company Profile: The US biotech is advancing a pipeline of precision medicines targeting menin and farnesyltransferase for liquid and solid tumors, respectively, building on the work of two pioneering companies in the KRAS space.  

Emerging Company Profile: The US biotech SpyGlass is gearing up for a Phase I/II trial in glaucoma after recently closing a $90m fundraising to help advance its intraocular delivery platform to address poor treatment adherence in chronic eye diseases.  

Emerging Company Profile: With experienced leadership and new financing, Evommune is developing a topical IRAK4 inhibitor for atopic dermatitis and earlier-stage systemic drugs for various conditions.

Emerging Company Profile: While the UK biotech boasts a promising in-house platform technology, it believes a less restrictive approach to R&D could help it develop superior antibody-drug conjugates for cancer.  

Emerging Company Profile: The US biotech acquired its sole asset from CDMO Vectura in 2020 and is now gearing up for a Phase II proof-of-concept trial in severe asthma to help address the unmet need in non-eosinophilic patients.  

Emerging Company Profile: Backed by strong academic talent and a recent $80m fundraising, the US biotech is on a mission to address the unmet medical need in PD-L1 negative cancer by targeting the HHLA2 pathway.  

Emerging Company Profile: The firm’s use of the CD2 co-stimulant in its T cell engager design could significantly boost anti-tumor efficacy while addressing T cell exhaustion, with a first-in-human trial planned for 2024.  

Emerging Company Profile: Fresh from a $73m follow-on offering last year, the US biotech is readying its lead asset for a pivotal trial in ultra-rare but debilitating mineralization disorders that affect infants and children.  

Emerging Company Profile: Backed by $20m in seed funding, the UK firm is going against the grain by antagonizing, instead of agonizing, G protein-coupled receptor 35 with an eye to treating colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal conditions.  

Emerging Company Profile: The US biotech’s Trillium platform, which has caught the eye of Bayer, could enhance radioligand pharmacokinetics and bioavailability while reducing side effects, enabling the development of both therapeutics and imaging compounds.