RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The Life Sciences Innovation Forum (LSIF), the investment platform of the Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit (RGMBS 2026), brought 23 biotechnology companies from eight countries to Riyadh to pitch to investors, judges, and leaders of the Kingdom’s life sciences ecosystem.
Companies from eight countries pitched to investors across five scientific heats, with Saudi Arabia the second-largest market represented.
Dr Abdulaziz Alrifi, Director Of Partnerships, KAIMRC, stated, “We were proud to welcome leading investment firms that expressed their willingness to invest more than $USD 120 milliond in promising biotech opportunities emerging from LSIF 2026. The journey culminated with the announcement of the LSIF 2026 Grand Winner: Bilix from South Korea.”
On winning, a representative of Bilix enthused, “Winning LSIF 2026 is a great honor, however the real win is scaling our startup with the Kingdom’s research ecosystem”
Where RGMBS 2026 set out the scale of Saudi Arabia’s biotechnology ambition, LSIF put that ambition in front of the founders and investors who will shape the sector’s next decade. The United States led the cohort with eight companies, with Saudi Arabia second at four, followed by South Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Several international companies presented pathways to localization, research, or clinical development in the Kingdom.
FIVE HEATS, ONE FRONTIER
Companies competed across five heats, each at the leading edge of life sciences innovation.
AI and Bio Data. Amprologix of the United Kingdom presented AI-assisted discovery of narrow-spectrum peptide antibiotics targeting drug-resistant pathogens. Pneumatica Bio of Australia combines mechanistic modelling, machine learning, and automated cell experiments to better predict human therapeutic response, while Saudi company LinusBio MENA presented precision exposomics built on hair-based biomarker profiling.
Vaccine Development and Biomanufacturing. Biotech Innovations Company of Saudi Arabia presented a recombinant-protein MERS-CoV vaccine program focused on regional biosecurity and local manufacturing. OctoCells of France presented an animal-free 3D bioscaffold platform designed to reduce the water, infrastructure, and manufacturing burden of producing biologics and cell therapies, and Cevza Therapeutics of Australia an RNA therapy platform with planned research and development localization in the Kingdom.
Cellular Therapy and Gene Editing. CellKure of the United States highlighted Phase 1 results for its multi-antigen T-cell therapy in acute myeloid leukemia. MVRIX of South Korea presented an in vivo CAR-T approach using targeted mRNA delivery, and Saudi company Medixcel a platform to bring cell and gene therapy capabilities, partnerships, and manufacturing into the Kingdom.
Bioengineering and Synthetic Biology. NanoZymeX of Switzerland presented a lipid nanoparticle platform to improve enzyme replacement therapy for lysosomal storage diseases, beginning with Pompe disease. AUREXO Therapeutics of the United States presented engineered bacterial vesicles for precision oncology, and Ingenskin Therapeutics of France an autologous skin substitute for chronic wounds, burns, and trauma.
Diagnostics and Drug Discovery. SiNON Nano Sciences of the United States presented a carbon nanoparticle platform designed to cross the blood-brain barrier. Spirea of the United Kingdom presented a dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate platform to address cancer drug resistance, and Accanito Therapeutics of the United States a clinical-stage oncology platform with a proposal for technology transfer and local manufacturing in Saudi Arabia.
Questions from judges and the audience concentrated on turning science into treatments: regulatory routes, clinical evidence, manufacturing scale-up, localization economics, and intellectual property. LSIF 2026 was sponsored by Chiyoda Corporation.
Alongside Grand Winner Bilix, four category awards were presented: the Most Scalable Biotech Startup Award to CellKure, the Outstanding Founding Team Award to Quantabia, the Breakthrough Science Award to Swaza, and the Innovation Excellence Award to Agemica.
LSIF 2026 took place as part of RGMBS 2026, held from 14 to 16 September in Riyadh. The Summit was organized and supervised by the Ministry of National Guard, represented by its Health Affairs sector, and hosted by King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) and King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), with the Ministry of Investment, Invest Saudi, and the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) serving as key strategic partners.
About The Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit
The Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s flagship platform for medical biotechnology, convening the global scientific, investment, and policy communities in Riyadh. Organized and supervised by the Ministry of National Guard, represented by its Health Affairs sector, and hosted by KAIMRC and KSAU-HS, the Summit advances the goals of the National Biotechnology Strategy and supports the Kingdom’s emergence as a global destination for health innovation. The fourth edition took place from 14 to 16 September 2026 in Riyadh. rgmbs.org
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