Instruments for customers in biopharma and academia
Axion at a glance
Axion Biosystems (“Axion”) is a global life science tools business headquartered in the US that develops, produces, and markets BEA (Bioelectronic Assay) and live-cell imaging instruments for customers in biopharma and academia. Axion’s products enable scientists to understand cell function in real-time, enabling research and the development of new therapies across various pharmaceutical segments (e.g., cell and gene therapies).
- Sector
- Life Sciences tools
- Location
- United States
- Employees
- 232
- Website
- https://www.axionbiosystems.com/
- Investment theme
- Changing Demographics
- Contact
- christoph.waer@summaequity.com
Key developments in 2023
Axion has successfully launched two new products during 2023: Maestro Tray Z, a high-throughput live-cell analysis platform, and Omni PRO 12, an automated, high-throughput live-cell imaging platform. The company continued to grow top-line and improve the gross margins on the back of higher productivity. Julien Bradley was hired as the new CEO to continue to build on Axion’s strong foundation and accelerate the commercial momentum.
What are the challenges Axion addresses
-
1in 6
deaths are due to Cancer globally, making it one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
-
~$ 1.3bn
average cost of getting a new drug onto the market.
How does Axion help?
Reality today
The live-cell perspective is not fully integrated in the development of therapies and scientists need better tools to understand cell function to target diseases and drive patient outcomes.
Axion approach
Axion enables multi-dimensional, interoperable live-cell analysis to improve drug discovery and development, driving breakthroughs in cell and gene therapies, ultimately leading to superior health outcomes.
Aspirational future
Faster, more accurate and cost-efficient drug discovery and development for precision medicine through real-time understanding of cell functioning and enablement of cutting-edge fields within biotechnology and medicine that address various medical conditions such as cancer, genetic disorders, and autoimmune diseases.
Who is impacted?
Researchers and biopharma are impacted directly by gaining insights through more effective tools that increase the understanding of cell functions. Patients are impacted indirectly through breakthroughs in treatment developments.
Contribution
Axion enables academia and biopharma to gain insights into cell function, and thereby contributes to speeding up the time and increasing the quality of critical drug development.
Risks
Axion’s impact depends partly on how its customers in academia and biopharma choose to use its tools. Engaging with customers can help to ensure that the research and innovation it enables translates into patient outcomes downstream.