At Best Startup California we track over 300,000 Californian startups and over 1,500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and organisations we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
We’ve ranked the top 38 Pharmaceutical companies in South San Francisco, California. The companies, startups and institutions listed in this article are all exceptional companies, well worth a follow. We have included links to their websites, socials and CrunchBase (if you’re interested in their financials).
We selected the organisations listed in this article based on:
- Track record
- Executive leadership
- Market share
- Innovation
- ESG rating
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Top Pharmaceutical Companies & Startups (South San Francisco, California)
Catalyst Biosciences
Catalyst Biosciences is a drug R&D company creating catalytic biopharmaceutical products based on engineered human proteases.
Founder(s): Charles S. Craik, Christopher Thanos, Jack Nguyen, Sandra Waugh Ruggles
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Life Science, Medical, Medical Device, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Calithera Biosciences
Calithera is a pharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.
Founder(s): Susan M. Molineaux
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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ORIC Pharmaceuticals
ORIC Pharmaceuticals operates as a biopharmaceutical company.
Founder(s): Charles Sawyers, Scott Lowe
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Blade Therapeutics
Blade Therapeutics is a discovery stage drug development company.
Founder(s): Harry Dietz
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Health Care, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Theravance Biopharma
Theravance Biopharma is a biopharmaceutical company with one approved product.
Founder(s): George Whitesides
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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Stemcentrx
Stemcentrx provides pharmaceutical services.
Founder(s): Brian Slingerland, Scott J. Dylla
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Alternative Medicine, Biotechnology, Health Diagnostics, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Rapt Therapeutics
Rapt is focused on the discovery and development of novel small-molecule agents to activate the immune system to eradicate cancer.
Founder(s): Brian Wong
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Rigel Pharmaceuticals
Rigel Pharmaceuticals develops small-molecule drugs for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, cancer and metabolic diseases.
Founder(s): Thomas A. Raffin
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Reset Therapeutics
Reset Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes products that modulate the circadian system of the human body.
Founder(s): Ross Bersot
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical
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Threshold Pharmaceuticals
Threshold Pharmaceuticals is focused on the development of drugs targeting Tumor Hypoxia, a low oxygen condition found in solid tumors.
Founder(s): George F. Tidmarsh
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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Lyell Immunopharma
Lyell Immunopharma is an operator of a biotechnology company that develops cellular therapies to cure cancer.
Founder(s): Rick Klausner, Scott Boyken
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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Allogene Therapeutics
Allogene Therapeutics is a biotechnology company catalyzing cancer treatment through the development of CAR T therapy.
Founder(s): Arie Belldegrun, David Chang, Joshua Kazam
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Diagnostics, Pharmaceutical
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Sunesis Pharmaceuticals
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals is focused on the R&D of oncology therapeutics for the treatment of solid and hematologic cancers.
Founder(s): James Wells
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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Satsuma Pharmaceuticals
Satsuma Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing a novel therapeutic product.
Founder(s): John Kollins
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Medeor Therapeutics
Medeor Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that dedicates to dedicates to the development of personalized cellular immunotherapies.
Founder(s): Chih-Ping Liu, Edgar Engleman, Robert Lowsky, Samuel Strober, Steven Deitcher
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Cortexyme
Cortexyme is developing treatments for Alzheimer’s and other degenerative disorders.
Founder(s): Casey Lynch, Kristen Gafric, Stephen Dominy
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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ShouTi
ShouTi specializes in the discovery and development of drugs against a type of targets called GPCR.
Founder(s): Raymond Stevens
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical, Product Research
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Khloris Biosciences
Khloris Biosciences is a biotechnology company based in the Bay Area dedicated to revolutionizing medical treatment of cardiovascular.
Founder(s): Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, Lynne A. Bui
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Life Science, Pharmaceutical
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Pliant Therapeutics
Pliant Therapeutics focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing breakthrough treatments for fibrotic diseases.
Founder(s): Bill DeGrado, Bradley Backes, Dean Sheppard, Hal Chapman
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Health Diagnostics, Pharmaceutical, Recruiting, Therapeutics
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Pionyr Immunotherapeutics
Pionyr Immunotherapeutics is a developer of cancer immunotherapies designed to target the tumor microenvironment.
Founder(s): Max Krummel, Sachdev Sidhu
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Medical, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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CytomX Therapeutics
CytomX Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that focuses on developing proteolytically-activated antibodies.
Founder(s): Fred Gluck, Patrick Daugherty
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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GenEdit
GenEdit develops next generation therapeutics for genetic diseases through safe and efficient CRISPR/Cas9 delivery.
Founder(s): Hyo Min Park, Kunwoo Lee, Niren Murthy
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Genetics, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Day One Biopharmaceuticals
Day One Biopharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company that focuses on developing new cancer therapies for patients of all ages.
Founder(s): Julie Papanek Grant, Samuel Blackman
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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Spitfire Pharma
Spitfire Pharma offers drug development and research services that improve the pharmaceutical properties of peptide drugs.
Founder(s): John Nestor
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Clinical Trials, Pharmaceutical
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Nuvelution Pharma
Nuvelution Pharma leverages its extensive knowledge, experience and relationships in the Pharma and Biotech industries.
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Life Science, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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Studylog
Studylog is a laboratory information management software used by academic, government labs, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Founder(s): Eric Ibsen
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Government, Pharmaceutical, Software
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R2M Pharma
R2M Pharma helps in accelerating drug discovery by leveraging an experienced group of skilled scientists and strategic partners.
Founder(s): Julio Medina
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Clinical Trials, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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Cerimon Pharmaceuticals
Cerimon Pharmaceuticals develops and commercializes therapeutics for autoimmune diseases, inflammation, and pains.
Founder(s): Ansbert Gadicke, Luke Evnin, Paul Sekhri
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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ChemPartner
ChemPartner is an organization providing high-quality & cost-effective CRO/CMO services to the pharmaceutical & biotechnology industry.
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical
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Proteolix
Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ONXX) is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialization of innovative therapies
Founder(s): Dean Grad, Jeffery W. Kelly, Phil Whitcome, Ray Deshaies, Raymond Deshaies
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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Velocity Pharmaceutical Development
Velocity Pharmaceutical Development
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Business Development, Pharmaceutical
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Distributed Bio
Distributed Bio is an immuno-engineering company that provides computational tools, antibody libraries, and more.
Founder(s): Giles Day, Jacob Glanville
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Cloud Computing, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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Khepri Pharmaceuticals
Khepri Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that develops proteases and their inhibitors as therapeutics.
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Life Science, Pharmaceutical
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Neopeutics
Neopeutics is an early-stage drug discovery research company that offers cost-effective product development and commercialization services.
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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Zymed Laboratories
Zymed Laboratories is an integrated, technology-driven, immunoassay reagent company.
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical
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Limerick BioPharma
Limerick BioPharma develops compounds which can be used adjunctively with marketed and investigational drugs.
Founder(s): Wendye Robbins
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Developer Platform, Pharmaceutical
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AAA Wholesale Company
AAA Wholesale Company’s mission is to provide the one-stop resource to healthcare professionals.
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Consulting, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical, Wholesale
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Insitro
Insitro is a drug discovery and development startup that utilizes machine learning and biology to transform drug discovery.
Founder(s): Daphne Koller
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Life Science, Machine Learning, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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