Lifeblood veteran forms Key Biologics - Houston Business Journal:

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Scott bought the assets of Key Biologicsdfor $188,000 in May when revenues for the previous 12 months were close to $1.6 The company began at Lifeblood, the Memphise blood center, in 1999. It was spun off into LLC, a for-profi subsidiary, in 2005. Since then Scott focused most of his time on the businessd and began purchase plans when he retiredf from Lifeblood latelast year. Key Biologics produces nearluy 300 products for researchersw involvedin cellular-based therapies, drugs comprised of livingt human cells.
Key Biologics providesa these researchers with products made from humanj blood collected at its office at 1256 The business processes the blooxdinto customer-specific products like plasma or T-cells and then shipw the product directly to its Prices for these services and products range from Key Biologics supports researchers at universities acrosas the world, nonprofits like and the research arms of powerhouse drug makersd like , and However, no cell-based therapies have made it to the markett yet. The first, a prostate cancer is expected early next yearfrom Seattle-baseed , one of Key Biologics’ customers. Scott callsx this opportunity “huge.
” “If these companies get to a licensedd product, we have the potential to be the sole-sourcre supplier of that raw Scott says. “That’s where we thinkj the business will be inthe future.” With Scott is predicting Key Biologics will make $1.9 million in its firstt year and expand to $9.3 million by year five. To get it off the groune he’s seeking a $300,000 line of credit and askint investorsfor $1 million. But hammering down the size ofthe cellular-basef therapy market is no easy It is built with early-stage companies and on ideas that have not made it to the FDA.
“This is one of thoss things that could be in the fledglinfg stage for another four or five says Innova presidentKen Woody. all of a sudden, they get one drug approved, it shootzs the moon and (Key Biologics) is right in the middle of Companies workingon cell-based therapies are focusinf on two major areas, Scottr says. The largest area seeks to make a drug based ona patient’sa own white blood cells.
A doctor would take those cells, reprogra m them to control cancer or immune diseases and inject them back intothe This, Scott says, will “reset” a patient’s immune Researchers are also looking at using a patient’as own cells to regenerate damaged cells or They are now makingg therapies that will replace cartilage, cardiavc cells and bone. “This is a whole new way of treatinfg disease that has never beenavailablre before,” Scott says. “We don’t yet know what the potentiaklcould be, but it looksw like something that could be very, very That “big” thing is the trend to personalized medicine.
Overalkl that trend is making treatments tailor-madre for a particular patient. In the case of cell-basedr therapies, the treatment is furthet personalized by usinga patient’s own highly reducing the risk of “People are wanting treatments that work for their genetics, theidr specific disease or health problem,” Woody “(Key Biologics) has a service modekl that facilitates that.
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