Now Available: 50 Disruptive Companies 2013 See The 2013 List »
Biomedicine
Public Companies
Complete Genomics
Why: Many doctors and researchers lack the resources to sequence genomes and analyze them themselves.
Key innovation: Sells sequencing as a service, analyzing DNA samples that customers send in.
Geron
Why: Embryonic stem cells provide a potential source of replacement tissue for use in treating an array of degenerative diseases and injuries.
Key innovation: Has begun clinical trials for a spinal-cord therapy derived from these cells.
Life Technologies
Why: Quick, cheap DNA sequencing will lead to new diagnostic test and targeted treatments.
Key innovation: Its desktop gene-sequencing machines costs $50,000, about a 10th as much as other machines.
Novartis
Why: Understanding molecular pathways of rare diseases can shed light on common ones.
Key innovation: Introduced the first medication for patients with benign brain tumors associated with a particular genetic disorder; now the drug is approved for treatment of kidney cancer and is in testing for other types.
Pacific Biosciences
Why: DNA sequencing provides a way to detect microbes in the environment and monitor the spread of viruses in our bodies.
Key innovation:Its sequencing machine can read single strands of DNA in real time.
Roche
Why: Drugs that target genetic mutations unique to cancer cells may be more effective than ones that act more broadly.
Key innovation: A new drug blogs the effects of a mutation thought to be present in as many as 8 percent of all cancers.
Private Companies
BIND Biosciences
Why: Targeting cancer drugs narrowly to tumor cells will improve efficacy and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy.
Key innovation: Its delivery system uses engineered nanoparticles to deliver drugs to specific cells.
Cellular Dynamics International
Why: Screening drugs on human heart cells will help researchers find treatments for cardiac problems and test drugs for toxic side effects.
Key innovation: Uses included pluripotent stems cells to make large numbers of heart cells for testing.
Claros Diagnostics
Why: Simple, fast diagnostic tests can help physicians track disease-related markers.
Key innovation: Its microfluidic device for doctors' offices can quickly detect elevated protein levels associated with prostate cancer.