Todd Zion, PhD - More Magical Proteins

Sal Daher Introduces Todd Zion

Akston Bio's Founding Story

"... The antigen in this case is the person's own insulin..."

"... you're still taking advantage of that antibody portion, but you've neutered it so that it no longer alerts the immune system, but it retains one property that antibodies all have, which is the ability to recycle and last for very long periods of time in circulation..."

"... We took the veterinary candidates and we partnered those with a company called Dechra Pharmaceuticals, PLC. They're one of the leaders in veterinary pharma development and this is all in the public domain..."

"... We made a pivot at that point saying, 'Well, what if we just go back to the portion of the antibody that interacts with the immune system and make ourselves a vaccine against COVID-19 using the same exact technology?'..."

"... you're going to continue involved in manufacturing, or are you just going to buckle down in the veterinary space and spin off these other technologies to other players?..."

"... if you're not pivoting at least once in your development, you're probably doing something wrong..."

Todd's Funding History

"... what goes on in a bioreactor, which is the heart of what you're doing? Geek out a little bit of bioreactors..."

"... there are these companies that do nothing but transfect CHO cells to produce particular types of protein..."

Energesis