While biotech has long been a vital component of the global tech market, this pivotal sector has seemingly reached new heights over the past decade. And although organizations around the world have tried to rule the life sciences space, the United States remains the undisputed biotech leader.
Biotech Companies to Know
- GRAIL
- Benchling
- Helix
- ArcherDX
- VieCure
- Paige
- Flatiron Health
- PWNHealth
According to reports, the nation’s life sciences sector alone generates over $112 billion in revenue. In light of biotech’s mounting economic impact, it’s no surprise that tech hubs across the country are witnessing a surge in life sciences companies, bolstering the nation’s status as a biotech epicenter.
Over the past couple years, the importance of the biotech industry has been even further amplified, as the world raced to create a COVID-19 vaccine.
While focus has been on combating COVID-19, the country’s biotech leaders continue to dedicate themselves to addressing other pressing medical issues. Backed by teams of world-renowned scientists and technologists, these organizations are addressing challenges across the healthcare spectrum. Whether they’re formulating new cancer treatments or harnessing the power of human genetics, the nation’s biotech companies are making a monumental impact on the future of medical research and drug discovery.
We’ve rounded up the top biotech companies to give you a glimpse into the burgeoning life sciences sector.
Biotech Companies to Know
Location: Bagsværd, Denmark
Novo Nordisk has been around since the 1920s, and today focuses on developing treatments and pharmaceuticals for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hemophilia. The company has roughly 860 research and development employees working in the United States and is conducting clinical trials in more than four dozen countries.
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Biotech firm Asimov is a genetic design company. It uses machine learning, computer-aided design and a niche of biology known as synthetic biology — a field that redesigns existing organisms for new uses — to genetically engineer therapeutics like biologics and gene therapies. Asimov markets a platform that includes host cells, a genetic parts library, technical guides and design software for creating genetic systems in various types of cells.
Location: Menlo Park, California
GRAIL is on a mission to detect cancer at earlier stages so that it can be more easily cured. The company focuses on seeking cancer signals in the blood, guided by the belief that tumors release cell-free nucleic acids into the bloodstream, which are thought to be a direct measure of cancer and can potentially be detected before the onset of symptoms. GRAIL intends to foster a deeper understanding of cancer biology through its high-intensity sequencing assays and population-scale clinical studies.
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Schrödinger is powering drug research with its computer simulations platform. Founded in 1990, the company employs physics-based methods to evaluate chemical matter and compounds before synthesis. As a result, researchers should see faster lead discoveries, accurate property descriptions and access to large-scale molecular exploration. The company also provides integrated data and visualization tools
Location: San Diego, California
Illumina seeks to make “genomics more useful for all, for a better understanding of human health.” The company develops products for cancer research, reproductive health, genetic and rare diseases and microbial genomics.
Location: Lexington, Massachusetts
Founded in the 18th century, Takeda is a global pharmaceutical company with a strong emphasis on research and development. The company focuses its research in several areas: oncology, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, vaccines, neuroscience and gastroenterology. In the U.S. alone, Takeda has created over 50 products and service programs that benefit patients and physicians.
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Viome Life Sciences believes microbial and human gene expression are altering how biological activities and human health are connected. The company uses an mRNA platform to digitize human data to prevent, diagnose and treat chronic illnesses and diseases. Through the platform, consumers can receive personalized recommendations — like dietary restrictions and exercise plans — on how to live a healthy life.
Location: San Francisco, California
Invitae provides genetic testing services, the Invitae Digital Health platform to coordinate patient care, biopharma partnerships. Its products have applications for oncology, reproductive health, pediatrics, cardiology and pathology.
Location: Seattle, Washington
Variant Bio uses innovative sequence technology and studies the genetics of individuals with “exceptional health-related traits.” The company’s goal: to transform drug development as we know it today and, ultimately, find better ways to treat diseases.
Location: San Francisco, California
Benchling is dedicated to speeding up life sciences research through its suite of unified applications, which are housed within the company’s life sciences research and development cloud. The cloud serves as a platform for centralizing and standardizing all R&D data, enabling users to track every workflow, automatically interlink related data and easily and quickly export data. Benchling’s applications can be used for the research of antibodies, cell therapy, proteins and peptides, gene therapy, vaccines and more.
Location: San Mateo, California
Helix created an end-to-end genomics platform in an effort to enable health systems, life sciences companies and payers to advance genomic research. The company’s platform allows users to deliver actionable genetic insights and conduct large-scale genetic analyses. Helix’s Exome+ assay is designed to facilitate the discovery and analysis of rare and novel variants, genome-wide imputation, polygenic risk score calculation, ancestry inference and more.
Location: Wilmington, Massachusetts
Charles River Laboratories’ focus is on the quick, efficient and safe discovery and development of drugs and therapeutics. The company provides products and services that take its clients from the basic research stage to clinical development and commercialization. Its customers come from the pharmaceutical, biotech, agrochemical, and academic sectors.
Location: Rahway, New Jersey
Merck’s efforts center around biopharmaceutical research for preventing and treating disease in people and animals with a focus on oncology, vaccines, infectious diseases, COVID-19, cardio-metabolic disorders and discovery and development.
Location: New York, New York
Flatiron Health aims to reinvent cancer care by learning from the experiences of cancer patients. The company’s Flatiron HC platform can help providers with administrative tasks, matching patients to clinical trials they’re eligible for and accessing patient information whenever or wherever they need.
Location: New York, New York
Imagen Technologies is dedicated to making diagnostic care more accessible while eliminating errors in radiology. The company’s FDA-cleared Computer Assisted Detection and Diagnosis software applies AI technology to medical image analysis in an effort to improve patient outcomes.
Location: Chicago, Illinois
CancerIQ is dedicated to helping providers use genetic information to predict and prevent disease. The company provides user-friendly screening tools that allow healthcare providers to offer patients easy risk assessment questionnaires in waiting rooms and track patient outcomes over time to keep them engaged and informed. CancerIQ’s screening solution enables providers to replace long paper forms and quickly identify patients eligible for genetic counseling, genetic testing or an MRI.
Location: Palo Alto, California
BridgeBio works in medicine development for patients who have genetic diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers. The company’s partners have included St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Neurocern aims to leverage neuroinformatics and data analytics to improve the quality of life and longevity of neurological patients. The company’s technology is designed to identify different types of dementia more effectively than other forms of diagnosis. Neurocern is guided by the belief that analytics can connect siloed markets in new ways to improve long-term care outcomes and ultimately find cures for neurodegenerative diseases.
Location: Foster City, California
Notable’s platform aims to dramatically reduce the cost and time associated with the traditional drug development process. Powered by machine learning, automation and high-throughput flow cytometry, the company’s precision medicine platform is capable of determining which drugs or drug combinations would be most effective for specific types of cancers. Notable’s mission is to change the way clinicians and prescribers select treatments for the millions of individuals suffering from hematological cancers.
Location: San Francisco, California
Atomwise developed deep learning technology for the discovery of structure-based small molecule drugs. The company’s AtomNet technology utilizes a statistical approach in order to extract insights from millions of experimental affinity measurements and thousands of protein structures to predict the binding of small molecules to proteins. Atomwise’s technology removes some of the physical barriers that previously limited the success of drug discovery, and has the ability to analyze a very large chemical space to identify a small subset with high specificity for synthesis and testing.
Location: Austin, Texas
Natera is a genetic testing and diagnostics company dedicated to changing how doctors and patients manage genetic disease. The company’s solutions include personalized cancer care management, health assessments for transplant patients and women’s health testing. Natera aims to deliver technology and finely-tuned workflows that drive superior clinical and analytics performance.
Location: Austin, Texas
ATX Therapeutics is dedicated to helping people more easily manage chronic health conditions such as cancer and heart disease. The company offers evidence-based digital therapeutics intervention programs, which are based on individual patients’ health history, needs and abilities. ATX Therapeutics’ programs are designed to be integrated into patient lifestyles and provider workflows to deliver a fully integrated healthcare experience.
Location: Greenwood Village, Colorado
VieCure aims to make genomic-based cancer care more accessible for patients and providers. The company’s platform operates as a point-of-care clinical decision support system that combines clinical knowledge with patient data to help oncologists generate personalized treatment plans and manage patients’ care. VieCure intends for its platform to serve as a value-added extender for every oncologist, nurse, therapist and clinical researcher.
Location: New York, New York
Paige seeks to transform the diagnosis and treatment of cancer with its AI-native digital pathology ecosystem. The company’s AI suite is intended to provide data-driven insights to pathologists, clinicians and pharmaceutical teams. Paige’s aim is to propel cancer care with more powerful and efficient tools for diagnosis, treatment selection and drug development.
Location: Santa Monica, California
Quantgene aims to transform the future of medicine by unlocking the deep human genome. The company’s platform combines deep genomic sequencing and AI to detect mutational patterns of disease down to a single molecule, thus helping inform early cancer detection, prediction of disease onset and non-invasive treatment monitoring. Additionally, Quantgene’s Serenity Medical Intelligence is intended to extract vital health data from patients’ DNA so they can help protect themselves from chronic diseases, drug interactions and lifestyle risks.
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Moderna is a pharmaceutical company working to use mRNA technology to develop medicines, vaccines and therapeutics. Infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, cardiovascular disease and autoimmune diseases have been among Moderna’s areas of focus.
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Strata Oncology is a genomic testing company working on precision medicine for cancer patients. The company’s StrataNGS genomic profiling test is effective for smaller tumor tissue samples compared to other tests, making testing that can inform immunotherapy decisions more accessible to patients with advanced solid tumors.
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Myriad Genetics aims to provide accurate genetic insights to improve disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The company offers multiple testing options, including MyRisk hereditary cancer risk testing and Prequel prenatal screening.
