Making Pharma Faster

For more than 50 years, the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) has been the gold standard for comparing results across different experiments and labs. However, this method requires high starting sample volumes and can take 2–4 hours to process. For pharmaceutical companies that are racing against the clock to get drugs to market, this delay can mean tangible losses.

When Akwasi Apori, Ph.D. was getting his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, several companies were trying to disrupt this space. However, change can be challenging. “Scientists can get attached to certain technologies when you build up a history of comparison data to compare your results,” Apori, Ph.D. says. Nevertheless, he felt that a solution he devised during a university project with a pharmaceutical company had real commercial promise. The project’s focus, protein biomarker quantitation, would allow pharma companies to create drugs faster and more efficiently.

The idea stuck with him through undergraduate and graduate school, where he worked in Berkeley’s Herr Lab on microfluidic proteomic and point-of-care diagnostics technology with fellow students Kursad Araz, Ph.D. and Samuel Tia, Ph.D. Eventually, Apori convinced Araz and Tia to leave their lab and create Correlia Biosystems.

Compared to the industry standard of more than three hours with significant sample volumes, some of Correlia’s faster assays are complete in about 15 minutes with minuscule samples

Correlia helps accelerate clinical trials and drug development with a protein measurement technology that is rapid, customizable and affordable. Compared to the industry standard of more than three hours with significant sample volumes, some of Correlia’s faster assays are complete in about 15 minutes with less than 1uL (1 millionth of a liter) of sample. They are currently focusing on instrument use for pharmaceutical companies that can use this in their animal work, cell-based research and clinical trial samples.

The traction has been nothing short of impressive: four of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies have partnered with Correlia. This represents a tangible paradigm shift within the scientific community as Correlia’s product gains more visibility. The most rewarding aspect for the team has been the enthusiastic feedback they’ve received from the researchers and staff members who’ve tested out their prototype.

The traction has been nothing short of impressive: four of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies are partnering with Correlia

So what’s next? Apori and his team of 16 are preparing for the launch of their first instrument, Pixi platform, a module that fully automates ELISA to work five times faster with samples that are 100 times smaller. The platform will fully integrate with laboratory automation systems, and is launching with commercial partners in the second quarter of 2022. The excited buzz around the office is palpable, Apori says. “It’s kind of the moment we’ve all been waiting for. We’re getting past the development stage and getting into the launch phase, which is extremely exciting.”