Swiss Start-Up Sets Out To Lower Cost Of Gene Therapy

2023-05-17 04:15:16

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) NewBiologix plans to engineer cell lines and use next generation sequencing and other tools to analyse their genome, says Déborah Ley, the company's chief operating officer. Jessica Davis Plüss, swissinfo.ch

Swiss start-up NewBiologix believes it can dramatically bring down the cost of gene therapies, typically priced in the millions, with the help of a new technology platform. It's one of a growing number of companies setting up shop in Switzerland to meet the demands of gene and cell therapy makers.

This content was published on May 17, 2023 May 17, 2023

Jessica covers the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to big global companies and their impact in Switzerland and abroad. She's always looking for a Swiss connection with her native San Francisco and will happily discuss why her hometown has produced some of the greatest innovations but can't seem to solve its housing crisis.

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The paint has hardly dried on the walls of the headquarters of NewBiologix at its grand opening in Épalinges, in western Switzerland on May 11. The company is used to moving quickly. In two years, it went from an idea to an 1800-square-metre, state-of-the-art facility equipped with top-notch laboratory equipment.

NewBiologix is fresh on the scene but behind the company are veteran scientists and biotech entrepreneurs. In 2001, Igor Fisch and Nicolas Mermod co-founded another company in Geneva, Selexis, that developed its own technology platforms for the production of therapeutic proteins from human cell lines (collections of cells with the same genetic material) for biological drugs. In 2017, the company was acquired by the Japanese group JSR Corporation.

Treating the untreatable

With their next venture, Fisch and Mermod are bringing their knowledge of cell line development to gene therapy, which is part of a new generation of medicine to address the underlying cause of many diseases long seen as untreatable. Gene therapy introduces into a patient's cells genetic material intended to replace or supplement a defective gene.

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