Best Infectious Diseases Companies in San Diego, United States
The 51 best Infectious Diseases companies in San Diego, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: PaxVax.
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 San Diego
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Employees | Founder | Stage | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PaxVax Oral vaccines against infectious diseases such as cholera, bird flu, HIV & others. | $212M | 127 mo ago | 138 | — | Acquired | 27 patents Adenoviral vector vaccine platforms and spray‑drying formulation technologies for infectious disease vaccines | — |
| 2 | Ansun BioPharma Developer of anti-viral therapies for respiratory viruses | $191M | 81 mo ago | 34 | — | Series B | 192 patents Gamma‑delta T‑cell manufacturing platforms and antiviral biologics for influenza therapy | — |
| 3 | La Jolla Pharmaceutical Innovating critical care and infectious disease therapies for global health | $148M | 98 mo ago | 71 | — | Acquired | — | — |
| 4 | Amplyx Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceutical company focused on innovative medicines, vaccines, and expanded access programs | $144M | 78 mo ago | 15 | Mike Grey CEO | Acqui-Hired | — | — |
| 5 | Kate Therapeutics Developer of AAV-based gene therapies to treat genetically defined muscle disease | $124M | 26 mo ago | 46 | — | Acquired | — | — |
| 6 | Evofem Developer of sexual and reproductive health therapeutics 50Funding top 24%Product top 30%Moat top 38%Patents top 43% All 12 signals ▾Fundingtop 24% Producttop 30% Moattop 38% Patentstop 43% Fin. healthtop 46% Innovationtop 48% Markettop 49% Growthbottom 49% Talentbottom 49% Techbottom 43% Newsbottom 41% Globalbottom 40% Funding: Raised $100M across 15 rounds · 15 rounds over 17 yrs (0.9/yr) Product: 1 distinct product line · Company stage: Public rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $100M | 13 mo ago | 126 | Saundra Pelletier CEO ► Phexxi ► Solosec | Public | 60 patents Vaginal film drug delivery systems for contraception and STI prevention | — |
| 7 | Cidara Therapeutics Developer of novel anti-infectives for infectious diseases (bacterial and fungal) | $78M | 20 mo ago | 90 90 → 48 (-47%) | Jeff Stein CEO | Acquired | 275 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 8 | Rempex Pharmaceuticals Discovery and development of antibacterial drugs | $68M | 171 mo ago | — | Daniel Burgess CEO | Acquired | 240 patents Boronic‑acid β‑lactam antibiotics and their continuous‑flow manufacturing processes | — |
| 9 | Zavante Developing novel antibiotics to combat multi-drug resistant infections in hospitals | $65M | 119 mo ago | 8 | — | Acquired | — | — |
| 10 | Mpex Pharmaceuticals Develops therapies for infectious diseases | $60M | 209 mo ago | 33 | — | Acquired | — | — |
| 11 | Tamir Biotechnology Develops prophylactic and therapeutic drugs for the treatment of human papilloma virus (HPV) and other viral… | $43M | 102 mo ago | 2 | — | Deadpooled | 48 patents Topical RNase-based antivirals for ocular and systemic viral infection treatment | — |
| 12 | Qpex Biopharma Developer of therapies for treating infectious diseases | $33M | 84 mo ago | 12 | Michael Dudley President | Acquired | 124 patents Design, synthesis, and therapeutic application of boronic‑acid‑based drug compounds | 1 job opening |
| 13 | Mesa Biotech Provider of point-of-care molecular diagnostic kits | $27M | 68 mo ago | 131 | — | Acqui-Hired | 62 patents Point‑of‑care nucleic acid testing using microfluidic cartridge platforms. | — |
| 14 | Okogen Developing ophthalmic anti-viral drugs for adenoviral conjunctivitis (pink eye) | $16M | 20 mo ago | 3 | Eric Daniels Founder & COO | Series A | 23 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 15 | RetroVirox Biopharma company dedicated to discovering new treatments for patients with infectious disease | $11M | 136 mo ago | 6 | Juan Lama Founder | Funding Raised | 4 patents Small‑molecule agents modulating MHC‑I antigen presentation for immunotherapy | — |
| 16 | VLP Biotech Developing innovative vaccines and custom recombinant proteins using proprietary platform | $10M | 145 mo ago | 15 | Dave Milich CEO | Funding Raised | — | — |
| 17 | NexBio Developer of therapeutics for human respiratory viral infections | $10M | 176 mo ago | — | Mang Yu CEO | Deadpooled | 39 patents Protein-based microsphere drug delivery systems and fusion protein pharmaceutical formulations. | — |
| 18 | GenMark Diagnostics Provider of instruments and test panels for multiplexed molecular diagnostics | $9M | 89 mo ago | 797 | — | Acquired | 126 patents Multiplexed microfluidic immunoassay platforms for rapid, quantitative diagnostic testing | — |
| 19 | Traversa Therapeutics Development and commercialization of RNAi Delivery Technologies | $7M | 208 mo ago | — | — | Deadpooled | — | — |
| 20 | Toragen Developer of therapeutics targeting oncogenic viruses | $5M | 46 mo ago | 7 | Andrew Sharabi Founder | Seed | 12 patents Pharmaceutical rimantadine salt formulations for cancer and HPV lesion treatment | — |
| 21 | NAT Diagnostics Developing PoC diagnostics for infectious diseases | $4M | 104 mo ago | 2 | — | Acqui-Hired | — | — |
| 22 | Tega Therapeutics Glycoscience company developing heparan sulfate therapies and enzyme replacement therapy | $4M | 8 mo ago | 7 | — | Funding Raised | — | — |
| 23 | Prominex Provider of point-of-care molecular diagnostic solution | $4M | 94 mo ago | 12 | — | Series A | 5 patents Molecular diagnostic kits for nucleic acid detection and analysis | — |
| 24 | NielsenBio Biopharmaceutical company developing cell-mediated immune response products for diagnostics and therapeutics | $3M | 118 mo ago | 9 | — | Series A | — | — |
| 25 | iTherX Develops treatments for Hepatitis C | $3M | 177 mo ago | — | Jeffrey F McKelvy CEO | Deadpooled | — | — |
| 26 | Selva Therapeutics Developer of therapeutic solutions for the treatment of infectious diseases | $3M | 72 mo ago | 2 | Ted Daley Co-founder and CEO | Series A | — | — |
| 27 | Viriom Developing affordable treatments for infectious and malignant diseases globally | $2M | 122 mo ago | 4 | Iain Dukes CEO | Early Stage | 20 patents Novel heterocyclic antiviral agents and purine‑biosynthesis inhibitors to boost favipiravir efficacy | — |
| 28 | PapiVax Developer of immunotherapies for chronic viral infections and related cancers | $883K | 146 mo ago | 3 | — | Funding Raised | — | — |
| 29 | Sunomix Therapeutics Developer of vaccines for serious infectious diseases | $488K | 46 mo ago | — | Mohammed Bouziane CEO | Funding Raised | — | — |
| 30 | Aethlon Medical Immunotherapeutic device company combating cancer and life-threatening viral infections | $300K | 7 mo ago | 14 14 → 25 (+79%) | Charles Fisher CEO | Public | — | — |
| 31 | Paramita Therapeutics Developer of therapeutics to treat infectious diseases and cancer | $256K | 63 mo ago | 3 | Sang Van Founder & CEO | Funding Raised | — | — |
Top 12 Infectious Diseases companies in San Diego
#1
Public · San Diego, California · founded 2009 · 126 employees$100Mraised▾
Developer of sexual and reproductive health therapeutics. It offers two drug products which include PHEXXI vaginal gel that provides women with an in-the-moment contraceptive that maintains the baseline vaginal pH environment and SOLOSEC (secnidazole) which is used to treat bacterial vaginosis in women and the STI trichomoniasis in both men and women.
- Jun 2025Post IPO$925K
- Apr 2025Post IPO$750K
- Sep 2023Post IPO$2.9M
- Feb 2023Post IPO$1.4M
#2
Funding Raised · San Diego, California · founded 2013 · 7 employees$4.1Mraised▾
Glycoscience company developing heparan sulfate therapies and enzyme replacement therapy. Specializing in glycans, the company focuses on exploiting glycoscience-related technologies for treating life-threatening diseases. The company's pipeline includes recombinant production of heparan sulfate and enzyme replacement therapy to address genetic deficiencies in heparan sulfate degradation. They are dedicated to advancing the understanding and application of complex carbohydrates in medicine, aiming to unlock the therapeutic potential of glycans. This innovative approach positions them at the forefront of glycoscience, offering hope for novel treatments in areas with unmet medical needs.
- Nov 2025Grant (prize money)$500K
- Feb 2024Grant (prize money)$355.2K
- Sep 2023Grant (prize money)$461.7K
- Feb 2022Grant (prize money)$321.9K
#3
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 2013 · 90 employees$78.4Mraised▾
Developer of novel anti-infectives for infectious diseases (bacterial and fungal). Its first product candidate is CD101 IV, an intravenous therapy in phase 1 trials for fungal infections. Besides, it has CD101 topical in the IND-enabling stage for the treatment of acute and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVS). It has also developed a proprietary immunotherapy technology platform, Cloudbreak to develop drugs that direct immune cells to eliminate pathogens that cause infectious diseases. Its first Cloudbreak development candidate C001 is for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis.
- Nov 2024Post IPO$105M
- Apr 2024Post IPO$240M
- Sep 2019Post IPO$9M
- May 2018Post IPO$1.6M
#4
Series A · San Diego, California · founded 2015 · 3 employees$16.4Mraised▾
Okogen is developing ophthalmic anti-viral drugs. The lead candidate, OKG-0301 is a broad spectrum antiviral drug that inhibits viral replication. This molecule is a ribonuclease targets degradation of tRNA and miRNA which causes protein synthesis inhibition. The company is targeting this molecule for adenoviral conjunctivitis & also planning to test it against CMV retinitis and exotic viral infections. In Feb 2017, The company got $10 million in Series A funding from Brandon Capital’s Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) to develop OKG-0301 for viral conjunctivitis.
- Nov 2024Series A$2.5M
- Dec 2023Series A$213K
- Feb 2018Series A$10M
- Dec 2017Series A$6.2M
#5
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 2020 · 46 employees$123.8Mraised▾
Developer of AAV-based gene therapies to treat genetically defined muscle disease
- May 2024Series A$21.8M
- Jun 2023Series A$51M
- Aug 2021Series A$35M
- Feb 2021Series A$16M
#6
Public · San Diego, California · founded 1999 · 14 employees$300Kraised▾
Immunotherapeutic device company combating cancer and life-threatening viral infections. It is focused on developing a first-in-class technology for the rapid depletion of cancer-promoting exosomes and circulating viruses. Their device is designated as a breakthrough technology for treating individuals with advanced or metastatic cancer unresponsive to standard therapies, particularly in cancer types where exosomes contribute to disease development. The device also targets life-threatening viruses lacking approved treatments. The company aims to augment the body's natural immune defenses through its innovative approach to blood purification. This is a medical device company.
- Dec 2025Post IPO$2.2M
- Aug 2020Grant (prize money)$3.5M
- Sep 2018Grant (prize money)$298.4K
- Jul 2015Post IPO$6M
#7
Series B · San Diego, California · founded 2003 · 34 employees$191.4Mraised▾
Developer of anti-viral therapies for respiratory viruses. The 2 lead candidates, Fludase and Paradase contain DAS-181. DAS181 is a bifunctional fusion protein comprised of a sialidase linked to a polycationic sequence derived from human amphiregulin (hAR) that allows the molecule to target the sialidase enzymatic activity to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs).
- Oct 2019Series B$80M
- May 2018Series A$85M
- Mar 2018Conventional Debt$1.6M
- Dec 2015Series A$4M
#8
Seed · San Diego, California · founded 2010 · 7 employees$45Kraised▾
Developing novel solutions for neglected and emerging infectious diseases. The company is dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative therapeutic programs to combat these global health challenges. They focus on research and development to create effective treatments for infectious diseases. The company aims to address unmet medical needs through scientific advancements. Their work has a significant social impact, contributing to public health and disease prevention. They are committed to advancing medical science and improving patient outcomes in the field of infectious disease. The company fosters innovation and collaboration to accelerate the development of new therapies.
- Aug 2025Grant (prize money)$2M
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$5.5M
- Feb 2025Grant (prize money)$2M
- May 2021Grant (prize money)$4.5M
#9
Acqui-Hired · San Diego, California · founded 2006 · 15 employees$144.3Mraised▾
Pharmaceutical company focused on innovative medicines, vaccines, and expanded access programs. It researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products. The company is dedicated to advancing health equity and addressing unmet medical needs through scientific innovation. It offers expanded access programs, also known as compassionate use, for patients with serious illnesses who have exhausted other treatment options. The company conducts clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of its products, and is committed to transparency and data integrity. It focuses on areas such as internal medicine, inflammation & immunology, vaccines, and oncology. The company also emphasizes responsible business practices, environmental sustainability, and ethical conduct. It partners with patients, healthcare professionals, and other organizations to improve global health outcomes.
- Jan 2020Series C$91.3M
- Aug 2017Grant (prize money)$1.5M
- Jul 2016Grant (prize money)$1.5M
- Feb 2016Series B$8.7M
#10
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 2007 · 138 employees$211.8Mraised▾
PaxVax develops and commercializes vaccine candidates against various infectious diseases. Its products include PXVX0200, a single-dose oral vaccine against cholera; PXVX0103, an oral adenoviral-based vaccine against avian influenza (H5N1) or bird flu; a single-dose oral vaccine candidate for protection against anthrax; Ad4-env Clade C, a HIV vaccine component that expresses an optimized HIV envelope protein derived from a Clade C HIV strain, and commercializing Vivotif, a live typhoid fever vaccine for oral administration.
- Dec 2015Series C$105M
- Aug 2014Series B$34.9M
- Jul 2014Conventional Debt$50M
- Jul 2014Series B$12M
#11
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 1989 · 71 employees$147.9Mraised▾
Innovating critical care and infectious disease therapies for global health. This biotechnology company develops and delivers innovative therapies for patients in critical care and infectious diseases, addressing urgent needs in areas of high unmet need. It focuses on combating serious conditions and advancing treatment options for life-threatening conditions and emerging illnesses caused by drug-resistant microorganisms. With a global mission, it advances solutions for critical and urgent infections identified by leading public health organizations. The company's therapies include new and established standards for critical care and infectious disease treatments. It is dedicated to delivering products that help save lives, blending rigorous medical science with pharmaceutical innovation. The company is building a culture where colleagues can make a lasting impact.
- May 2018Conventional Debt$125M
- Oct 2013Post IPO$17.8M
- Apr 2011Post IPO$5.2M
#12
Acqui-Hired · San Diego, California · founded 2009 · 131 employees$26.8Mraised▾
Provider of point-of-care molecular diagnostic kits. The palm-sized, reusable dock and disposable test cassette form a user-friendly system for use anywhere, from the physician’s office to the patient’s home. Proprietary assay design allows for the rapid development of a portfolio of tests for human, agricultural, food pathogens, or genetic disease targets. The flexibility of Mesa Biotech’s hardware design allows for rapid, sensitive, specific, multiplexed detection of disease targets in one easy-to-use device. Mesa Biotech’s technology thus offers the simplicity, convenience, and procedural familiarity of traditional POC rapid immunoassays while providing the superior sensitivity, specificity, and information content of laboratory-based molecular testing.
- Nov 2020Grant (prize money)$13M
- Oct 2019Series B$3M
- Jul 2018Series B$20M
- Feb 2018Series A$3M
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 is moving in the United States
A read on the academic research around Diagnostics — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 8,526 United States-affiliated papers.
- Harvard University330
- Johns Hopkins University318
- Heidelberg University249
- Massachusetts General Hospital214
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center191
- Liquid biopsy125→427
- Biopsy15→114
- Biomarker17→103
- Point-of-care testing112→195
- Cancer67→146
- Liquid biopsy183→739
- Biopsy42→285
- Biomarker55→208
- Cancer115→260
- Oncology57→183
- Liquid biopsy67→239
- Biopsy17→99
- Biomarker28→86
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)1→44
- Cancer55→92
Where diagnostics is researched across United States
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing diagnostics patents in the United States
United States diagnostics patent filing is accelerating — 418 filings from 196 assignees (2016–2025), led by Detect, UNIV Leland Stanford Junior, Washington University ST Louis; annual filings 13→55.
- Detect42
- UNIV Leland Stanford Junior33
- Washington University ST Louis20
- UNIV California19
- Nuclein19
- Texas A & M UNIV SYS19
- New England Biolabs18
- Tempus LABS18