AllerGenis

Thirty-two million Americans have a food allergy, contributing toward a global market valued at nearly forty billion dollars.

The problem is that sixty percent of those with allergies are over-diagnosed and subjected to extensive, time-consuming blood and skin testing. Isn’t there a better alternative?

Allergenis believes so. This startup has created a new food-allergy testing system. Incorporating data analytics, this system is safe, easy to access, and more accurate than current blood or skin tests. Here’s how it works:

Allergenis uses a person’s blood sample to conduct the diagnostic test. It receives a request from an allergist or an online Telehealth partner, coordinates the blood draw, and provides results along with a comprehensive personalized guide. Users can learn if they’re allergic to something, how allergic they are, and if there are any life-threatening risks associated with their allergy.

The test itself works by a proprietary method of analyzing epitopes, the exact location where an antibody binds to a cell and is recognized by the body’s immune system.

By focusing on antibodies binding to epitopes (as opposed to looking at the entire antibody), Allergenis can better determine which epitopes catalyze reactions and can predict a person’s likelihood of having a serious reaction from a food allergen with up to 93% accuracy.

Allergenis earns revenue through collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and clinical testing.

In 2022, the company raised more than four million dollars, bringing its total raised to nearly twenty million dollars. Also last year, Allergenis validated and launched its peanut allergy threshold test. Milk and egg allergy tests are planned for the near future.

Allergenis’ technology has been validated by multiple peer-reviewed studies, including the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai and the Sean Parker Institute for Food Allergy at Stanford University. The company has on-boarded more than 200 allergists at academic centers and clinics throughout the U.S. and partnered with multiple therapeutic companies enabling the use of biomarkers in clinical trials focused on bringing FDA-approved interventions to better treat and manage food allergies.

Team Background

James Garner - Chief Executive Officer

Jim has more than thirty-three years of leadership experience, with a focus on developing and commercializing products for life-sciences companies.

Prior to his time with Allergenis, he was Chief Business Officer with Integrated Diagnostics, a company developing technology for the early detection of diseases. Before that, he was Senior Vice President of Global Sales for UnitedHealth Group, as well as Director of Marketing and Corporate Development with Elan Diagnostics.

Earlier, Jim served in the U.S. Army, where he was an Air Cavalry Troop Commander and received the Meritorious Service Medal.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Texas A&M.

Albert Luderer - Chairman of the Board

Al has more than forty years of experience in medical diagnostics, laboratory medicine, and therapeutic development.

In addition to his role, he is CEO and co-founder of Indi Molecular, a biotech company that was a spin-off of Integrated Diagnostics, where he was founding CEO. Integrated discovered and commercialized the first non-invasive cancer molecular diagnostic for early-stage non-small cell lung carcinoma, and was acquired in 2018.

Earlier in his career, Al was CEO of BioTrove, a molecular-biology company acquired by Life Technologies. Before that, he was CEO of Light Sciences, a therapeutics company, and Vice President of Technology and Business Development for Lab Corp, a diagnostics-testing company.

He holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University where he was a predoctoral fellow and performed postgraduate work in immunology and genetics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

Hugh Sampson - Board Member

Hugh is a professor of pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York and has more than forty years of experience in clinical and basic research focused on food allergies.

His research has been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the Principal Investigator for the Consortium for Food Allergy Research, and he’s authored or co-authored more than 550 articles and ninety book chapters on aspects of food-allergic disorders.

Co-Investors