Maurizio Cattaneo is exasperated. A chemical engineer, Cattaneo patented a filter for virus harvesting that helps scale up the production of viral vector vaccines, like those used to prevent COVID-19. Right now, business is booming.
But instead of inking new deals for his virus filter supply company, Cattaneo has just had to tell a dozen clients to wait six months.
Cattaneo usually orders $10,000 worth of membranes for his startup, Artemis Biosystems, but his ordinary supplier now won’t fill an order under $300,000. Finding a contractor who can fit a special casing around the membrane is even trickier, though he thinks he could find a work-around, given enough cash.
But he can’t find a line of credit, he told the Prospect. His bank has been unhelpful, and venture capital firms expect sale potential in the billions of dollars, they have told him. He estimates his total market—the drug developers buying his lab equipment—at around $100 million.
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