Organic chemist Manuela Oliverio was working on a new drug when he noticed that test results on mice weren\u2019t consistent, because the molecule being administered was always different depending on the chemist who produced it. It occurred to him that automation and robotics could make the drug development process more predictable, and so he founded Katakem, one of the startups in the Disrupt Battlefield 200.<\/p>\n
With Katakem, Oliverio aims to develop what he calls a \u201crobot chef\u201d for chemists \u2014 a device that makes chemical reactions more consistently reproducible while accelerating the experimental process. He claims that the current prototype, dubbed OnePot, can collect data about chemical processes 150 times every second and automate repetitive, mundane tasks like heating, cooling and mixing different molecules.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe production of a chemical product is strictly regulated and standardized. [But] the development phase between discovery and production is still carried out manually and no significant data is extracted,\u201d Oliverio told in an interview. \u201cThrough data, we can help companies develop new life-saving drugs faster and, of course, this means higher revenues and better margins for them \u2026 Data [from OnePot] is reliable, clean and immediately usable.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Oliverio\u2019s point, drug development today is a lengthy and expensive endeavor. Only about 12% of drugs entering clinical trials are ultimately approved for introduction by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And estimates of the average R&D cost per drug range from less than $1 billion to over $2 billion, with errors and mistakes adding to the price tag.<\/p>\n
Katakem developed OnePot over the course of three years, designing both the mechanical and electrical components in-house. The company is seeking chemists to beta test the device, particularly those in corporate and academic settings, to collect data that it plans to use to train an algorithm that can recommend \u201cfaster and more sustainable\u201d ways to develop molecules.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/gp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/katakem-2.webp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nImage Credits:<\/strong> Katakem<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Katakem<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Given the size of the problem \u2014 and addressable market \u2014 it\u2019s not surprising that Katakem has competition. Automata is also creating a robot to handle basic lab tasks, and it recently raised $50 million to do so. There\u2019s Kebotix, a startup developing AI and robotics tools to expedite the discovery of chemicals, and Artificial, which sells a lab automation platform aimed at life sciences R&D.<\/p>\n But while Katakem has the dual challenges of proving its technology works and overcoming rivals, Oliverio isn\u2019t concerned. Based on existing commitments, he expects Katakem\u2019s annual recurring revenue to hit $350,000 by the end of the year and $3 million by the end of 2023. Presumably, those projections assume Katakem finds success with its early customers and demonstrates that OnePot does all the company says it can do.<\/p>\n \u201cAs our clients \u2014 chemical companies \u2014 are key to economies, we are not subject to high variability in demand,\u201d Oliverio said. \u201cThe robot is ready to be commercialized.\u201d<\/p>\n To date, Calabria, Italy-based Katakem has raised \u20ac1.3 million ($1.27 million) in capital from undisclosed seed investors, according to Crunchbase data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Organic chemist Manuela Oliverio was working on a new drug when he noticed that test results on mice weren\u2019t consistent, because the molecule being administered was always different depending on the chemist who produced it. It occurred to him that automation and robotics could make the drug development process more predictable, and so he founded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1230143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1230141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrity-gossip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1230141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1230141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1230141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1230141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/gp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/katakem-1.webp.jpeg\")
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