A new startup coming out of gut microbiome science from the University of Chicago has launched with two gut-health assets designed to diagnose and treat a host of chronic diseases.

Three Squared Biosciences was formed in April, finalizing a combination of two wholly owned subsidiary companies in the gut biome space. The startup announced its formation on Sept. 11.

The North Chicago-based company brings together Covira, established in 2018, along with its CS-0003 microbiome interventional medicine, and Gateway Biome, established in 2022, with its GB-0001, a diagnostic tool meant to standardize what a healthy gut microbiome looks like, said CEO Peter Farmakis.

Although there is no standardized measure for what constitutes a healthy gut microbiome, it is increasingly recognized as a vital component of overall health, Three Squared said in a press release. Disruption of the complicated system can lead to systemic inflammation, heightened infection risk and a range of chronic diseases.

The emerging importance of gut science led Abbott Laboratories in 2022 to call the gut microbiome the "sixth vital organ." 

Farmakis said for several years medical science has been looking at the gut microbiome as a contributor to conditions like gastrointestinal disease, metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease and even neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Chief among the scientists working in this ecosystem are the co-founders of the company, University of Chicago physician-researchers Dr. John Alverdy, Dr. Eugene Chang and Joseph Pierre, who is now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Alverdy founded Covira, and Chang and Pierre founded Gateway, Farmakis said.

Brought together in Three Squared Biosciences, the startup has raised $2.3 million through a National Institutes of Health Small Business Technology Transfer grant for Covira and seed funding of $1.3 million. Farmakis said the company is now preparing for a Series A funding round.

But the two subsidiary companies were built on far greater investments in the formative University of Chicago research, Farmakis said.

The three scientific co-founders' research and development has raised $119 million in National Institutes of Health grants. They also tapped into funding from the University of Chicago Duchossois Family Institute to develop GB-0001 and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering funding to produce CS-0003.

UChicago has now licensed the technologies to the subsidiary companies and is a small investor in Three Squared, Farmakis said.

The company's diagnostic tool, GB-0001, could have a direct impact on clinical decision-making, if approved. It could help clinicians monitor gut health while modifying medication and nutrition, ultimately restoring gut microbiome health.

Already, the general public is aware of gut health and is using prebiotics and probiotics to try to stay healthy, Farmakis said.

"It's nice that there is consumer exposure around this, but without a standard of gut health, you don't know what to buy," he said. GB-0001 is a stool sample test aimed at identifying what is wrong.

For disease prevention and treatment, the interventional medicine CS-0003 is intended to target virulent gene expression while promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria.

The business, and scientific, advantage of the new company is that, by combining the two kinds of assets, Three Squared brings together two platforms in the same gut health arena, reducing risk and increasing rewards, Farmakis said.

Because the intellectual property resides in each of the subsidiaries, the two assets could be sold separately, or together, "increasing our exit opportunities," he said.

By Jon Asplund

Jon Asplund is a contributing reporter covering health care for Crain’s Chicago Business.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/health-pulse/uchicago-gut-science-startups-combine-make-three-squared