lino Biotech closes financing round

lino Biotech AG is advancing a technology for focal molography. In specific terms, this concerns a biosensor platform that, according to the company, offers unique opportunities to investigate molecular interactions in living cells. For example, the platform allows researchers to measure both intracellular and extracellular binding to membrane proteins for the first time. The insights gained from such measurements help pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the development of new drugs.

The biosensor platform was originally developed as part of a research project lasting nearly a full decade carried out by Roche Diagnostics, a subsidiary of the Basel-based pharma group Roche with its headquarters in Rotkreuz in the canton of Zug, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH). The technology has been licensed by lino Biotech, with the firm now intending to focus on further development and commercialization activities.

The Zurich-based start-up has now also been able to convince investors with its plan. According to a press release, lino Biotech has successfully raised financing in the single-digit million range. High-Tech Gründerfonds, Roche Ventures as well as several family offices were all among the investors.

“Experiments with pharma partners have highlighted the value of focal molography. However, we are still at the beginning to understand the value of molography for different industries”, comments Mirko Stange, CEO of lino Biotech, in the press release. The company is currently in the process of examining “the potential of monitoring multiple parameters in bioreactors as well as another pharma case of measuring high-affinity drug-target interactions in real-time over several days”, Stange explains.