Sometimes, science requires a shift in focus. That’s what happened for a new biotech company in Albuquerque that is now raising its seed round. That company is K&K Biotech, and it is led by sister-in-laws Kristina Trujillo and Katie Uilk.
K&K Biotech's business is built on a type of analog compound — a tweaked version of another compound — called resveratrol. The compound has been found to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. And K&K says the analog of resveratrol that it uses enhances those properties.
To prove its effectiveness, K&K Biotech has spun off a cosmetics-focused firm called K&K Skin Products which incorporates the analog. A serum from the spinoff hit the market in November of 2019, according to Uilk.
Additionally, K&K Biotech is working to find more commercial uses for the resveratrol analog. Trujillo said that “in the background, we’re also filing different patents for different uses.”
Trujillo said she used the analog in her cancer research at the University of New Mexico. And while the analog compound wasn’t that useful for addressing cancer, Trujillo told Business First she later had the idea of incorporating it into Uilk's skincare products which were made at home.
From there, K&K Biotech began.
Today, the startup says it has already raised $587,000 as part of a seed round they hope reaches $700,000. The group is funded by angel investors, primarily in New Mexico, Uilk said.
“We’re a biotech company that has a proof-of-concept skincare company,” she said.
The skincare spinoff has targeted e-commerce sales but also wants to move into the wholesale market. It plans a rebrand with secondary packaging in 2022 and is also trying to secure its patent for its cosmetic solution, which Trujillo said has been filed.
For Uilk, the startup builds on a decade spent making her own skincare products. For Trujillo, she is also the CEO of TNeuroPharma, which is developing technology meant to detect and prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
