By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News
Science laboratory photo licensed from iStockphotos
In fact, one in every six San Antonio employees works in the bioscience and healthcare industry.
The industry is constantly creating new jobs and its startups and innovative bioscience companies are key to its continued growth. Here’s ten companies with cutting edge research and products worth watching in the coming year.
BIO2 Medical – The company, founded in 2007, has created the Angel catheter, which provides access to the central venous system and traps blood clots before they reach the lungs. It completed clinical trials last year. The U.S. Food and Drug approved the device in July. The company also recently received funding to roll out its product. To date, it has received $51.2 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase.
Bluegrass Vascular Technologies – The company, founded in 2010 in Kentucky and relocated to San Antonio in 2014, has created the Surface Inside-Out Access Catheter System. It announced on Aug. 30th that the company received CE Mark approval and is launching limited commercial sale of its medical device in Europe. The company also announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issued two patents related to Bluegrass Vascular’s technology for its catheter system. The company has raised $4.5 million so far.
Cytocentrics – The company, founded in Rostock, Germany in 2001, moved to San Antonio last year. It specializes in cellular patch clamp testing. “Patch clamping is a technique for measuring microscopic voltage changes caused by the movement of molecules through the membrane ion channels of a cell, a function that is central to cellular physiology and drug-cell interactions.” With the company’s patch clamp technology, drug makers can develop better medicines. Its instrument, known as the Cytopatch 4, is available for sale worldwide.
Invictus Medical – The company, founded in 2010 by University of Texas at San Antonio students, created a medical device known as the GELShield. It provides extracranial pressure relief for newborn babies. Invictus received FDA clearance last year and is now selling the device nationwide.
Mobile Stem Care – The company, founded in 2013 by a University of Texas at San Antonio student, provides stem cell therapy to pets. It uses adult stem cells, taken from the animal, to treat traumatic injuries, degenerative diseases, non-healing wounds and other ailments in pets.
Nebulab – The company, founded in 2014, has created a contextual data management portal for scientists. It’s a platform for research scientists to store and manage data and papers. It spun out of a 3 Day Startup program and received an initial $25,000 investment from the Geekdom Fund. It went on to participate in the 2015 Techstars Cloud program. The company has raised $253,000 since its inception, according to Crunchbase.
Fe3 Medical – The company, founded in 2008 in San Jose, announced in August that it raised $14.5 million in Series B funding, including $3.5 million from the State of Texas. The company is developing a transdermal patch that delivers iron across the skin for patients suffering from iron-deficiency anemia. Fe3 Medical, an InCubes Lab company, moved to San Antonio in 2010.
Pronucleotein Biotechnologies – The company, founded in 2005, won the runner up title in last year’s first ever U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Challenge. The received a $100,000 prize for their portable rapid pathogen screening system. The device is aimed at making e-coli, listeria, campylobacter and salmonella detection easier and faster.
Rapamycin Holdings – The company, founded in 2012, makes drugs to slow the aging process and to treat age-related diseases in people and animals. It raised a $2.5 million Series A round in 2015. It licensed the formulation of rapamycin from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Xenex Disinfection Services – The company, founded in 2008 in Austin, moved operations to San Antonio a year later. It makes a $100,000 robot that eradicates dangerous bacteria and viruses in hospitals and clinics by using pulsed Xenon UV light to disinfect patient care environments.
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