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 62 Biopharma companies in 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 Biopharma Companies & Startups (San Francisco, California)
Olema Oncology
Olema Oncology is a preclinical biotechnology company that develops new drugs for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.
Founder(s): Cyrus L. Harmon, Peter Kushner
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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Unlearn.AI
Unlearn.AI develops a platform to accelerate clinical trials for Alzheimer’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and other complex diseases.
Founder(s): Charles Fisher
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Biopharma, Clinical Trials, Life Science, Machine Learning, Software
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Indapta Therapeutics
Indapta Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Medical
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LatchBio
Latch Bio builds and disseminates free to use data infrastructure for the the biocomputing revolution.
Founder(s): Alfredo Andere, Kenny Workman, Kyle Giffin
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Biopharma, Biotechnology, Machine Learning
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Tenaya Therapeutics
Tenaya Therapeutics is a developer of novel therapies designed to offer treatment for heart disease.
Founder(s): Benoit Bruneau, Bruce Conklin, Deepak Srivastava, Eric Olson, Saptarsi Haldar, Sheng Ding
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Therapeutics
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Prellis Biologics
Prellis employs holographic tissue printing technology with rapid fully human antibody discovery, in vitro human disease and ADME/Tox models
Founder(s): Melanie Matheu, Noelle Mullin
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: 3D Printing, Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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NGM Biopharmaceuticals
NGM Biopharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company developing biotherapeutics for the gastrointestinal endocrine system.
Founder(s): Jin-Long Chen
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Genetics, Medical
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Novome Biotechnologies
Novome Biotechnologies is a biotechnology company focused on engineering defined activities into the human.
Founder(s): Liz Shepherd, Weston Whitaker, Will DeLoache, Zachary Russ
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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89bio
89Bio is a biopharmaceutical company building a pipeline of biologic and small molecule treatments for liver and metabolic disorders.
Founder(s): Michael Hayden
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical
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Felix Biotechnology
Felix Biotechnology is working to accelerate the deployment of novel biotherapeutics to manage infectious diseases.
Founder(s): Natalie Ma, Paul Turner, Robert McBride
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, 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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Oyster Point Pharmaceuticals
Oyster is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery development & commercialization .
Founder(s): Jeffrey Nau, Mark Murray
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Clinical Trials, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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Spruce Biosciences
Spruce Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing therapies for rare diseases that targets endocrine system.
Founder(s): Alexis Howerton
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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ALX Oncology
ALX Oncology is a preclinical stage biotechnology company developing innovative immuno-oncology therapies for cancer.
Founder(s): Jaume Pons
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Life Science, Therapeutics
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Attralus
Attralus is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on creating transformative medicines to improve the lives of patients.
Founder(s): Jonathan Wall, Spencer Guthrie
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical
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Boost Biomes
Boost Biomes develops microbial products to sustainably improve food production and shelf-life.
Founder(s): Jamie Bacher, Robert McBride
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Agriculture, AgTech, Biopharma, Biotechnology, Manufacturing
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Portola Pharmaceuticals
Portola Pharmaceuticals develops therapeutics for acute and chronic cardiovascular, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Founder(s): Charles Homcy, David Phillips
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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Principia Biopharma
Principia Biopharma is dedicated to bringing oral therapies to patients with significant unmet medical needs in immunology & oncology.
Founder(s): Bernard Cambou, Jack Taunton
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Life Science
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Swiftscale Biologics
Swiftscale Biologics uses cell-free protein synthesis to enable the next generation of protein therapeutics.
Founder(s): David Mace, Matthew Delisa, Michael Jewett
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Big Data, Bioinformatics, Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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Cleave Therapeutics
Cleave Therapeutics is focused on protein homeostasis and stress pathways in cancer and neurodegeneration.
Founder(s): Peter Thompson, Ray Deshaies
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care
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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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Aeovian Pharmaceuticals
Aeovian Pharmaceuticals aims to discover, develop, and commercialize therapeutics for the treatment of rare and age-related diseases.
Founder(s): Stelios Tzannis
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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Soteria Biotherapeutics
Soteria is a biotechnology company that develops immunotherapies to treat cancer patients
Founder(s): Alexander Martinko, James Wells, Zachary Hill
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care
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BioQ Pharma
BioQ Pharma is a late stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing.
Founder(s): Josh Kriesel
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics
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Iconic Therapeutics
Iconic Therapeutics develops and commercializes immunoconjugate proteins that trigger the immune system to destroy invader cells.
Founder(s): Kirk Dornbush, Michael Sherman
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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Alios BioPharma
Alios BioPharma is a biotechnology company developing novel medicines for the treatment of viral diseases.
Founder(s): John Donovan, Lawrence Blatt, Leonid Beigelman
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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Deciduous Therapeutics
Deciduous Therapeutics is an aging therapeutics company developing a novel class of immune modulatory therapies.
Founder(s): Anil Bhushan, Robin Mansukhani
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care
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ExcepGen
ExcepGen is solving fundamental underlying problems in drug discovery to create a new generation of therapeutics.
Founder(s): Barbara Mertins, Thomas Folliard
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Life Science
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Vir Biotechnology
Vir Biotechnology is a clinical-stage immunology company developing therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases.
Founder(s): Robert Nelsen, Vicki Sato
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical
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Cytokinetics
Cytokinetics is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for debilitating diseases.
Founder(s): James Sabry, James Spudich, Lawrence Goldstein, Ronald Vale
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care
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CellChorus
CellChorus applies visual AI to evaluate how individual cells move, behave, and interact.
Founder(s): Daniel Meyer
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Biopharma, Biotechnology, Life Science
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NeuroVia
NeuroVia is a biopharmaceutical company.
Founder(s): Giovanni Ferrara
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Medical, Therapeutics
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TherOptix
TherOptix is a provider of novel treatment for anterior and posterior ocular indications.
Founder(s): Dan Kohane
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Health Care, Life Science
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Delpor
Delpor is a biotechnology company developing drug delivery technologies to transport proteins, peptides, and small molecules.
Founder(s): Frank Martin, Tassos Nicolaou
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Commercial
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64x Bio
64x Bio builds a platform that increases the speed and scale of mammalian cell line discovery.
Founder(s): Alexis Rovner, David Thompson, George Church, Jeffrey Way, Pamela Silver
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Genetics, Life Science, Pharmaceutical
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Adynxx
Adynxx is a biopharmaceutical company that develops pain management drugs.
Founder(s): Julien Mamet
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical
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Jennerex Biotherapeutics
Jennerex is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing targeted oncolytic products for the treatment of cancer.
Founder(s): John Bell
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Medical
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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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FibroGen
FibroGen, a research-based biotech firm, uses its expertise CTGF and HIF biology to discover, develop, and commercialize novel therapeutics.
Founder(s): Thomas Neff
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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LiVeritas Biosciences
Committed to Truth-telling for Early Success in Drug Development
Founder(s): Lieza Danan
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology
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Alix Ventures
Alix Ventures: Driving Patient Impact – Supporting Early Stage Startups Engineering Biology to Drive Radical Advances in Human Health
Founder(s): Chas Pulido
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Genetics, Life Science, Venture Capital
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Hyperion Therapeutics
Hyperion Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on creating treatments for urea cycle disorders and other rare diseases.
Founder(s): Mark Blumling
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Therapeutics
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Thermal
Thermal assists those in charge of enabling this new era of digital health solutions.
Founder(s): Kaustuva Das
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Content Marketing, Digital Media, Genetics, Health Care, Life Science, Public Relations, Web Design
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Medivation
Medivation, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the rapid development of small molecule drugs to treat serious diseases
Founder(s): David Hung, Michael J. Cataldo
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical
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AGY Therapeutics
A South San Francisco, Calif .-based biopharmaceutical company
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Genetics, Medical, Therapeutics
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Coagulant Therapeutics
Coagulant Therapeutics develops medical solutions to acute bleeding and blunt trauma.
Founder(s): Terry Hermiston
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical, Therapeutics
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Tularik
Tularik engages in the discovery and development of orally available medicines that act through the regulation of gene expression.
Founder(s): David Goeddel, Steven McKnight
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Genetics, Health Care, Pharmaceutical
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TALON THERAPEUTICS
Talon Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company offering products for clinical development.
Founder(s):
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Therapeutics
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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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Genentech BioOncology
Genentech BioOncology is a biopharma company located in San Francisco.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biomass Energy, Biopharma, Biotechnology
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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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Gryphon Therapeutics
Gryphon Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of performance-enhanced protein therapeutics.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Medical, Therapeutics
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CHO Plus
CHO Plus develops biotechnology solutions to create therapeutic proteins for biopharmaceutical companies.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Life Science, Medical
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Alwaysraise
Alwaysraise is an advisory and investment firm formed to move the needle on the largest problems and unmet needs in medicine.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Medical Device
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LRIG
Laboratory Robotics Information Group
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Association, Biopharma, Biotechnology, Industrial Automation, Life Science, Pharmaceutical, Robotics
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Datavant
Datavant is a provider of a healthcare data solutions to help institutions share, protect, and match health data.
Founder(s): Travis May
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Clinical Trials, Data Integration, Health Care, Software
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TRex Bio
TRex Bio is a biotechnology company that treats diseases like cancer, fibrotic by studying human tissues.
Founder(s): Ravi Rao
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Bioinformatics, Biopharma, Biotechnology
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Potrero Hill Therapeutics
Potrero Hill Therapeutics is a discovering and developing novel therapeutics through clinical proof of concept.
Founder(s): Jeremy Blitzer, Stephen Halasz
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Biotechnology, Consulting, Health Care
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Optio Biopharma Solutions
Optio Biopharma Solutions provides comprehensive marketing and commercial support for biopharmaceutical companies.
Founder(s): Eric Miller
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Market Research, Pharmaceutical
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NetForce
NetForce Inc., a San Francisco provider of drug safety monitoring and reporting technology.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma
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Synergia Pharma
Synergia Pharma Inc. operates as a biopharmaceutical company.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biopharma, Medical, Pharmaceutical
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