A local biotechnology and pharmaceutical startup incubator is eyeing growth in its contract research offerings for external customers.
K2 BioLabs has added seven startup tenants since opening its doors this summer, said Kieron Jones, co-founder, president and CEO of K2bio. The 28,345-square-foot facility was designed to offer turnkey services to growing biotech and biopharmaceutical companies, including millions of dollars in equipment and machinery, an on-site animal vivarium, and extra lab supplies.
Tenants at K2bio vary in size and are at varying stages in the research and development of their clinical pipelines, Jones said. Companies inside of K2bio include Sporos Bioventures, Ansun BioPharma and Ponce Therapeutics.
"These companies are coming in and doing exactly what we wanted them to do," Jones said. "Come in with an initial footprint, feel out the services, use the equipment, use our expertise, and then once they're comfortable, start to branch out and expand their operations within our facility."
K2bio has had traction with internal tenants, with the facility around 70% committed at this point. Looking ahead, the company wants to lean more into service offerings for biotech and pharmaceutical clients working outside of K2bio's labs, Jones said.
"We don't have a long lead time," Jones said. "We normally get customers in to do, for example, an animal study — a mouse study — within three weeks."
For outside customers, K2bio operates like a preclinical contract research organization providing customized studies, accurate data and regulatory oversight. To better service outside clients with CRO offerings, K2bio is actively recruiting for its analytical development and process development groups. The firm wants to bring on employees with experience in both cell therapy and gene therapy, Jones said.
K2bio currently employs a team of nine. The firm aims to add another five to seven employees to its headcount in the next six months.
K2bio secured the research facility from Houston-based Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: BLCM) in February. Bellicum had just finished building out the state-of-the-art facility before announcing plans in October 2020 to slash R&D and focus on developing its current clinical pipeline. Several Bellicum researchers joined K2bio during the transition.
K2bio is located at 2710 Reed Road, near the intersection of Highway 288 and the 610 Loop, roughly 5 miles south of the Texas Medical Center campus.
