Resident Client
Mercury Bio
Developing a next-generation biomolecular drug delivery platform that allows drug developers to accelerate products to market by reducing the obstacles and risks associated with traditional drug delivery systems.
The AHA moment
In March 2020, the Mercury Bio founding team set out to develop a therapeutic for COVID-19 — one that would target the RNA of the virus. They had been working on similar technology for plants and invertebrates. Chief Science Officer Dr. Richard Sayer unlocked a breakthrough: a way to safely deliver the technology in mammals using natural lipid nanoparticles derived from yeast, enabling precision targeting without the risks of synthetic delivery systems. That insight revealed the potential of a platform that could work across therapeutics far beyond COVID.
The SFBI difference
SFBI's state-of-the-art lab space gave Mercury Bio the technically superior environment its science required — at a cost that preserved precious early-stage capital for R&D rather than infrastructure. Beyond the lab, SFBI's network has opened doors for talent recruitment and increased the company's visibility to local and state government stakeholders and potential partners.
Growth
Mercury Bio closed an initial funding round of $2 million in 2023 and is advancing its drug delivery platform toward establishing a beachhead as core infrastructure for next-generation mRNA therapies. The team continues to build out the science and the commercial strategy in SFBI's BioScience Lab.