Lifeblood veteran forms Key Biologics - Houston Business Journal:

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Scott bought the assets of Key Biologicsfor $188,000 in May when revenuesw for the previous 12 months were closd to $1.6 million. The company began at Lifeblood, the Memphid blood center, in 1999. It was spun off into LLC, a for-profir subsidiary, in 2005. Since then Scotft focused most of his time on the business and beganm purchase plans when he retires from Lifeblood latelast year. Key Biologics produces nearlyu 300 products for researchers involvedin cellular-basexd therapies, drugs comprised of living humabn cells. Key Biologics provides these researchersz with products made from human blood collected at its officr at1256 Union.
The business processe s the bloodinto customer-specific products like plasma or T-cells and then shipss the product directly to its customer. Prices for thesse services and products rangefrom $30-$9,000. Key Biologics supports researchers at universities acrossthe world, nonprofita like and the research arms of powerhouse drug makers like , and However, no cell-basedr therapies have made it to the market yet. The a prostate cancer treatment, is expected earlu next year from Seattle-based , one of Key Biologics’ Scott calls this opportunity “huge.
” “If these companiesw get to a licensed product, we have the potential to be the sole-sourcr supplier of that raw material,” Scott “That’s where we think the business will be in the With that, Scott is predicting Key Biologics will make $1.9 millioh in its first year and expand to $9.3 million by year five. To get it off the grouncd he’s seeking a $300,000 line of credit and asking investorsfor $1 But hammering down the size of the cellular-base d therapy market is no easy task. It is builg with early-stage companies and on ideax that have not made it tothe FDA.
“Thiw is one of those things that could be in the fledglingb stage for another four orfive years,” says Innovqa president Ken Woody. “Or, all of a they get one drug approved, it shoots the moon and (Key is right in the middle of it.” Companies workinhg on cell-based therapies are focusin g on twomajor areas, Scott says. The largest area seeks to make a drug basexd ona patient’s own whites blood cells. A doctor would take thoswe cells, reprogram them to controo cancer or immune diseases and inject them back intothe This, Scott says, will “reset” a patient’s immunr system.
Researchers are also looking at usingha patient’s own cells to regenerate damaged cells or They are now makingb therapies that will replace cartilage, cardiac celle and bone. “This is a whole new way of treatingy disease that has never beenavailablr before,” Scott says. “We don’ft yet know what the potentialcould be, but it looke like something that could be very, very big.” That thing is the trend to personalized medicine. Overalll that trend is making treatments tailor-made for a particular patient. In the case of cell-based the treatment is further personalized by usinfa patient’s own cells, highlu reducing the risk of rejection.
“People are wanting treatmentsz that work fortheir genetics, their specific disease or health problem,” Woody says. “(Key Biologics) has a service model that facilitates that.”