Where there is a will there is a way. This is the mantra followed by scientist-turned-entrepreneur Ayyappan Subbiah. Ayyappan started his journey in the field of Material Science, obtained PhD in 1997 from IISc, Bangalore, India under the supervision of eminent Professor C.N.R. Rao. Introvert by nature, Ayyappan had a desire to bring about some kind of impact in people’s lives. This passion was rekindled during his job at ConocoPhillips where he was working as a Senior Scientist. Ayyappan did not want to entangle himself in the rut of routine work and confine himself to the realms of bench experiments. This prompted Ayyappan to break the traditional norms and set forward his journey of entrepreneurship. With the help of two friends, Ayyappan founded LivePet LLC. The first product from LivePet was an anti-inflammatory supplement for the pets. In order to take the product from the bench to over-the-counter veterinary product, Ayyappan and his mates tested their product at Liberty Research Institute, NY and carried out a couple of small trials on 50 dogs. The dogs were administered a set dose of the supplement for 30 days and were tested successfully for the safety and the change inflammatory markers. All the tested dogs were safer and healthier at the end of the study.
After developing the novel anti-inflammatory supplement for the dogs, Ayyappan started questioning himself to go further beyond pet supplements. By now he also realized that as a responsible human being, the best job he can do is to help “towards making 7 generations of human beings living together healthily/happily!” But the bigger question was what will be the source of funding for his next project? There comes a point in life of every scientist when they look for their next career move. “I just knew that after LivePet, I couldn’t go back to the monotonous life of being a lab scientist. I wanted to make an impact in people’s lives and this was the right time” reminisces Ayyappan. Ultimately, he thought of self-funding his own project. He did not know how far his self-funding will take him, but decided to begin the journey. With this dilemma being resolved, the next question was the kind of project he should start.
My first instinct was to learn about the bottle-necks in pharmaceutical industry and look for the potential problems. I wanted to find solution to the biggest challenge of the pharmaceutical industry
says Ayyappan proudly. His research yielded him the answer for his quest. He decided to work on the solubility issues of the hydrophobic drugs. He says “About 40% of drug candidates filed with FDA and 90% in the discovery pipeline are hydrophobic and possess solubility/bio-better issues. Therefore there is an immediate need for a safe and better solvent (excipient) in the pharma industry.” He wanted to test one of his novel excipient/solvent technology idea from his materials science background with a hydrophobic molecule preferably a novel molecule for the first time in the pharma industry. Literature search yielded an ideal hydrophobic molecule called triptolide which is notoriously known to possess solubility (and toxicity) issues but never became a drug just for those reasons.
Ayyappan took it as a challenge to solubilize triptolide in the novel excipient (7GEN) or the solubilizer. That’s the birth of Ayyappan’s successful start-up called Sevengenes (www.sevengenes.com ). Since then, there has been no looking back. 7GEN significantly enhances the solubility and bioavailability of hydrophobic molecules. 7GEN is very effective compared to existing drug delivery strategies (such as lipid and nanomaterials based) used for approved drugs.
So how does he fund his start-up projects? Ayyappan is deeply passionate about his project and he used up his 401 savings to fund his project. When asked about grant funding, Ayyappan did not want to divulge the details of his idea to the federal agency before gaining patent approval. He pitched in the idea to family and friends and they acted as amazing sources of funding. His MSc classmate wanted to help him and became a co-founder. Similarly, couple of his PhD colleagues from IISc also wanted to jump in and help and they have become co-founders too. In addition, Ayyappan’s project was also screened by a non-profit organization, i2e (www.i2e.org) that provides funds to small scale biotechs in Oklahoma. With limited funding but tons of passion and zeal, Ayyappan and Sevengenes’ cofounders outsource their experiments to CRO’s and University of Oklahoma.
They are a pre-clinical company and would like to file their Investigational New Drug (IND) application on their first drug product 7GEN-TDTM when they get their first round investment. They would like to use their 7GEN excipient (as a platform) for many other hydrophobic drugs and take 505(b)(2) approach for a particular combination. Meanwhile, Sevengenes recently got selected by Alexandria LaunchLabs for an incubator space in Manhattan, New York from June-2017. Their might be restricted funds but there isn’t dearth of passion inside Sevengenes.
https://twitter.com/transcriptic/status/876171062983012353
Infoshell…..
When asked about advice he will give to aspiring entrepreneurs, Ayyappan suggests that one should chase their dreams regardless of worrying about the outcomes. He believes that once someone sets his or her brain and heart to a project, the brain will work at its best to find resources to complete the project. Ayyappan has his background in Material Science and is yet a founder of Biological Science start up. He believes in working hard and fair. He credits his spouse and family for their support. He believes that it is a two way street. He saved up enough 401(k) so as to provide secured life to his family while his family understood and supported his dream of a start-up and his project. When asked about his mantra for relieving stress, Ayyappan says he enjoys yoga and believes in the power of prayers!
Ayyappan with Ananda Ghosh (Founder of PhD Career Support Group for STEM PhDs).
About the Author:
Imit Kaur, Ph.D. is a freelance scientific advisor, medical writer, editor, and an active science blogger. She pursued her PhD in Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Utah. She is experienced in the field of oncology, hematology, pharmacology, nanotechnology and drug development. Follow Imit on LinkedIn (Imit Kaur) or Twitter (@imit_kaur)
Featured image: Ayyappan in the auspices of Alexandria Launchlabs
Blog design: Abhinav Dey
This work by ClubSciWri is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
