E25Bio

About E25Bio

E25Bio, Inc. is a diagnostics company focused on developing rapid, scalable tests for infectious diseases. Founded in 2018, the company emerged from technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, operating out of The Engine at MIT. The company was co-founded by CEO Dr. Bobby Brooke Herrera, a Harvard Ph.D. in public health; Dr. Irene Bosch, a Venezuelan, Harvard-trained scientist who served as CTO; and Dr. Lee Gehrke, an MIT professor. Herrera's background combines a passion for the biology of infectious diseases with an interest in the human side of public health, shaped by his studies in both science and religion. The company's name, E25Bio, is a nod to the building at MIT that housed the lab where Dr. Bosch worked.

The company's core technology centers on lateral flow tests, similar in principle to an over-the-counter pregnancy test, which use nanoparticle technology to detect viral proteins in patient samples. This paper-based diagnostic provides visual results in approximately 15-20 minutes, a significant reduction from the hours or days required for PCR-based tests. Initially, E25Bio focused on developing diagnostics for mosquito-borne viruses like Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya, which affect a significant portion of the global population, particularly in developing communities. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the company pivoted to create a rapid antigen test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

E25Bio's business model is geared towards producing low-cost, scalable, and easy-to-use diagnostic tools that can be deployed globally, from remote villages to major urban centers. The objective is to enable early detection and isolation of infected individuals to prevent the spread of pandemics. A key feature of their offering is a mobile application designed to geolocate and catalog test results, providing real-time data to public health officials to track disease dispersion while protecting patient privacy. The company has received significant funding, including a $2.3 million seed round in August 2019, a $2 million financing from Khosla Ventures in March 2020 to scale its COVID-19 test, and a $500,000 grant from the Gates Foundation in July 2020. Despite developing a functional COVID-19 test early in the pandemic and securing manufacturing partners capable of producing millions of tests, the company faced significant hurdles with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization process, which ultimately did not approve the test for the U.S. market.