We will find any pathogens

How a startup from California is going to prevent a worldwide epidemic

Lea Rosenbaum, Forbes, 02/27/2020
Translated by Natalia Balabantseva

Thanks to the new medical technology, the startup Karius can find infectious diseases faster and more efficiently than it is done through standard medical tests. The startup will help prevent epidemics, its creator is sure. Investors who have already invested $255 million in Karius also believe in the future of the company.

If the new COVID-19 coronavirus had been detected even before the first patient showed symptoms, could this disease have been localized? CEO and co-founder of the startup Karius Mickey Kertesz believes that yes. While standard laboratory tests take several days, and they can detect only one specific disease at a time, Karius is creating a technology that allows you to find both already known and new pathogens. This can help prevent disease outbreaks.

Diseases spread by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are the second most common cause of death in the world, Kertesz draws attention to. According to him, "more people die from infectious diseases than from all types of cancer combined."

In the latest round of fundraising, Karius received $165 million. The main investor was Softbank's investment fund – Vision Fund 2. In total, the startup attracted $255 million in investments.

Karius performs tests by liquid biopsy to detect diseases. This is a molecular genetic analysis of DNA freely circulating in the blood. Most liquid biopsy companies focus on cancer screening. Karius can take a single blood sample and test it for more than 1,400 pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and fungi. Other companies that deal with liquid biopsy are Unicorn GRAIL and the recently listed Guardant Health. These companies study tumor DNA, and Karius focuses on fragments of freely circulating microbial DNA.

The startup was founded in 2014 in the California city of Redwood City. The creation of the company was preceded by the scientific discovery of Kertesz and another co-founder, Tim Blaukamp. They discovered that the DNA of disease-causing microbes can be detected in the blood of infected patients even in the early stages of the disease. In order to distinguish a patient's own DNA from the DNA of a microbe, a simple blood test is enough. In a few years, Kertesz and Blaukamp have created a "search engine" based on artificial intelligence. This system analyzes microbial DNA and compares it with more than 1,400 samples available in its database.

Liquid biopsy is still a relatively new concept. It was first used in 2011 in China for non-invasive prenatal testing. Since then, the popularity of this technology has grown. Now more and more investors are confident that it has real potential in the diagnosis of diseases. Karius tests have been clinically confirmed, and the company is now cooperating with about 100 hospitals in the United States.

According to Vikram Bajaj, managing director of Foresite Capital, most other companies are engaged in prenatal tests and early diagnosis of cancer, because "the evidence is easier to interpret there." But, according to him, the use of liquid biopsy in relation to infectious diseases has extensive advantages. You can not just diagnose the disease, but also study the genetic profile of the disease to understand how best to treat it.

After a clinical examination, the doctor usually has to guess what is wrong with the patient, and then prescribe many specialized blood tests to confirm this diagnosis. In the case of Karius, the doctor can refer the patient for one blood test, and the next day find out if the patient is infected with a virus, a bacterium or something else. In addition, the test allows you to determine whether the patient is suffering from a known disease or from something new. Kertesz claims that Karius tests have already made it possible to detect completely new pathogens in the blood of patients that have never been studied before.

The ability to quickly detect unknown microbes based on DNA may play a key role during the next pandemic. According to Anthony Fehr, an associate professor at the University of Kansas, rapid detection is useful not only when it comes to quarantine, but also in the early stages of the disease, when "more effective treatments are probably available."

Currently, Karius technology is limited to DNA, which means it cannot detect RNA viruses such as the COVID-19 coronavirus. The company will be able to expand the range of diseases that can be detected with the help of tests with the money raised in the last round of financing. "The next time an epidemic starts," Kertesz says, "we'll be able to stop it quickly."

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