- AB Science
Founded: 2001
Location: Paris, France
Market cap: €545M
In a phase IIb/III research, AB Science’s Alzheimer’s disease medicine masitinib protected patients with intermediate symptoms from developing to severe dementia. Could be a big advance for Alzheimer’ disease therapy if the findings are replicated by a follow-up phase III study, which has been plagued by late-stage trial failures in recent years, including the phase II failure of AC Immune and Genentech’s medication in September last year.
- Arctoris
Founded: 2016
Location: Oxford, UK
As the Covid-19 epidemic drives individuals to do tests online, Arctoris, a business that specialises in automating drug development procedures, is one to keep an eye on. Researchers may now design, model, and execute experiments from a distance thanks to Arctoris’ robotic lab platform. Syntekabio, a Korean startup, and Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based artificial intelligence firm, are among the companies working with Covid-19 in 2020.
- Argenx
Founded: 2008
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Market cap: €13.5B
Llama antibodies inspire medications developed by Dutch heavyweight argenx. efgartigimod, the company’s principal medication candidate, showed promise in a phase III study in 2020 for the treatment of individuals with the uncommon and chronic autoimmune illness myasthenia gravis. May’s €785M in state funding was the biotech company’s second-largest ever. Efgartigimod has yet to be approved by the FDA, but Argenx expects to submit a regulatory application for the medicine in Japan and Europe this year if the FDA does so.
- BioNTech
Founded: 2008
Location: Mainz, Germany
Market cap: €42.8B
When it came to developing antibody medicines, CAR-T immunotherapies, and therapeutic messenger RNAs, BioNTech was a household name in the European biotech community for a long time. It was last year when the Covid-19 pandemic hit that BioNTech and Pfizer became the first to sell an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, which helped to bring RNA treatments into the mainstream.
The battle against the Covid-19 epidemic isn’t ended for BioNTech this year. There is still a lot of uncertainty about how BioNTech and other biotech firms in the industry can tackle the hurdles of large-scale vaccine manufacturing and garnering the public’s confidence as Europe’s biggest vaccination programme gets underway.
- Carbios
Founded: 2011
Location: Saint-Beauzire, France
Market cap: €494M
Carbios is one of the most sophisticated biotechnology firms discovering methods to create and recycle eco-friendly plastics in a world where plastic recycling and zero waste are increasingly vital. Carbios has developed enzyme technology to make 100 percent recycled plastic bottles, and the business plans to build an industrial demonstration facility in June 2020 to enable it to market its PET recycling technology. The biotech firm plans to commence operations in the first quarter of 2021 with the first phase.
- Compass Pathways
Founded: 2016
Location: Altrincham, UK
Market cap: €1.1B
Psychedelic therapies for severe depression are being developed by Compass Pathways utilising psilocybin, the primary active element in magic mushrooms. It has been demonstrated to have long-lasting therapeutic benefits in limited tests, and may have less negative effects than conventional antidepressants. An initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in October of last year raised €108 million for the company’s marketing of its medicines. Data from phase IIb of its psychedelic therapy for depression is expected this year.
- CureVac
Founded: 2000
Location: Tübingen, Germany
Market cap: €8.9B
Covid-19, a vaccine based on mRNA vaccine technology developed by CureVac last year, grabbed news as one of the first biotech businesses to reveal its development. The German government invested €300 million in CureVac after the firm was embroiled in an international controversy involving an alleged takeover attempt by US President Donald Trump. A few months later, CureVac went public on the Nasdaq and was valued at $2.3 billion. As CureVac’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine enters phase III testing, the business is working with Bayer to further enhance the vaccine candidate and make millions of doses available.
- CRISPR Therapeutics
Founded: 2013
Location: Zug, Switzerland
Market cap: €8.7B
CRISPR Therapeutics uses the gene-editing technique CRISPR-Cas9 to create therapies. With Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the business is developing a gene-edited stem cell treatment to treat sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia in phase I/II. The two biotech firms presented encouraging interim findings from their studies at the end of last year. At the moment, patients are being recruited for a phase I study of CRISPR Therapeutics’ gene-edited CAR T-cell treatment, with findings anticipated in 2021. CRISPR Therapeutics’ €400 million public offering on the Nasdaq last year might lead to big fundraises in the future.
- DBV Technologies
Founded: 2002
Location: Bagneux, France
Market cap: €542M
Peanut allergies in children are being treated using a skin patch developed by DBV Technologies. In 2020, the biotech firm had a difficult year. Despite DBV’s request for further data and adjustments to the product’s design, the FDA denied the company’s marketing authorisation application in August. DBV’s US competitor Aimmune Therapeutics, on the other hand, continued to grow, gaining FDA and EMA clearance for its therapy for peanut allergy. When DBV Technologies submitted its peanut allergy skin patch for marketing authorisation to the EMA in November of 2020, a decision was expected this year.
- DNA Script
Founded: 2014
Location: Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
As a result of the worldwide Covid-19 epidemic, crucial processes in research and development have been negatively disrupted, including the creation of DNA. Labs will be equipped with their own DNA printers in order to decentralise supply and minimise the impact of future pandemics. The benchtop DNA printer’s commercialization was given a boost when the business secured €80 million in Series B funding in July 2020.
