NANOSTRING TECHNOLOGIES INC.

Location: Seattle

Key People: CEO H. Perry Fell previously served as chief executive officer of Seattle Genetics, taking it public in 2001, before co-founding NanoString with Amber Ratcliffe, who is director of technical operations.

Key Innovation: NanoString's technology is able to identify target molecules in a mixture and count them digitally, a process used for genetic testing, in which researchers try to understand how different genes within cells interact with each other. "Right now the process to do this is very cumbersome and can produce bias in the results," says Ratcliffe. Once the molecules are scanned like barcodes, the system spits out an Excel spreadsheet that identifies the genes that were detected and how many copies there are. "It's like checking out at the grocery store," says Ratcliffe. The technology was developed in 2001 by the company's founder, Krassen Dimitrov, at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. NanoString Technologies was eventually spun out of the Accelerator Corp. in 2003 to develop and commercialize the technology.

Money Raised: More than $8 million from OVP Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Measure of Success: NanoString's reporter technology has shown sensitivity at or below a single copy of mRNA, a copy of the information carried by a gene on the DNA. "We have been continuing to show that it is possible, that our technology works and is doing what no other technology can do," says Ratcliffe, who was running the management side of the company in her condo for the first year. The company entered national competitions with their business plan and product, winning $46,000 before officially launching the company.

No. of Employees: 19.

What's Next: The company has been collecting biological samples from other biotech firms and is processing the samples in its own labs. The company is in talks with manufacturers for their product and is developing its commercialization strategy before their product launches next fall.  

OMEROS CORP.

Location: Seattle

Key People: Gregory Demopulos, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, co-founded the Company in 1994. Demopulos, an orthopedic surgeon who completed his M.D. and residency at Stanford and a fellowship at Duke, spearheads the company's business and financing strategy. Demopulos has recruited an experienced team, including George Gaitanaris, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President, Science; Wayne Gombotz, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmaceutical Operations; Marcia Kelbon, Esq., Vice President, Patent and General Counsel; Greg Perkins, Ph.D., Vice President, Regulatory Affairs; Paul Strauss, M.D., Vice President, Clinical Development; and Clark Tedford, Ph.D., Vice President, Research.

Key Innovation: Omeros' leading products integrate the approaches of systems biology and preemptive inhibition to reduce inflammation, pain, spasm, loss of function and other problems resulting from the trauma of medical and surgical procedures. The drugs are designed for direct and continuous delivery to the surgical site throughout the surgical procedure. "We're able to 'leverage generics,' using active ingredients contained in generic, FDA-approved drugs. Our goal is to enhance patient outcomes while reducing the cost and risk of drug development," says Demopulos.

Money Raised: Omeros has completed five rounds of private financing, with a total investment of more than $80 million. The company has more than 20 institutional shareholders, including Aravis Venture Associates, Arch Venture Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, Trevi Health Ventures and Vulcan Ventures.

Measure of Success: The firm's leading product, OMS103HP, works to improve function and reduce pain associated with arthroscopic surgery. It is in Phase 3 clinical trials. The company holds 77 patents and more than 100 pending patent applications. "Ultimately, we'll be measured by the commercial success of our products and the benefits that they provide to patients, and we expect to stack up well by both metrics," says Demopulos.

No. of Employees: 50.

What's Next: Omeros plans to have two more products in the clinic by 2007 and another two in 2008. The company recently completed the acquisition of Nura Inc., a Seattle-based company developing treatments for pain and central nervous system disorders, including schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. The company is also preparing for an initial public offering.

KORONIS PHARMACEUTICALS
 
Location: Redmond

Key People: Donald J. Elmer, chairman and interim CEO, is also the managing general partner of Pacific Horizon Ventures. John Reno is chief operating officer and has also been president of Perlan Therapeutics and chief operating officer of IBC Pharmaceuticals.

Key Innovation: Formed in 1998, Koronis' core technology is called Viral Decay Acceleration, which provokes the rapid decay of the HIV virus by increasing its naturally high rate of mutation. The company's lead product candidate, KP-1461, is designed to provide reduced toxicity and a treatment option for HIV patients who have failed with, or become resistant to, other conventional therapeutics. "We are focusing on trying to inject additional mutations to stop disease from spreading," says Elmer. "The mutations that we are putting into HIV will kill or accelerate the decline of fitness, so the reproductive capacity for the biological population dips below what is required to sustain that infection."

Money Raised: $18 million from private investors. Pacific Horizon Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development and Asset Management Co. Measure of Success: Clinical trials in 42 healthy subjects demonstrated that KP-1461 is well tolerated, with no dose-related toxicities. A second trial in HIV-positive patients finished in November. The drug mechanism is also applicable to other viruses, Hepatitis C and Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

No. of Employees: 14.

What's Next: The company has received approval for a second round of trials, and will launch them in January at up to 40 sites nationwide, and possibly in other countries as well. The study will last 120 days and include about 100 patients.  

VLST CORP.

Location: Seattle Key People: Steven Wiley, who is chief technical officer, co-founded VLST with Craig Smith, who is chief scientific officer. Martin Simonetti is the CEO.

Key Innovation: The company's proprietary technology platform combines bio-informatics and proteomics to identify new drug targets by studying how viruses suppress the immune system. By studying how viruses generate proteins called "virulence factors," which slow down the immune system's responses and help the viruses survive, VLST will be able to create drugs that mimic those proteins in order to make the immune system less vulnerable to attack and treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Formed in May 2004, VLST was one of the first start-ups to be funded by the Accelerator Corp., an incubator that builds companies around technologies developed at the nonprofit Institute for Systems Biology.

Money Raised: Landing the largest venture capital deal in Washington state so far this year, VLST received $55 million total in its second round of financing from Texas Pacific Group Ventures, MPM Capital, Arch Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners, Amgen Ventures, MedImmune Ventures Inc., and WRF Capital.

Measure of Success: "We have enough data to support our original hypothesis," says Simonetti. Their discovery platform has primary applications for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, lupus and diabetes, as well as other conditions known to have an autoimmune or inflammatory component. "You reduce the number of potential clinical failures, so the cost to bring a drug to market is less," he says.

No. of Employees: 25.

What's Next: Proving their hypothesis. The company will file an Investigational New Drug application for its leading drug candidate (still unnamed) in the first half of 2008. The company started preclinical development with it in October and will have a first look at preclinical data by the end of the year.