Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on emerging solutions that mitigate the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. Here, we are taking a look at some of the top antibody solutions.
Heat Map: 5 Top Antibody Solutions
For our 5 top picks, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 interesting examples out of 213 relevant solutions. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.
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AbCellera – Rapid Response Platform
Pandemics often claim thousands of lives and impact global economies. A rapid response platform allows stakeholders to quickly develop testing and treatment solutions to slow the spread of the infection. Among other solutions, it consists of rapid identification and maturation of antibodies against the particular virus strain.
The Canada-based company AbCellera develops antibody discovery solutions for therapeutic uses. They combine proprietary repertoire sequencing with functional data from single B cells to discover a large number of candidate antibodies. The company also develops a rapid response platform for viral pandemics. Currently, AbCellera is collaborating with Eli Lilly to co-develop antibody products to treat and prevent COVID-19.
E25Bio – Rapid Diagnostics
Antibody testing is faster than polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic solutions. It reduces the time between testing and results to a few minutes from a few hours to a few days. This is crucial during a pandemic as it enables doctors to isolate infected individuals faster. Antibody diagnostics also enable home testing, similar to pregnancy test kits.
E25Bio is a US-based startup that develops rapid diagnostic solutions for fever syndromes and infectious diseases. Their platform enables outbreak monitoring by integrating antibody discovery, rapid diagnostics development, and mobile phone app image capture. To tackle the coronavirus pandemic, E25Bio has developed a diagnostic test that delivers results in about 15 minutes and is awaiting Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).
PEPperPRINT – Proteome Microarrays
Even though viruses have small genomes, they produce hundreds or thousands of peptides against which the immune system produces antibodies. Serological screening of all of these peptides in sera of a large number of recovered patients needs to be done as quickly as possible to halt a pandemic. This necessitates high-throughput solutions such as the use of proteome microarrays that enable efficient antibody testing.
PEPperPRINT is a German company that offers standard and custom peptide microarrays. The PEPperCHIP® platform prints amino acid microparticles with a laser printer to enable the cost-effective generation of high-density peptide microarrays. The solutions find applications in epitope mapping of antibodies, analysis of serum profiles, research, biomarker discovery, and drug development. To assist in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, POPperPrint has developed the PEPperCHIP® Sars-CoV-2 Proteome Microarray chip based on the genome of the novel coronavirus.
Memo Therapeutics – Immune Repertoire Analysis
While the virus is completely eliminated once a patient recovers from an infection, the antibodies against it remain in the patient’s body. Blood serum testing, therefore, allows profiling people who have recovered from a viral infection and are presumably immune. During a pandemic, immune repertoire analysis of recovered patients speeds up the development of serum testing solutions to slow the spread of infection.
Swiss startup Memo Therapeutics provides solutions for antibody discovery and immune repertoire analysis. The startup combines microfluidic single-cell molecular cloning and screening technologies to produce monoclonal antibodies with the desired properties. Its pipeline includes antibodies against infectious diseases and cancers. Currently, Memo Therapeutics are analyzing sera of recovered COVID-19 patients to discover antibodies against the novel coronavirus.
Lemonaid X Scanwell – At-Home Testing
Globally, healthcare systems are overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients. Suspected patients risk getting infected if they visit a hospital and often have to wait for days to get their results. At-home testing solutions enable rapid testing for a large number of people without putting others at risk.
US-based Scanwell Health is a digital healthcare startup that offers at-home testing solutions. Recently, they have collaborated with telehealth startup Lemonaid to offer at-home testing for COVID-19. The rapid serology kit is mailed to the patient after evaluation by a Lemonaid doctor or nurse practitioner. Their first offering combines test strips and an FDA-cleared mobile app to detect urinary tract infections in 2 minutes. The app then connects the patients to doctors for same-day prescriptions.
How To Flatten The Curve?
This is an unprecedented situation for many of us across the world. The SARS outbreak in the early 2000s claimed 774 lives. That toll was enough to drive research & development and easier healthcare solutions. It is an encouraging fact that several mobile health, e-health, diagnostics, and remote health startups and emerging companies are able to respond during a pandemic. With thousands of deaths already, we expect to see numerous new companies offering technology-driven solutions to help doctors, nurses, other health workers, and the larger public.
