What Formumax Scientific does

FormuMax Scientific, Inc. is a privately-held specialty drug delivery company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, founded in 2008 and operating with 1-10 employees. The company develops and commercializes liposome and lipid-based drug delivery technologies — including conventional liposomes, PEGylated (STEALTH) liposomes, slow-release liposomes, microemulsions, and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for mRNA delivery — targeting the preclinical research market. Its proprietary branded product portfolio spans Clophosome® (clodronate liposomes for macrophage depletion, achieving >90% encapsulation efficiency and documented >90% splenic macrophage depletion 24 hours post-IV injection), Doxoves® (PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin HCl comparable to DOXIL, using ammonium gradient active loading), Mikosome® (exosome-mimicking liposomes with defined DOPC/DOPS/DOPE/SM/CHOL composition), Trans-Hi™ (a polymer-based transfection reagent achieving up to 93.4% transfection efficiency in HEK293A cells), Alenphosome™ (alendronate liposomes), and Irinosome (STEALTH liposomal irinotecan HCl loaded via SOSA-Am gradient). Supporting categories include pre-formed liposomes for drug loading, fluorescent liposomes, and cationic liposome adjuvants.

The company operates a dual product-led and professional-services business model. Products are sold directly via the liposomeexpert.com e-commerce platform at unit prices ranging from $165 to $2,266, with bulk discounts of 10-25% and free evaluation samples available for select products to acquire new academic and biotech customers. Complementing product sales, FormuMax provides contract formulation development, characterization (particle sizing via Brookhaven 90Plus/ZetaPALS/qNano, zeta potential, cryo-TEM/FF-EM microscopy), and analytical sciences services (HPLC method development, drug potency and degradent assays, stability testing, in vitro release) to pharmaceutical and biotech clients requiring custom manufacturing with specific specifications such as endotoxin levels and fill volumes.

Customers fall into three vertical segments: pharmaceutical and biotech companies (primary, served via contract services), university labs and research centers (primary, served via e-commerce reagent sales), and cosmetic and nutraceutical industries (secondary, leveraging liposome technology for non-therapeutic delivery). Distribution is global through direct e-commerce and an international distributor network. FormuMax describes itself as the only company with an easy-access online store for pre-formed liposome reagents, positioning its combination of proprietary branded catalog, contract formulation expertise, and direct-to-researcher distribution as its core market differentiator.

Name

Formumax Scientific

Legal name

FormuMax Scientific, Inc.

Website

https://liposomeexpert.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

FormuMax Scientific is a Silicon Valley-based specialty drug delivery company developing liposome and lipid-based reagents (Clophosome, Doxoves, Mikosome, Trans-Hi) for pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic research customers worldwide via e-commerce and contract formulation services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pharmaceutical Liposome Drug Delivery

NAICS

Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (3254), Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834), Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833)

akta.pro primary industry

mRNA & Nucleic Acid Manufacturing Services (mRNA/saRNA/Plasmid DNA) (HLAGAGAC)

Keywords

• Liposome drug delivery
• Lipid nanoparticle formulation
• Contract formulation services
• MRNA lipid nanoparticles
• Pharmaceutical research reagents

Headquarters

HQ city

Sunnyvale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Product Sales: Sale of pre-formed liposome reagents including Clophosome, Doxoves, Mikosome, Trans-Hi, fluorescent liposomes, and pre-formed liposomes. Products are sold through e-commerce with unit pricing and bulk discounts available.
2. Contract Formulation Services: Contract research and drug delivery formulation development services for pharmaceutical and biotech industries, including formulation feasibility, custom formulation preparation, process scale-up, and analytical characterization.
3. Analytical Sciences Services: HPLC method development, drug potency and degradent measurement, lipid concentration assays, formulation stability testing, and in vitro drug release assays.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

FormuMax Scientific manufactures and sells research-grade liposome and lipid-based drug delivery products (e.g., Clophosome, Doxoves, Mikosome, Trans-Hi, Irinosome, Alenphosome, lipid nanoparticles) through an e-commerce storefront, and provides contract formulation development, characterization, and analytical services for pharmaceutical, biotech, cosmetic, and nutraceutical clients.

Product overview

FormuMax Scientific is a specialty drug delivery company offering a comprehensive portfolio of liposome products and contract formulation services. The core product portfolio includes branded research reagents: Clophosome® (clodronate liposomes for macrophage depletion), Doxoves® (PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin), Mikosome® (exosome-mimicking liposomes), Trans-Hi™ (transfection reagent), and Irinosome (liposomal irinotecan). Supporting product categories include pre-formed liposomes for drug loading (empty, plain, PEGylated, with ammonium gradients), fluorescent liposomes with various dyes, and cationic liposomes. The company also provides contract R&D services spanning formulation development, formulation characterization (particle sizing, zeta potential, microscopy), and analytical sciences (HPLC, stability testing). The online store enables direct ordering of these research-grade products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Clophosome: Research grade clodronate liposomes for macrophage depletion
• Doxoves
• Mikosome
• Trans-Hi
• LipoNutra
• GeneNu
• GeneHi
• TransMax
• Tribioscience

Products and services

• Clophosome® (Clodronate Liposomes)

Quantifiable outcome

• Achieves 80-90% macrophage depletion in spleen 24 hours after single 0.2mL IV injection for Clophosome
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature10 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• NOF Corporation (Pharmaceutical & Life Science): Japanese specialty chemicals manufacturer of phospholipids, PEG lipids, and lipid excipients for drug delivery (a key supplier of mRNA LNP components). Comparable in lipid-based drug delivery chemistry, though at far larger industrial scale.
• Avanti Polar Lipids (Croda): Established supplier of high-purity lipid ingredients and lipid-based delivery tools (now part of Croda). Comparable to FormuMax in lipid chemistry expertise and customer overlap in drug delivery R&D, but with a much broader catalog and global manufacturing footprint.
• Cayman Chemical: Major life science research reagent supplier with a broad biochemicals catalog. Comparable to FormuMax as a research reagent vendor serving academic and biotech customers, with overlapping product categories in lipid-based tools and assay reagents.
• Lipoid: Manufacturer of phospholipids and lipid excipients for pharmaceutical applications. Comparable in lipid expertise and downstream pharma customer overlap, but at significantly larger scale and with broader ingredient portfolio.

Regional players

• BOC Sciences: CRO/CDMO offering custom synthesis, formulation development, and analytical services to pharma and biotech globally. Comparable to FormuMax's contract formulation and analytical services offering, but with a much broader chemistry scope and lower specialization in liposomal delivery.

Emerging players

• Echelon Biosciences: Specialty research reagent company focused on lipid signaling and drug delivery tools. Comparable in product-led reagent sales model and customer overlap in academic and biotech research labs, though Echelon emphasizes signaling lipids over delivery formulations.
• Genevant Sciences: LNP-based nucleic acid delivery platform company developing RNA therapeutics. Comparable in LNP expertise and mRNA/saRNA delivery focus to FormuMax's LNP work, but with a proprietary therapeutic pipeline rather than service/reagent business model.

Direct peers

• Encapsula NanoSciences: Direct competitor in the clodronate-encapsulated liposome niche (Encapsula is the established supplier of Clodronate Liposomes). Comparable to FormuMax's Clophosome line on product, customer base (immunology/macrophage research labs), and formulation approach.
• Liposoma: Specialty CDMO focused on liposomal drug formulation development and manufacturing. Direct peer to FormuMax's contract formulation, characterization, and analytical services for injectables and liposomal products.
• Acuitas Therapeutics: LNP technology specialist for mRNA therapeutics, partnered with Pfizer on COVID-19 vaccines. Highly comparable to FormuMax's LNP/mRNA delivery focus and contract formulation work, though operating at a much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Liposomes
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/formumax-scientific-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Formumax Scientific