Genetic Engineering Company, Enhanced Genomics, Secures $19 Million in Funding
In the rapidly evolving world of therapeutics discovery, a British startup named Enhanced Genomics is making waves with its innovative 3D multi-omics platform. The company, spun out from labs at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, is focusing on common diseases with high unmet need, particularly autoimmune disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Enhanced Genomics' technology is unique in being hypothesis-free and genome-wide, offering a potentially more precise approach to cell-type specificity in target discovery. The company claims that this could potentially reduce false leads, setting it apart from its competitors.
Other early-stage competitors in the multi-omics and AI-driven drug target discovery space include Omniscope and Verge Genomics. While these competitors' drug targets may be faster to translate, they could have less causal validity, according to industry experts. None of these companies, including Enhanced Genomics, have yet secured a strong position in the market due to the lack of late-stage trial success.
10x Genomics, another prominent player, focuses on single-cell and spatial genomics, providing high-resolution cell-type maps of disease biology. Meanwhile, SOPHiA GENETICS builds a cloud-based platform integrating genomic and multi-omics data across diseases.
Competition is fierce, with companies like Genomics plc and Arima Genomics also vying for a piece of the market. Genomics plc uses genome-wide association studies combined with machine learning to validate targets, while Arima Genomics applies 3D chromatin conformation mapping for target discovery and structural variant detection.
The recent funding for Enhanced Genomics will support the expansion of its internal therapeutic pipeline and partnerships with biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The 3D metagenomics platform, developed in 2021, aims to convert non-coding variation data into drug targets.
However, the use of heavier data infrastructure and validation may be required for Enhanced Genomics' 3D multi-omics atlas. This could potentially slow down the process, but the company's promise of greater cell-type specificity and reduced false leads could make it a worthwhile investment for the therapeutics discovery market, particularly for autoimmune diseases.
The success of Enhanced Genomics, Omniscope, Verge Genomics, and other competitors could significantly impact the therapeutics discovery market, as the market for autoimmune disease targets is estimated to reach tens of billions of dollars globally. As these companies continue to advance their technologies and move closer to late-stage trials, the future of drug discovery looks promising.
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