Adarza BioSystems

About Adarza BioSystems

Adarza BioSystems, Inc. was a biotechnology firm that developed and aimed to commercialize a platform for biological testing. Founded in 2008, the company's intellectual property was based on the scientific work of Dr. Benjamin Miller, a Professor of Dermatology at the University of Rochester, who served as the company's scientific founder. The initial organizing and licensing of the core technology were handled by Rand Henke, who served as the CEO from the company's inception. Adarza was established to create a new generation of multiplex immunoassay platforms to overcome the limitations of existing products.

The company's core offering was its Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry (AIR) technology, a label-free diagnostic platform. This system was designed to detect and quantify hundreds of different proteins, antibodies, and other analytes simultaneously from a single, small fluid sample, such as blood or tissue. The main benefit of the AIR platform was its ability to perform highly multiplexed analysis without the chemical labels required by competing technologies, thereby providing sensitive and accurate measurements of proteins in their native state. The technology was intended for life science research, drug development, and in-vitro diagnostics clients, with applications in oncology, immunology, and infectious diseases. A key product was the ZIVA, a fully automated, bench-top instrument designed for academic and clinical research labs to quickly identify biomarkers for disease profiling and drug development.

Adarza's business model focused on selling its AIR-based instruments, such as the ZIVA, and corresponding consumable silicon chips with pre-loaded assays. The company successfully raised capital through multiple funding rounds, including a $5 million Series B in 2016, a $17 million Series C in 2017, and a $25 million Series D in 2020, bringing its total raised capital to over $50 million. These funds were intended to expand manufacturing capacity in its St. Peters, MO facility and to support the commercial launch of its ZIVA platform. Despite these efforts and promising technology, the company ultimately ceased operations, as indicated by records showing it as out of business by May 2022.