Avitide is a biotechnology company that develops proprietary AVIPure™ affinity resins for biopharmaceutical purification, enabling efficient separation of target molecules like enzymes, antibodies, vaccines, growth factors, and gene therapies from impurities.[1][2][3][4] It serves biopharma developers across discovery, preclinical, clinical, and commercial stages, solving purification challenges such as removing truncations, aggregates, and misfolded proteins to improve purity, yield, stability, and process economics.[2][3][4] Founded in 2012 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, Avitide was acquired by Repligen in September 2021, accelerating its impact on next-generation biotherapeutics potentially reaching over 250 million patients worldwide.[1][2]
The company's platform leverages extreme ligand diversity (over 1E14 variants across 40+ scaffolds) for customized solutions, supporting scalable GMP manufacturing under ISO 9001:2015 certification.[2][3] This has driven growth through partnerships derisking novel modalities like cell/gene therapies and enabling continuous processing.[4]
Avitide was co-founded in 2012 by Kevin Isett, PhD (CEO), with deep experience in high-throughput bioprocessing from Adimab and over a decade at Merck in biologics and vaccines R&D, and Warren Kett, PhD (CSO), a Dartmouth researcher and co-founder of Glycan Biosciences (formerly GlycoFi, acquired by Merck).[1][6] The idea emerged from their expertise in addressing bioprocessing bottlenecks, pioneering affinity ligands selective for products over impurities—a gap in legacy technologies.[3]
Early traction included developing solutions for diverse molecules, culminating in milestones like the 2021 AVIPure-COV2S resin for COVID-19 vaccine purification.[1] The 2021 acquisition by Repligen marked a pivotal evolution, integrating Avitide's platform into a larger bioprocessing leader while retaining its Lebanon, NH base and entrepreneurial culture.[1][2]
Avitide stands out in biopharma purification through:
Key team expertise, including 20+ years from Novo Nordisk/GE in separations (Karol Lacki, PhD), bolsters developer experience.[6]
Avitide rides the surge in complex biologics like cell/gene therapies, bispecific antibodies, and viral vaccines, where traditional purification fails on impurities and scale.[1][4] Timing aligns with post-COVID bioprocessing demands for speed and continuity, as seen in its 2021 COVID resin and Repligen integration amid a chromatography market projected to grow from $561M in 2023 to $1.2B by 2033.[1]
Market forces favoring Avitide include rising novel modality pipelines, CAPEX pressures for multi-product facilities, and shifts to continuous manufacturing—its platform lowers COGS, leverages existing infrastructure, and derisks CDMO transitions.[2][4] It influences the ecosystem by enabling faster, cheaper access to therapies, expanding IP around biologics, and setting standards for impurity-specific affinity tech.[3][4]
Avitide's Repligen backing positions it to dominate affinity purification for emerging modalities like next-gen gene therapies and continuous bioprocessing, with trends in AI-driven ligand design and supply chain resilience amplifying its edge.[2][3] Expect expanded partnerships, new ligands for multi-specifics/ADCs, and global facility scaling to capture chromatography market growth.
As a post-acquisition powerhouse, Avitide evolves from innovator to indispensable enabler, directly fueling biopharma's race to impact 250M+ patients through superior purity and efficiency.[2]
Avitide has raised $21.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Avitide's investors include Borealis Ventures, Flagship Ventures, InterWest, Vivo Capital, Wildcat Ventures, OrbiMed, Polaris Partners, SV Health Investors.
Avitide has raised $21.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $12.0M Series E in June 2017.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2017 | $12.0M Series E | Borealis Ventures, Flagship Ventures, InterWest, Vivo Capital, Wildcat Ventures | |
| Aug 1, 2015 | $8.0M Series C | Borealis Ventures, Flagship Ventures, InterWest, OrbiMed, Polaris Partners, SV Health Investors, Vivo Capital, Wildcat Ventures | |
| Mar 1, 2013 | $1.0M Series A | Borealis Ventures, Flagship Ventures, InterWest, OrbiMed, Polaris Partners, SV Health Investors, Vivo Capital, Wildcat Ventures |
