For Cancer Patients, A Gift of Time

When it comes to cancer, time is of the essence. The founders of Biomakers, Nicolás Kirchuk and Rubén Salanova, have dedicated their lives to giving as much time as possible back to advanced cancer patients.

Established in Argentina, Biomakers provides innovative genomic and molecular testing services to Latin American cancer patients, offering insights into personalized target therapies and identifying a patient’s best course of action. Prior to the company’s founding, chemotherapy was the prevailing treatment in Latin America. But with the precise data and results from Biomakers, doctors are empowered to implement a broader range of personalized care.

Biomakers’ testing services have also made it the largest late-stage tumor biobank in Latin America, enabling it to improve biomarker and drug discovery processes in oncology

A diagnosis of advanced cancer can be extremely difficult to process, says Kirchuk, the company’s CEO. At this painful point in a patient’s journey, genomic testing can provide comfort by identifying the best treatment option and potential remaining lifespan, and paint a picture of the patient’s future quality of life. In virtually all cases of advanced cancer, the focus is not on finding a cure. Rather, Kirchuk says, “it’s about making patients live longer and better. Every new day counts.” Consequently, the speed at which high-quality results can be delivered is of the utmost importance to Biomakers.

Biomakers has beat time in other ways, too. Kirchuk and Salanova built their biotech with a powerful presence in over 10 Latin American countries, with strong revenue and minimal external investment. This is unusual for precision medicine startups, which traditionally rely heavily on VC investment to fund high burn rates. Biomakers’ testing services have also made it the largest late-stage tumor biobank in Latin America, enabling it to improve biomarker and drug discovery processes in oncology.

Biomakers’ technology has become increasingly vital as the COVID-19 pandemic caused Latin America’s already-low rates of cancer screenings and checkups to plummet, prompting a cancer crisis in the region. Biomakers’ efficient cancer results and recommendations for care delivery make it an apt leverage point for Latin America cancer control.

The patient that used to live eight months with lung cancer 5 years ago can now live up to 5 or 6 years

Kirchuk and Salanova are enthusiastic about the industry’s remarkable development in the last decade. “The patient that used to live eight months with lung cancer 5 years ago can now live up to 5 or 6 years,” Kirchuk says. “Imagine how much more we can extend in 10 years.”

Ninety percent of the oncology drugs developed today are associated with genetic biomarkers. With their successful track record and a promising future, Kirchuk says that Biomakers is well on its way to making advanced cancer a chronic disease, not a fatal one.