Evozym Biologics, founded in 2009 by Antarctic research scientists at the University of Delaware and the Desert Research Institute, has raised $600,000 to fund business development and strategic partnerships for its gene discovery software and database business.
Funding for the Lewes, Delaware company came from core investors, said Joseph Grzymski, the president and co-founder of Evozym.
Its proprietary algorithms and databases focus on the diversity of natural solutions to environmental challenges that impact genomes of living organisms and have applications for the energy and biopharmaceutical sectors, among others.
It aims to accelerate the discovery of useful proteins for biofuels production and drug development, saving industries significant time and R&D costs.
In June, it began a strategic collaboration with Genscript USA — the single-largest synthesizer of DNA — to use Envozym’s software.
Adam Marsh is a co-founder of the company and a professor of marine bioscience at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth Ocean and Environment, and Grzymski is a microbiologist at the Desert Research Institute who integrates laboratory and field research at the molecular and biophysical level with computational biology.
Grzymski told MedCity News that the idea for the company came about by accident when they collaborated on an Antarctic research project in which they set out to examine how organisms adapt to extreme environments.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
