Best Infectious Diseases Companies in Pennsylvania, United States
The 35 best Infectious Diseases companies in Pennsylvania, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Inovio Pharmaceuticals.
Our analysis of 50 Infectious Diseases companies
$7.1b in tracked funding; 59% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Infectious Diseases companies in Pennsylvania
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Employees | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inovio Pharmaceuticals Developer of vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases | $495M | 69 mo ago | Public | Joseph Kim Co-Founder & CEO | 275 275 → 199 (-28%) | 1,154 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 2 | VenatoRx US-based, clinical stage biotech developing beta-lactamase inhibitors for DR infections 50Funding top 19%Product top 25%Innovation top 34%Growth top 39% All 9 signals ▾Fundingtop 19% Producttop 25% Innovationtop 34% Growthtop 39% Moattop 39% Marketbottom 40% Globalbottom 37% Newsbottom 27% Techbottom 25% Funding: Raised $103M across 35 rounds · 35 rounds over 13 yrs (2.7/yr) Product: 8 distinct product lines · Company stage: Series C rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $103M | 16 mo ago | Series C | — | 80 | — | — |
| 3 | Excision Developer of CRISPR-based therapies to cure viral infectious diseases | $71M | 67 mo ago | Series A | Daniel Dornbusch CEO | 48 | — | — |
| 4 | Latus Developer of gene therapy medicines for neurological diseases 35Funding top 26%Moat top 31%Talent bottom 49%Market bottom 40% All 5 signals ▾Fundingtop 26% Moattop 31% Talentbottom 49% Marketbottom 40% Globalbottom 36% Funding: Raised $54.0M across 2 rounds · 2 rounds over 2 yrs (1.0/yr) Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 8/10 · Soonicorn rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 35/100 | $54M | 4 mo ago | Series A | P Ghoroghchian CEO | — | — | — |
| 5 | Nucleonics Developing RNAi therapeutics for Hepatitis B and C, using eiRNA technology | $52M | 263 mo ago | Acquired | John Maraganore CEO | — | 46 patents RNAi-based antiviral therapeutics and gene‑silencing platforms for hepatitis viruses | — |
| 6 | Peptilogics Developer of antibiotics to target MDR bacteria 50Patents top 20%Funding top 23%Innovation top 24%Moat top 32% All 9 signals ▾Patentstop 20% Fundingtop 23% Innovationtop 24% Moattop 32% Talentbottom 49% Techbottom 48% Newsbottom 42% Globalbottom 42% Marketbottom 29% Patents: 83 patents matched (strict assignee match) · 67 filings since 2022 vs 16 in 2017-21 Funding: Raised $42.4M across 13 rounds · 13 rounds over 10 yrs (1.3/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $42M | 11 mo ago | Series B | Jonathan Steckbeck Founder | President | CEO | 23 23 → 22 (-4%) | 83 patents Antimicrobial peptide therapeutics and AI-driven peptide drug design and optimization | — |
| 7 | Evrys Bio Developer of broad-spectrum drugs that treat multiple viruses | $24M | 16 mo ago | Series A | — | 16 | — | — |
| 8 | Protez Pharmaceuticals Develops antibiotics for hospital infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria | $21M | 252 mo ago | Acquired | — | 6 | — | — |
| 9 | Molecular Detection Molecular diagnostics company focused on rapid, accurate infectious disease detection | $8M | 159 mo ago | Deadpooled | Aryeh Gassel Co-Founder | — | 26 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | — |
| 10 | Biomeme Developer of a smartphone-based DNA detection platform | $6M | 112 mo ago | Series A | — | 202 | 89 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | — |
| 11 | CSI Provider of test kits for the detection of infectious diseases | $2M | 41 mo ago | Seed | Gary Shope CEO | 15 | 79 patents Automotive damage inspection, objective vehicle data analytics, and industrial monitoring visualization. | — |
| 12 | TB Biosciences Developing a point-of-care test for active Tuberculosis | $2M | 159 mo ago | Seed | Haifeng Tang Co-founder and CSO | — | 208 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | — |
| 13 | OnCore Biopharma Therapies for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection | $1M | 144 mo ago | Acquired | — | 79 | — | — |
| 14 | Immunotope Biotechnology company developing immunotherapies for cancer and chronic viral infections | $700K | 171 mo ago | Seed | Ramila Philip Founder & President | — | 65 patents Therapeutic cancer vaccines and viral vaccines that induce cytotoxic T‑cell immunity | — |
| 15 | Leversense Developing device for detecting AIDS, food toxin and mycoplasma bacteria | $659K | 189 mo ago | Deadpooled | Paul Horan ex-CEO | — | 4 patents Patents concentrated in computing, sensing & instrumentation | — |
| 16 | Lenima Field Diagnostics Provider of point-of-care molecular diagnostics tests for infectious disease and cancer | $552K | 76 mo ago | Funding Raised | Wan Shih Co-Founder | 3 | — | — |
| 17 | Vital Probes Products and technologies for the detection and mitigation of infectious diseases | $424K | 192 mo ago | Deadpooled | Vito Delvecchio CEO | — | — | — |
| 18 | OraSure Provider of point-of-care diagnostic devices for oral fluid specimens | $146K | 59 mo ago | Public | Douglas A. Michels CEO & President | 368 | 82 patents Point‑of‑care sample collection diagnostics and cryosurgical tissue‑ablation devices. | — |
| 19 | IES Diagnostics Molecular diagnostic tests for infectious diseases | $140K | 137 mo ago | Deadpooled | David Spiegel CEO | 7 | — | — |
Top 12 Infectious Diseases companies in Pennsylvania
#1
Series A · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · founded 2022$54Mraised▾
Developer of gene therapy medicines for neurological diseases. The company leverages precision delivery through Adeno-Associated Virus to target specific cells and tissues, to improve the lives of patients suffering from various central nervous system disorders.
- May 2026Series A$97M
- May 2024Series A$54M
#2
Series B · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania · founded 2013 · 23 employees$42.4Mraised▾
Peptilogics has developed antibiotics to target Multi-drug resistant bacteria. The company has developed eCAPS technology to produce novel antibiotics for drug-resistant bacteria. It acts by disrupting the bacterial membrane and inactivating it. It has shown effectiveness against the ESKAPE pathogens, both gram-positive and gram-negative, that cause the majority of resistant hospital-acquired infections.
- Oct 2025Series B$78M
- Jan 2025Grant (prize money)$3.3M
- Aug 2022Grant (prize money)$499.4K
- Sep 2021Grant (prize money)$698.7K
#3
Series C · Malvern, Pennsylvania · founded 2010 · 80 employees$102.7Mraised▾
VenatroRx is a US-based, clinical stage biotech developing beta-lactamase inhibitors for DR infections. The company focuses on beta-lactamase inhibitors that target penicillin binding proteins to overcome bacterial resistance to beta-lactam drugs. Their lead candidate, VNRX‐5133, is an intravenous beta‐lactamase inhibitor. VNRX‐5133 is designed to inhibit the four major classes of beta‐lactamase resistance enzymes, including metallo‐beta‐lactamases (MBL). VenatoRx plans to use the drug to inhibit bacterial resistance mechanisms, enabling a paired beta-lactam antibiotic to kill the microorganisms. The other candidate is VNRX‐7145, an orally bioavailable beta‐lactamase inhibitor that is in late preclinical testing. In Jul.2017, the company was awarded $9.4M from CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Accelerator)
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$6.3M
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$3M
- Apr 2025Grant (prize money)$2M
- Feb 2025Grant (prize money)$7.4M
#4
Series A · Doylestown, Pennsylvania · founded 2012 · 16 employees$24.2Mraised▾
Developer of broad-spectrum drugs that treat multiple viruses. It offers antivirals target special human proteins, known as sirtuins, enhancing their natural ability to fight powerful infections which include hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus.
- Apr 2025Grant (prize money)$6.9M
- Jan 2025Grant (prize money)$2.2M
- Aug 2021Grant (prize money)$1.3M
- Aug 2016Grant (prize money)$2.3M
#5
Public · Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania · founded 1983 · 275 employees$495.2Mraised▾
Developer of vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Its synthetic DNA vaccines, in combination with its proprietary electroporation delivery, are generating antibody and therapeutic T-cell responses. Inovio's broad pipeline includes immunotherapies to fight cancers of the cervix head and neck, prostate, breast, lung, and pancreas as well as to protect against and eliminate infectious diseases such as hepatitis, HIV, Ebola, and MERS.
- Dec 2020Grant (prize money)$37.6M
- Jun 2020Grant (prize money)$71M
- Apr 2020Grant (prize money)$6.9M
- Mar 2020Grant (prize money)$5M
#6
Series A · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · founded 2015 · 48 employees$70.7Mraised▾
Excision BioTherapeutics, Inc., is a biotechnology company developing CRISPR-based therapies to cure viral infectious diseases. Excision is focused on improving the lives of chronically ill patients by eliminating viral genomes from infected individuals. By using CRISPR in unique ways, the Company has already demonstrated the first functional cure for HIV in animals. Excision is developing technologies and IP developed at Temple University and U.C. Berkeley. Excision is located in San Francisco, California and is supported by ARTIS Ventures, GreatPoint Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Adjuvant Capital, Cota Capital, WRVI Capital, IndusAge Partners, Loreda Holdings, Olive Tree, Anzu Partners, SilverRidge Venture Partners, Oakhouse Ventures, and Gaingels.
- Feb 2021Series A$60.7M
- Jun 2019Grant (prize money)$217.5K
- Sep 2017Seed$10M
#7
Acquired · Langhorne, Pennsylvania · founded 2001$51.9Mraised▾
Developing RNAi therapeutics for Hepatitis B and C, using eiRNA technology. The company focuses on addressing unmet clinical needs in treating chronic viral infections. Their eiRNA technology enables novel therapeutic options that interfere with viral function while providing a more favorable toxicity profile. They engineer drug candidates to be effective against all genotypes, resistant to viral escape mutants, and compatible with existing therapies. The company utilizes a multi-targeted approach with short hairpin RNA molecules to mediate the destruction of viral RNA. They also focus on DNA delivery and manufacturing technology, using proprietary formulations of cationic lipids to deliver RNAi molecules to target cells.
- Oct 2004Series B$2.7M
- Jun 2004Series B$8.3M
- Apr 2004Series B$40.9M
#8
Seed · Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania · founded 2019 · 15 employees$2.2Mraised▾
CSI is a provider of test kits for the detection of infectious diseases. It helps to directly identify all active infectious disease pathogens with a clear diagnostic test.est for bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms RNA. It provides quick accurate data and Identifies the presence of Lyme-associated bacteria and any contributing pathogens with one sample. Within 24 hours physicians receive clear, actionable reports with the diagnostic data necessary to present a firm diagnosis with a targeted treatment plan.
- Apr 2023Seed$2.1M
- Jan 2021Seed$2M
#9
Acquired · Malvern, Pennsylvania · founded 2003 · 6 employees$21Mraised▾
Protez Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the discovery and development of antibiotics for hospital infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. Its focus is on highly differentiated intravenous and oral small molecule antibiotics to address increasing bacterial resistant and chronic or recurrent infections. Its lead product candidate PZ‐601, an injectable antibiotic claimed to have shown efficient against infections caused by MRSA (methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Protez was acquired by Novartis in 2008 for $400M but was later shuttered in September 2010.
- Aug 2005Series B$15M
#10
Deadpooled · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · founded 2007$8.3Mraised▾
Molecular diagnostics company focused on rapid, accurate infectious disease detection, developing and commercializing sample-to-answer molecular diagnostic tests. They leverage proprietary technologies to increase the speed, accuracy, ease of use, and efficiency of infectious disease diagnosis. Their Detect-Ready assays target the rapid detection of infectious diseases, including MRSA, C. difficile, STDs, and foodborne pathogens. The company's real-time PCR tests are designed for increased accuracy and faster results, simplifying assay storage and use. Their patent-pending technologies provide a differential diagnosis engine to identify specific pathogens and differentiate them from other infectious sources, covering methods for detecting antibiotic-resistant strains. This innovative approach aims to provide cost-effective solutions for healthcare settings.
- 2013Series B—
- Apr 2012Series B$1.9M
- Mar 2012Series B$1.5M
- Jun 2010Series A$1.4M
#11
Series A · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · founded 2013 · 202 employees$6.2Mraised▾
Developer of a smartphone-based DNA detection platform. The platform transforms mobile labs for advanced DNA diagnostics and real-time disease surveillance. The system includes a docking station for real-time qPCR, a mobile app to control the system and analyze results, and targeted test kits for preparing samples and identifying pathogens or diseases by their specific DNA or RNA signatures. The first application is a panel for diagnosing sexually transmitted diseases.
- May 2017Series A$4.5M
- Sep 2016Grant (prize money)$56.1K
- Jun 2016Grant (prize money)$55.9K
- Feb 2014Seed$400K
#12
Seed · Bethlehem, Pennsylvania · founded 2013$1.5Mraised▾
TB Biosciences is an early stage development medical diagnostics company developing a rapid point-of-care tuberculosis test. The goal of TB Biosciences is to commercialize a simple to operate and use tuberculosis test that replaces the 125 year old sputum smear test. The Company is using an array of patented peptides developed and exclusively licensed from the NYU School of Medicine. The Company’s patent-protected novel proteins and derived synthetic peptides are being strategically combined into a multiplexed diagnostic format that has the potential to meet the sensitivity and specificity specifications of consensus standards around the world. The company claims that using combinations of peptides, the Company has achieved sensitivity/specificity higher than 90%
- Jun 2013Seed$1.2M
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Infectious Diseases coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time falling
Funding & growth over time
funding flat · growth falling
How research on Diagnostics in Pennsylvania is moving
A read on the academic research around Diagnostics in Pennsylvania — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 148 papers.
- University of Pennsylvania101
- Pennsylvania State University29
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania14
- California University of Pennsylvania11
- University of Pennsylvania Health System3
- Loop-mediated isothermal amplification1→3
- Point-of-care testing4→5
- Biopsy1→9
- Point-of-care testing2→8
- Liquid biopsy6→11
- Point of care1→6
- Circulating tumor cell3→5
- Point-of-care testing11
- Liquid biopsy10
- Point of care7
- Biopsy7
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)5
Common questions
Riya reads income statements for fun. She covers the real money in a sector — revenue, growth, who actually earns — and never met a vague claim she didn't want a number for.