A Santa Fe-based biotechnology startup recently reported a raise of just over $1 million — this time under a new name.
Previously known as Spartina Biotechnologies, Mercury Bio Inc. is the new name of the joint venture created by a few well-known bioscience founders in New Mexico. The startup has raised $1.15 million of a $3 million offering, according to a Feb. 16 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company has $1.9 million remaining to be sold, according to the SEC filing.
One of the bioscience founders behind Mercury Bio is Bruce McCormick. He was the president and chief technology officer of SAVSU Technologies, another New Mexico biotech firm that was acquired by Washington-based BioLife Solutions in 2019, alongside Dana Barnard, SAVSU's previous CEO. Barnard and McCormick are both named in the SEC filing. Other individuals listed in the filing include: Paul Laur, Steve Kiziuk, Steve Buelow, Tuck Stibich and Kevin McDonald.
McCormick said he first learned of the company that's now Mercury Bio after hearing its chief operating officer, Laur, on the radio talking about the startup. Laur and business partner Richard Sayre founded what was then Spartina Biotechnologies in 2015 before the pair went to work for Pebble Labs, a Los Alamos-based biotech company that's developing a molecular bio technology called Directed Biotics for crops and livestock.
Laur left Pebble Labs in early 2021 after relaunching Spartina in late 2020, per previous Business First reporting.
McCormick, Mercury Bio's CEO, told Business First on a Feb. 28 call that the company's scientific focus has evolved since changing names, but he declined to discuss details about the science and technology behind Mercury Bio. According to the startup's website, it's developing a way to target specific cells without creating a wider immune reaction.
It's tackling what McCormick said is a big challenge for biotech companies: targeted drug delivery.
The startup is in the process of hiring four new scientists to staff its multiple lab facilities at the Santa Fe Business Incubator, McCormick said. He said those positions would have salaries between $80,000 and $160,000.
Mercury Bio has doubled its lab space over the past year, McCormick said, but he added that immigration laws have been a barrier to bringing on new scientists. He said the startup has struggled to find qualified candidates with U.S. work visas, with only one candidate out of "dozens" that was a U.S citizen.
In addition to the $3 million offering, McCormick said Mercury Bio plans to open a Series A round for $20 million in the second half of 2023.
