early-detection
(7)
SpotitEarly
SpotitEarly is a healthtech company building an accessible, non-invasive early cancer detection service that combines trained scent-detection beagles with an AI platform to analyze volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a person's breath. Users collect a breath sample at home and mail it to the company's lab, where beagles screen for cancer-linked odors and SpotitEarly's proprietary LUCID bio-AI platform digitizes and interprets the dogs' behavioral signals. A double-blind clinical study of 1,400 people, published in Nature's Scientific Reports, reported 94% sensitivity and specificity across the four most common cancers - breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate. Founded in Israel and now launching in the U.S., the company aims to make routine multi-cancer pre-screening affordable, at roughly $250 for a single test.
Amprion
Amprion is a precision-diagnostics company using Seed Amplification Assay (SAA) technology to detect misfolded proteins - alpha-synuclein, amyloid-beta and tau - in cerebrospinal fluid, giving physicians and drug developers a biological readout of neurodegenerative disease years before symptoms fully emerge. Its flagship SAAmplify-aSYN test (formerly SYNTap) is the first commercially available validated alpha-synuclein SAA, carries an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, and aims to replace symptom-based guesswork for Parkinson's, Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's and multiple system atrophy with autopsy-grade certainty.
Mirvie
Mirvie is a South San Francisco biotech using cell-free RNA signatures and machine learning to predict pregnancy complications - preeclampsia, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction - months before symptoms appear. Its flagship product Encompass is a blood test built on a foundational study of nearly 11,000 pregnancies.
AltPep
AltPep is a Seattle biotech company spun out of the University of Washington that is building both diagnostic tests and disease-modifying drugs for amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Its work is anchored on the alpha-sheet, a non-standard protein structure discovered by founder and CEO Valerie Daggett, which forms in the toxic soluble oligomers that appear at the earliest, pre-symptomatic stages of disease. AltPep's SOBA blood test aims to flag those toxic oligomers years before symptoms, while its SOBIN peptide therapeutics are designed to neutralize them.
Circular Genomics
Circular Genomics is a San Diego biotechnology company turning circular RNA (circRNA) into a new class of blood-based biomarkers for brain health. Spun out of the University of New Mexico in 2021, the company uses brain-enriched circRNAs that cross the blood-brain barrier and stay stable in whole blood to detect and predict neurological and psychiatric conditions, from Alzheimer's disease to major depressive disorder. Its goal is to replace guesswork in brain care with measurable, actionable data, starting with early Alzheimer's detection and SSRI treatment-response testing for depression.
Numen
Numen (formerly Cleancard) is a San Francisco biotech building rapid at-home cancer screens that read like a pregnancy test. By combining synthetic biology, machine learning, and computer vision, its platform detects multiple cancer biomarkers from a single urine sample in about 30 minutes, with no lab machinery required. Founded by Rhodes Scholars Thomas Carroll and Luca Springer, the company's first screens target prostate, bladder, and ovarian cancer, with a mission to drive cancer mortality toward zero.
Superfluid Dx, Inc.
Superfluid Dx is a South San Francisco diagnostics company building a blood-based test for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Its platform isolates cell-free messenger RNA (cf-mRNA) from a single tube of blood and pairs next-generation sequencing with RNA deconvolution and machine-learning analysis to read out organ-level biology - aiming to detect disease years earlier than conventional methods and to guide therapy. The company was formed in late 2023 when WRQ Sciences acquired and renamed Molecular Stethoscope, and is led by Fluidigm co-founder Gajus Worthington alongside Stanford bioengineer and serial founder Steve Quake.