# 3Helix

**Type:** venture
**Status:** Draft
**Confidence:** Medium
**Focus:** collagen hybridizing peptides, diagnostics, drug delivery, histopathology, collagen damage
**Stage:** Private growth; BASF equity investment and personal-care license (2023); Utah Innovation Fund
**Location:** Salt Lake City, UT (University of Utah BME spinout)
**Updated:** 2026-06-19
**Needs-reviewed:** 2026-06-19
**Hero:** https://picsum.photos/seed/3helix-2026/1600/1100
**Pull:** *Peptides that bind damaged collagen specifically — diagnostics, therapeutics, and a cosmetics entry through BASF.*
**Relates:** cites [Official Website: 3Helix](3helix-official-website.md)

## Summary

3Helix is a Salt Lake City biotechnology company built around Collagen Hybridizing Peptides (CHPs) — short peptides that bind specifically to denatured collagen triple-helix sites rather than intact collagen. Founded from University of Utah biomedical engineering research (Dr. Michael Yu and Dr. Yang Li), the company sells CHP research reagents and is commercializing broader applications in histopathology, mechanical-damage detection, and cell-invasion studies.

BASF took an equity stake and an exclusive personal-care license in 2023, validating near-term commercial viability through cosmetics (NeoHelix™ Regenerate). Therapeutic and diagnostic applications — imaging damaged tissue, targeted drug delivery to collagen-remodeling lesions — remain scientifically compelling but preclinical.

## Impact

Damaged collagen is a structural signature across heart attack, cancer invasion, arthritis, fibrosis, wound healing, and aging. CHPs are positioned as a rare molecular tool that targets disease-associated collagen degradation without binding normal tissue — enabling diagnostic imaging, therapeutic payload delivery, and cosmetic anti-aging use cases.

The honest read: BASF's cosmetics path provides revenue and validation, but it is a narrower entry point than the cancer and cardiovascular vision. No IND is publicly known for therapeutic CHP applications.

## What They Are Building

The official website markets conjugated CHP products (biotin, FAM, Cy3, in-vivo sulfo-Cy7.5 variants) for research use, with application areas in histopathology, mechanical damage, collagen identification, and cell invasion. Platform licensing (BASF for personal care; potential pharma partners for diagnostics/therapeutics) and internal drug development are the dual commercial tracks.

## What They Need Now

Likely needs include peptide chemists, drug-delivery engineers, diagnostic assay developers, and business-development operators who can license CHP outside BASF's personal-care exclusivity. Manufacturing and regulatory expertise matter if the company advances imaging or therapeutic IND programs.

## Who Could Help

Useful helpers include diagnostic contrast-agent developers, collagen-biology academic collaborators (U of U BME lineage), BASF partnership managers, and investors comfortable with long translational timelines in peptide therapeutics.

## Utah Context

3Helix is a U of U biomedical engineering spinout at 675 Arapeen Drive in Salt Lake City, part of Utah's peptide-and-biologics research cluster alongside larger life-sciences employers such as [Recursion Pharmaceuticals](recursion-pharmaceuticals.md) and [Myriad Genetics](myriad-genetics.md).

## Evidence

- [Official Website: 3Helix](3helix-official-website.md)
- [BASF investment in 3Helix (2023)](https://www.basf.com/us/en/media/news-releases/2023/11/basf-invests-in-start-up-3helix-inc--to-jointly-bring-collagen-h)

## Open Questions

- What is the status and timeline of therapeutic or diagnostic IND programs beyond research reagents?
- How does BASF's personal-care exclusivity constrain pharma licensing for oncology and cardiovascular indications?
- Ten years from founding to preclinical therapeutics — is the platform on track or stalled at the cosmetics wedge?
- Independent clinical validation of CHP imaging or delivery claims is not yet established in captured sources.
- The placeholder hero should be replaced with a cleared product, facilities, or CHP-application image when rights are confirmed.