The Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas is a thriving metropolis. When visiting, one must make sure to go to the top of Reunion Tower, visit the 6th Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza and wander about the George W. Bush Library. Although Houston holds the states honor of being the top city for medical excellence, Dallas is nipping at its heels. Home of UT Southwestern Medical Center (and the many companies that have spun out of UTSW) and large pharmaceutical companies such as Alcon, Novartis and Pfizer, the DFW area is growing. In addition, the State of Texas has a generous funding body, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, CPRIT, that provides funding for academic research, product development and prevention.
Below is my list of top picks for emerging biotech companies in the DFW area:
Gradalis, Carrollton, TX is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel personalized therapeutics to treat cancer. They have invented the the Vigil® platform, a fully personalized, patient-specific cancer immunotherapy that can be applied to virtually any cancer.
Lantern Pharma, Dallas, TX has developed RADR®, or Response Algorithm for Drug Positioning & Rescue. It is Lantern’s proprietary integrated data analytics, experimental biology, biotechnology, and machine-learning-based platform. Their robust pipeline includes products for prostate cancer, solid tumors, NSCLC, glioblastoma and CNS cancers.
Reata Pharmaceuticals, Irving, TX has developed investigational Nrf2 activators, including bardoxolone methyl, omaveloxolone, and next generation molecules, modulate genes involved in cellular metabolism and mitochondrial function to regulate the cellular inflammatory response. They are developing bardoxolone methyl and omaveloxolone for treatment of chronic kidney disease and Friedreich’s ataxia, respectively. Their novel small molecule inhibitors of HSP90 and RORγt are in development for treatment of neurological and autoimmune diseases, respectively.
Nacuity Pharmaceuticals, Ft Worth, TX is focused on developing a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and leveraging our diverse library of novel antioxidant molecules to address other ocular diseases involving oxidative stress.
Arog Pharmaceuticals, Dallas, TX is a Phase 3 biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing their lead investigational drug candidate, crenolanib, and a related class of benzimidazole-based compounds to become treatment options for cancer indications with high unmet medical need. Current targets include AML and multiple solid tumors.