Checking in with Dr. Namyong Kim, Chief Executive Officer, Curiox Biosystems
By Ai San Yip
Edited by Erwin Chan
Photo by Erwin Chan
We ran an interview article on Curiox Biosystems back in December 2009. Two years later, Genewired.com checks-in with Dr. Namyong Kim, CEO. We met Dr. Namyong Kim on a Saturday for this interview. He was brimming with enthusiasm after a period of business travel and stay in the United States. We plan to have regular updates on Curiox Biosystems in the following months.
Dr. Namyong Kim was in Singapore for an industry seminar presented by Dr. Jean Philippe Stephan, Senior Scientist, Protein Chemistry Department from Genentech Inc.
1. We heard that Genentech is one of the early technology adopters. Tell us more about it.
During those periods when we went for biotech trade shows andindustry conferences, we met many like-minded people who were more forward-looking to adopt new technologies. To us, this open-minded attitude of U.S. based companies led to generative conversations spurned towards adopting our Curiox DropArray™ technology. Among those interested was Genentech, who also shared about their unmet needs in the industry. That was how we started.
Many companies were excited when we brought Curiox Biosystems to the United States in June 2010. In the process, the researchers have integrated Curiox DropArray technology in their workflows; they have evaluated and tried different protocols in various assays that we ourselves have not tried. Thus far, the researchers (our early adopters) are happy and have adopted our system as an integral tool in their drug discovery research. With regards to Genentech, the company has provided us a certain critical mass of knowledge in modern biotechnology, and also given us a learning opportunity to play a role in expanding our technology.
We hope to meet more adopters and users of our technology, like researchers to bring awareness of our cool platform technology. We are all charged up as our product can truly help people who never imagined of running research in a way they can run with DropArray. Our target users are in life sciences, drug discovery, and cell biology fields of research. There are many parallel ways of creating the awareness. They include publications and presentations in professional conferences. Our belief is that we truly want to make drug discovery cheaper, faster and more efficient. And through our product, they can achieve it. We are launching the most lucrative product, the 384-well format plates for cell-based (‘whole live’) screening in low-volumes.
Let us look at biological experiments performed with cells in life sciences and drug discovery. Any researcher in the field will answer “NO” when asked, “Are you running cell assays in a way they should run for the best biology?” Why? This is because there are many constraints in designing and performing cell-based assays. Most projects are carried out under constraints like cost, time, scope, limitation in cell availability, properties, maintenance of cells, cost of reagents, logistics of running the assays, etc. A researcher ends up tweaking assays and systems to overcome the constraints, leading to compromising biological conditions which produce results that are not as biologically meaningful as they should be. Our systems are built to eliminate or at least minimize all of these constraints - we empower them to overcome the constraints. In the end, researchers become free from the constraints and stresses of performing inadequate assays and obtain the right data, not compromised ones.
Below is a preview of the DropArray technology.
2. Give us your outlook on the bio-instrumentation and automation equipment market in the United States.
We all know that 2012 will be one of the most challenging years economically. With the continued decrease of the productivity of pharmaceutical and biotech companies and the grim economic outlook, the bio-instrumentation market faces a challenging year ahead. Fortunately, the R&D activities for new drug/therapeutics discovery are the backbone of the pharmaceutical and medical business. It will never stop and cannot stop. I am confident that business for Curiox in the U.S. will be promising. On a global basis, U.S. still enjoys a dominant position in life sciences and discovery research.
Our DropArray products offer a super low entry barrier thanks to super-fast return-on-investment and significant enabling advantages. For example, we are receiving many requests for on-site demonstration on our high-end product from major pharmaceutical and biotech companies. And, for the low-end product (expected to be launched in April 2012), we are already receiving requests for quotations. I am excited that our products are hitting the market now with the right value proposition: lowering operating cost and expanding the capability while requiring minimal entry investment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ai San Yip at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
